Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Daylight Savings Time begins this coming weekend, March 12-13. So, before you go to bed on Saturday, March 12, be sure and Spring Forward by setting your clocks ahead one hour.
OUR CALENDAR
Fasting Days
During Great Lent we abstain from meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil Monday through Friday, with a blessing for wine and olive oil on Saturday and Sunday. During this first week of the Fast, known as Pure Week, it is a pious custom to keep a total fast until after the first Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on Wednesday. If you need to modify the fast in any way, please check with your spiritual father.
Daily Services
Monday, March 7 - Friday, March 11: Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm
There will be No Daily Vespers on Wednesday, March 9, because of the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy. If you plan on attending the daily services, it’s generally a good idea to check the day before to make sure that the service will be offered. Sometimes pastoral situations require a change of plans and the service cannot be offered on that particular day.
THE HOURS
Seth Hart will be at the online chanter’s stand, offering the First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours this week on ZOOM: 1st hour @ 6:45; 3rd hour @ 8:45; 6th hour @11:45; 9th hour @3:45. Please see the emailed newsletter for the log in information.
Lenten Services
Monday, March 7
Great Compline at 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 8
Great Compline at 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 9
The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy at 7:00 p.m.
Masks will be required at this service.
Thursday, March 10
Great Compline at 7:00 p.m.
Friday, March 11
The Akathist Hymn at 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 12
St Thomas School at 4:00 p.m.
Great Vespers at 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 13
The Sunday of Orthodoxy
Orthros at 8:00 a.m.
Church School at 8:15 a.m.
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.
Fellowship Hour at Noon
Between Orthros and the Divine Liturgy, two members will be chrismated, and four people will be baptized. Please arrive early to participate in these Holy Mysteries and please bring an icon in order to participate in the procession at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy.
ST THOMAS SCHOOL
On Saturday, March 12, Father Andrew Wilson will lead the discussion of Chapter Nine in Volume V, “The Burial and Commemoration of the Dead”.
In order to participate online, send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org by this coming Thursday, March 10; you will also need to keep your camera on during the session.
CONSTRUCTION NEWS
The work on our new parking lot started on Tuesday, March 1. The project will take at least five weeks and, during that time, here are some things we will all need to do.
First of all, we should be praying for the entire process, for our project manager, for the construction company and their workers, and for our parish council who will be over-seeing the whole effort. Our prayers will keep everyone safe and ensure that the project is completed successfully.
Second, parents, godparents, and grandparents need to be especially vigilant during the construction work. None of the work will take place on Sundays. However, there will be heavy equipment parked on the property. Lots of earth will be moved. There will be construction fencing and porta-potties and all sorts of items that are attractive and intriguing to young children. The general rule at our parish is that our children must be in our direct line of sight at all times. This rule is going to be even more critical while the parking lot is being replaced.
Third, there are specific places that you cannot park: You cannot park in the circular drive in front of the parish house and you cannot park in any area where there is a red border along the edge of the concrete. Those areas are set aside for emergency vehicles. If a policeman drives by our property and sees that you are parked in any of those locations, you could very well receive a ticket.
Fourth, if your family normally brings two or three vehicles to the parish, please consider adjusting your schedule for the next several weeks and only bring one vehicle. If all our families car-pool, then we should have plenty of parking, not only for our parishioners but also for our visitors.
Finally, quite a few of our folks are going to be parking off-site while the construction project is going on. Those folks have already received instructions about how that is going to work (you can read through those instructions in the letter attached to this newsletter). However, if you arrive on a Sunday and you cannot find a place to park on our property, then you need to know that, while it is legal to park in the surrounding neighborhoods, (1) you cannot park within four feet of a private driveway and (2) you cannot park on the bridges that cross North Winecup Trail and Big Sur Drive. Parking your car in that way and in those locations could lead to a ticket.
COMING UP
Saturday of Souls
There are three more Saturday of Souls this year: Saturday, March 19, Saturday, March 26, and Saturday, June 11. On each of those days, Orthros will be served at 6:00 a.m. and Divine Liturgy at 8:00 a.m. If you plan to be present on a particular Saturday, please write the names of the departed that you will be praying for in the Memorial Book that is located in the narthex. If you will not be present for those specific services, please do not write the names of your friends and loved ones on that particular day. That way, there will be plenty of space for the names of the loved ones who will be at the services.
Paschal Confession
Our Archdiocese expects that each of us will make our confession before Pascha. In our parish, we do not hear confessions during Holy Week. So, that means we have until Saturday, April 16, to participate in that Holy Mystery. Confession is offered each Saturday evening after Great Vespers or just about any other time by specific appointment.
Psalter Readings
In years past, the women of our community have come together to do daily Psalter readings during Great Lent. They work through the Psalter daily reading a Kathisma, with the next Kathisma being read on a subsequent day. In this way, they read through the entire Psalter twice. If you would like to participate in this community of women readers, please see the emailed newsletter for contact information.
Man of God
Orthodox Movie Night! A film about St. Nectarios of Aegina has been released and it will be showing here in Central Texas. The movie is called “Man of God” and it will premiere locally on Monday, March 21, at 7:00 p.m. (Some locations will also be offering a screening on Monday, March 28). You can watch a trailer and read about the awards the film has received on the IMDb website. “Man of God” is showing locally at: Cinemark Cedar Park at 1335 E. Whitestone Blvd., Regal Arbor Great Hills at 9828 Great Hills Trail, and at Cinemark Tinseltown 20+XD at 15436 FM 1825 in Pflugerville.
Camp St. Raphael
Camp St. Raphael 2022 Camper Applications are available online at https://www.campstraphael.org. Remember spots are reserved on a first come first serve basis. So, don’t delay. Session One is Sunday, June 26th to Saturday, July 2nd, and Session Two is Sunday, July 3rd to Saturday, July 9th. This year CSR will be at new location in Kingston, Oklahoma. Scholarships are available. So, if you need assistance in order to send your child to camp, please speak with Father Aidan or Father Andrew.
Parish Life Conference
The Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America’s Parish Life Conference will be hosted by St. George Cathedral in Wichita, Kansas, from Wednesday, June 15th through Saturday, June 18th. Hotel reservations may be made at Reservations: Hyatt Regency https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/group-booking/WICRW/G-GEC.
OUR MOMENT OF GRACE AND COURTESY
Our ushers are responsible for managing the flow of people in and out of the nave and for keeping things quiet in the kitchen and the narthex. If you arrive late for the service, or if you need step out of the nave for some reason, please remember that they will ask you to wait in the narthex or the kitchen during baptisms, during any of the entrances or scripture lessons, during the homily, and during communion. Please respect their role and follow their directions.an unworthy priest
Aidan
The Happy Priest is a publication of Life at a Dead Run Media, which is a subsidiary of One Take Productions. Our IT Guy is Jerry Juliano. Our Webmaster is Seth Hart. Our Keeper of Lists is Father Andrew Wilson. Our Roving Reporter is Big Ben Bolt. Our Byzantine Clock features three fault-tolerant clock synchronization algorithms, and our Spiritual Advisor is Elder Galaction of the Holy Mountain.