LOOKING AHEAD TO SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS
Dear friends and parishioners,
Happy New Year and a blessed Theophany!
As we wind down from all the activities of the recent holidays, I would like to turn your attention to the next major Feast of the Church, Holy Week and Pascha.
Holy Week in 2018 begins with the celebrations of Palm Sunday on April 1 (which is also the Western Easter Sunday).
It also happens this year that Spring Break for the Cobb County Schools and Kennesaw State University coincide with our Holy Week!!!
Hence, I would like to ask all parents (as well as our college students) to take this opportunity to expose themselves and their children to Holy Week and Pascha by a full immersion in the daily Services of the Church. For almost 2000 years, Orthodox Christians have immersed themselves in Holy Week and Pascha, thus receiving a deeper understanding and appreciation of the events that lead to the Cross and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. These services are filled with hymns and theology explaining from many perspectives the Salvific Act of Redemption through Christ’s life, death and Resurrection. A full immersion for the whole week in these services will have a transformational effect on the young people in particular. These kinds of experiences shape the soul and provide powerful antibodies to the damaging effects of the secular and messed-up world in which we live. These blessed experiences will enhance the possibilities that our children will stay close to the Church and retain their Faith as they are confronted by the challenges of the world.
I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is that we focus our children on Holy Week this year. In the past, unfortunately, some people chose to go to the beach or take their families on vacation during Holy Week. That kind of planning sends the wrong message to the children and also deprives them of the Grace of God that can shape and strengthen them spiritually for many years to come.
Hence, as you begin your planning for the next school break, please keep these thoughts in your mind.
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God the Father and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you today and always.
In Christ’s Love,
Fr. Panayiotis
