In this issue of Pomegranate Blossoms, we focus on the theme of weakness. Mother Cecilia writes about the problem with hagiography (idealizing biographies of saints), we reflect on several saints with obvious weaknesses--and what they can teach us, we recommend a few books related to the topic, and more! We hope that this issue helps you to grow in your relationship with God.
Tuesday, January 5--Eve of Theophany
6:30-8:00 a.m. Matins
9:30-10:30 a.m. 1st & 3rd Royal Hours (music supplement)
Noon-1:00 p.m. 6th & 9th Royal Hours (music supplement)
8:30-9:30 p.m. Great Compline with Litija (propers)
Wednesday, January 6--Feast of Theophany
We are excited to share with you a new online program for teens and young adults, by the Eparchy of Parma Youth Committee. The hosts of the first meeting are friends of ours; David (in the photo on the left) is the filmmaker of several of our videos, and all three guys have beautiful, prayerful, energetic hearts. Please share this new opportunity with the Byzantine Catholic young people that you know! (Or those who are not Byzantine Catholic but may be interested anyway.)
The Eparchy of Parma Youth Committee invites all teens and young adults to our online Youth Sessions titled "I WILL COME TO YOU". Give us 45 minutes of your time and share with us how you live out the faith in your community. We will see each other for the first time on January 9, 2021. Our seminarian candidates who are studying at the International Theological Institute will tell you how the vibrant community and strong Byzantine presence that they are experiencing are strengthening their spiritual life. More information can be found at parma.org.
"When the Creator saw the one whom He had created with his own hands perishing, He lowered the heavens and came down; He took upon himself human nature from the most holy and pure Virgin, truly becoming flesh; for this reason, we glorify Him" (Matins for the Feast of the Nativity, Canon, Ode 1).
Have a blessed feast of the Nativity of Our Lord!
With love,
The nuns of Christ the Bridegroom Monastery
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| The Apostle & Evangelist Matthew |
This Sunday of the Ancestors of the Lord is given us to remind us that God deigns--nay, delights--to work through His creatures: so much so, that He chose to become a Man, complete with a lineage of flawed human forebearers. We should pay particular attention to the genealogy St. Matthew presents to us: it includes people with far-from-pristine pasts, stories riddled with suffering and sin. Tamar, wronged by her father-in-law Judah, connived to ensnare him in incest. Rahab (the mother of Boaz) was a harlot before she hid the Israelite spies who came to her city. Ruth was a Moabitess, a foreigner from an idolatrous people, yet she was the grandmother of Jesse and the great-grandmother of King David. Solomon, of course, was a fruit of the relationship between David and Bathsheba, which began in adultery and murder. In fact, some of these ancestors were so wicked that their names were blotted out of the Hebrew genealogies. Thus, Joram was not actually the father of Uzziah as Matthew writes in verse 8, but his great, great grandfather. Because Joram had married one of the idolatrous daughters of Jezebel, his family was under a curse! But the reality is that God chose to come from just such as these--and He still chooses to enter the world through our feeble humanity. Undaunted and undeterred by our sins and failures, He mercifully gathers them into His loving hands and works our good, and the salvation of the world. My spiritual father told me recently, "God loves, loves, LOVES to work through secondary causes. He would rather work through you than alone." This is the wonder of the Incarnation. This is the startling truth of our Faith: Despites our falls and failings, The Trinity works through us to open the way to the Father's House.
Tamar: Felix Culpa (Genesis 38)
[Felix Culpa means "Happy (or blessed) Fault"]
Wedded to one wicked
who was slain by the Lord,
given to his brother
who denied what was yours,
you returned a widow
to your father’s house.
You waited for the third
son of Judah to come
fulfill your desire
by giving you a son.
But the years stole your hope
in your father’s house.
Since you were forsaken
by your father-in-law,
you laid aside mourning,
his lustful seed to draw.
Draped in a harlot’s veil,
you left your father’s house.
By the road at Enaim
you sat and you waited.
He paid to come to you,
his urge to be sated.
By deceit you became
your father-in-law’s house.
After three months had passed,
it was told: Judah learned
that you were with child.
He judged, “Let her be burned.”
Pregnant, you were led out
of your father’s house.
You sent him the tokens
he’d given you as pledge
of pay for using you
as you lay on the edge
of the road to Timnah,
beyond your father’s house.
Then Judah acknowledged
his sinful deeds with shame.
The life that you carried
would indeed share his name.
At last, you bore two sons
in their father’s house.
Tamar, woman bereft,
you stretched forth grasping hands
to seize your rightful fruit
and establish your land.
Yet through you came the way
to the Father’s House.
All Times Eastern Standard Time
Sunday, December 20
6:30 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in silence
6:45-8:30 a.m. Matins
Monday, December 21
9:00-9:30 p.m. Compline
Tuesday, December 22
6:30 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in silence
6:45-8:00 a.m. Matins
Wednesday, December 23
4:45 p.m. The Jesus Prayer in silence
5:00-5:45 p.m. Vespers
Thursday, December 24
6:30 a.m. The Jesus Prayer in silence
6:45-8:00 a.m. Matins
9:30-10:30 a.m. 1st & 3rd Royal Hours
Noon-1:00 p.m. 6th & 9th Royal Hours
8:30-9:30 p.m. Great Compline (Here is the link for the propers)
Friday, December 25
7:00-8:30 a.m. Matins (Here is the link for the propers)
A children's book recommendation by Mother Cecilia:
Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect
