On this, the 11th Sunday after Pentecost, we commemorate the Placing of the Cincture (Sash) of the Most Holy Theotokos (395-408), the Hieromartyr Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (258), St. Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople (471), St. Gennadius Scholarius patriarch of Constantinople (15th c.), St. John, Metropolitan of Kiev (1089), St. Eanswythe, abbess, of Folkestone (England, c. 640), and St. Aidan, bishop of Lindisfarne (651).

Through the intercessions of Thy Saints, O Christ God, have mercy on us and save us!

MAKE A COMMITMENT TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF ST. KATHERINE'S! We need volunteers to help with the children?s Sunday School program. If you enjoy spending time with children, you may be able to help. See Fr. Benedict or Karen DeJong for more information. You can help by donating your time to either teaching or simply helping out our teachers.

When Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," he was preparing us for a whole new way of seeing life and relating to others. As Saint Anthony the Great once said: "If we win our neighbor we win God, but if we cause our neighbor to stumble we sin against Christ."

There are three aspects to the "Golden Rule": bending the will, building bridges, and behaving like God.

When it comes to fulfilling the needs of others there is usually one major obstacle -- our own selfish will; it needs to bend. As human beings we are naturally self-absorbed. When we do a favor for someone we expects a return. But as Jesus taught: "If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you?"

Remember the story from The Brothers Karamazov of the woman who was consigned to hell for leading a fruitless, self-centered life? She cried out from the depths of her torment to be liberated. Finally, an angel of the Lord was sent to consider her appeal. "Have you ever helped anyone with an act of kindness?" was the question addressed to her by the angel. The woman thought long and hard and finally, after much deliberation, she remembered an isolated incident when she gave an onion to a beggar. The angel produced the onion out of his garment and said, "Let's see what we can do with it." He told the woman to take one end and he would try to pull her out of hell. Suddenly, others seeing her progress ran over and grabbed hold as well. The woman screamed, "It's MY onion!" As soon as she said this, the onion broke and she fell back into the depths of hell. She could not bend her will to consider the need of the other, and so she returned to the hell of selfhood.

Besides the need for bending the will, the Golden Rule challenges us to build bridges. If self-centeredness results in the loss of our humanity, living for the other results in its enhancement. How are these bridges built? In the words of Jesus, "Love your enemies, and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return ..." When we renounce pettiness and revenge in favor of love, a new reality is ushered in. Every such action makes room for the Kingdom of heaven to be manifested. The world becomes a better place.

The desert Father Paphnoutios, not one to readily drink wine, came across a band of robbers who were drinking wine. The captain of the band, knowing of Paphnoutios' temperance, but also seeing how weary he was from traveling, filled a cup of wine and holding his sword said," If you do not drink this, I will kill you." So the old man, wanting to show love and win the confidence of the robber, took the cup and drank it. Then the captain asked his forgiveness, saying, "Forgive me. Father, for I have made you unhappy." But the old man said, "I believe that, thanks to this cup, God will have mercy on you now and in the age to come." Then the robber said, "Have confidence in God that from now on I shall not harm anyone." So the old man converted the whole band by giving up his own will for the Lord's sake, that a bridge might be built.

Once the bridge is built and communion with the other is established, we now experience the third fruit of living by the Golden Rule ? behaving like God: ". . . for He is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." In other words, to live like God is to be in a continuous state of self-giving. Words cannot express the joy that comes from living as God does ("Your reward will be great,") and the sense of belonging ("'You will be sons and daughters of the Most High").

Few are they that have been able to live the Golden Rule to its utmost extent, but when they have, God has blessed them richly. Father Agathon, for one, once said, "If I could meet a leper, give him my body and take his, I should be very happy." One day on his way to town, Agathon met a paralytic, who asked to be carried into town to the place where Agathon sold his wares. As each article was sold, the cripple would ask, "How much did you sell it for," and he would tell him the price. Then the paralytic would ask Agathon to buy him something. . Finally at his request, Agathon carried the beggar back to the place of their meeting. Then the cripple said, "Agathon, you are filled with divine blessings, in heaven and on earth." Raising his eyes, Agathon saw no man; it was an angel of the Lord come to try him.

Bending our stubborn wills, building bridges to the other, behaving like God -- these are the three facets of our faithful adherence to the Golden Rule. In doing all three, we, too, can realize our God-like potential.