Saint Katherine Antiochian Orthodox Church

05/23/2020

Christian fasting is not done to punish ourselves or to fulfill a "law." It is to set us free from enslavement to our bodily passions and help us to learn how better to love. If we can't control our bellies, or our tongues--such a small but troublesome organ-- how can we ever hope to avoid falling in to greater temptations? If we follow our own passions and desires what room is left to love God or others? Fasting is a necessary tool for our growth in holiness, and one which we must do by a regular schedule--like the lenten seasons. If we wait until we feel ready to fast we shall never fast and we will never make any headway in holiness.

05/19/2020

Prayer is hard work. It is not simply a matter of uttering prayers written in a book. It is taking those prayers into our hearts and pouring them out before God. It is also speaking to God from the depths of our hearts—with our minds having been brought there. This struggle is difficult and those who say prayer is so easy have not entered into the depth of prayer yet. The struggle is learning to deal with wandering and distracting thoughts, cooling desire, the expectation of an emotional reward, the temptations of spiritual vainglory... We struggle to be regular in prayer, day in and day out. We struggle to keep our hearts engaged. We struggle to keep our minds focused. But the struggle is not an argument against prayer. It is the confirmation of its reality for all true love and all communication of one's heart takes effort unless we are shallow. The husband and wife learn to love one another over years of patience and work. So too it goes with our love of God.

05/18/2020

RANDOM THOUGHT:
Those of us who are blessed to come from a Christian tradition where the sacrament of confession is offered, can often fall into a lazy thought and language. We can say, "I need to make my confession soon." We should remind ourselves that, "We need to move our hearts to repentance."

05/07/2020

WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE:
St Katherine's will have services this Sunday at 1233 Tarver Road.
9:00am Orthros (the morning office of prayer)
10:00am Divine Liturgy
We are obediently following the directives of our Archdiocese regarding the coronavirus as well as the directions given by the state of Texas. If you are in an "at risk" group, please continue to stay at home for the time being.

03/31/2020

03/18/2020

Beloved in Christ
The current extraordinary health concerns have caused a large number of precautions to be adopted in all areas of our lives. The Antiochian Archdiocese has given us guidelines in the current pandemic—and we will do so here at St Katherine's. Hopefully these adjustments will be short-lived, but in an effort to love our neighbor we will joyfully, and without fear, embrace what has been directed.

Evening Services. All of the evening services will be cancelled because of the very small space we have to assemble for Compline and the Akathist. The guidelines say no more than 10 people are to assemble and that we need to be at least six feet apart. That is impossible, so we will not have the evening services including Vespers on Saturday evening.

Divine Liturgy.I will be celebrating the Divine Liturgy at my house at 8:30am until we can begin assembling again. We can only have a very small number of people present. It may become necessary to have people sign up for that. If you are coming to Liturgy, you must be healthy and everyone in your home must be healthy. Otherwise please refrain from trying to attend. This Sunday, please pray the linked service as a family.https://antiochianprodsa.blob.core.windows.net/servicetexts/Mar%2022%202020%20Readers%20ORTHROS.pdf

Holy Communion and Confession. While Sunday Divine Liturgy will not be generally available, I will bring holy communion to you. If you wish for me to bring communion to you on Sunday after the Liturgy (after you have prayed the Typika Service linked above), please email me at: [email protected] so I can make plans to bring it to you. I would be pleased to bring it to every one of you!

However, because I will be visiting many people and driving a lot after Liturgy to do this I need to remind you that I will not be able to stay for a social conversation as I'll be continuing to fast until I have finished visiting everyone.

If I am to come, please have ready on your dining table an icon (preferably of Christ and a candle. I will first come in and place things in front of the icon and candle and then prepare the chalice for you. After I have done that, I can hear confessions if desired. I could bless your home as well (please let me know if you wish to have that done at this time so that I am prepared).

Podcast. I will be launching a podcast this week to provide you all with teaching, encouragement, and devotionals. The link to the podcasts will be sent to you in an email.

Reader Services. As soon as am given a link to them, I will also be sending you a link to services that you can do at home during this time period.

A Note from our Council Chairman:
As we approach the mid-point of Lent and celebrate the Veneration of the Cross, may we remember the words of Saint Paisios of Mount Athos –
Completely have trust in God, leave everything in His hands, and believe that His love will act for your own benefit. Then God will take care of everything, because there is nothing He cannot do; everything is easy for Him. The difficult thing is for man to decide to humble himself and leave everything to God’s providence and love.
Continuing our journey to Pascha, let us remain firm in our commitment to prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. Until we receive further guidance from His Eminence allowing unrestricted liturgical services, please considering making your weekly or monthly stewardship pledges by mail [P.O. Box 2183, Burleson, Texas 76097], or giving them to Father John if he is bringing you communion.
—Jim

03/11/2020

Adult Class cancelled for tonight. I think it’s actually my allergies that has hit me. With the power out we opened the house and now are experiencing the joy of allergies. I apologize. Hopefully next week I’ll be hitting on all cylinders again.