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"Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, holy, holy, art Thou, O our God. Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us."+ Troparion of Bridegroom Matins The services of the first few days of Orthodox Holy Week have a collective theme of judgment. The centerpiece of those days...

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have...

And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him...

The Bridegroom Comes! A Reflection on the Great Wedding Feast That Advent Announces Msgr. Charles Pope • November 29, 2016 • The coming of Christ at Christmas was as an infant and thus we don’t usually think of wedding imagery. Yet since the first coming of Christ has certainly already been fulfilled, we now focus more on His second coming, of which the first coming is a sacramental reminder.Thus, in Advent, our longing and excitement are also directed to His glorious second coming. Mother Church, the New Jerusalem, our Mother, looks for her groom Jesus to come again all...

Come Lord Jesus! A Meditation on the Stunning Glory of Being Gathered to Christ on the Last Day By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn Advent, as we continue to meditate on the Parousia (the magnificent Second Coming of the Lord), we do well to allow our imaginations to be engaged in contemplating the glory that awaits those who are faithful, to meditate on the joy and ecstasy of the culmination of all things!Though we have soberly meditated on the need to be ready and on the great danger that many who are not serious may be lost, for those who ARE ready, what glories...

The coming of Christ at Christmas was as an infant. And thus we don’t usually think of wedding imagery related to the First coming of Jesus.  Yet, since the first coming of Christ is certainly fulfilled, we now focus more on his Second coming, of which the first coming is a sacramental reminder.Thus, in Advent our longing and thrill are also and essentially  directed to his glorious second coming. And now Mother Church, the New Jerusalem, our Mother looks for her groom Jesus to come again all his glory:I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of...

June is high season for weddings in Norway, like many other places in the world. And bachelor parties can sometimes get out of hand. Such was the case with a would-be bridegroom in Trondheim earlier this month. His buddies thought they'd come up with a brilliant bachelor-party plan, but most of it went awry. It all started when the 31-year-old bridegroom was picked up at his home in Trondheim's Bakklandet district. His friends took him down to the harbor, they all boarded a sailboat and off they sailed to the middle of the Trondheims Fjord. Fortunately, the men dressed up...

A Serbian bridegroom spent the night in jail after he injured 15 guests while trying to shoot an apple with a shotgun. Shooting the apple is a traditional part of a Serbian wedding and is supposed to bring good luck to the newly-weds, reports Glas Javnosti newspaper. But the groom, 47, who's also a police marksmen, used a shotgun instead of a pistol and 15 people were hit by ricocheting pellets. None of the guests were seriously injured but police were called to the incident and arrested their colleague and confiscated his gun.

Affidavit says ex-con told postal officials he was just trying to get money to buy a ring before his wedding the next day Willie James Glover told federal agents he just wanted to do right by the woman he was about to marry. That's why he tried to rob a mailman. A federal grand jury in Mobile last week indicted Glover, 46, on a single charge of assaulting a postal employee. Glover's rap sheet dates back 25 years and includes arrests for robbery and assault. As of Thursday night, he was in Mobile County Metro Jail on a possible parole...