Holy Eucharist Parish

The following was sent to me by a friend a number of years ago. I have found it profitable for my own spiritual journey. I now recommend it to you.

RULES FOR PIOUS LIFE

by Platon, Archbishop of Kostroma

Force yourself to get up early and on a set schedule. As soon as you wake up, turn your mind to God: make the Sign of the Cross, and thank Him for the night that has passed and for all His mercies towards you. Ask Him to guide all your thoughts, feelings and desires, so that everything you say or do will be pleasing to Him.

As you dress, recollect the presence of the Lord and of your Guardian Angel. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to put on you the robe of salvation.

After washing yourself, get down to morning prayers. Pray kneeling, with concentration, and with reverence and meekness, as is proper before the eyes of the Almighty. Ask Him to give you faith, hope, and charity, as well as calm strength to accept all that the coming day may bring to you—its hardships and troubles. Ask Him to bless your labours. Ask for help: to accomplish some particular task that you face; to steer clear of some particular sin.

If you can, read something from the Bible, especially from the New Testament and the Psalms. Read with intent to receive some spiritual enlightenment, inclining your heart to compunction. Having read a little, pause and reflect on what you read, and then proceed further, listening to what the Lord suggests to your heart.

Try to devote at least fifteen minutes to spiritually contemplate the teachings of the Faith and the profit to your soul in what you have read.

Always thank the Lord that He did not leave you to perish in your sins, but cares for you and in every possible way leads you to the Heavenly Kingdom.

Start every morning as if you had just decided to become a Christian and to live according to God’s commandments.

As you enter upon your duties, strive to do everything towards the glory of God. Start nothing without prayer, because whatever we do without prayer later turns out to be futile or harmful. The words of the Lord are true: “Without me, you can do nothing.”

Imitate our Saviour, Who laboured helping Joseph and His most pure Mother. While working, keep a good spirit, relying always on the Lord’s help. It is a good thing to repeat unceasingly the prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

If your labours are successful, give thanks to the Lord; and if they are not, place yourself in His will, for He takes care of us and directs everything towards the better. Accept all hardships as a penance for your sins—in the spirit of obedience and humility.

Before every meal, pray that God will bless the food and drink; and after the meal give thanks to Him and ask Him not to deprive you of spiritual blessings. It is good to leave the table feeling a bit hungry. In everything, avoid excess. Following the example of Christians of old, fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Do not be greedy. Be content having food and clothing, imitating Christ Who became impoverished for our sake.

Strive to please the Lord in everything so that you will not be reproached by your own conscience. Remember God always sees you, and so be carefully vigilant concerning the feelings, thoughts and desires of your heart.

Avoid even the smallest sins, lest you fall into greater ones. Drive away from your heart each and every thought or design that moves you away from the Lord. Strive especially against unclean desire; drive it out of your heart like a burning spark fallen on your coat. If you do not want to be troubled by evil desires, meekly accept humiliation from others.

Do not say too much, remember that for every spoken word we will give account before God. It is better to listen than to talk: in verbosity it is impossible to avoid sin. Do not be curious to hear the news, which only entertains and distracts the spirit. Condemn no one, but consider yourself to be worse than everyone else. The one who condemns another is taking another’s sins onto himself; it is better to grieve about the sinner, and pray that God will correct him in His own way. If someone does not listen to your advice, do not dispute with him. But if his deeds are a temptation to others, take appropriate measures, because their good, being many, must carry more weight than his, being only one.

Never argue or make excuses. Be gentle, quiet and humble; endure everything, according to the example of Jesus. He will not burden you with a cross that exceeds your strength. He will also help you carry the Cross that you have.

Ask the Lord to give you the grace to fulfill His holy Commandments as well as you can, even if they seem too difficult to keep. Having done a good deed, do not expect gratitude, but temptation: for love towards God is tested by obstacles. Do not hope to acquire any virtues without suffering sorrows. In the midst of temptations do not despair, but address God with short prayers: “Lord, help… Teach me to… Do not leave… Protect me…” The Lord allows temptations and trials; He also gives the strength to overcome them.

Ask God to take away from you every thing that feeds your pride, even if it will be bitter. Avoid being harsh, gloomy, nagging, mistrustful, suspicious or hypocritical, and avoid rivalry. Be sincere and simple in your attitude. Humbly accept the admonitions of others, even if you are more wise and experienced.

What you do not want done to you, do not do to others. Rather, do for them what you wish to be done for you. If anyone visits you, be tender towards him, be modest, wise, and, sometimes, depending on the circumstances, be also blind and deaf.

When you feel slack, or a certain coolness, do not leave off the usual order of prayer and pious practices which you have established. Everything that you do in the name of the Lord Jesus, even the small and imperfect things, becomes an act of piety.

If you desire to find peace, commit yourself completely onto God. You will find no peace until you calm down in God, loving Him alone.

From time to time seclude yourself, following the example of Jesus, for prayer and contemplation of God. Contemplate the infinite love of our Lord Jesus Christ, His sufferings and death, His Resurrection, His Second Coming and the Last Judgment.

Visit the church as often as possible. Confess more often and receive the Holy Mysteries. Doing so you will abide in God, and this is the highest blessing. During Confession, repent and confess frankly and with contrition all your sins; for the unrepented sin leads to death.

Devote Sundays to works of charity and mercy; for example, visit someone who is sick, console someone who is in sorrow, save one who is lost. If anyone will help the lost one turn towards God he will receive a great reward in this life and in the age to come. Encourage your friends to read Christian spiritual literature and to participate in discussing spiritual matters.

Let the Lord Jesus Christ be your teacher in everything. Constantly address Him by turning your mind to Him; ask yourself: what would He do in similar circumstances?

Before you go to sleep, pray frankly and with all your heart, look searchingly at your sins during the past day. You should always compel yourself to repent with a contrite heart, with suffering and tears, lest you repeat past sins. As you go to bed, make the Sign of the Cross, kiss the cross, and entrust yourself to the Lord God, who is your Good Shepherd. Consider that perhaps this night you will have to appear before Him.

Remember the Lord’s love towards you and love Him with all your heart, your soul and your mind.

Acting in this way, you will reach the blessed life in the Kingdom of Eternal Light.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

The following was my May 2007 message to the Knights of Columbus Council to which I belong:

Unbelievable! It happened again! It seems to happen every time. Recently, our parish made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Blessed Bishop Martyr Vasyl at St. Joseph Parish. After the Moleben service in the church, everyone went into the shrine to be anointed with oil that has been touched to the holy relics of the saint. I was almost the last to be anointed of the close to 75 people who had come that night. Afterwards, I stood before his holy relics and prayed. And again, I had the sense that I was standing before a fire. There was no heat. It was a sense of being present before a strong light, unlike any other light. I have had that sense every time I have come to pray before Blessed Vasyl’s relics over the last five years.

I have asked the question many times – why? The only answer worth listening is the one that Fr. John Sianchuk, CSsR gives so often – Blessed Vasyl is here in Winnipeg for the sake of holiness. Holiness. And then I ask – whose holiness? Mine? Yours? Ours? The answer is – yes. All of the above.

“Be holy for I, the Lord your God, am holy,” says the Lord through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah. Blessed Vasyl was given to us – to be in our midst, in the midst of the Communion of Saints - as an example of how to be holy in the modern world.

I think I know what you are thinking. How can I be holy? It must be for other people. Yes, I think the same way at times, too. But the fact is that the Lord wants us to be like Him so that we can live in Him. What now arises is the question - how do I do it? The answer is that “I” don’t do it – it is the Lord who makes me/us holy. It is His work in us. We only have to give way to Him.

I truly believe that this is the way that Blessed Vasyl followed on his way to martyrdom. It wasn’t the martyrdom that made him holy. Rather, it was his availability to being used by the Lord; it was his surrender to the Lord; it was his imitation of the most pure Mother of God – “Let it be done unto me according to your word.” I am sure that is why he had such a deep and profound devotion to the Mother of God. He found in her the perfect example of surrender to the Lord, of being used by the Lord, of being holy.

This recognition of God’s presence in our daily lives, not just once through the day but at each moment in the day, is an important step to being made holy. St. Paul puts it well when he writes, “It is no longer I that live but Christ who lives in me.” Allowing this to happen, giving way the Lord, and recognizing His presence and activity in our lives is key to being holy.

Blessed Vasyl’s presence in our midst is the call of our Lord to holiness. It is our Lord’s voice calling us to be like Him, to dwell in Him, to find all our being in Him.

What’s your answer to this call?

Let’s pray for one another, indeed, for every member of the parish, that we may enter deeply into the holiness of the Lord. And if you need some help, go, sit before the holy relics of Blessed Vasyl – sit before the fire of God’s presence – and ask him for help. He is an elder brother in Christ. Still following the example of the most pure Mother of God, he will ask the Lord on our behalf. And the Lord will answer.

O great and holy martyr, our blessed father Vasyl, you were on fire with God’s Word and have followed His Will even unto death. You have been sanctified and purified by the Cross and now you stand in God’s Presence wearing the martyr’s crown interceding on our behalf. You, who have confidence before the Lord, pray for us who come to you with love and devotion. For we come to you with all our needs knowing that the Lord hears His faithful ones.

Intercede for us before the Almighty God, that each one receives according to their needs; bring comfort to the sorrowful and hope to the lost; heal the sick; give courage to the young; bring a change of heart to all those who fall into sin; enlighten our minds with the truth of the Gospel; inspire us always to follow Christ; help us always to choose the good; give us courage in times of distress, faith in times of despair, hope in times of darkness; and strengthen our commitment to love our Lord. Grant that each one of us be saved through the grace and mercy of God, that together with you we may praise and glorify Him who is wondrous in His saints: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

It is our custom to bless the graves of our loved ones sometime during Bright Week and on the All Souls Saturday before Pentecost. In the Archeparchy of Winnipeg, it has long been the local custom to have these blessings take place on Pentecost Sunday itself. As the Gregorian and Julian calendars align this year for Pascha (and therefore Pentecost), there will be two Sundays of grave blessings.

• 2:00 pm, Sunday, May 27
  Holy Family Cemetery
• 2:00 pm, Sunday, June 3
  All Saints Cemetery

We do not know if Metropolitan Lawrence will be presiding at either cemetery.

For our own parish, we have many loved ones buried at the Elmwood Cemetery. We will begin Grave blessings there at 11:00 am on Saturday, June 2. We will meet at the main entrance and determine then the order we will follow.

I was able to greet my own mother today and wish her all of God’s wonderful blessings. While I am not present to do the same at the parish today, I do the same from afar.

Below is one picture of many that I took yesterday while visiting the Ottawa Tulip Festival. It was a superb day weather-wise, and we arrived an hour before all the crowds so we were able to enjoy this small sample of God ’s beauty without disruption. Once I return to Winnipeg, I will upload all the photos to my personal blog.

Update on May 23 - The photo album is now available. Click here.

As promised during the Divine Liturgy today - the liturgical greeting: “Christ is risen; indeed he is risen!” can be heard in 250 languages at Pascha Polyglotta.