Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
This coming Tuesday, we will be offering The Service of Holy Unction for Emily C., who is dealing with a diagnosis of cancer. The service will begin at 7pm; it typically runs for about an hour and twenty minutes. Everyone is invited to attend; if you are unable to join us in person, please keep Emily, John, and the children in your prayers.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
The traditional fasting discipline is that we go without meat (beef, pork, chicken, and fish with backbones), dairy products, oil, wine, and hard liquor through Pascha, Sunday, May 5 (there is a blessing for fish, wine, and oil on Saturdays and Sundays). If you need to modify that discipline in any way, please speak with your spiritual father as soon as possible.
Daily Services
Monday, April 8—Friday, April 12: Orthros 5am; Vespers 5pm (but there will not be any daily vespers on Wednesday due to the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy; please remember that if you plan on attending the in-person services, it’s always a good idea to check the day before and make sure the regular schedule will be observed).
Fr. Andrew, Seth Hart, and Matthew Groh and many other folks continue to broadcast daily readings from spiritual books online. They are now reading “The Ethics of Beauty”. The schedule is as follows: M-F at 12pm.
Also, our online team will now be reading the Daily Synaxarion on Discord. Just look for this channel: #synaxarion
Monday, April 8
Great Compline 7pm
Tuesday, April 9
Orthodoxy 101 7pm; you can also access the group on Discord
Wednesday, April 10
The Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 7pm
Thursday, April 11
The Bible Study, Old Testament Edition 7pm; you can access this group on Discord
Friday, April 12
The Akathist Hymn 7pm
Saturday, April 13
Youth Group 4pm
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, April 14
The Fourth Sunday in Great Lent
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
St Thomas School
On Saturday, April 13, Baker G. will be leading the discussion of chapters one and two of Volume V entitled, “Sacraments in the Orthodox Understanding” and “Baptism and Chrismation”. Online access is available on Discord; like to participate online, you still need to sign-up ahead of time. Just send an email to remote.meetings@theforerunner.org by Thursday, April 11, to reserve your spot.
Coming Up
Please help us adorn the bier, nave and narthex for Pascha weekend by contributing to the Flower Fund. Simply log into your Realm account, go to Giving>Give>Fund>Flower Fund, and select the amount of your donation. This is a beautiful way to honor both Christ's entombment and Resurrection!
The archdiocese expects all of us to make our confession prior to Pascha. Here in our parish, we do not offer the Mystery of Holy Confession during Holy Week, so that means we now have four weeks to get that done. Of course, a month seems like a long time, but it will go by very quickly, so we need to plan ahead. Holy Confession is available on Saturday evenings after Great Vespers or just about any other time with a specific appointment (our priests do not hear immediate-request-on-the-spot confessions).
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
It’s time to start reviewing our annual Paschal Moments of Grace and Courtesy. Here’s the second one:
Pre-school children should not be given lighted candles. Battery operated candles are available at craft stores, and that is what pre-school children should use. Parents and grandparents should use their best judgment when it comes to allowing elementary-age children to hold a lighted candle. This is not only a safety issue (hot wax can cause bad burns; hair and clothing can blaze up quickly and unexpectedly); it also takes a great deal of work to remove wax from the carpet. Again, our ushers have been instructed to remind parents that very young children should not be given lighted candles.
an unworthy priest
aidan