Metropolitan Jonah Speaks on Sancity of Life

News and Events Archpastoral Message of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah for Sanctity of Life Sunday Posted 01/11 January 18, 2009
To the Venerable Hierarchs, Clergy, Monastics and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America Dearly Beloved in Christ: The Lord Jesus Christ emerged from the waters of Baptism, and heard the Word of the Father: "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The Lord's word to each and every human being, to each and every being which bears the image and can actualize the likeness of God, is the same: You are my beloved. It is the very Word of God who, by His incarnation and assumption of our whole life and our whole condition, affirms and blesses the ultimate value of every human person--and indeed of creation as a whole. He filled it with His own being, uniting us to Himself, making us His own Body, transfiguring and deifying our lives, and raising us up to God our Father. He affirms and fulfills us, not simply as individuals seeking happiness, but rather as persons with an infinite capacity to love and be loved, and thus fulfills us through His own divine personhood in communion. Our life as human beings is not given to us to live autonomously and independently. This, however, is the great temptation: to deny our personhood, by the depersonalization of those around us, seeing them only as objects that are useful and give us pleasure, or are obstacles to be removed or overcome. This is the essence of our fallenness, our brokenness. With this comes the denial of God, and loss of spiritual consciousness. It has resulted in profound alienation and loneliness, a society plummeting into the abyss of nihilism and despair. There can be no sanctity of life when nothing is sacred, nothing is holy. Nor can there be any respect for persons in a society that accepts only autonomous individualism: there can be no love, only selfish gratification. This, of course, is delusion. We are mutually interdependent. First as Christians, but even more so, as human beings, we must repent and turn to God and one another, seeking forgiveness and reconciliation. Only this will heal the soul. Only by confronting our bitterness and resentment, and finding forgiveness for those who have hurt us, can we be free from the rage that binds us in despair. Repentance is not about beating ourselves up for our errors and feeling guilty; that is a sin in and of itself! Guilt keeps us entombed in self-pity. All sin is some form of self-centeredness, selfishness. Repentance is the transformation of our minds and hearts as we turn away from our sin, and turn to God, and to one another. Repentance means to forgive. Forgiveness does not mean to justify someone's sin against us. When we resent and hold a grudge, we objectify the person who hurt us according to their action, and erect a barrier between us and them. And, we continue to beat ourselves up with their sin. To forgive means to overcome that barrier, and see that there is a person who, just like us, is hurt and broken, and to overlook the sin and embrace him or her in love. When we live in a state of repentance and reconciliation, we live in a communion of love, and overcome all the barriers that prevented us from fulfilling our own personhood. All the sins against humanity, abortion, euthanasia, war, violence, and victimization of all kinds, are the results of depersonalization. Whether it is "the unwanted pregnancy", or worse, "the fetus" rather than "my son" or "my daughter;" whether it is "the enemy" rather than Joe or Harry (maybe Ahmed or Mohammed), the same depersonalization allows us to fulfill our own selfishness against the obstacle to my will. How many of our elderly, our parents and grandparents, live forgotten in isolation and loneliness? How many Afghan, Iraqi, Palestinian and American youths will we sacrifice to agonizing injuries and deaths for the sake of our political will? They are called "soldiers," or "enemy combatants" or "civilian casualties" or any variety of other euphemisms to deny their personhood. But ask their parents or children! Pro-war is NOT pro-life! God weeps for our callousness. We have to extend a hand to those suffering from their sins, what ever they are. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven, save the one we refuse to accept forgiveness for. Abortion not only destroys the life of the infant; it rips the soul out of the mother (and the father!). It becomes a sin for which a woman torments herself for years, sinking deeper into despair and self-condemnation and self-hatred. But there is forgiveness, if only she will ask. We must seek out and embrace the veterans who have seen such horrors, and committed them. They need to be able to repent and accept forgiveness, so that their souls, their memories, and their lives, might be healed. Most of all, we must restore the family: not just the nuclear family, but the multi-generational family which lives together, supports one another, and teaches each one what it means to be loved and to be a person. It teaches what forgiveness and reconciliation are. And it embraces and consoles the prodigals who have fallen. In this, the real sanctity of life is revealed, from pregnancy to old age. And in the multi-generational family each person finds value. This is the most important thing that we can possibly do. The Blessed Mother Teresa said that the greatest poverty of the industrialized world is loneliness. Let us reach out to those isolated, alienated, alone, and in despair, finding in them someone most worthy of love; and in turn, we will find in ourselves that same love and value, and know indeed that God speaks to us in the depths of our souls, You are my beloved in whom I am well pleased. With love in Christ,

+JONAH
Archbishop of Washington and New York

Change of Service Date

Please Note:
Service date of January 16-17th have been changed to the weekend of January 9-10th.

Video Slideshow of November Baptism & Chrismation Service

January & February Services

VESPERS: 6:30 PM
DIVINE LITURGY: 9:00 AM
Pre-Communion Prayers 8:30 AM
Choir Room Entrance (south side)
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
625 Elliott Ave Wenatchee, WA 98801

DATES:
JANUARY 9-10
Fr. Michael
JANUARY 23-24
Fr. Joseph
FEBRUARY 06-07
Fr. Joseph
FEBRUARY 20-21
Fr. Michael

2009 YOUTH WINTER RETREAT!!!

Pull out your skis, invite your friends and get ready for fun, fellowship, and an inspiring speaker: Fr. Michael Nasser from Project Mexico!

When? January 16-19, 2009. Registration Packets available at church or on-line

www.stpaulorthodox.org/Registration.pdf mid November.

Where? Cedar Springs Camp, Lake Stevens, WA and Snow Day (snow boarding, skiing,

x-country skiing, snow shoeing, and hanging out in the lodge) at Steven's Pass.

Ages? Junior high and high school

Hope to see you there!

NW Youth Ministry Team

(Mary Wright, Kh. Miriam, Lefteris Sitaras, & Nia Chopelas)

Fall/Winter Services

VESPERS: Friday 6:30 PM
DIVINE LITURGY: Saturday 9:00 AM
Pre-Communion Prayers: Saturday 8:30 AM

Choir Room Entrance (south side)
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church
625 Elliott Ave Wenatchee, WA 98801

DATES:
OCTOBER 24-25 Fr. Michael
NOVEMBER 14-15 - Special Baptism/Chrismation Service on Friday the 14th (instead of Vespers) Fr. Michael
NOVEMBER 21-22 Fr. Joseph
DECEMBER 5-6 Fr. Joseph
DECEMBER 19-20 Fr. Michael

You can always check our schedule on the calendar. Click here.

If you were looking for directions...

It has recently been brought to the webmaster's attention that we have not posted directions to our services! They are now available on the main page, or you can just keep reading.

We meet at:
St. Joseph's Catholic Church
625 Elliott Ave
Wenatchee, WA 98801

Click here for a map

We meet in the choir room, which is on the south end of the main building, opposite the main entrance.