And so, dearly beloved, do ye who with the whole heart have put your trust in the Lord’s promises, flee from this unclean leprosy of avarice, and use God’s gift piously and wisely. And since you rejoice in His bounty, take heed that you have those who may share in your joys. For many lack what you have in plenty, and some men’s needs afford you opportunity for imitating the Divine goodness, so that through you the Divine benefits may be transferred to others also, and that by being wise stewards of your temporal goods, you may acquire eternal riches. — Sermon 17, On the Fast of the Tenth Month, VII.
I simply liked this post from OrthoCuban (the Rev. Ernesto M. Obregón of the Antiochian Orthodox Church): And the bishop cried.
…And, so, I am glad to say, —and the bishop cried.— Yes, he does dress up like a Byzantine emperor and he does sit in the middle of the church. But, in his case, he sits in the middle of the church like the heart sits in the middle of the body. May God grant him many years.
The post so reminds me of our bishops in the PNCC. They are men with the gift of discernment and most especially men who are fathers to their flock. May God bless them with many years. Sto Lat!
Let us remember that we owe love first to God, secondly to our neighbour, and that all our affections must be so regulated as not to draw us away from the worship of God, or the benefiting our fellow slave. But how shall we worship God unless that which is pleasing to Him is also pleasing to us? For, if our will is His will, our weakness will receive strength from Him, from Whom the very will came; “for it is God,” as the Apostle says, “who works in us both to will and to do for (His) good pleasure.” And so a man will not be puffed up with pride, nor crushed with despair, if he uses the gifts which God gave to His glory, and withholds his inclinations from those things, which he knows will harm him. For in abstaining from malicious envy, from luxurious and dissolute living, from the perturbations of anger, from the lust after vengeance, he will be made pure and holy by true fasting, and will be fed upon the pleasures of incorruptible delights, and so he will know how, by the spiritual use of his earthly riches, to transform them into heavenly treasures, not by hoarding up for himself what he has received, but by gaining a hundred-fold on what he gives. And hence we warn you, beloved, in fatherly affection, to make this winter fast fruitful to yourselves by bounteous alms, rejoicing that by you the Lord feeds and clothes His poor, to whom assuredly He could have given the possessions which He has bestowed on you, had He not in His unspeakable mercy wished to justify them for their patient labour, and you for your works of love. — Sermon 19, On the Fast of the Tenth Month, VIII.
This profitable observance, dearly beloved, is especially laid down for the fasts of the Church, which, in accordance with the Holy Spirit’s teaching, are so distributed over the whole year that the law of abstinence may be kept before us at all times. Accordingly we keep the spring fast in Lent, the summer fast at Whitsuntide, the autumn fast in the seventh month, and the winter fast in this which is the tenth month, knowing that there is nothing unconnected with the Divine commands, and that all the elements serve the Word of God to our instruction, so that from the very hinges on which the world turns, as if by four gospels we learn unceasingly what to preach and what to do. For, when the prophet says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork: day unto day utters speech, and night shows knowledge,” what is there by which the Truth does not speak to us? By day and by night His voices are heard, and the beauty of the things made by the workmanship of the One God ceases not to instil the teachings of Reason into our hearts’ ears, so that “the invisible things of God may be perceived and seen through the things which are made,” and men may serve the Creator of all, not His creatures. Since therefore all vices are destroyed by self-restraint, and whatever avarice thirsts for, pride strives for, luxury lusts after, is overcome by the solid force of this virtue, who can fail to understand the aid which is given us by fastings? for therein we are bidden to restrain ourselves, not only in food, but also in all carnal desires. — Sermon 19, On the Fast of the Tenth Month, VIII.
From the Stratford Bard: A Christmas Craft Fair will be held at St. Joseph’s of Stratford National Catholic Church, 1300 Stratford Road, Stratford, Connecticut from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, Dec. 6th.
Area crafters and home show vendors will be displaying and selling their crafts. There will also be a bake sale, continental breakfast, and meatball grinders and hot dogs for lunch. There is free admission and free parking. Every adult that attends the fair will receive a free entry into the door prize for a grocery gift card.
St. Joseph’s is located at 1300 Stratford Road in the Lordship section of Stratford, Connecticut at the south end of Main Street beside Sikorsky Memorial Airport. For more information please call the parish office at (203) 377-9901 or Patti at (203) 378-0073.
From the Boston Post. I originally found this at The Deacon’s Bench. Almost like an episode of How’s It Made.
When the Saviour would instruct His disciples about the Advent of God’s Kingdom and the end of the world’s times, and teach His whole Church, in the person of the Apostles, He said, “Take heed lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and care of this life.” And assuredly, dearly beloved, we acknowledge that this precept applies more especially to us, to whom undoubtedly the day denounced is near, even though hidden. For the advent of which it behoves every man to prepare himself, lest it find him given over to gluttony, or entangled in cares of this life. For by daily experience, beloved, it is proved that the mind’s edge is blunted by over-indulgence of the flesh, and the heart’s vigour is dulled by excess of food, so that the delights of eating are even opposed to the health of the body, unless reasonable moderation withstand the temptation and the consideration of future discomfort keep from the pleasure. For although the flesh desires nothing without the soul, and receives its sensations from the same source as it receives its motions also, yet it is the function of the same soul to deny certain things to the body which is subject to it, and by its inner judgment to restrain the outer parts from things unseasonable, in order that it may be the oftener free from bodily lusts, and have leisure for Divine wisdom in the palace of the mind, where, away from all the noise of earthly cares, it may in silence enjoy holy meditations and eternal delights. And, although this is difficult to maintain in this life, yet the attempt can frequently be renewed, in order that we may the oftener and longer be occupied with spiritual rather than fleshly cares; and by our spending ever greater portions of our time on higher cares, even our temporal actions may end in gaining the incorruptible riches. — Sermon 19, On the Fast of the Tenth Month, VIII.
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Three communities open homes for tours
Western Pennsylvania was settled and built in a time of prosperity, with homes that offered a wealth of flavor and design.
From the historic mansions of Scottdale to the array of designs featured in both the Uniontown and Mt. Pleasant areas, holiday home tours have become a popular draw and this year all three communities will once again open a handful of lovely homes for tours.
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Mt. Pleasant
Next in line for holiday home tours will be the Mt. Pleasant event, which is sponsored by the Mt. Pleasant Area Historical Society.
The tour will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. Dec. 13 and will feature four homes, one church and the Chestnut Log House.
Featured homes this year will include:
—¢ A 200-year-old farm house that is located in Laurelville. The wonderful old home was once an area stagecoach stop.
—¢ The “Yellow House” on Braddock Road Avenue, one of the area’s older homes, featuring an estate filled with unusual plants and trees.
—¢ A Main Street home where visitors will be treated to an extensive collection of Santas.
—¢ The recently purchased Church Street home of Janis and Monty Gamble, a Victorian style that they are looking forward to showcasing.
“They asked us and I said that I’d be honored,” Janis Gamble said. “I love people and I’m very excited.”
—¢ The Transfiguration of Our Lord, Polish National Catholic Church on Bridgeport Street.
—¢ The Chestnut Log House on Washington Street, along with the Senior Citizens Center that sits adjacent to the home. A raffle featuring many gift baskets will be held at the center.
The tour is self-guided and self-paced and all participating properties will be clearly marked.
Tickets for the event will be $15 and can be purchased at Coke’s Barber Shop, the tax office located in the Borough Building, the Chamber of Commerce offices and also the Historical society offices.
The historical societies of Scottdale and Mt. Pleasant are having a friendly challenge this holiday season, and each are collecting sets of twin sheets to be donated to Christian Layman Society of Greensburg to benefit area children. Ask for details when purchasing tickets.
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All three tours will take place snow or shine.
From The Republican: Kitchen’s fare said ‘fantastic’
WESTFIELD – Robert Cyran enjoys being at Our Community Table – also known as the Westfield Soup Kitchen – to eat turkey with strangers on the last Thursday of November.
“This is the day when you wanna be thankful for whatever you have; I am thankful for my health, good patience, and peace of mind,” said the Westfield resident who has been going to the 101 Meadow St. facility for “three straight years.”
A traditional Thanksgiving table was set for about 60 diners at the former Hotel Westfield on Thanksgiving Day, said Edward J. Fournier, who coordinates the volunteers and the meal’s preparation.
The menu featured mashed potatoes, stuffing, carrots, turnips, cranberries, pies, rolls, and “six big carved turkeys,” said Fournier.
“Meals have been delicious – just fantastic,” pronounced Cyran.
The group that prepares free meals for needy people six days a week was ready to provide the holiday dinner for anyone who showed up, Fournier said.
“I don’t know yet how many people would come during the day, but we’ve got plenty of food,” he said. “We are going to do seconds and everything else.”
So far, the supply of donated foods has not slowed for Our Community Table.
“We are thankful for the opportunity for the workers at this kitchen, that they have the opportunity to help, because there may have been times when they were ministered, too,” said the Very Rev. Joseph Soltysiak of St. Joseph’s Polish National Catholic Church. “And now they have the opportunity to minister.”
The volunteers included Susan Tremblay, who went to help serve along with her sons, Nathan, 13, and Trey, 15.
The Tremblays volunteer regularly at the soup kitchen, said Nathan.
“I do drinks and serve them,” he said. “I usually come here on Mondays and holidays.”
The decorations for the event were made by Southwick students, said Fournier.
The Samaritan Inn homeless shelter on Free Street served a Thanksgiving Day meal for about 30 people.
“That’s our usual attendance,” said Peter C. Gillis, executive director.
He also noted that the shelter’s contributors have been generous.
“We are struggling just like everybody else, but we are all set with our food supplies,” he said.
Your prayers are requested for Vivian and Andrzej Nowakowski and their family. Also of your charity, please drop a note to Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman requesting their intervention in the case.
From the New Britain Herald: Andrzej’s case up for review
The case of a city man imprisoned for listing prior convictions on a green card renewal application is being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He could be freed. The review is a victory for his family, including a wife who has spent thousands of dollars and much of her time in court, writing letters, seeking help from officials and otherwise worrying since his April 23 arrest by immigration officials.
Andrzej Nowakowski, 43, of New Britain, who came to America from Poland when he was 9 years old, has a criminal history for drug convictions. As a chronic pain patient, he became addicted to oxycodone.
There was never talk of deportation when he pleaded guilty, served his time, kicked his addiction and was working and taking care of his ailing father-in-law and wife, Vivian, who needs a kidney transplant.
Health officials listed Andrzej as her caregiver on the kidney transplant list. She will lose her place on the list without a caregiver at home, which could kill her, and no one else would be as well suited to the job. Health professionals familiar with the case cite Andrzej’s experience and the couple’s shared immunity to germs.
—My whole family needs me,— Andrzej said during a phone interview Friday from the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I., where he is being held. —I need to be out there for the sake of my wife. She needs me out there. I am really concerned about her health and the health of my in-laws. I will do anything to get her healthy. But they want to deport me.—
Andrzej said he still has chronic pain in his back, but he has learned to live with it.
—I don’t want to do any drugs,— he said. —My wife’s life is on the line.—
Nowakowski’s son, David Lombardo —” Andrzej raised him as his own after Vivian’s prior marriage —” is a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps in California, awaiting an April deployment to Iraq after training other marines how to fight and survive in the field.
Although Andrzej respects the fact that —my son is a patriot,— he said what the country is doing to him and his wife is wrong.
The review could be a correction to that, and could take place at any time.
But immigration officials won’t let Andrzej out if they see him as a danger to the community —” he has no record of violence —” or as a flight risk.
Letting her husband out to care for her is a safe bet, Vivian said, because —if he does anything to screw it up, I will deport him myself.—
Jokes aside, Vivian said, —He would never skip. Where would he skip?—
Lombardo, who was home for a Thanksgiving visit to his parents’ High Street home with his fiancee, Jennifer Ramirez, noted that Andrzej was co-owner of an area family business and always paid off his car payments and taxes. —It is not like he is some drug addict with no money. He has paid his taxes, supported his family and supported his community,— Lombardo said.
Immigration officials also take into consideration such things as —disciplinary problems while incarcerated,— which does not apply to his father.
—While incarcerated he has never caused any problems,— Lombardo said. —He has been in this country for 35 years. He has done his time [for the past crimes]. None of this applies.—
Ramirez choked back tears as she explained the situation and vouched for the integrity of her soon-to-be father-in-law.
—Everyone is guilty of temptation,— she said. —This is a man who married a woman, regardless of her sickness, knowing that they couldn’t have kids, and raised David as his own. He is a good-hearted man.—
Vivian walked across the carpeted living room and hugged Jennifer.
—I want the whole family together for Christmas,— Vivian said.
She has been depressed during the fight for her husband’s freedom, especially since learning Aug. 29 she’d lost an appeal on his behalf. In addition to missing her husband and being faced with her own death, she has had to deal with the deteriorating health of her father, who was recently hospitalized for his severe heart and kidney problems.
Seeing her son and Ramirez on Thanksgiving cheered her up.
While Vivian is resigned that her fate and that of her husband —is in God’s hands,— her son hopes the officials reviewing his father’s case are able to see it for what it is.
—I am looking at this optimistically,— said Lombardo, adding that he could not believe his father had been arrested in the first place.
—He is her life partner,— he said, and will be caring for his mother and for her father at home.
A Homeland Security source in Washington, D.C., who spoke anonymously because he wasn’t authorized to comment on the case, suggested earlier this month that Vivian needs somebody to —carry the spear for her,— even after letters of support were sent from New Britain’s Common Council, the city’s legislative delegation and U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5th District.
Sources said Donald Kent, then assistant secretary of the office of legal affairs for the department, never got the materials and wasn’t the right person to receive them. Officials at the congressman’s office, however, believed his letter had merely failed to change the status of Andrzej’s deportation order.
Kent has since resigned and been replaced.
Vivian needs someone such as U.S. Sens. Chris Dodd or Joseph Lieberman, both Connecticut Democrats, Murphy or someone at the federal level to fight for her behind the scenes, the Homeland Security source said.
Immigration officials are human beings too, and can have compassion, the source said.
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Now that her son is by her side, she has drawn renewed strength and faith in God, she said.
The family attends the Polish National Catholic Church of the Transfiguration and Our Savior.
—People with no compassion haven’t lived a hard-enough life,— Lombardo said.
Lombardo is leaving today, but plans to return at Christmas.