NINE DAYS FOR
LIFE-ORTHODOX NEW YEAR
Jeremiah,
Chapter 46, Verse 27-28
27
But you, my servant Jacob, do not fear;
do not be dismayed, Israel! Listen! I will deliver you from far-off lands; your
offspring, from the land of their exile. Jacob shall again find rest, secure,
with none to frighten him. 28 You, Jacob my servant, must not fear—oracle of the LORD—for I am with
you; I will make an end of all the nations to which I have driven you, But of
you I will not make an end: I will chastise you as you deserve, I cannot let
you go unpunished.
The Lord embraces Israel and gives hope and
correction but warns against Egypt.
·
This
chapter is a prophecy in poetic form against Egypt. It begins with God speaking
about Pharaoh Neco, who gets defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at the River Euphrates
in Mesopotamia. It's kind of like, "Get on your horses, Egyptians! Put on
your armor and shields! Oh wait, you're retreating? You're getting slaughtered?
What a shame."
·
Like
the floodwaters of the Nile, Egypt tries to spread over the earth and destroy
cities. God urges the Egyptian warriors and their allies to get ready for
battle. Then he says that they're just another sacrifice to his glory. They're
next up to get clobbered by Babylon.
·
God
sarcastically tells Egypt to seek a medicinal balm in Gilead. But there's no
healing for them: they're toast. God predicts that Nebuchadnezzar will invade
and destroy Egypt.
·
God
says to tell the Egyptians to get ready for their slaughter. He also mocks
their bull god, Apis, who's zero help to them.
·
The
Egyptians stumble home in defeat and the Pharaoh earns the nickname
"Braggart Who Missed His Chance." Oh, snap! Egypt should pack its
bags for exile—they're in for it. Egypt's like a "beautiful heifer"
who gets stung and driven nuts by a gadfly from the north (Babylon). Egypt will
be put to shame, slithering away in retreat like a snake, and being flattened
like a forest cut down by the Babylonian war axes.
·
God's
bringing punishment on Amon of Thebes, Pharaoh, and all the Egyptian gods and
kings. Pharaoh and those who trust in him will be captured, but afterwards
Egypt will be inhabited again like it used to be.
·
In
concluding the chapter, God again promises Israel that it will be freed from
captivity. God will destroy the nations that have oppressed Israel, but not
Israel itself. The people will return to their homeland under God's protection.
9 Days for Life is a "digital pilgrimage" of
prayer and action focused on cherishing the gift of every person's life. A
multi-faceted novena highlighting a different intention each day provides
reflections, bonus information, and suggested actions. Join to receive the
novena through the 9 Days for Life app, daily emails, or daily texts. See below
for information on how else you can get involved! #9DaysforLife #OurPrayersMatter
Day One:
Intercession: May a culture of life grow
ever stronger in our communities.
Prayers: Our Father, 3 Hail Marys,
Glory Be
Reflection: God has carefully, lovingly
created every person
—in His own image and likeness—to be in a loving relationship
with Himself. From each tiny child knit within a mother’s womb, to every person
approaching death, all are loved perfectly and completely by God. “It is
therefore a service of love,” Pope Saint John Paul II explains, “which we are
all committed to ensure to our neighbor, that his or her life may be always
defended and promoted, specially when it is weak or threatened. In a world in
which the most vulnerable are so often overlooked and disregarded, Christ calls
us to embrace and uphold the unconditional dignity of every human life. In
doing so, we help to build “a new culture of life, the fruit of the culture of
truth and of love”
Acts of Reparation (Choose one.)
- · Do you love your cup of tea or coffee? Abstain from caffeine today or try your coffee black.
- · “Unplug” for some time, and reflect on how God may be asking you to help build a culture of life in your home, workplace, or Church community.
- · Offer some other sacrifice, prayer, or act of penance that you feel called to do for today’s intention.
Openness to New Life
58. I rejoice in the fatherly teaching of Pope St. Paul VI in his 1968
letter On Human Life (Humanae Vitae) where he courageously and prophetically
upholds the dignity of husband, wife and child in accord with God’s loving
designs. This encyclical, published the year before we became a diocese,
remains as relevant as ever.
59. The disaster invited by theologians, bishops, priests and laity who
rejected Pope St. Paul VI’s letter is upon us. Enough! What further evidence do
we need to see that the Sexual Revolution’s divisions: sexual pleasure
separated from procreation, sexuality from marriage, man from woman in divorce,
woman from child in abortion, youth from the hope that love can be faithful and
beautiful, the elderly from children who can care for them at life’s end—are a
plague of misery on a scale never known before? Enough! Husbands and wives,
mothers and fathers, you are called to have great hearts here, counter-cultural
and brave. You can build something better, freer, more generous, and nobler,
beginning in your own home.
60. Love and openness to life go together in the marital act.
Contracepting this unity on purpose, by any means including surgical
sterilization, is inviting a poison into your marriage. Do not refuse the gift
of a new child into your home, into God’s family, into the history of the
world, with a soul meant for eternal life. Your own heart will grow in virtue
and in the capacity for love, which is the real meaning of your life.
61. At times, a couple discerns, prayerfully and thoughtfully, a just
reason to postpone pregnancy for a time or even an indefinite period. The
Church recognizes and encourages here the exercise of responsible parenthood.
“The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgement
in sight of God.” Having a large family is also responsible, and the Church
rejoices in this sometimes-heroic decision of a married couple, but there can
be times when justice and love call for a postponement. What is a couple to do
then? This is where the science and discipline of Natural Family Planning are
so helpful. Modern methods of NFP, readily available thanks to many dedicated
laypeople in our diocese, are reliable, relationship-building tools. There is
also a challenge with NFP. Specifically, NFP requires periodic abstinence from
the marital act.
62. Periodic abstinence from the marital act does not mean periodic
abstinence from love! In fact, at times abstinence is a requirement of love in
a marriage. Abstinence is an opportunity to learn to love each other in a
myriad of other ways. In fact, respecting the God-designed cycle of fertility
reliably strengthens the marital relationship with the benefits of
self-control, understanding and mutual respect. Is this a challenge? Certainly.
Does it involve suffering? Yes, at times. Yet as the saints show us, suffering,
well-lived and offered to God, brings surprising joy.
63. The suffering of temporary or even permanent infertility should be
mentioned here. This particular cross is among the heaviest for a couple, and
the temptation to access illicit technological means to conceive a child, such
as in vitro fertilization, can be intense. But this grasping at life causes
further harm, is intrinsically evil, and must not be used. It violates the
equal dignity of the child, who, like his parents, is always a gift and not a
means to some other end; nor is he a “product” to be purchased. I highly
recommend Natural Procreative Technology (NAPRO), developed at the Paul VI
Institute, for moral medical means of increasing the natural possibilities of
conception, and assuring that the nature of child as gift from God is respected.
64. The fundamental issue here is trust. Trusting God in all things,
including His care for the needs of your family and each child that blesses
your home with his or her arrival, is at the heart of your family’s mission.
Orthodox New Year is celebrated as the
first day of the New Year as per the Julian calendar. Orthodox New Year
is a celebration of the year to come. It is often referred to as Old New
Year, and is celebrated by Orthodox churches in Russia, Serbia, and other
Eastern European countries on January 14. Although most countries have adopted
the Gregorian calendar, where New Year's Day is January 1, the Orthodox Church
still follows the Julian calendar, which places Christmas on January 7 and New
Year's a week later.
·
Russian
Orthodox churches in the United States hold church services often with festive
dinner and dancing to celebrate the holiday. The traditional dishes
include meat dumplings, beet salad, pickled mushrooms, tomatoes, and cucumbers
along with vodka.
·
Orthodox
Serbians also celebrate Old New Year, which is sometimes called the Serbian New
Year. Many Serbians Orthodox churches hold services, followed by dinner,
and dancing.
·
Although
the Old New Year is a popular holiday for many practicing the Orthodox faith,
it isn't an official holiday.
·
Macedonians,
including those living in the United States, also celebrate Old New Year's with
traditional food, folk music, and visiting friends and family.
·
Many
Russians enjoy extending the holiday season by including Orthodox New Year in
it.
Orthodox New Year Top Events
and Things to Do
·
Enjoy
a dinner dance at Orthodox Church with native cuisine folk music.
·
Learn
to cook some Russian or Eastern European dishes. One of the most
important Russian dishes during the holiday season is kutya, a porridge made of
grain, honey and poppy seeds. It symbolizes hope, happiness, and success.
·
Rent
a movie Dr. Zhivago (1965). It depicts some of the lavish parties
held during the holidays right before the Russian Revolution. The film is
based on the 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak.
Please pray for the
intentions of my daughter Candace Faith, whose name means “Shining Faith” pray
that the “Candace can do miracles”!
During this New Year let us take up the nature of God by
reflecting on these traits that make us a model for our children and our
sisters and brothers in Christ. Today reflect on:
Virtue vs. Impurity
The moral excellence and purity of spirit that radiate from my life as I obey God’s Word (II Peter 1:3)
1055 By virtue of the "communion of
saints," the Church commends the dead to God's mercy and offers her
prayers, especially the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist, on their behalf.
1833 Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition
to do good.
1995 The Holy
Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner
man," justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:
Just as
you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity,
so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification. . . .
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the
return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
One has to give the body a little less than its due. Otherwise it
turns traitor.
Daily Devotions
[2]http://www.usccb.org/about/pro-life-activities/january-roe-events/nine-days-of-prayer-penance-and-pilgrimage.cfm
[3]https://family.dphx.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-Complete-My-Joy-Apostolic-Exhortation-English.pdf
[5]http://graceonlinelibrary.org/home-family/christian-parenting/49-godly-Tcharacter-qualities/
[6]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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