QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"What we gain from fasting does not compensate for what we lose through anger. Our profit from Scriptural reading in no way equals the damage we cause ourselves by showing contempt for a brother. We must practice fasting, vigils, withdrawal, and the meditation of Scripture as activities which are subordinate to our main objective, purity of heart, that is to say, love, and we must never disturb this principal virtue for the sake of those others. If this virtue remains whole and unharmed within us, nothing can injure us, not even if we are forced to omit any of those other subordinate virtues. Nor will it be of any use to have practiced all these latter virtues if there is missing in us that principal objective for the sake of which all else is undertaken."
+St. John Cassian
FOR YOUR EDIFICATION
NATIVITY FAST
November 25th marked the first day of the "Little Fast," also known as the Nativity Fast. It's also sometimes called "the Winter Lent". Fasting is not just about changing ingredients; it should be a real spiritual discipline with goals. Technically, all the faithful are supposed to be fasting the fast if they wish to partake of Eucharist. At the same time, I know that I am not everyone's spiritual father, and I know that there are limitations to people fasting that need to be considered. I encourage each of you to take the discipline seriously and to consult with your spiritual father for an appropriate prescription for your fasting period, as well as what spiritual disciplines to partake of during this blessed time. If you want to sit with me to talk about it, no problem! We can arrange a program for each to follow. We'll be discussing the fast during the Sermons and possibly take on a book study for this period. May the Lord bless this fast for all of us and let it be a source of fruit to all of us. -Abouna Antony
ASK ABOUNA! Q&A
Saturday's evening meeting will be an open time for questions and answers with Fr. Antony. Please come prepared with questions to ask, both related to the previous weeks' discussions and any other topics that you're pondering.
SERVICES & EVENTS THIS WEEK
Wednesday: FOCUS service: 3:00 p.m. - 8 p.m. (come anytime!)
Thursday: UCSD Coptic Club: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Friday: Divine Liturgy: 6:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
St. Basil Fellowship: 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
Saturday: Vespers & Midnight Praise: 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Adult Education Class: 6:45 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. (Ask Abouna! Q&A)
Sunday: Divine Liturgy: 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
FOCUS SAN DIEGO
Each Wednesday, volunteers from all of the Orthodox parishes in San Diego county work together through FOCUS at God's Extended Hand to help provide meals for the hungry. God's Extended Hand has been providing food and shelter to people in downtown San Diego since 1924 at 1625 Island Ave., San Diego, CA 92101. Teenagers and young adults from all parishes are asked to volunteer the 1st Wednesday of every month, and all the congregants of St. Basil's are asked to serve on the 3rd and 4th Wednesdays of the month; for months that have a 5th Wednesday, FOCUS asks all parishes to volunteer on that day. Help is needed with preparing and cooking the food from 3:00-6:00pm and serving the food and cleaning up from 6:20-7:00pm. Children are welcome to help their parents serve. Please stop by for any amount of time you can serve each week! If you have any questions, please contact Mary Jensen.
SAN DIEGO COPTIC CLUB
The San Diego Coptic Club is a fellowship for the college-aged youth of San Diego and hosts weekly spiritual meetings and social events. The meetings take place every week on Thursday evenings at 7 pm, alternating between spiritual meetings at the UC San Diego campus in La Jolla and social events which are held at a variety of places, like the beach, bowling, and many more! Coptic Club provides a fellowship to help youth grow in the love of Christ together and have a bond of unity in His name during a critical time of their lives. If you have questions or to join their mailing list, please reach out to Mariam Guirguis and David Kneiber.
SERVANTS' DAY AND RECEPTION OF FR. ANDREW
On December 10th, our parish has been invited to join with St. Paul American Coptic Orthodox Church in Tustin for their servants' spiritual day. It will begin at 8 a.m. with Liturgy at St. Paul's (3002 Dow Ave Suite, #140, Tustin, CA 92780), followed by breakfast and coffee at the clubhouse at 245 Summit Park, Irvine, CA 92603. The spiritual day will continue until around 5:15 in order to allow time to return to St. Paul's for Vespers. If you plan to attend the servants' spiritual day, please RSVP to Mary so we can let St. Paul's servants know how many additional people to prepare food for.
Vespers will begin at 6 p.m., and will include the service to receive Fr. Andrew upon his return from his time in Egypt. All parishioners are encouraged to attend Vespers in support of Fr. Andrew. We will not be praying Vespers at St. Basil's on Saturday the 10th.
NATIVITY FEAST CHURCH DINNER
God willing, on Sunday, January 8th, St. Basil's will be hosting a dinner and celebration for the Feast of the Nativity. We would like our youth to have the opportunity to share their gifts and talents with their church family, so all youth are invited to participate and share their musical, artistic, and other gifts. If you or your children are interested in participating, or you can contribute food, please let Fr. Antony know.
WEBSITE & HYMNS
We encourage all congregants to take some time to check out the parish website.
All are also encouraged to listen to the liturgical hymns as they are chanted at St. Basil, which can be found here.
FOOD & CLEAN-UP
To sign up to bring food for the agape meal on Sundays, please see the bulletin board at church or contact Erene Hanna. We need as many volunteers as possible to keep the church clean on Sundays after the Divine Liturgy. Please consider this important expression of stewardship.
