Friday, February 3, 2023

Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

Hello everyone and happy February! Yesterday was the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord (called Candlemas in the Western Church) and I eagerly swapped out my little icon. I've definitely taken a fancy to the 12 Great Feasts and following along with them throughout the liturgical year. This icon will stay out until the next feast, which is the Annunciation in March!

Meanwhile, we continue to move closer to the start of Great Lent, and given that this will be my first one more heavily immersed in the Byzantine rite, I'm pretty excited. This past Sunday was the first official one in this pre-Lenten period of themes that the Byzantine rite focuses on, and I was looking forward to examining this more closely. As I anticipated, the Gospel and homily at Divine Liturgy focused on the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector, and Father spoke about the themes of faith and humility in our journey to Great Lent. It was wonderful! Talk in our social area after the liturgy focused on preparations for a pre-Easter bazaar and parish luncheon, so I will excitedly stay tuned for those. 

After I got home, I discovered this delightful graphic via my good friend, and Byzantine rite Catholic, Allison:

I mean 😍

I'm so excited to keep following along with these themes and liturgies! Our priest will be away this weekend, so I'm unfortunately not certain we'll be at Divine Liturgy since it will be in Ukrainian. We'll likely attend Mass instead, but either way I'll keep you posted. Lenten preparations should be underway for everyone right now, regardless of rite! If you'd like to share your Lenten plans, I'd love to hear about them in the comments. :)

1 comment:

  1. I’m interested in the week that is talking about using climbing stairs as a devotional practice. Sounds like a good idea to incorporate into everyday life. Even if I don’t climb stairs on a regular basis. - Melanie

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