Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). The woman at the well in today’s Gospel, St. Photini (“the enlightened one”), comes from a very dark place, indeed. She’s living in sin, in darkness, in confusion, but she thirsts for more. Christ is the answer; He shows her Himself—the Light of the world—so that coming to the knowledge and love of Him, she may be illuminated, changed, transfigured. When we speak of someone journeying to the Orthodox Faith, we speak of them “coming to holy illumination.” This is what has happened to St. Photini: Because of her encounter with Christ, the Light and Life of the world, she is transformed, she is changed; her adulterous love is transformed into pure agape love for God and for others. This love of God, love from God, motivates her in her love of others. She cannot help but love others and this love makes her, by God’s grace, into one of the great evangelists of the early Church— the enlightener of the Samaritan people. Photini did not let her past, her old ‘patterns’ of dysfunction, of sin, of confusion and darkness, get in the way of her new life—her illumined life—with God, becoming who she truly is, who Christ God desired to make her all along. When we allow ourselves to continue to be enlightened with God’s love, we desire more than anything else that which He desires: that is, to come outside ourselves to be witnesses of the Gospel, the salvation of the human race. We come to desire that those around us may likewise come to the knowledge and love of God, to true enlightenment. Christ God says to us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). This is the supreme service out of our love for God and our fellow man—that we desire not only the enlightenment of ourselves, but of our fellow man as well. May we continue to be enlightened and live more and more with the zeal of Christ God’s love in our own lives.
In the love and mercy of the risen Christ, Fr. Robert+
THIS WEEK AT HOLY ARCHANGELS:
- Saturday, May 24, 6:00 p.m., Great Vespers. Confession offered following the service
- Sunday, May 25, 9:30 Hours, 10 a.m., Divine Liturgy
Save the Dates:
- Thursday, May 29, 9:30 Hours, 10 am Divine Liturgy of ASCENSION
- Saturday, June 7, 3 p.m., EVE of PENTECOST, Picnic at the Rectory: bring your favorite meat to grill, wine/beer, side, and a contribution to share for our annual picnic at the Rectory, 1353 Tydings Rd., Annapolis. Great Vespers with Litya and Pentecost bon-fire following
- Great Vespers at the Rectory, 6 p.m. followed by bon-fire for PENTECOST
- Sunday, June 8, 9:30 a.m., Divine Liturgy of PENTECOST, BAPTISM of Simeon Mihai
- Festive Trapeza for Pentecost following the Liturgy
Prayer Requests:
- That God may grow our Mission “in spirit and in numbers…”
- For God’s financial provision for our Mission and ACM;
- For our Mission that we may find a Choir Director;
- Archpriest George, Archpriest Michael, Priest John, Dcn. Basil, Rdr. John, Benedict, Colette, Mary, Carol, Katherine, James, Daniel, Sarah, Seraphim, Patricia, George, Anne, Ed, Johnson, Jeanette, and Family, the Church in Georgia and Romania as they address the relativism of the West, speaking the truth in love, our suffering Orthodox brethren in Syria, a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
Troparion (Resurrection) Tone 4
When the women Disciples of the Lord
learned from the Angel the joyous message of the Resurrection,
they cast away the ancestral curse // and elatedly told the Apostles:
“Death is overthrown! // Christ God is risen, // granting the world great mercy!”
Troparion (Midfeast) Tone 8
In the middle of the feast, O Savior,
fill my thirsting soul with the waters of piety as You cried to all:
“If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink!”//
O Christ God, Fountain of our life, glory to You!
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 (Pentecostarion) Tone 8
The Samaritan Woman came to the well in faith;
she saw You, the Water of wisdom and drank abundantly.//
She inherited the Kingdom on high, and is ever glorified!
Kontakion (Midfeast) Tone 4
Christ God, the Creator and Master of all, // cried to all in the midst of the feast of the Law:
“Come and draw the water of immortality!” // We fall before You and faithfully cry://
“Grant us Your mercies, for You are the Fountain of our life!”
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.
