Priest’s Corner, June 2019
The Ascension of Our Resurrected Lord is a sanctification of our humanity, as Christ returns our human form, which we had defiled through our sinfulness, back to its Divine perfection, as He ascends into Heaven and “sits at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). The celebration of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, Trinity/Pentecost Sunday, is the “birthday” of the earthly Church through the gift of the Holy Spirit – which is the source of life itself. This feast inspires us to remember God’s promise, that He will be with us “unto the end of the ages” (Matt. 28:20). All of this given to us by the mercy, Grace, and love of God. We have every reason in the world to be comforted in our difficulties, to be strengthened in our earthly trials, and to have hope in an eternal future in the blessedness of the Heavenly Kingdom – the gates of which have be opened unto us by our Resurrected Lord and Savior! Let us not abandon our spiritual efforts just because Lent has ended. Let not the joy of Holy Pascha leave us just because the date of this year’s Easter has passed. Our spiritual efforts can and should continue every Wednesday and Friday as we recall why we fast on those days of the week. The joy of the Resurrection can and should be felt by all of us every Sunday because the promise of our Lord was given not only to those to whom He spoke directly nearly two thousand years ago, but for all ages and to all mankind – including us. Truly, Christ is Risen, Ascended, and sits at the right hand of the Father awaiting all of us who love Him!
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Kate Logvy and the organizing committee of our first-ever “Bubbles and Bounty” auction night fundraiser for their incredible efforts to make this unique event such a phenomenal success. The months of preparation and work earned our parish nothing but praise from the guests and resulted in enough donated funds to make the final payments on our new iconostasis. I was particularly proud of our young servers, Daniel Judd, Katya and Natasha Poluektov, Katya and Maxim Saschin, Kyrill and Sophie Logvy, and Nadia and Eli Ionin, all of whom did such a wonderful job taking care of our guests to the joy of everyone present. Glory be to God that we have such dedicated parishioners who put in so much time and effort to organize such special events and such good friends who support us so generously.
“Sanctify, O Lord, those who love the beauty of Thy house!”
God bless, Fr. Alexander