The Vine الكرمة

1. The Vine الكرمة Third Sunday after Holy Cross THE HOLY ROSARY OUR LADY OF PEACE - CALGARY OUR LADY OF GOOD HELP - EDMONTON OCTOBER 2008 Day 5: Saint Paul the simple & Saint Christina the virgin.  Day 6: Saint Thomas the Apostle.  Day 7: Saint Sergius and Backhos.  Day 8: Saint Pelagia the penitent.  Day 9: Saint James the brother of the Lord, apostle.  Day 10: Olampus and his sister Olampia, and their companions, martyrs.  Day 11: Saint Philip the deacon & Memorial of the first Nicean ecumenical Council. (Our Lady of Peace – Calgary Mass at 6:00pm – Our Lady of Good Help Edmonton -Mass at 11:00am (English) 12:00pm (Arabic) Rev. Fr. Esper Antoun – Pastor Deacon Michel Kassas – Assistant 504, 30th Ave. N.W 9809-76th Ave. N.W Calgary, AB T2M 2N6 Edmonton, AB T2E 1K6 Tel: (403) 289-8954 Tel: (780) 433-8571

2. Third Sunday after Holy Cross A Reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians: (Philippians 3: 14, 4:1) Brothers and Sisters, Join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the Cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is their belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. Praise be to God always. A Reading from the Holy Gospel according St. Matthew, (Matthew 24: 23 – 31) Jesus said, “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, if they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. This is the Truth, Peace be with you.

3. ThirdSunday after Holy Cross • Intercession Prayers • 1- We pray for the political leaders of the world. Make your presence in their hearts evident, so they can understand that the authority and wealth should lead them to meet your Son and be saved, following the example of Saints Sarkis & Bakhos. • We pray to the Lord. • 2- On a daily basis, we face obstacles and temptations and false messiahs who try to keep us away from our Lord. Strengthen us, Father to overcome the evil thoughts which eclipse your light from our consciences so we continue to believe that we are children of the light, and face the temptations of this world as Saints Sarkis and Bakhos did, through the intercession of Mary, our Lady of the Rosary. We pray to the Lord. • 3- Through the intercession of Mary, the Virgin Mother and all the saints who lived their lives on this earth without forgetting for one second that your Son is coming again. Grant us the power to stay away from the false messiahs and to live like the saints on our journey from this world to the eternal life. We pray to the Lord. Saints Sergius and Bacchus (also Serge and Bacchus or Sergios and Bakchos or Sarkis wa Bakhos), were third century Roman soldiers who are commemorated as martyrs by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. Serge and Bacchus were officers in Caesar Maximian's army, and were held high in his favor until they were exposed as secret Christians. They were then severely punished in 303, with Bacchus dying during torture, and Sergius eventually beheaded. Churches in their honor have been built in several cities, including Constantinople and Rome. Their feast day is 7 October. Our Lady of Good Help – Edmonton & Our Lady of Peace Calgary will start a work shop for the children and the youth from 5 years to 25 years old. Please if you are interesting in teaching your children stain glass, wood, paint, and other activities write the names on the sheet in the front & back of the Church! Thank you for your corporation with us for the good benefits of your children! Our Lady of Good Help – Edmonton Our Lady of Peace – Calgary www.mcparish.orgwww.mcparishcalgary.org

4. ThirdSunday after Holy Cross The Holy Rosary is one of the most popular lay devotions among Roman Catholics worldwide. Its formal name is the "Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "Church historians also call it the Dominican Rosary, the Marian Rosary, and the Vita Christi or Life of Christ Rosary, to distinguish it from other Roman Catholic bead-prayers (devotions that use beads to keep count). The Holy Rosary is closely associated with Saint Dominic de Guzmán (1170-1221 A.D.), the Spaniard who founded of the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans. From the fifteenth century forward the Dominicans were the foremost promoters of the Rosary. Recent scholarship suggests, however, that the first groups to combine the repetition of the Hail Mary with the contemplation of Mysteries were other religious orders in Prussia around 1300 A.D. Over the next 250 years the devotion spread across Europe, reaching the laity via voluntary confraternities and rosary picture-books. There were numerous competing versions, advocating as few as five Mysteries and as many as 200. The matter was not settled until 1569. In that year St. Pope Pius V, himself a Dominican, issued an apostolic letter establishing the fifteen-Mystery form of the Holy Rosary as the official, Church-authorized version. This was the format in use for the next four centuries. In the year 2002, Pope John Paul II published an apostolic letter that added five more Mysteries, making a total of twenty authorized Mysteries. The Maronite Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 5. This commemorates the day in 1571 when Christian forces defeated the Turkish (Moslem) fleet in a sea battle at Lepanto, off the western coast of Greece. St. Pope Pius V had asked all Christians to pray the Rosary for victory. The Prayer of St. Francis "O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!Where there is hatred, let me sow love;Where there is injury, pardon;Where there is discord, harmony;Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light, and Where there is sorrow, joy. Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."