St. John The Baptist Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
111 SECOND STREET L3B 4T8 Welland, ON, Canada

WE FLY TO YOUR PATRONAGE, O HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. Despise not our petitions and our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O Ever Glorious and Blessed Virgin Mary.

by Sister Vassa ........THE UNIFYING SELF-OFFERING OF THE THEOTOKOS (Saturday, November 21) The most pure Temple of the Savior; / the precious Chamber and Virgin; / the sacred Treasure of the glory of God, / is led today into the house of the Lord, / bringing with her the grace of the Spirit. / Therefore, the angels of God praise her: / ‘Truly this woman is the abode of heaven.’ (Kontakion-hymn, Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple) Today, those of us on the ...New Calendar celebrate the Most-Pure Virgin being led, at three years of age, into the Temple; and those of us on the Older Calendar the feast of the Archangel Michael and All the Bodiless Powers (i.e., the invisible creation of angels, archangels, seraphim, cherubim, etc.). Thankfully, the above-quoted hymn allows me to reflect on both feasts, as it also mentions the angels. The angels praise with us the self-offering of the little Jewish girl from Nazareth, who is led like a lamb into the earthly temple, (hence in Slavonic this feast is called Введение, literally the leading in of the Mother of God), to live separately from her beloved parents and to be prepared for her unique vocation, of serving as the most pure Temple of the Saviour. Her self-offering makes possible the bringing together of the human and the divine in the Person of Jesus Christ, and also of the visible and invisible creation. Today let me praise the merely-human little girl from Nazareth, who for all our sakes takes the first little steps toward her unique cross today, of serving as the heavenly ladder between us and the rest of God’s creation, both visible and invisible. Let me let myself be drawn in, to her all-unifying, all-embracing Motherhood, letting myself participate in its wholeness or salvation. Most Holy Theotokos, save us! See more

As Advent begins in the Catholic Church......Below is a Meditation on the Second Day of Philip’s/Nativity Fast: By Father Andrew Barakos BLESSINGS TO ALL........

May the Blessings of the Lord be Always With You ! Feel His presence in Your Heart and continue to be the LIGHT & LOVE IN THE WORLD........as a BEACON OF HOPE, PEACE, HARMONY, COMPASSION, PATIENCE, KINDNESS . Like a ripple affect, we ALL can change the world !!!! BLESSINGS TO ALL !!!!

BLESSINGS TO ALL.........