OCT 1: CONFESSION – 8:45 AM, DIVINE LITURGY – 9:00 AM (OUTDOORS WEATHER PERMITTING AND LIVE-STREAMED).
PROPERS: 10-01_Protection_Theotokos_DL
Streaming via Facebook Live. https://www.facebook.com/saintscyrilandmethodius/
Parishes live-streaming in the Diocese can be found here: https://www.eparchyofpassaic.com/directory
There are 2 Gospel Readings this Sunday. The first is Luke 6: 31-38 and the 2nd is Luke 10: 38-43 and 11:27-28.
The 1st Gospel Reading, Luke 6: 31-36, tells us DO TO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO TO YOU. The Gospel comes from Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Mount. While Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount is brief compared to the one in the Gospel of Matthew, the simplest overview of the Sermon on the Mount is this: an introduction to the kind of life that everyone who desires the Kingdom of God should be leading.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
The 2nd Gospel readings are Luke 10: 38-42 and 11:27-28. In Luke 10: 38-42, we hear about Jesus’ visit to Martha and Mary. Martha provides hospitality while Mary listens to Jesus’ teachings. Martha complains that Mary neglecting her duties & asks Jesus to instruct her to help. Jesus thus responds that Mary has chosen the better activity. In essence, hearing the word of God & spreading the Good News as a disciple is more important. In Luke 11:27-28, “a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” and Jesus replies, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
The Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos (October 1st) commemorates the appearance of the most holy Theotokos in the Church of Blachernae in Constantinople in the early sixth century, as recorded in the life of Saint Andrew. As cited from the Metropolitan Cantor Institute: “On October 1, we celebrate the feast of the Protection (or Patronage) of the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. This feast is particularly kept among the Slavs, and commemorates several occasions on which the Mother of God saved the city of Constantinople from plague or military assault. In our own times, we too have recourse to the intercession of the Theotokos. As we hear in the Kontakion of the feast:
Today, the Virgin is present in the Church
and, with the choirs of saints, invisibly prays to God for us.
The angels worship with the hierarchs;
the apostles rejoice with the prophets;
because the Theotokos prays for us to the eternal God.”
