34 Gold Street, Shrewsbury, MA 01545-6238 Voice: 508.845.0088 Fax: 508.845.8850 e-mail: FrNick@StNicholasChurch.org web: www.StNicholasChurch.org

A Parish of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas

Sun, Sept 25Sat, Oct 1

urs, Oct 6Fri, Oct 14

stART on the Street FestivalStaff Orthodox Food PantryHoly Trinity Wine/Food FestMustard Seed Meal, 5pm

Dates to RememberGreete Tm 2:

Arc Gava and Călin Galeriu

No Coffee Hour Today(stART Festival)

All Altar Serve Invited

ST. NICHOLAS

WEEKLY BULLETINSeptember 25, 2016

This Week’s News

THE START ON THE STREET FESTI-vAL is TODAY, Sunday, September25th. ere are plenty of ways to help.You can visit our booth on Park Ave.You could also lend a hand at the boothand the end-of-day clean up. is is animportant fundraiser for our commu-nity. A few hours from each of us will dothe trick. Here’s what what you can do:

→ All day Sunday crews are neededto warm pitas at the AHEPA houseand at the tent to sell. → At day’s end we need to transporteverything back to the church, clean-up and stow the gear.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CLASSESbegin this Sunday, September 25th. Ifyou have not registered your child, andwould like to do so, you may completea registration form here at Church. Ifanyone would like more information,speak with Valarie Stamoulis orPreoteasa Maria. As a reminder, quiet space to holdReligious Ed classes is limited. It takesvery little to disrupt a class of children

particular they are at work in Louisianaand Syria. Please consider a donation tohelp those who are in desperate need.Go to: www.IOCC.org or call: 877-803-4622.

THERE WON'T BE A COFFEE HOURTHIS WEEK. We’re all heading off tothe Parish's stART concession.

Holy Trini NewsHOLY TRINITY’S 10TH ANNIvERSARY

ANNUAL FOOD AND WINE FEST ON OCTO-BER 6TH, 5:30-8:30pm at St. SpyridonCathedral. Celebratory Champagne andSparkling Wine Tasting & Seminar at5:45pm! Live Music, Raffle Prizes, GreatFood! You don’t want to miss it! Fortickets call Irene Tsoules at 774-239-9238

stARTon the Street

THANKS TO THE E-RECY-CLING CREW for their worklast Saturday! Gerry Belba,who coordinated; Lisa Miel-nicki, Artic Gavala, and AndyCavanaugh.

THE IOCC is engaged in reliefefforts all over the globe, but in

T Eighteen Sunday after PentecostApostolic Rding: 2 Corinians 9:6-11 • Gospel: Luke 5:1-11

(T Miraculous Catch)Tone 5 • Mans Gospel: 3

from lessons their teachers have pre-pared. We ask for your cooperationduring the time aer communion, andduring the sermon and coffee-hour.Please remain in the Church and do notdisrupt classes by walking in the coffeehour area, hallway or going to thekitchen.

FOOD PANTRY. Help is needed to staffour monthly responsibility at the Or-thodox Food Center this coming Satur-day, October 1st, from 9 am - noon.About 4 people are needed. Likewise,donations of food are always needed,and may be dropped off at the FoodPantry housed at St. Spyridon Cathe-dral. If you can help in this worthwhileministry, please speak with Lisa Miel-nicki or Nicole Apostola.

or Eleanor Sedares at 508-753-3106‘Like’ on Facebook, “Annual Food andWine Fest.”

Holy Trinity Nursing & RehabilitationCenter has the following EMPLOY-MENT OPPORTUNITIES: CNA's,RN's and Dietary Aides. Please contactMichelle Williamson, dir. of HumanResources at: 508-852-1000 or e-mail:mwilliamson@htnr.net.

Communi NewsNOTRE DAME ACADEMY is holding anopen house on ursday, Oct 6th at7:00 pm for prospective students(young women grades 9-12). For info:www.nda-worc.org, or call: 508-757-6200 x229.

A Prayer in Time ofDrought

LET uS PRAY TO THE LORd,

OLord God Almigh, Wholis the clouds from the ends

of the earth, Who made lightning inthe rains, Who brings up the windsfrom their storehouses, Who sum-mons the waters of the sea and poursthem upon the face of all the earth,we pray You, and we implore You,confessing our sins and entreatingYour rich mercies: Command theclouds to rain, have compassion onall Your earth, show loving-kindnessto old and young and infants suckingat the breast, to Your servants, sonsand daughters, and all beasts of theearth, that it bring up for us bread forfood and herb for the livestock. Ac-cept the prayers of all Your people,and reject not the groans of the poor,neither rebuke us with Your anger,nor punish us with Your wrath, norlet Your thirsting people be de-spoiled by famine. For every eyehopes on You that they will receivedrink from You in due season. Wetrust You, and knowing none othersave You, we await from You richmercies.

For You are a good and loving God,and to You we send up glory: Father,Son, and Holy Spirit: now and for-ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

A Prayer of Fr. LaurenceLET uS PRAY TO THE LORd,

In e midst of all the demands ofthis earthly life, O Christ, remind

us of our purpose in this world.draw forth from us a loving obedi-ence to the will of your Father as itmanifests itself to us daily, like theobedience you gave to him, thor-ough but not servile, willing andcomplete, without holding back orbeing forced, and always animatedby love. Give us courage to embracethe cross and imitate you in yourperfect abandonment to the Father.

So that ever filled with health of souland body, we may confidently glorifyyour wondrous and blessed name,Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: nowand forever, and unto ages of ages.Amen.

September 14e Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross

Stavri TanaceaSeptember 17

e Holy Martyr Faith, Daughter of St. Sophia

Faith Mayere Holy Martyr Sophia of Rome

Sofia ApostolSophia Amyra ApostolaCarol Fotos

September 18e Holy Martyr Ariadna of Phrygia

Ariana Sparages

Namedays

The Falling Asleep of St. John e Evangelist

September 26

Kontakion of John e TheologianWho can tell your mighty works, O vir-gin Saint? For you pour forth miracles,and are a source of healings, and you in-tercede for our souls, as the eologianand the friend of Christ.

Sow Bounfully, Rp Bounfully(and of course, the rhythm of natureand weather). In many ways it is not un-like the calculation an investor makes ina start-up company or the market. Butas anyone who has planted a crop (evena backyard garden) knows, the variablesof nature are much harder to predictthan those of the marketplace. Oneplants a crop with faith and manyprayers, while all the time hoping. It isthe same whenever we give somethingto charity, perhaps to someone we knowwho is in need; it requires from us hope,faith and trust in God that what we givewill bear fruit. Also, sowing bountifully asks of usa certain amount of boldness andcourage. e one who sows “sparingly,”even if she or he has faith, is expressinga reserve or reticence when asked to putthat faith into practice. Sowing bounti-fully requires us to really put our com-plete faith in God. We’re giving up a partof our own resources. At the same time, no one forces us.St. Paul tells us, “Each one must do as hehas made up his mind, not reluctantlyor under compulsion, for God loves acheerful giver.” (v. 7) Most of the mod-ern translations use the word “mind” asthe place where this decision is made,but the Greek word St. Paul uses is“heart.” For St. Paul and the Church Fa-thers it is the heart that is the center ofspiritual discernment, the noetic faculty.Today we think of the heart as the centerof emotion and passion — the oppositeof rational decision-making — so thetranslation makes sense in that way, butstill something is lost. Our decision tosow bountifully and cheerfully is notjust a rational calculation. It is a decisionthat is tempered and shaped by our trustin God. It is a spiritually wise decision. We all have fears when we give awaysome portion of our possessions. Forthis reason, St. Paul addresses thesefears directly: “And God is able to pro-vide you with every blessing in abun-dance, so that you may always haveenough of everything and may provide

in abundance for every good work. Asit is written, ‘He scatters abroad, he givesto the poor; his righteousness enduresfor ever.’ (Psalm 112:9)” (v. 8-9) If a per-son grounds their decision to be gener-ous simply in his or her intellect, therational part will say, “the more yougive, the less you will have for yourself.”St. Paul is telling them and us to trust inGod’s generosity. He is saying that therational calculus is not the whole story;that generosity, not selfishness, is thefundamental principle at work in cre-ation. God’s rules are different thanwhat might seem to be true on the sur-face. God’s rules require faith and trustin Him in order to become evident. “He who supplies seed to the sowerand bread for food will supply and mul-tiply your resources and increase theharvest of your righteousness.” (v. 10)God wants us to understand the corre-lation between material generosity anda spiritual harvest. He wants us to rec-ognize how He sustains us in every way,and that the way to repay Him is byhelping others who need our help. isis the real economic principle, a princi-ple that rarely shows up on the nightly‘Business Report.’ We take as our comfort and inspi-ration this blessing that St. Paul bestowson us: “You will be enriched in everyway for great generosity, which throughus will produce thanksgiving to God.”(v. 11) When we are generous we notonly provide material relief to the per-son in need, we also strengthen theirhope and faith in God. We are the in-struments of God’s mercy. He gives toeach of us the means and the power toact, comfort, and gladden those aroundus. Let us use this gi, not sparingly, butbountifully; not grudgingly, but cheer-fully. So that together we might thankand glorify our Heavenly Father wholoves us.

Fr. Nichos Aposto

Following the Feast of the PreciousCross, we begin a new cycle of Scrip-

tural readings in our Sunday Worship.e Gospel lessons are taken from St.Luke and the Epistle readings from St.Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians.e Ecclesiastical Year begins in Sep-tember (as does the Jewish New Year),and in so many ways September is amore appropriate time for new begin-nings than the icy days of January.ose with children start the newschool year. e crisp days of fall invig-orate us for hard work aer the lazy daysof summer. So, we begin anew studyingGod’s saving words for us. Today’s reading is 2 Corinthians9:6-11. St. Paul is writing to theCorinthians to inspire them to con-tribute to the fund he is raising from thenewly formed Gentile Churches. epurpose is to offer a gi to the needybrothers and sisters in Jerusalem and allof Palestine. e Holy Land was never avery wealthy place. during the time ofSt. Paul’s missions a great famine hadbroken out over the whole region.Everyone there was in great need. St.Paul saw a gi from these newly formedcommunities to the brethren there as away to tighten the bond between Chris-tian believers, especially between Jewishand Gentile Christians. is is the back-ground for today’s reading. Even though his words were writtenwith a very specific intent, St. Paul hasle generations of Christians a numberof important guidelines to live by whenconsidering giving and generosity. issection begins, “e point is this: hewho sows sparingly will also reap spar-ingly, and he who sows bountifully willalso reap bountifully.” (v. 6) e firstthing we might notice is that he uses anagricultural (organic) image, not a mon-etary one. He speaks of sowing andreaping, not of investing and return oninvestment, although this could be in-ferred. He wants us first to enter into therelationship of the farmer with the land,and then the farmer, his land, and God

HOLY TRINITY NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTERHOLY TRINITY NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTERHOLY TRINITY NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTERHOLY TRINITY NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER

����������� ���

��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �!�"���� ��

������������� ���� �����������������������������

������������������� �������

� !"�#�$""��% ������ �����

�� ����&��

'()���(��� !"��#�* +,'����&��

-���. ���� ��������/0�������1�

#$%&�'��$��(���&)���)�*��+ �,���-�. �)/�

$40/pp; $75/for 2; $50 at door / Call Heather @ (508)852-1000 ext. 206 or email foodandwinefest@htnr.net

0�&����&������1���2�.�3&�$&�/�2�

�+&�$�#�4$1&��2�'$����.�&4�/�

• Basil & Spice

• Café Espresso Trattoria

• Ciao Bella

• Creedon Catering

• Culpepper’s Bakery & Café

• Ed Hyder’s Mediterranean Mkt.

• Edible Arrangements

• George’s Bakery

• George’s Coney Island

• Holy Trinity

• Kalamos Greek & Med. Market

• Livia’s Dish

• Manor & Draught House

• Meze Greek Tapas Bar & Grille

• Park Grill & Spirits

• Polar Beverages

• Sonoma of Princeton

• The Auburn Town Pizza

• The Twisted Fork

• Zorba’s Taverna

• Boston’s Best Coffee & more!

Champagne Champagne Champagne Champagne &&&&

Sparkling Wine Tasting SeminarSparkling Wine Tasting SeminarSparkling Wine Tasting SeminarSparkling Wine Tasting Seminar

5:45pm5:45pm5:45pm5:45pm