The disciples faced many fears—fear of rejection by their own for following the Messiah, fear of arrest, persecution, of losing all their temporal attachments, forsaking their families, suffering prison, torture, martyrdom. In response to all these fears, Jesus reminds them (and us) that He and HE ALONE is “the one thing needful.” He is Life itself, and as such, as the Creator of the wind and the tempest, the waters, and all that teems therein (Ps. 103), He commands them in today’s Gospel to cease, to be calmed… and they obey. Peter tries to come to the Lord, walking on the water. At first he actually succeeds, but then, unsettled, he takes his focus off Christ and sees the fearsome winds and waves, the temporal and material things he fears… and he sinks. Jesus, Christ God, saves him, and He can save us too if we will keep our focus on Him, follow and submit ourselves to Him and His holy Church. The Lord teaches us today to entrust our fears, our lives, to Him, the God who has power over that which we fear, over all that is temporal. He calls on us to avail ourselves of all the tools He’s entrusted to us through His Church for our salvation:. “Put not you trust in princes and sons of men in whom there is no salvation,” (Ps. 145) as we sing in the Liturgy, but in Christ God, to whom even the fearsome winds and the waves we encounter on the sea of life are obedient. Nothing we fear in our pride and self-focus: no sin, no passion, no past, and certainly not the winds of false doctrine whirling about us, are too great for God to overcome! In Christ’s love, Fr. Robert+
THIS WEEK AT HOLY ARCHANGELS:
- Thurs, Aug. 6, 11 a.m., Great Feast of the Transfiguration at the All Faiths Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy in Mitscher Hall. Park on King George St., meet at St. John’s Gym lot at 10 a.m. for a ride.
- Saturday, August 8, 6 p.m., Great Vespers (Confession following)
- Sunday, August 9, 9:30am Hours; 10 a.m. Divine Liturgy, followed by Trapeza
Looking Ahead:
- Sat, Aug. 15, 10 a.m., Great Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, Trapeza following.
June Financial Report: We received $2443 in offerings in June. $3,000 was needed. YTD $14,875 has been received, $13,998 was expected. We are running a deficit of $3,082. Your faithful contributions provide for this church and ministries. Thank God for His provision and your faithfulness, which means that our Mission can continue and grow! Holy Archangels Mission Council
Mid-Year Special Commitment Opportunity: To sustain our Mission, we need to raise an additional $500 per month in offerings, which we aim to have matched by the greater Church. We ask all faithful to take a Special Offering Card (on Back Table) and place it in the offering box. $100 has been matched so far.
Please Note: At Holy Archangels we do not pass an offering plate. Instead, we encourage the faithful to place an offering in the offering box on the Entrance (back) Table in support of this Mission and its Ministries. Thank you and may Christ God repay you with His spiritual blessings… “for God loves a cheerful giver” (II Cor. 9:7).
Prayer Requests:
- That God may grow our Mission “in spirit and in numbers…”
- For God’s financial provision for our Mission and ACM (Annapolis College Ministry);
- Newly-departed servant of God, Archpriest Gordon.
- Metropolitan Isaiah of Georgia, Archpriest George, Priest John, Dcn. Basil, Rdr. John, Governor Hogan, Benedict, James, Daniel, Seraphim, Bede, Wanda, Eric, George, Daniel, Ed, John, the Church in Georgia & Romania as they address the relativism of the West, speaking the truth in love, our persecuted brethren in Iraq & Syria, a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine., those suffering from Ebola.
Troparion (Resurrection) Tone 8
Thou didst descend from on high, O Merciful One!
Thou didst accept the three day burial
to free us from our sufferings!//
O Lord, our Life and Resurrection, glory to Thee!
Troparion (Protomartyr Stephen) Tone 4
Thy relics have risen from the depths of the earth,
like a treasury for the immortal life of all creation.
The Church, rejoicing in the grace that she receives from them,
duteously honors thee, O Protomartyr Stephen.//
Preserve us from error and heresy by thy intercession!
Troparion (Holy Archangels) Tone 4
Commanders of the heavenly hosts, // we who are unworthy beseech you:
by your prayers encompass us beneath the wings of your immaterial glory,
and faithfully preserve us who fall down and cry to you://
“Deliver us from all harm, for you are the Commanders of the Powers on high!”
Kontakion (Resurrection) Tone 8
By rising from the tomb, Thou didst raise the dead and resurrected Adam.
Eve exults in Thy Resurrection,
and the world celebrates Thy rising from the dead, O greatly Merciful One!
Kontakion (Protomartyr Stephen) Tone 6
Thou wast the first to be sown on the earth by the Heavenly Husbandman, O all-praised one,
and wast the first to shed thy blood on the earth for Christ, O blessed one.
Thou wast the first to receive the crown of victory from Him in heaven,//
O Stephen, first of the suffering God-crowned martyrs.
Kontakion (Holy Archangels) Tone 2
Commanders of God’s armies // and ministers of the divine glory,
princes of the bodiless Angels // and guides of mankind;
ask for what is good for us, and for great mercy,// Supreme Commanders of the Bodiless Hosts.
