Monday, December 12, 2011

Celebrating Herman on Visit 44!


Ah, no....not this Herman;

We celebrated St. Herman of Alaska and what a man he turned out to be! Fr Gary's Homily said that many times we are told that saints are just like us (thus making holiness an achievable goal) but Herman, said Fr. Gary, was not. He then recounted his long, treacherous journey to Alaska, his many hardships and many of them were self-induced for ascetic purposes. This man was amazing and he brought the Gospel to the Aleuts, a tribe in Alaska! I especially like the story where Herman was able to pick up a log that 4 men couldn't manage~ talk about your super-saint!

I am glad during this Advent period there are more services being offered. Now it is true that I am not keeping the Nativity fast but I can see how those who are would be refreshed by these services much like people are refreshed with the pre-sanctified liturgy during Lent. As it is, since I cannot make every Saturday Vespers service, these extra times help me.

I was feeling a bit self-conscience because I was wearing sneakers. Yes, I had "dressy" pants and a "dressy" shirt on but before I left for Vespers, I took the dog in the back yard to "do her business" and put on my sneakers because it was a bit muddy in the back. Well, I guess I forgot I had them on! Oh, well. I certainly didn't mean any disrespect and I surmised, after I discovered it, it was better to just wear the sneakers than turn around in my car and retrieve my shoes, making me be late for Vespers.

I scooted right out of there without having the chance to greet anyone because my son was waiting to get picked up at work.

St Herman, pray for us!



6 comments:

  1. Your photo cracked me up!
    St. Herman, Pray to God for us!
    (and side note, do not feel badly about the sneakers, it happens to all of us)

    ReplyDelete
  2. mimi,
    thanks for telling me that I am not the only one the "sneaker fiasco" has happened to :)

    you know, that isn't a photo of Herman Munster; It's a video! Hooray for youtube! click on the picture and you will hear Herman Munster sing!

    Thanks for reading!

    ReplyDelete
  3. There have been numerous times we were running late or was doing something before church where I had on a t-shirt and jeans. I try to keep a skirt in the van for such occasions and just throw it on over the pants during the drive! God would rather us be in church celebrating him than worrying about our fashion sense. Granted, we should always dress respectfully and conservatively, but Tennies are just fine :)
    ~Ambrosia (Lavenna)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bio of Saint Herman from the OCA website:
    http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?FSID=103530

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ambrosia,
    Yes, being at church is more important than how happened to be dressed!

    ReplyDelete
  6. thanks for the bio from the OCA website!

    ReplyDelete