Cathia Hamparian Children’s Memorial – Invitation to attend and participate

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Dear Family and Friends,
 
Cathia Hamparian Children’s Memorial Candle Lighting will take place on Sunday December 8, at 6:45p.m.

at St Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church (2215 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena) and virtually on Epostle.net

 
Wishing you early Happy Thanksgiving! The time when families get together to celebrate, be thankful for our blessings, and the start of the busy Christmas season, the music, the festivities, the decorations… The time with the empty seat on the festive table for us, bereaved families.
 
As Cathia’s parents and family, we’ve been in this journey for 28 years!!! Not a day goes by without thinking of her, missing her. We have come a long way from the first years when we didn’t know what to do, how to overcome this period. When we didn’t want to leave the house, hoping it all passes quickly, as tears and sorrow and emptiness were part of our everyday life; our new us, heartbroken, trying to live without her physical presence. With every year we got stronger, we learned to love again and be thankful for the precious memories of her and the time we had with her. Those memories kept us going, and the eternal love we have for Cathia, the honor of being her parents and family.
The comforting event all these years is the Children’s Memorial Service on the 2nd Sunday of December. We began commemorating 27 years ago in Cathia’s memory and have continued every year ever since. Many of you have been part of this commemoration and have shared pictures of your loved ones. Last year we launched a virtual memorial with all of those pictures as stars in heaven. This year we will once again LIVE STREAM the event as well as meeting in person at St Gregory Armenian Apostolic Church in Pasadena. Please join us in person at 7PM (Pacific Time) or, if you cannot make it, please join us on the web at Children’s Memorial – epostle from anywhere in the world. You will be entering the portal where our children’s stars shine all all around us. Walk in the Gallery and watch us live. We are adding a new feature this year: You may add a note to your child’s star where visitors can learn more about these special angels. Please email me by December 5, a small note if you would like to add a note.
If you know of families who have lost a child, please forward the information to them. Bereaved families find comfort in this event by sharing, talking, lighting a candle and honoring our Shining Stars
🙏🏻🌠
 
Please accept this as an invitation to come and join us.
 
Sincerely,
Maria Hamparian, Cathia’s mom
(626) 826-7833

 

Control

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Armodoxy for Today: the Advent Series – Control

Yesterday we discovered that Jesus’ teaching about adultery is about fidelity in the context of a broader demand for sincerity. Jesus separates action from thought – what we may refer to as premeditation – the thoughts that lead to actions.  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus continues, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

Jesus uses hyperbole, for sure, in an attempt to draw attention to the difficulty of disciplining the senses. As we learned in the preamble to the Sermon on the Mount, that is, in the Beatitudes, harnessing our power is essential to spiritual growth. The struggle between the physical and spiritual life is ever present and Jesus refers to this duality throughout his ministry. Most glaringly in the Garden of Gethsemane, he challenges the disciples to stay awake with him as he prays, but he also knows the physical weakness they will succumb to and identifies it as, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

The teaching on adultery, is an invitation to take control of our most innate and powerful physical urges. It is a call to open ourselves to the honesty and control of our expression and to the limits of our physical abilities. The sin is not the physical act alone, but losing our control to the lust that draws us to the physical act. Herein is the challenge to rise and ascend to the spiritual realm, where lust is controlled to prevent the sinful act. In honesty and control we find purity. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

We pray today from the 8th hour of St. Nersess Shnorhali’s prayer, O Searcher of secrets, I have sinned against you, willingly and unwillingly, knowingly and unknowingly. Grant me forgiveness for since my birth from the baptism font to this day, I have sinned before you Lord, with all my senses and with all the members of my body. Have mercy upon me, a sinner. Amen.

 

Fidelity & Sacrifice

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent Series – Fidelity & Sacrifice

The second of the “But I say to you” instructions address adultery. As in the case of murder, once again, Jesus moves the sin from action to thought. “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus’ wish for sincerity is even more accented this time around with this commandment. It is the thought that gives way to action. We see this played out in our lives as well as on the world stage all the time, whether the prejudicial ideas that lead to racism or the unbridled hatred that leads to war, Jesus calls to nip the diseased flower at the bud. However, in context, Jesus was reacting to the hypocrisy that was displayed by the religious elite. Very plainly, he was calling out those who said one thing but lived by another standard. Now, in our hearing, we join the group of “those” and understand he speaks to us all.

After he spoke the Sermon on the Mount, we read the following incident takes place:

… Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’… ” (Matthew 9:9-12)

Jesus demands mercy as a condition of love. He reminds us that God is a God of mercy and compassion: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6) Sacrifice is an action, a show-thing, mercy comes from our innermost self. And now the turn is ours, to push ourselves to a higher consciousness where our thoughts are controlled to thereby thwart evil actions.

As we move further on the Advent journey, your journal becomes a referencing tool for the teachings of Jesus. Without this first step of mercy, compassion is not sincere. Without sincerity of heart, love and loving is merely an act and lacks fidelity.

Today’s prayer comes from our Eastern Orthodox tradition. As I read it, contemplate the number of times the phrase “Have mercy” is said. Consider it as the fundamental and most basic prayer that we, as humans, may offer.

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us; for laying aside all excuse, we sinners offer to Thee, as to our Master, this supplication: Have mercy on us. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. O Lord, have mercy on us, for in Thee have we put our trust.

Cover: Luna & Gregory Beylerian 2023

Greater than God

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent Series – Greater than God

During this period of Advent, we are encountering the Essential Teachings of Jesus as he expressed them in the Sermon on the Mount. Today we continue to look at the harsh contrast between the Old and New Testaments, especially as it is presented in this passage about murder. Jesus equates murder with anger. “You have heard that it was said to those of old,” Jesus says, “‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” For Jesus, sincerity of heart is of primary importance. But the contrast twixt Old and New is perhaps nowhere so pronounces as when Jesus offers the solution to our anger.

He continues, “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.”

Truly this prescription is in stark contrast to the Old Covenant. In the Ten Commandments, the code of the Old Testament God is not to be overshadowed by anyone or anything. The first two commandments, articulated by God are as follows:

“You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God….” (Exodus 20:3-6)

For Jesus, our reconciliation with one another is more important than God! “… leave your gift there before the altar,” he instructs, “and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Lip service did not interest Jesus. Actions were necessary to back up the words of our mouth. The love we have with one another is our expression of the love we have for God. This was so central to Jesus’ teaching that it was codified, in a sense, in the writing of St. John the Evangelist.

Today, we leave with a mediation from the Letter of St. John, chapter 4:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. … Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. … If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (4:7-20)

Cover: Luna & Gregory Beylerian, 2023

 

Harsh Contrast: Old to New Testament Shift

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent Series – Shifting from Action to Thought

The contrast between New and Old Testament is harsh, at least it is when you follow the teaching of Jesus. In this next section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus accents that contrast by quoting the old law and then instructing with “But I say to you…”  As we read through these new rules, remember the lessons of the first week of Advent. They have prepared us to decipher through the harsh contrast twixt the law of old and the moral imperative as presented by the One who pronounced the spirit of the laws.

Jesus begins, You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ (an insult equivalent to calling him ‘empty headed’) shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.

Whether you are hearing this for the first time or have heard it 100 times before, the shock level is not diminished. Jesus has equated murder with anger. Think of the implications of this shift. Judgment is not on your actions but on your thoughts. For Jesus, your innermost thoughts, the desires of your heart are what betray you to sin. Jesus was demanding the purity of heart. And, he lays out the consequences of our insincerity in detail, from judgement to sentencing to the punishment.

Journal your immediate reaction to these verses. We are only in the second week of Advent. Compare those reactions in a few weeks as we get closer to the Theophany.

Let us pray, Lord Jesus Christ, you came because of the Love of the Father. Your only demand on us was sincerity, that is, a rejection of hypocrisy. You asked us to come to you with the purity of heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” you said, “For they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) Keep me from evil thoughts, which lead to words and deeds, so that I may strive for the goodness you have placed in my heart since my mother bore me. Amen.

 

The Salt & Light Preface

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Armodoxy for Today: The Advent Series – Prefaced with Salt & Light

We begin the second week of our Advent Journey, with two statements that set the purpose for the Essential Teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Here, he proclaims the importance of each of us, as a child of God. He says,

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

Here he gives a warning of what may come by your own doing. Salt, a speckle of seeming insignificance, is vital to life. It brings flavor to food, as is the directive for you to bring flavor to life. And without that flavor, salt is but a grain of sand. It is, as Jesus says, “Good for nothing.” Very plainly, do not lose your favor.

He continues, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Jesus, who is proclaimed as the “Light of the World” is now casting a new light on us. He refers to you as the Light. So important is Light to our life, that Jesus instructs you to shine your light – share your goodness, your talents – with others.

This passage today prefaces the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is validating you as Salt and as Light – important to bring flavor and illumination to the world. God has created you in His image for a purpose, to decorate, illuminate, share your talents, bring joy to all of creation. Don’t lose that saltiness. Don’t lose the light. The Sermon is the essential instruction on how not to lose the Goodness with which God has endowed you from the beginning. It’s yours and you are God’s.

Let us pray, Lord our God, during this Season of Advent, I prepare to greet you with awe and wonder. You have given me the joy of life. Help me to count my blessings, make my talents known for your Glory, so that I may live by the standard of Love. Amen.