Tag: Christianity

This homily was delivered on Palm Sunday, March 29, 1953.

Photo: icon.spbda.ru     

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I greet all of you, God-beloved parishioners of our St. Nicholas Cathedral, with the great feast of our Lord Jesus Christ’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.

The Lord went to Jerusalem many times, but always discreetly. He went with a small crowd of His closest disciples. Now, before His sufferings, He goes triumphantly, like a King, like the promised Messiah. The people always loved Him and followed Him, expecting to receive mercy from Him: healing from the most terrible and incurable diseases, deliverance from unclean spirits, consolation in sorrows, and instruction on how to receive eternal life. We know that He fed the hungry, satiating 5,000 men, not to mention women and children, with five small loaves; another time He fed 4,000 men, in addition to women and children, with seven loaves. Therefore, the people loved Him, and even His enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees, didn’t dare openly seize and kill Him, fearing a popular uprising.

Many already recognized Him as the Son of God, the promised King from the line of David Whom all the prophets foretold. But He forbade both the disciples and the evil spirits—whom He cast out with His word and who openly confessed Him to be the Son of God, to speak about it. Now, in view of His sufferings, He shows the people in a special way that He is the Messiah: Approaching Jerusalem, He sends two of His disciples to the nearest village to bring Him an untamed colt upon which no one had ever ridden. The disciples bring an ass with a colt, cover them with clothing, and Jesus sits on the ass and so makes His way towards the city, showing the fulfillment of the prophecy that He is the Christ: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! … Behold, thy King cometh unto thee … lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (Zech. 9:9).

At that time, six days before Pascha, thousands of pilgrims were heading for Jerusalem. After all, it was the only city in the world that had the only temple of the true God, where the Jews, scattered throughout the world, were to worship Him. Therefore, up to 3 million people would gather there on the feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, and the Dedication. Passover was especially celebrated with solemnity. And so, all these crowds of pilgrims, seeing the Teacher riding on a donkey, surrounded by a crowd of His Galilean disciples, and having heard about the great miracle He recently worked—the The Resurrection of Lazarus: IconsThe Gospel story of the Resurrection of Righteous Lazarus is one of the earliest depictions in Christian pictorial art. Most likely the iconographic tradition of the Resurrection of Lazarus formed earlier than the celebration of this Gospel event.

“>resurrection of the decaying Lazarus, who had been dead for four days (which no one had ever done before)—began welcoming Him with shouts of “Hosannah!” Some of them cut branches off of trees and spread them out under the feet of the donkey (and like them, we stand with palm branches in our hands), others took off their robes and, to show their love, spread them out along the road.   

And our Lord Jesus Christ came riding, surrounded by a crowd a million strong. Not only the adults rejoiced and sang, but the youths also greeted Him, and even nursing infants were given a voice by the Lord, Who put the words of the Psalms in their mouth that they might praise God together with the adults. And when the Pharisees insisted that Christ forbid the children to glorify Him, He answered them: I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out! (Lk. 19:40). Such was the joy, such was the rejoicing of the people, because they thought that Christ would be their king.

But with this universal rejoicing, Christ Himself became more pensive and sadder. Why? Because He knew that in three days, these same people would turn away from Him, and would call for Barabbas to be released instead of Him, and would hand Him over to death. And even His closest disciples would all run away. That’s what happened on Golgotha. Who do we see at His Cross? His Most Pure Mother, who could have left her beloved Son in His misfortune? The Icon of the myrrh-bearing woman”O ointment-bearing women why have you come to the tomb? Why do you seek the living among the dead? Take courage for the Lord has risen!” Thus spoke the radiant angel.

“>Myrrh-bearing Women, who accompanied Him from Galilee, regardless of any dangers, and we know how dear their devotion was to the Lord: After His Resurrection, He appeared to them even before the Apostles. At the Cross we also see Jesus’ beloved disciple, Saint John the Theologian, Apostle and EvangelistThrough humility, not calling himself by name, nevertheless speaking of himself in the Gospel, refers to himself as the disciple ”whom Jesus loved.” This love of him by the Lord, showed itself when the Lord was on the cross he entrusted His Most Holy Mother to him saying: ”Behold your mother.””>St. John the Theologian. But they’re just a few people out of the million-strong crowd that surrounded the Lord during His entrance into Jerusalem.

Let’s fast forward to our time. You have gladdened my heart, coming here in such large numbers yesterday evening and today. But will it be the same tomorrow and the day after when we remember the sufferings of Christ, or will you also turn into just a handful of faithful, as at Golgotha? May it not be so! Will you really, for the sake of your household affairs, leave the Sufferer alone and not share in His sorrows, not respond to His call?! It used to be that all the cooking and preparations for the feast would prevent us from going to church at times. Now, thank God, this reason has also disappeared! So, leave all your affairs behind! They are such that as soon as you finish one, another immediately demands your attention, and there will never be an end to them!

I’d like to know that you’ll be coming all week in the same numbers as you are, to worship the Passion and Tomb of Christ, to then all enter together into the joy of the Holy Resurrection of Christ! May this, by the grace of God, be so with all of us!

Amen.

When Unite Here Local 11, the Los Angeles-based branch of the international labor union representing 300,000 U.S. and Canadian workers, announced March 25 an historic labor agreement with 35 Southern California hotels, the victory came with an asterisk attached.

The largest hotel worker strike in modern American history would indeed end at those 35 properties — with others added in the weeks that followed, for a current total of 46 settled contracts. However, employees at several other hotels in the same region — some of which are owned or operated by private equity firms — have yet to settle new contracts. They include Aimbridge properties like the Doubletree Downtown Los Angeles, the LA Grand, and the Hotel Figueroa.

Workers at downtown LA’s Hotel Figueroa have alleged physical attacks and unfair firings in their months of picketing outside the storied property — and were joined April 5 in a show of solidarity by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who advocates union expansion to strengthen the middle class.

Contracts between 61 LA and Orange County hotels and members of Unite Here originally expired the night of June 30, 2023. Since July 1, 2023, more than 10,000 workers at 52 hotels have gone on strike more than 170 times.

“The Catholic Labor Network congratulates the hotel workers of Local 11 on their hard-fought wins in their Los Angeles strike,” said CLN executive director Clayton Sinyai. “This largely immigrant workforce showed that when workers stand together in solidarity, they can win a living wage and job security, even in a high-cost area like Southern California. Now it’s time for the remaining hotels which are holding out to offer the same to their workers.”

Unite Here Local 11 represents more than 32,000 hospitality workers in Southern California and Arizona who work in hotels, restaurants, universities, convention centers, and airports.

“We have won an unprecedented agreement in every way, from wages, pension, and healthcare to job security, to fair staffing guarantees,” said Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11.

The thousands of hotel workers at the hotels that ratified a new contract will see an immediate $5 hourly wage increase and $10 hourly increase over the life of the contract. Housekeepers’ pay will rise to $35 an hour in advance of the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Tourism workers in LA have demanded the city council institute an “Olympic Wage,” raising their minimum wage to $25 an hour immediately with increases of a dollar each year until the games take place. In Long Beach, California, anticipating the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, a measure passed March 5 to increase the minimum wage for qualifying hotel workers from $17.55 per hour to $23 per hour on July 1, 2024, with annual increases to $29.50 per hour by July 2028.

Unite Here Local 11 has argued that hotel worker wages have not kept up with “soaring housing costs,” and that the hotel industry — which it said is enjoying “record post-pandemic profits” — needs to provide major wage increases “so that workers can live near where they work.”

The hotel industry, meanwhile, contends that its operating expenses are outpacing growth.

CoStar, a commercial property information and analysis platform, reported in December that U.S. hotel industry operating expenses per available room outpaced revenue growth in 2023, driven by a 12.3% increase in labor expenses. However, it noted that chain hotels absorbed 18% increased labor costs and “still managed to achieve a $10 rate premium in gross operating profit per available room in 2023 compared to the national average.”

A Jan. 9 Stateline report found that hospitality workers — part of “the nation’s lowest-paid industry” — saw pay increase 30% on average over the past four years, “reversing much of the wage inequality that has been growing for decades in the United States.”

Even so, 53% of Unite Here Local 11 workers from an earlier survey said “they either have moved in the past 5 years or will move in the near future because of soaring housing costs.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development considers $66,750 per year for a one-person household as the “low income” threshold in LA County. But in order to afford the average $2,781 per month, 788-square-foot LA apartment — while spending no more than the recommended 30% of income — more than $100,000 in income is required.

According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s “2024 State of the Industry” report, hotels in 2023 paid 2.1 million employees $118.01 billion in wages, salaries, and other compensation — an average of $56,195 per employee.

Still, Catholic labor experts see progress.

“In 2023, hotel workers went on strike to win improvements that can make their jobs truly family-sustaining. Not all of the hotels have settled yet, and strikes are continuing, but the workers have made tremendous progress,” Joseph McCartin, executive director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, said. “The overwhelmingly immigrant hotel workers have added their voices to those of auto workers, teamsters, and others who have been making long-needed gains.”

Gerald Beyer, a professor of Christian ethics in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University, whose research has often focused on workers’ rights, agreed.

“The union deserves credit for helping workers who labor under difficult conditions, are often undercompensated, and are treated poorly,” said Beyer. “As St. John Paul II stated (in his encyclical “Laborem Exercens”), unions are a necessary ‘mouthpiece for the struggle for social justice, for the just rights of working people in accordance with their individual professions.’”

Their progress, Beyer suggested, also reflects the requirements of Catholic social teaching.

“The treatment of many hotel workers in California apparently now more closely aligns with the Catholic tradition’s insistence on the dignity and rights of all workers — such as the rights to a just and living wage, safe working conditions, health care, adequate rest, retirement savings and the right to form unions,” Beyer noted.

The right to unionize and seek workplace equity — and to strike, if necessary — is fundamental to Catholic social teaching. Pope Leo XIII, St. John XXIII, St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have all expounded on unionized labor topics, in both official and unofficial pronouncements.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also issued a Labor Day statement in September affirming labor unions’ “essential role” in society and called for them ” to be supported in their work that supports healthy, thriving families.”

In a report delivered Aug. 28, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said her department found unionized workers earn up to 15% more pay than nonunion workers, with a higher rate of benefits. She said the Treasury found unions “could contribute to reversing the stark increase in inequality we’ve seen in recent decades, promoting economy-wide growth,” and even increase worker productivity.

“Hotel workers have historically earned well below a living wage, endured widespread workplace health and safety risks, and were not provided with affordable healthcare plans,” Beyer said. “It appears that with the new agreements ratified by unionized hotel workers in Los Angeles, workers are now closer to attaining wages and benefits that more fully respect their dignity and rights.”

Hertfordshire, England, April 29, 2024

Jessy Papasavva Photography     

On April 27, 2024, the Saturday of Lazarus, The Twelve Apostles Greek Orthodox Church in Hertfordshire, 43 individuals were received into the Orthodox Church by His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain. Assisting him were His Grace Bishop Iakovos of Claudiopolis and numerous Archdiocesan clergy members. The neophytes successfully attended the 7th Session of the Archdiocesan Discover Orthodoxy Class led by V. Rev. Archimandrite Nephon Tsimalis, Protosyncellus of the Archdiocese which was held on zoom every week for 9 months.

This session of Discover Orthodoxy started in September 2023 and is set to conclude in May. The group included 36 adults and one infant who were received through Holy Baptism and Chrismation, while six adults were received by Holy Chrismation. The newly illumined Orthodox Christians hail from various backgrounds, including the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, Africa, other Commonwealth and European countries, and Asia.

Jessy Papasavva Photography     

The present session of the Catechism Class will offer a total of one hundred converts. Those not received on the Saturday of Lazarus are scheduled to be received during the Paschal Season at various parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. To date, the Discover Orthodoxy program has welcomed over 260 converts, in just four and a half years. After the Service of Holy Baptism and Chrismation, the neophytes processed into the Church bearing their candles to participate in the Divine Liturgy, during which they received the Holy and Life-Giving Eucharist, for the first time.

Before the conclusion of the Liturgy, His Eminence elevated the Rev. Fr. Nikodemus Angeli to the rank of protopresbyter in honor of his humble and fruitful service. The Archbishop also thanked the parish clergy, the Rev. Protopresbyter Joseph Paliouras, Priest-in-charge, and the Rev. Father Demetrianos Melekis, for their hospitality and gracious assistance.

At the conclusion of the Liturgy, His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas offered an icon of the 12 Apostles to each of the newly illuminated Orthodox Christians as a token of the special day. A generous Lenten reception followed hosted by Archon Louis Loizou, Community Chairman, in honor of the neophytes, families, and community.

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I find that the one upside to round-the-clock newborn baby feeding is the chance to make headway on my reading list. To be sure, juggling a book and a baby requires some dexterity, but as a mother of three, I know that the first weeks with an infant provide the most reading time I’m likely to have for a while. 

When I welcomed my third son this past January, I chose to devour “Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization” (Broadside Books, $21.59) by University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox — not exactly light reading for my late nights, but a title that had been on my radar since I last interviewed the author for these pages. 

While it’s rife with data, “Get Married” stirred up something deeply personal. At several points in the book, I thought to myself, “What a privilege it is to be married, and to be married in this way.” 

By “this way,” I mean to a man who shares my faith, who has what Wilcox describes as a “we-before-me” attitude, who sees rearing children as part and parcel of our shared life’s project, who sought a particular kind of education and employment primarily to provide for a family (and give me the option to stay home), and for whom divorce is not an option. As my husband likes to say, “We’re going down with the ship.” 

Wilcox provides salient evidence as to why this type of marriage statistically yields higher levels of happiness, better economic stability, and more attractive prospects for children. Of course, by the grace of God we all go. Nothing in life is guaranteed. But for those looking to set themselves up for a meaningful life, the math alone supports his case.

But all of this presumes men and women buy into the idea of marriage as a meaningful path in the first place. For several generations now, the pursuit of happiness has been closely linked with maximizing our freedom and autonomy through solitary self-actualization. It’s had devastating effects, which Wilcox documents. 

Just consider the mental health crisis among young Americans, our plummeting birthrate, the loneliness epidemic, the opioid crisis, the number of out-of-work men addicted to screens, the inability of the working class to find stability, and declining rates of female happiness despite wage gains and expanded opportunity. In my experience, it also includes living with the very real consequences of multiple generations of divorce. 

Wilcox says the quiet part out loud: “From mainstream media outlets, on college campuses, in public schools, and on the floor of Congress, we hear that problems like these are about the economy, or failing schools, or inequality, or race, or inadequate public policies … [but] questions of marriage and family are better predictors of outcomes for people than the topics that currently dominate our public conversation. …” 

In light of the above, it’s worth writing again: it’s a privilege to be married. 

In many ways, it feels like a miracle. At my bridal shower, my mother joked in her toast about how she wasn’t sure the day would ever come. I was 34, more than a decade older than she was when she got married. Though I suspect she thought my “two-Tom” rule was keeping me single (I said I was holding out for someone who could talk about Tom Brady as well as Thomas Aquinas), there was also a major cultural shift afoot that Baby Boomers were blind to. That they would get married and settle down was assumed. For me and my girlfriends, finding a man who was marriage-minded was like finding a needle in a haystack.

In large numbers, my peers have chosen to delay marriage and childbearing, choosing instead to cohabit, travel, move every few years to a new city and try their hand at caring for someone else by getting a pet. We are paralyzed by the overwhelming choices we have — including an endless number of potential partners available online. 

I can’t count the number of grandmothers I meet at our local park who lament that they have only one grandchild and realistically have only “a few good years” with them. Sadly, the data suggests that Boomers are reaping what they sowed. 

Wilcox’s research puts a fine point on how we got here: the dismantling of sexual norms, including no-fault divorce, putting a premium on family diversity rather than family stability (which disproportionately hurts the working class and poor); “blank slate feminism,” which promised but failed to deliver women greater levels of happiness if they joined the workforce, outsourced child care, or opted not to have kids; and a pornified, digitized world, in which young Americans are taught to ignore sex and gender differences. 

Equally sad is the fact that many men and women who do want to get married cannot afford to do so: working-class couples are penalized by our tax code and the economic reality of “the two-income trap” such that getting married takes money out of their wallets and food off their children’s tables. 

Marriage should not be a luxury lifestyle option for the college-educated. It should be something that most men and women can enter into and in which they can thrive. 

But there is good news. Marital quality is highest among those who are religious, hold more traditional views of sex and gender, welcome children within a stable union, and put their family first. In other words, when men and women get married the way the Church has always proposed, they and their children report higher levels of happiness, stability, and hope for their future. Decades upon decades of dismantling that norm has given us the sociological data to support that it works — a silver lining, if there was any. 

It would be easy to despair at what Wilcox calls the “closing of the American heart.” But as I read his book, I kept thinking about Mother Teresa’s well-quoted counsel: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” All that is within my power is to show my husband and sons what a privilege it is to love them, with the hope that they, too, know and yearn for such joy.

These days of Holy Week abound with parables and images, through which the Lord harshly and loudly calls us from the path of perdition to Himself, to the saving path home to the Heavenly Kingdom. Today’s Gospel passage tells us about the barren fig tree.

The Cursing of the Fig Tree Now in the morning as He returned into the city, He hungered. And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only (Mt. 21:18-19). The Apostle Mark adds that it was not the season of fig harvesting yet (cf. Mk. 11:13). Other fig trees did not have fruit either, but they also did not have leaves, since fig trees first produce fruit, and then leaf out. But the fig tree in question only deceived wayfarers, enticing them to approach it, with its verdant appearance promising them fruit that was not there.

The meaning of the withered fig tree becomes clear from the following two parables that Christ related on the same day after He had cursed the fig tree. These are the parables of the two sons and of the wicked husbandmen. The fig tree that promises fruit represents these characters—the son who said, I go, sir: and went not (Mt. 21:30), and the wicked husbandmen who should have given back fruit from the vineyard in due season, but instead did harm.

Every creature in the world has its God-given purpose and mission. The fig tree, for instance, was supposed to produce fruit in due season.

What fruits does the Lord expect from us? The Apostle Paul enumerates them in his Epistle to the Galatians: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance… (Gal. 5:22–23).

We can perform all the prayer rules, go to church every day, read the Gospel and the Holy Fathers, observe all the rules prescribed by the Typikon and at the same time have no fruits of the spiritual life.

On the one hand, the parable of the fig tree is about the Israelites, who were chosen by God, “covered”, like trees, by the “leaves” of Divine Law, but did not bear worthy fruits. On the other hand, this parable is about me and you. The Lord brought us to His Church, planted us by the rivers of water (cf. Ps. 1:3), gave us all the means for salvation, growth and fruition—the Holy Scriptures, the Church itself, His grace, and He even gives us Himself in Communion. And He quite rightly expects growth and fruits from us. But for most of us, at best, “things are still right where they started”.

The parable that Christ had earlier told His disciples will help us understand the meaning of the cursing of the fig tree better. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down (Lk. 13:6–9).

The Lord treasures every fig tree, every human soul. Each of us knows how long the Lord has been patient with us, “dunging” us, “digging about us”, begging us to improve and come to Him, our loving Father. He is long-suffering, but we do not know when the “three-year period” from the parable, in which the Lord still puts up with us, will elapse.

The cursing of the fig tree. Fresco of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery     

In one of his homilies the holy Hiero-Confessor Luke of Crimea noted, “Why did Christ curse the fig tree? To teach us that we should tremble when we hear about it… We should not be deceived by the thought that our Lord is infinitely merciful and good and will surely forgive our sins. Many, many deceive themselves with this hope, and in this parable, and above all through the cursing of the fig tree, we learn that the Lord is not always infinitely merciful.”

The holy New Hiero-Confessor Basil of Kineshma wrote about the same thing in his commentary to this parable: “His judgment can be not only lenient, but also strict and fair. Let those who flatter themselves with hopes for an all-forgiving God, without caring about self-improvement, keep this in mind.”

And there are also other words that complete the call for our reform. They are about the signs of the end of the world: For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together (Mt. 24:28). Archbishop Averky (Taushev) writes, “Just as birds of prey gather where by a corpse, God’s judgment will appear where the inner life has died away and moral decay has started”¹

The words from the Gospel of Mark that the time of figs was not yet (Mk. 11:13) emphasize that the people of Israel had missed their chance. Christ came, but the Israelites were not ready to accept Him. In cursing the fig tree, the Lord, like the ancient prophets, showed the impending judgment on Israel. In another parable, of the wicked husbandmen, the Lord also speaks about the time limit: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it (Mt. 21:34).

Moreover, in the parable of the talents, when the master came and demanded an account of the funds (talents) he had invested; and in the parable of the ten virgins, when the doors to the wedding feast were closed and the latecomers were not let in, in these final days before Pascha the Gospel often warns us against spiritual procrastination, against constantly postponing our spiritual life until later, until the evening, until tomorrow…

Spasskaya Tower     

The Lord warns us strictly: Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh (Mt. 25:13); Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you (Jn. 12:35); The night cometh, when no man can work (Jn. 9:4). Our fruits do not grow overnight—both time and effort are required.

Let us not delay our salvation and spiritual growth; let us try right now to bear fruit that will be pleasing to our Lord. Amen.

St. Catherine of Siena was born in Siena on the feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1347. She was the 23rd of 25 children, and her twin sister died in infancy. 

As a child, Catherine was unusually independent, and embraced an intense prayer life. At the age of 7, she had her first mystical vision, where she saw Jesus surrounded by saints and seated in glory. That same year, she vowed to consecrate her virginity to Christ. When her parents wanted her to get married at 16, she cut off all her hair to make herself less appealing. Her father soon realized that she was resolved to live for Christ, and relented.

Catherine joined the Dominican Tertiaries, and for three years lived a deep, solitary life of prayer. She had constant mystical experiences, and at the end of those three years, she was granted an extraordinary union with God, known as “mystical marriage,” which only a few mystics have received. 

Although she had many visions and mystical ecstasies, Catherine also suffered periods of intense abandonment and desolation where she felt that God had turned away from her. 

After her mystical marriage experience, Catherine ended her solitude and began tending to the sick, poor, and abandoned, especially lepers. Her reputation for holiness drew a band of disciples, including two who became her confessors and biographers.

In her 20s, Catherine was called to a much more public life, establishing correspondence with many influential figures, often calling them to holiness and rebuking them when they failed, including the pope. 

Catherine is credited with achieving peace between the Holy See and Florence, convincing the pope to return from his Avignon exile in 1376, and, on her deathbed in 1380, healing the schism between followers of the legitimate pope, Urban VI, and those who opposed him. 

In 1375, while in Pisa, she received the stigmata. The marks never appeared on her body while she was alive, as she requested from God, but were visible on her incorruptible body after her death. 

St. Catherine’s Dialogues are considered classics in Italian literature, and record her mystical visions, which she dictated in a state of ecstasy. 

St. Catherine died in Rome on April 29, 1380, at the age of 33. She is the co-patron saint of both Italy and Europe.

St. Louis-Marie was born in Montfort, Brittany, on January 31, 1673. As a child, he was extremely devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and the Virgin Mary, praying the rosary often. He took the name Marie at his confirmation. 

At school, Louis-Marie joined a society of young men who ministered to the poor and sick on school holidays. When he was 19, he walked 130 miles to Paris to study theology. He gave all his possessions to the poor he met along the way, and made a vow to live only on alms. After he was ordained at 27, Louis-Marie served as a hospital chaplain until management, resentful of his reorganization efforts, sent him away. 

When he was 32, Louis-Marie discovered a gift for preaching, and committed himself to it for the rest of his life. He often drew crowds of thousands, and encouraged them to devote themselves to Mary and to receive communion often. 

Louis-Marie met with opposition from the Jansenists, a heretical movement in the Church that believed in absolute predestination. Much of France was influenced by this false thinking, including many bishops, who banned Louis-Marie from preaching in their dioceses. Louis-Marie was poisoned by Jansenists in La Rochelle, but survived, although he suffered poor health afterwards. 

While he was recuperating, Louis-Marie wrote “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin,” a masterpiece of Marian piety which he correctly prophesied would be hidden by the devil for a time. It was discovered 200 years after his death. 

A year before he died, Louis-Marie founded the Daughters of Divine Wisdom, which tended to the sick in hospitals and educated poor girls, and the Company of Mary, a group of missionaries devoted to preaching and spreading devotion to the Blessed Mother. 

St. Louis-Marie is famously known for his prayer of entrustment to Our Lady: “Totus tuus ego sum.” (“I am all yours.”) St. Pope John Paul II took the phrase “Totus tuus” as his episcopal motto.

Today, many people talk about strengthening family values and traditional families. Without respect for mothers and their work at home, this task is probably impossible. We talked to Anna Mustafina—the psychologist, OB-GYN doctor, member of the “Doctors for Life” public organization—and asked her why mother’s work is undervalued in modern society, why mothers who put aside their careers and scientific degrees for the sake of raising children are embarrassed about it, why the word “housewife” carries a negative connotation, and how we can rectify this situation.

    

Should we learn to be a mom?

For twenty years, I nurtured the idea of founding the University of Wife and Mother.

Today, many people consider it imperative to have a higher education. Sometimes people go to study in the university not because they are called to work in a certain field, but because it’s how it should be. After graduation, many people do not find the core of employment according to their knowledge and skills and find employment in a different field. If we had a university of professional training, such as the University of Wife and Mother, it would be a great undertaking; such knowledge will always be useful.

I am by no means against our young women receiving a diploma at our “regular” universities. But practice shows that not everyone works in their area of study. This university would have helped them to become a professional mom and build a family.

We underestimate the range of work a mother does

We are obliged to include mother’s work as a professions, because we underestimate the range of work a mother performs. Modern society underestimates her intellectual investment in a child, and we are all aware of the physical challenges of caring for an infant. What we don’t know, or we fail to realize, is the volume of intellectual and emotional effort and psychological knowledge necessary to properly interact with the child without causing psychological trauma, how to bring up a child without restrictions, but to on the contrary facilitate his upbringing. This is why we need such a university.

Working through psychological problems

The idea of creating the University of Motherhood is as follows.

During the first year of education, this university should allow its students to work through their own childhood stories and make them sift through their own psychological issues. Some had more or less happy childhoods, while others had problems, such as alcoholic parents, or they had a single-parent family, brought up only by a mother, or a father. There are always some defects—even if it was a complete family, with a loving and friendly mom and dad, with no bad habits, the parents may have made mistakes due to their lack of psychological knowledge. For example, they suppressed their child’s emotions or forbade him to have fun, as in, “Don’t run, don’t jump, don’t laugh!” or to experience grief, as in, “Don’t cry”, or when the boys were told the mantra, “You can’t be a man if you cry,” or the girls were told, “Stop crying, you cry baby.” Others forbid their children to express anger and so on. Because of this psychological ignorance, people experience difficulties in adult life. The whole first course should be dedicated to such issues.

Because of psychological ignorance, people have difficulties in adult life

The second course would be about choosing a life partner. We have only a few examples of families worthy of imitation. We have a lot of incomplete families and a huge number of divorces. There are complete families with both mother and father, but their relationship is far from perfect. It often happens that the head of the family is a despot, a cruel man who subjects his family to psychological and physical abuse. Mothers can be despotic or hyper-protective, controlling everything and everyone. Or vice versa—they can be cold, emotionally inaccessible, and detached from their own children. There are many different options here and all this affects familial bonds and the ability of a woman to build a stable family.

To get married is not about mothering your life partner

Working through all of these things in depth will help us to become a person of integrity. Imagine when a young adult begins to process all these issues right after school, and by the age of seventeen or eighteen makes corrections to her inner self. This way, she will never attract an abuser, a weakling, or an addict to herself.

This is a big problem right now—when a woman has low self-esteem, she can allow someone to take advantage of her, act as an “adopted parent” to a man, including those with addictions like alcoholism or gambling. Often young women choose a man as a life partner as if they were selecting a kitten; but can a kitten become a full-fledged head of the family and a father?

Young men can also study in such institutions, but these institutions, of course, will have different names. This subject is already being discussed as well.

Considering our psychological illiteracy, not only girls, but also young men need to go through this process of correcting the mistakes of their upbringing.

Illusion of equality

The next course is ethics and psychology of Rules of Family LifeArchpriest Paul Gumerov speaks about what is most important in family life, which rules are necessary to obey to live long and happily, and what to follow and what to avoid.

“>family life. This is already about family roles and specifics of development, depending on gender. There is an illusion that men and women are created equal. But simply touching their bodies—just ask any masseuse—would be enough to realize that women’s and men’s bodies are different even to the touch. So different that you can’t compare them.

There are also differences in the psyche. Men have a more vulnerable psyche than women. Just as a woman’s body is more vulnerable than a man’s, our stronger half’s psyche is more vulnerable.

The difference is in male and female behavior and their abilities. These are not words, these are medical facts.

Even at the fetal age of six weeks, boys develop testicles and girls have ovaries, and these organs begin to function and secrete hormones, each according to their sex. Organ rudiments in girls and boys are the same, but due to the action of sex hormones, these rudiments become female or male organs. Hormones are responsible for sex differentiation of brain structure. Women are not very aware of their body exterior or the dimensions of their car. It is not so easy for them to estimate the distance and the size of something by eye. Therefore, the ability to navigate in space is more developed in men.

There are many differences in psyche and behavior depending on gender. For example, boys see moving objects better and fail to notice static ones. Women get unreasonably angry with their husbands, alleging that they look but can’t see. Then, there is the ability to perceive colors. Women have a wider range of color perception, and it is quite rare to find in men the ability to distinguish hues. When a wife says, bring a soft pink towel, her husband may bring a white or a beige one.

The maternal instinct can’t emerge on its own

The next course is the psychology of “If God grants the gift of parenthood to a family, it means it is essential for them”I worked in the OB/GYN field for over thirty years and I know a lot of large families with children, so I can attest to the fact that every pregnancy happens for a reason.

“>parenthood.

There is no such thing as maternal instinct. It develops, beginning in utero thanks to the mother’s attitude toward her child

Perinatal psychologists have studied ontogenesis. It turns out that there is no such thing as maternal instinct. It develops at the intrauterine age thanks to the attitude the mother has towards her child. There are several ways to live through pregnancy: normal, anxious, rejecting, euphoric, ignoring, or ambivalent.

The way a pregnancy goes will affect the child and his future desire to have children. Infant care is also of great importance—whether the mother stays with her baby postpartum or asks to pick him up. Some women think that perhaps a nurse can take the newborn for the night or for a few hours in the afternoon, so I can rest away from him during this time. So, the first separation moments may last several hours. The infant is with his mother as a fetus from conception. He needs time to adjust to his separation from his mother for longer periods. Overall, parenthood is a process of gradual separation (dissociation) of a child from his family of origin. The key word here is “gradual.” Then this process will go painlessly. Childbirth is the first stage of separation. A baby “leaps out” into another world. It is so totally different from the pre-natal world that it takes time to “digest” it and live through this event. So, a newborn can only stay without his mom for two hours to avoid subsequent psychological trauma. An infant can’t be separated from his mother for more than two hours, if we want to preserve his mental health.

The next thing that affects the ontogenesis of motherhood (as well as fatherhood) is the mother’s sensitivity to her baby’s needs; to what extent the mother has developed sensory capabilities, that is, the ability to understand another person without words.

In the past, this ability to feel her baby was passed on from mother to daughter or son, and so on, one by one. But because the maternity hospital practice is to take newborns away at once, separating the infants from their mothers, feeding them by the hour, and giving them formula instead of breast milk, the ontogenesis of parenthood has been disrupted.

A separate matter is day care centers and nurseries. Sending your baby away to a kindergarten, placing them in a group of twenty-five or thirty babies under the supervision of one or two women? Even if your childcare workers are super-professional, responsible and caring, they won’t ever be able to fully care for the infants and provide them with everything they need! Day care is a storage room for babies! A boarding house! It is not in vain that “He Was Absolutely Fearless”Fr. Dmitry was one of the Russian Church’s most beloved and authoritative priests. He stood at the forefront of the Church’s battle against abortion, and is remembered as the “father” to countless children and a fearless preacher who converted thousands.

“>Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov spoke negatively about day care centers.

A woman as a partner or a coworker?

While on maternity leave, moms think of themselves as second-rate people. It is astonishing, but this kind of mental virus took our country captive as early as at the beginning of the twentieth century. We were forced into believing that it is a shame to be a housewife; that all women should work at factories and only when they work at a factory, can they be considered real Women. I watched one more time an old Soviet movie called, “A Visitor from the Kuban.” It showed a “goodie” character of a girl who works, but also can sing and dance. She is an outstanding worker and a great colleague; she excels at everything she does. But what the movie lacked was the character of a mother, a father, and a family man. It doesn’t matter how well you understand your wife, how well you can listen or sympathize as a wife, or how you bring up your children. This fact was simply ignored! The movies of that era showcased everyone as good and honest workers who made friends at work and fell in love, started families, but what happened in that family afterwards was omitted. For example, these movies don’t show a mother with four children. Or the situation when a father comes home from work, greeted by his children, and he talks and plays with them. They didn’t showcase family life.

Remember the posters of that time—they had a mom, dad and a child, or two at most? This “ideal family plan” is firmly lodged in everyone’s mind. Even mothers with many children felt as if ashamed of their status, as if they had done something antisocial.

The word “housewife” is probably the worst word that can be applied to a woman

I feel bad for moms, who sink their heads into their shoulders and look downwards. And these are not necessarily mothers with many children.

I was once standing in a line with a friend of mine, a mother of two children, when someone asked her, “How is it? Still home with your kid?” She quietly justified herself: “Yes, I’m still on maternity leave.” I spoke up: “But she can barely sit down during the day, maybe for a second, enough to grab something to eat—and it’s because she educates her children, brings them up, and stays busy taking care of her household!”

In many countries, the word “housewife” is probably the worst word that can be applied to women.

Every worker or a manager deserves respect and admiration for his work, but when a woman is at home caring for her child, she is just a backward housewife. Apparently, this virus sank too deep as it got stuck in our heads for more than a hundred years. It’s time to do something about it.

A pilot mom, so what of it? How about restoring respect for maternal labor?

Psychology has a special branch called psychology of professions. It has determined which occupation is the most difficult. The research used such radical professions as miners, polar explorers, astronauts, and sailors. It was discovered that the hardest labor is that of mothers. Increased responsibility, noise load, but most importantly—no days off, no paid vacation, or holidays. Besides, there is no shift-relief worker who would come and replace her for a few hours. This is an official recognition of a mother’s work as the hardest and the most important.

Maternal labor is much more valuable than the work of any researcher, geologist, volcanologist, oil producer, or others, because all these people were born and brought up by a woman.

The most successful man in the world, be he a president, astronaut, billionaire, or a doctor, won’t be able to give birth to a child.

All men of genius, pathfinders, and military leaders had mothers who delivered, loved, and took care of them. Out of love for their children, they made sacrifices—never getting enough sleep, missing meals, and working around-the-clock without lunch breaks or vacation time. A mother’s work is worthy of respect.

Once we finally recognize the value of motherhood and do it justice, then let this notion sink into our minds, then we will be able to shift our demographic situation for the better. Then we, women, will be able to get rid of our viral code: that a housewife is something unimportant, of no value, and we are to return to work as soon as possible. When this happens, we will become pro-life people and stop having abortions.

That unhealthy attitude continues to be profitable because women are needed in production and inside offices. At home, a woman is a law unto herself.

Photo: desharel.blogspot.com From the hospitable home of the sisters Martha and Mary, the Lord received through a messenger news that “Lazarus whom He loves is sick unto death.” Not seeing any hope in their brother’s recovery, the sisters persistently asked Jesus if He would come right away and help them in their grief. But Christ did not come immediately. He came to Bethany on the fourth day of Lazarus’s death.

This delay served for the even greater glory of God. The sisters were not able to understand this delay so grievous to them, and coming out to meet the Lord as He approached their house, they exclaimed, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died”. But faith and hope outweighed her pain of soul, and she added, “But now I know that God will give You whatever you ask.” Christ confirmed her faith. “Your brother will resurrect,” He said. “I know that he will resurrect on the last day,” on the day of the general resurrection, Martha replied sorrowfully. At this Christ revealed His divine essence, which is the source of our resurrection, and He said to her, “I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, even if he dies, he shall live. Do you believe this?” The convinced Martha replied, “I believe, Lord, that You are Christ, the Son of God, Who has come into the world.”

This conversation gave Martha courage and she went to get her sister. “The Teacher is calling for you.” “Lord,” Mary exclaimed, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” and she fell down at the Savior’s feet. The sisters’ unanimous faith in Christ’s omnipotence over death and life, along with the grief that crushed their souls, touched Christ, and He was barely able to utter, “Where has he been laid?”

As He followed the sisters to the grave, silent tears fell from His eyes. Some of Jews who were present saw in His tears proof of His love for the dead man. Others said mockingly, “If He opened the eyes of one blind from birth, couldn’t He keep His friend from On Death and Dying: Three Stories of Eternal Life“Why don’t you let her go?” I asked the husband. “Can’t you see that she is suffering and wants to depart to God? It will be better for her there.” “What does that mean, ‘better’?” Her husband didn’t understand.

“>dying?” The Lord, the Seer of hearts, knew the thoughts and discussions of those around Him. And all of this—the sisters’ heavy sorrow, the hired mourners, the insatiable hatred against Him—so shook Him that despite the coming glory of raising the dead, He wept.

Approaching the grave, Christ commanded the stone to be rolled away from the cave in which Lazarus was buried. But Martha, perhaps out of her sensitivity, and wishing to avoid an unpleasant scene, protested, “Lord, it has been four days since he has been in the grave, and the smell of corruption is already coming from him!” The Savior solemnly reminded her of His promise, and they rolled away the stone from the cave where Lazarus lay dead.

Christ stood at the entrance to the cave; the people around reeled back from the stench, holding their breath, when Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and gave thanks to God. “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me,” and raising His voice, cried out, “Lazarus, come forth!” To the horror of everyone present, the corpse arose from the grave and came out in his terrible burial clothes. They removed the grave clothes from Lazarus and he was able to calmly walk home, the crowd following him with fear and amazement, talking about the One Who had wrought such a great miracle.

The Resurrection of Lazarus: IconsThe Gospel story of the Resurrection of Righteous Lazarus is one of the earliest depictions in Christian pictorial art. Most likely the iconographic tradition of the Resurrection of Lazarus formed earlier than the celebration of this Gospel event.

“>The resurrection of Lazarus is the third resurrection of a dead person by Christ. Christ raised Jairus’s daughter right after she died; He raised the son of the widow of Nain as he was being carried to the burial grounds; and in the case of Lazarus, Christ convincingly proved His divine omnipotence by resurrecting a corpse four days dead, that had already been touched by decomposition.

“I am the Resurrection and the Life,” Christ said also to us. He is the source of our resurrection. And as the pledge of our resurrection we receive the How Christ Gives Us His FleshTherefore, that which you, Christian, commune of from the hand of the priest under the appearance of bread and wine is that very Body that the Lord gave to the Apostles under the appearance of bread, that very Blood that He gave them under the appearance of wine.

“>sacrament of His Holy Body and Blood, according to our Savior’s words: “He who eats My Body and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him.”

Today, six days before Pascha, we raise glory to the Conqueror of Death, Christ. Many of those in Bethany who had seen the risen Lazarus believed in Christ as the Messiah, the Savior of the world, but there were no few of them who in the darkness of their stubborn souls could not be conquered even by Lazarus, who had returned from life beyond the grave. Such darkness of soul! After all, this is the result of a prideful mind in its departure from the living God. May it not be so with us, who cry out together with Martha and Mary, “Lord, we believe that You are Christ, the Son of God, Who has come to the world.” Amen.

San Francisco, April 25, 2024

Photo: 2024lentenretreat.tilda.ws The Western American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia held a pastoral conference over the weekend in honor of the Holy Hierarch and Wonderworker St. John (Maximovitch).

The conference, held at the Holy Virgin, Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral, home to the relics of St. John, was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of his glorification, reports ROCOR.

The event, entitled, “The Aroma of Holiness: Vladika John,” began with the early Divine Liturgy, during which His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco awarded the double orarion to Deacon Symeon Noon of St. Seraphim Church in Monterey.

The service was followed by several short presentations: “The Early Years of St. John,” by Elena Perekrestov, “The Teachings of St. John on Prayer,” by Fr. George Kaplanov, “St. John and the Forgotten Relics of the West,” by Reader Basis Thompson, and “The Teachings of St. John on the Divine Liturgy” by Archpriest Peter Perekrestov.

Fr. George’s presentation was based on a text from St. John that was recently discovered and translated from Serbian to Russian.

Later, The Lord Keepeth All Their Bones, Not One of Them Shall Be BrokenThis account was written at the time of the uncovering by a spiritual son of St. John.

“>Reader Vladimir Krassovsky presented a talk “The Vladyka I Knew,” and Archpriest Stefan Pavlenko read a lecture “Everday Saints in My Life.”

The conference concluded with 15 minutes of video footage of St. John from open sources and a unique private collection.

The 30th anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of St. John was celebrated 30th anniversary of uncovering of incorrupt relics of St. John (Maximovitch) celebrated in San Francisco (+VIDEOS)One of America’s greatest saints was celebrated in California over the weekend.

“>in September last year. July 2 this year will mark the 30th anniversary of his canonization.

Watch the 1994 glorification of St. John:

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