Saturday, Mar. 2 – 3rd All Souls Saturday
9:30 AM All Souls Saturday Divine Liturgy
5:00 PM Santa Paula Outreach Divine Liturgy
5:30 PM Reader Vespers
Sunday, Mar. 3 – 3rd Sunday of the Great Fast – Veneration of The Cross
8:30 AM Matins
9:30 AM Divine Liturgy
Tuesday, Mar. 5 – Conon, Martyr
5:30 PM Akathist* for those suffering Addictions & Mental Illness
Wednesday, Mar. 6 – 42 Martyrs of Ammorium
8:30 AM Morning Prayer
6:30 PM Presanctified Divine Liturgy
7:30 PM Firepit Social
Friday, Mar. 8 – Theophylact, Bishop-Confessor
6:00 PM Santa Paula Outreach Presanctified Divine Liturgy
Saturday, Mar. 9 – 40 Martyrs of Sebaste
5:00 PM Santa Paula Outreach Divine Liturgy
Sunday, Mar. 10 – 4th Sunday of the Great Fast – St. John Climacus
8:30 AM Matins
9:30 AM Divine Liturgy
*Add first names to this prayer service by emailing niemirick@gmail.com
St. Mary’s: Sundays 8:45 AM or by appointment
Santa Paula: Saturdays 4:15 PM or by appointment
(Please resubmit or submit names to admin@ByzantineLA.com)
The Carlin Family, Michael Hefferon, Shirley Kunze, Michael Mina, Peter Mina, Fr. John Mina, Mila Mina, Lana Zimmerman, Patrick Zimmerman, Shannon O’Neill, Fern Bonowicz, Carolina Chirdon, All the sick and suffering of St. Mary’s
Collection: $1,652.00; Santa Paula: $1,018.55.00; Online: $160.00; Candles: $32.15; Parish Socials: $47.00; Gift Shop: $45.00
Total: $2,954.70 / Attendance – PSM: 72 SPO: 88
On this third Sunday of the Great Fast we celebrate the Veneration of the precious and life-giving Cross. Since during the forty days of the Fast we are also in a way crucified, mortified to the passions, contrite, abased and despondent, the precious and life-giving Cross is offered to us as refreshment and confirmation, calling to mind the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and comforting us. If our God was crucified for our sake, how great should be our effort for His sake, since our afflictions have been assuaged through the Lord’s tribulations, and by the commemoration and the hope of the Cross of glory. For as our Savior in ascending the Cross was glorified through dishonor and grief; so should we also endure our sorrows, in order to be glorified with Him. Also, as those who have traveled a long hard road, weighed down by the labors of their journey, in finding a shady tree, take their ease for a moment and continue their journey rejuvenated, so now in this time of the Fast, this sorrowful and laborious journey, the Holy Fathers have planted the life-giving Cross, for our relief and refreshment, to encourage and make easier the labors that lie ahead. Or as when there is a royal procession, the king’s scepter and banners precede him, he then appears himself, radiant and joyous in his victory, causing his subjects to rejoice with him. So then our Lord Jesus Christ, desiring to show His sure victory over death and His glory on the day of the Resurrection, sends His scepter before Himself, the sign of His kingship, the life-giving Cross, to gladden and refresh us, as it greatly fortifies and enables us to be prepared to receive the King with all possible strength, and to praise Him in His radiant victory.
This week lies at the middle of the holy Forty Day Fast. The Fast is like a bitter source because of our contrition and the sadness and sorrow for sin that it brings. And as Moses plunged the branch in the bitter waters of Marah, making them sweet, so God, who has led us through the spiritual Red Sea away from Pharaoh, through the life-giving wood of the precious and life-giving Cross sweetens the bitterness of the Forty Day Fast, and comforts us as those who were in the wilderness, up until the time when by His Resurrection He will lead us to the spiritual Jerusalem. And since the Cross is called, and indeed is, the Tree of Life, it is the very tree that was planted in the Garden of Eden. So it is fitting that the Holy Fathers have planted the Tree of the Cross in the middle of the Forty Day Fast to commemorate both Adam’s tasting of its sweet fruit and of its being taken from us in favor of the Tree of the Cross, tasting of which we shall in no way die, but will have even greater life.
-Synaxarion
“Whoever will lose his life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will save it.” A vocation is a cross, a way to lose our lives for the Lord and His Gospel by giving life to the world in a life of prayer and devotion to the holy mysteries of the Church. The Lord may be showing you that holy orders or the religious life is something to consider. Contact the Vocations Office at 206-329-9219 or email: vocations@ephx.org
Saturday, March 2 –
