Dear Readers,
My roots.
Primate Archbishop George Le Mesurier, IOCC of
America
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Primate Emeritus Archbishop Maurice McCormick, IOCC of America
+++
Bishop George OtienoOdhiambo, IOCC of Africa
+++
Franz
Devantier, IOCC South Africa
Invocatio:
P.
In nomine Patris, et + Filii et Spiritus
Sancti. Amen.(In the name of the father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. )
Confiteor:
A. O Lord, Thou hast created man to be immortal and made
him to be an image of Thine own eternity; yet often we forget the glory of our
heritage and wander from the path which leads to righteousness. But Thou, O Lord, hast made us for Thyself
and our hearts are ever restless till they find their rest in Thee. Look with the eyes of Thy love upon our
manifold imperfections and pardon all our shortcomings, that we may be filled
with the brightness of the everlasting light and become the unspotted mirror of
Thy power and the image of Thy goodness;
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Absolutio:
P. God the Father, God the + Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless,
preserve and sanctify you; the Lord in His lovingkindness look down upon you
and be gracious unto you; the Lord +
absolve you from all your sins and grant you the grace and comfort of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
20th
Sunday after Pentecost – 26th October 2014 (Colour of Celebration – Green)
Our misfortunes are caused by our unfaithfulness
in conforming to the will of God.
Announcements:
We are actively recruiting candidate Priests. A custom program will be created for each
candidate Priest to reach the goal of Ordination to the Priesthood. Please contact us at: father@waseff.com
Special Prayer Requests:
=>
Let’s pray for the Salvation of all the souls on earth, and the return of Jesus
Christ.
News:
Still looking for a place to
meet on Sundays.
Download your free copy of
“Atonement for Everyone” by Father Mac Khruisium here:
Sacred References:
Epistle: Ephesians,
chapter 5, verse15-21
Gospel: John,
chapter 4, verse 46-53
Homily / Sermon:
Firstly I talk about water, wine, and faith.
Next I talk about appreciating wine.
Lastly I will discuss the gift of eternal life, that Jesus
Christ came to give everybody on earth.
Water, Wine, and
Faith
In the Gospel we read about the first miracle of Jesus Christ,
where he turned water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana. Water is so important to us, because most of
our bodies are made up of water. Blood
which is symbolic of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ would make after a few
short years of teaching; is also made up mostly of water, as is wine which is
symbolic of the blood that Jesus Christ shed for us, made up mainly of water.
There is still an ongoing discussion as to whether the wine
made had an alcoholic content, or was grape juice. These are one of those mysteries that we have
been left with to unravel for ourselves.
Certainly in the more traditional Christian churches, you will find that
alcoholic wine offered during the communion service, whereas other groups would
use grape juice or non-alcoholic wine.
The important point to recognise is that Jesus Christ changed ordinary
water into something really special, into a high quality wine. Fermenting the grape juice and creating a
product with an alcoholic content is a technique that has been practiced for
thousands of years. Alcoholic wine is
neither good nor bad; but simply a high quality product that needs to be
appreciated responsibly.
In actual fact the amount of alcohol consumed by the
average person taking communion is far less than the amount of alcohol that
would be present in a teaspoon of cough mixture or other medicinal product. The only reason why some groups would go to
all the trouble to use unfermented wine or grape juice as their wine, when
celebrating Holy communion, is to take into account the effect that the alcohol
could have on the alcoholics in their group.
Think of it this way, a small wafer is dipped into a chalice holding
some wine, and then placed into the mouth of the recipient. The actual amount of wine is miniscule. If the Priest is by himself, he would just
administer the wafers or bread, and so no wine at all would be given to the recipients
of Holy communion.
You are probably asking, “but how do you put water, wine,
and faith, in the same category.” The
answer is easy, you see water makes up most of our physical being, and is
essential to our survival. Wine which is
also made up primarily of water, has a strong spiritual aspect, especially when
used in the context of Holy communion.
Celebrating Jesus Christ, and our eternal salvation, using the bread and
wine, is an essential part of our belief system as Christians. Faith is something that is based on our
belief system, our spiritual beliefs, which has its foundations in the wine as
used in the Holy communion. Faith is an
essential quality that is the glue which makes things work on a spiritual
level.
For example at that very feast of Cana, there was a certain
Nobleman, who had come to see Jesus Christ, because his son was at the point of
death back in Capernaum. In fact his son
was running a life threatening temperature or high fever, which did not or
could not break. If the fever did not
break it would lead to death, and it seemed that this Nobleman’s son had
already passed the point, where he could recover. It seemed that he would die at any moment.
This Nobleman besought Jesus Christ to travel with him to
Capernaum to heal his son. He believed
that if Jesus Christ went with him to his son, then his son would live. This Nobleman already had faith in Jesus Christ,
faith in God.
In the context that Jesus Christ was and is God, he could
have done anything at anytime. However
Jesus decided to test this nobleman before changing the circumstances that his
son was in. So Jesus says to the
nobleman, tongue in cheek I suppose; “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will
not believe.” The nobleman is completely
focussed on what needs to happen for his son to live, and he argues with Jesus,
that if he were to just return to Capernaum with him, then his son would live.
Jesus Christ says to this nobleman, “Go thy way; thy son
liveth.” The nobleman had complete faith
that his son was going to live, he had complete faith in the words that Jesus
Christ had spoken to him. The nobleman
starts his journey back to Capernaum, which would take a few days, because
remember in those days they were travelling from place to place on foot. As he walked he realized just how completely
he had faith in the words of Jesus Christ, he knew his son would live.
On the second day of his journey back to his son in
Capernaum, the nobleman comes across his servants who have come to give him
news of his son. His servants tell him, “Yesterday
at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
His son has been healed, his son will live. The nobleman realises that at that moment of
the previous day, when Jesus Christ had told him that his son would live, and
at the same time he had believed Jesus Christ with all his heart his son had
been healed in that moment of faith. It
all came down to a single moment in time, a moment of pure faith.
You see when you cut through all the details and get down
to what really counts, you find that very often it is just a moment when you
have focussed completely on believing the promises of Jesus Christ, and have
created that small seed of faith, that things suddenly happen in a divine
way. Jesus Christ also told us that if
we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. That nobleman had a moment of complete faith,
he had his mustard seed of faith, but he did not choose to move a mountain, he
caused his son to be healed with his faith, which is equally inspiring. Below you will find the prayer of redemption,
and if you have complete faith in the process, you will in that moment have
obtained eternal life for yourself.
Appreciating Wine
Saint Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, mentions that
they should walk in circumspection, as wise people, and not to walk as
fools. You see if we don’t think about
what we are doing, then it is easy to do something that will make out actions
look like the actions of a fool. If you
are walking through life without thinking about where you are going, then don’t
be surprised if you walk straight through the crossroads like a fool, without
having chosen this way or that, but simply following where your mindless footsteps
have fallen.
You see we need to think about what the will of God is,
about how Gods will applies to our specific lives. We need to spend periods of time in prayer, meditation
and contemplation, trying to understand, even if it is just a very little bit,
the will of God in our lives. Once we have
some understanding of God’s will, we can walk through life, being relatively
wiser than those around us.
Having achieved a small understanding of the will of God,
however small it is, we will be in a position to start looking at various
questions and begin to explain or understand them better. Let’s take the art of appreciating wine for
example. Now because wine has an
alcoholic aspect to it, there are many aspects to it that can trip us up. We would probably have understood that the
important thing is to avoid excess, with regards to wine. In wisdom at a wine tasting occasion, we
would taste the dry wines first for example, so that we don’t overpower our
palate with the sweet varieties. We
would be following the practice of spitting the wine out, after we have tasted
it, so that we don’t drink the wine to excess.
We would have taken the necessary actions so that we would not under any
circumstances have become drunk on wine, because then we are no longer walking
in wisdom. If we are having wine with
our meal, then limiting it to one glass is wise. Drinking a second and third glass or more would
indicate that we had allowed our self to slip into a situation of excess, which
would negatively affect our efforts to walk in wisdom. We would in fact be walking through life as a
fool, providing an opportunity for laughter, because of our mindless actions.
In these short verses Saint Paul does give some advice on
focussing our minds on certain things in order to create a better end
result. Remember that the end result is
not for others to see, but for God to see in the book of life, when we stand
before him, on the day of judgement.
Saint Paul had recommended filling our thoughts with the words of the
psalms in song, hymns and other spiritual songs. Paul recommends that we create a melody in
our hearts dedicated to God through Jesus Christ. If we focus on God in complete faith, then we
can use that mustard seed of faith in a wise way to improve the general situation
of humankind, or specific people who are close to us.
Saint Paul gives us even more advice, and that is to be
grateful for all things, and to give thanks for them to God through Jesus
Christ. This is incredibly powerful
advice. You see when you don’t have
much, but you are grateful for that little bit that you do have, then you will
be given more. However if you are not
grateful, then you may find, that even that little bit that you do have, will
be taken away from you. Paul had
specifically said that we should give thanks to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said that no man comes to the
father except through him. You see Jesus
Christ set up a spiritual law. Once a
spiritual law is in place, it makes no sense to fight against it, if you want
results you need to take the spiritual law into account.
Jesus Christ or God the son, was sent to earth by God or
God the Father, to provide the entire earth with a way to get eternal
life. The spiritual law is that because
Jesus Christ came to give us this law, we must action it through him. So to get to the father or to God we need to
go through Jesus Christ. This spiritual
law holds true for giving thanks unto God, we use the same route. We give thanks unto God through Jesus
Christ. It may seem like a complication,
but it is a necessary spiritual law. If
we don’t follow this law, it may be that nothing seems to work, you may say
that your God does not hear you, for example.
As soon as you start following this law, then things will start going
much better. Remember walk as the wise,
and take the spiritual laws into account.
To walk as the fool without any wisdom or acknowledgement of these laws;
will result in frustration.
Eternal Life for
Everybody
Everybody on Earth needs to believe in Jesus Christ, and receive
the opportunity to receive eternal life.
If you take this seriously, then you should pray the prayer of
Redemption if you have not already done so, so that you can receive eternal
life for yourself. Once you have secured
eternal life for yourself, then you need to share the good news and the prayer
of redemption with others, so that more and more people may receive eternal
life. See the Prayer of Redemption
below.
Please download your free copy
of “Atonement for Everyone” by Father Mac Khruisium here:
Once you have read it, then
please send a copy to everybody that you know.
This ebook has an open source licence which enables you to freely
distribute it to as many people as possible.
It may be easier to just email them the above link.
The Prayer of Redemption
Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for dying
on the cross for my sins.
Please forgive my sins and give me the
gift of eternal life.
I ask you into my life and heart to be
my Lord and Saviour.
I undertake to be baptized as called
for in the scriptures, Mark 16, verse 16.
I undertake to regularly partake of
Holy Communion, as in Mathew 26, verses 26-28.
Amen.
Mark, chapter 16, verse 16
Whoever believes and is baptized will
be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mathew 26:26-28
And as they were eating, Jesus took
bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said,
Take, eat; this is my body. And he took
the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For
this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins.
Prayer:
Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name: Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our
daily bread. And forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.
For
Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
A Prayer for
Jesus Christ’s Return
From the
Understanding of God
Let
Understanding flow into all humankind.
Let that
Understanding fill the Earth.
From the Will
of God
Let God’s
Will become our will
The purpose
which only God fully knows.
From the Love
of God
Let Love fill
the hearts of humankind.
May Jesus Christ return to Earth.
Let the
Understanding, Will, and Love of Jesus Christ Reign on Earth.
Benedictio:
P. The peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and
of his Son, Christ our Lord; and the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, + the Son and the Holy Ghost, be
amongst you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Love,
Franz of Saint Titus, IOCC, South Africa,
