Archive for the ‘Feasts’ Category
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Christ Is Risen!
Our Service
Our Pascha Basket and Kulich
Easter Outfits from Grammy & Papa
The kiddos and Sarah & Jason
Our Paschal Feast and Red Eggs
Baskets
Easter Egg Hunt
Our godson and one of my favorite little girls
Our swingin’ girl and our runnin’ boy
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Struggling With Sickness Once Again
Our family has been sick on and off, mostly on, since mid-summer. Right now, everyone in our home, including the dog, is under the weather.
Bunky has been on antibiotics since last week, and, now, Punky is as well, after a trip to the doctor this afternoon. They have ear infections in both ears. Punky’s fever spiked at 102.6 last night, but I am hoping that he will rest better tonight with some antibiotics and fever-reducing medicine in him.
I was very sick over the weekend, and my loving husband helped me take the day off and rest in bed. Bunky spent all morning and part of the afternoon in bed with me. He is such a sweet bunkmate. I love that little guy. Even though he was sick as well, he was a pleasure to cuddle and play with. I am still coughing a lot and having trouble sleeping at night, but propping up pillows does help a bit. I think all of my coughing has pushed the germies over to my hubby’s side of the bed, and he is now struggling with a slight cold as well.
Spunky has had a cold for about a week, but it isn’t anything more than that. She seems to be doing fine; although, she’s been acting a little bit “punkier” in the last few days, so I hope that wears off when the cold makes its way our of our home.
I’ve opened the windows and tomorrow I plan to clean every inch of the house in the hopes that this sickness will end this week. We have so much to look forward to in the coming days that I was everyone to feel well so that they can participate in all the wonderful services this weekend.
If you wouldn’t mind, please say a prayer for our entire family.
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Palm Sunday
Entry into Jerusalem, 12th Century Mosaic
(via my father in law)By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your passion,
You did confirm the universal Resurrection, O Christ God!
Like the children with the palms of victory,
We cry out to You, O Vanquisher of death;
Hosanna in the Highest!
Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today we had the joy of baptizing ten people at our parish!
My husband and I are now the godparents of a wonderful little boy, the son of our friends and younger brother of one of Punky’s buddies.
His patron saint is St. George.
One of the baptisms and our little godson with his family -
The Annunciation
The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the earliest Christian feasts, and was already being celebrated in the fourth century. There is a painting of the Annunciation in the catacomb of Priscilla in Rome dating from the second century. The Council of Toledo in 656 mentions the Feast, and the Council in Trullo in 692 says that the Annunciation was celebrated during Great Lent.
The Archangel Gabriel was sent by God to Nazareth in Galilee. There he spoke to the undefiled Virgin who was betrothed to St Joseph:
“Hail, thou who art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
Then said Mary unto the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.’
And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’ And the angel departed from her.
this print is for my husband- he loves Lippi’s Annunciation
(from here)Today is the beginning of our salvation,
The revelation of the eternal mystery!
The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin
As Gabriel announces the coming of Grace.
Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos:
Rejoice, O Full of Grace,
The Lord is with You!from oca.org
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Understanding the Lenten Fast
Recently, I’ve heard/read lots of people discussing fasting for Lent. The good, the bad and the ugly!
I have a friend from college, who is an Evangelical Christian, and he has been considering fasting from something for Lent, so he posted about it Facebook. The first person to comment said the following, “I think you should fast from lint for lent because it is just a stupid Catholic tradition.“ Ouch!
Here are parts of a pastoral note regarding Lent from our local parish:
For some people, the word “Lent” occasionally conjures up images of deprivation, guilt, and sadness. But if I may boldly borrow from St. Paul: “Brethren, this ought not to be so!” Too often in our times, Lent has been cast as merely a time of fasting and prayer. Indeed, Lent is impossible without these things, but Lent must never be reduced to these things. The real challenge for us today is to enter wholly into the spirit of Lent.
To enter into the spirit of Lent is to follow the Lord in saying, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” To this end, the Church invites us to:
Embrace fasting.
Embrace a tougher prayer life.
Embrace the rigor of offering our bodies physically in worship.
Embrace others through almsgiving & service.
Embrace the denial of television and other entertainments to focus on the “one thing needful.”
Embrace the call to seek first the Kingdom of God.
Embrace the joy of repentance each day and in Confession.
Fasting is a gift God gives us for our salvation—to train and teach us.
This year, for Orthodox Christians, the Lenten season begins today. Those who are healthy and able do not eat dairy and meat until Easter, the Feast of Feasts. In our family, we have somewhat of a different fast in that I am nursing a baby and should not fast from all these things all the time, and we have small children, who only eat Lenten meals all dinner time. These are the reasons that I am striving to have a lifestyle change during Lent, because without that, Lent would just feel like any other time of the year. But it is not any other time of the year, it is time for us to prepare for Christ’s death and resurrection!
To better understand why Orthodox Christians fast the way that we do, please go here.
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Living Out Our Faith for Our Children
What saves and makes for good children is the life of the parents in the home. The parents need to devote themselves to the love of God. They need to become saints in their relation to their children through their mildness, patience and love. They need to make a new start every day, with a fresh outlook, renewed enthusiasm and love for their children. And the joy that will come to them, the holiness that will visit them, will shower grace on their children. Generally the parents are to blame for the bad behaviour of the children. And their behaviour is not improved by reprimands, disciplining, or strictness. If the parents do not pursue a life of holiness and if they don’t engage in spiritual struggle, they make great mistakes and transmit the faults they have within them. If the parents do not live a holy life and do not display love towards each other, the devil torments the parents with the reactions of the children. Love, harmony and understanding between the parents are what are required for the children. This provides a great sense of security and certainty.
- Elder Porphyrios
My husband and I were talking about this just this week. I always find myself yelling at the children, when it is really a problem with myself and not them. Yes, they can be infuriating at times, but I need to learn to be patient. “Patience” and “mildness” are not words a person would connect with me. Although, I do have “love”- lots of it! I love my kids like crazy, sometimes too much because I spoil them and let them walk all over me. I have found that when I am not doing my prayers like I should or reading the Scriptures, I tend to be a crankier person. There is definitely a connection there.
As Lent approaches, I am meditating on all of the things that I want to accomplish during this time of the year. As I’ve already said, I want to get my life organized, and one of the most important parts of that is getting on a schedule. I want to wake up in the mornings and pray as a family and read the Bible with the children. I want to teach them about Lent and Pascha (Easter). I also want to share stories of those who have gone before us, the saints, important people in the Bible, etc. I have ordered two books that I plan to read; although, one is 500 pages, so I am not sure if I’ll get all the way through it. I want to say prayers at night, and not just the prayers that we do with the children. I want to take time to prayer by myself before I go to bed.
I know that paragraph is full of ‘wants”, but I feel like we completely missed Lent last year (with being sick from my pregnancy, moving, packing, etc) and I want to point my eyes toward Christ’s death and resurrection this year. If I can make these things my desires, I will then be able to shift the focus on Christ. Then I can be a better example to my children. Our children do understand, as well as they can, Christ’s death and resurrection. But it is just as important for them to see our faith lived out in the day to day.
I hope this coming season is a blessed and fruitful one for all.
Thanks, Emily, for the quote!
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Blessed Nativity of Our Lord!
Your Nativity, O Christ our God,
Has shone to the world the Light of wisdom!
For by it, those who worshipped the stars,
Were taught by a Star to adore You,
The Sun of Righteousness,
And to know You, the Orient from on High.
O Lord, glory to You!
Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One,
And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One!
Angels with shepherds glorify Him!
The wise men journey with a star!
Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child! -
One Year Ago…
… we discovered this wonderful surprise right before Christmas.
The line is incredibly faint because I took the test when I was only two-three weeks pregnant.
And the tests say you can’t tell this early. Ha! I proved them wrong.And this year we get to celebrate Bunky’s 1st Nativity of Our Lord!
He’s really looking forward to it- can’t you tell?
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The Manger is Empty!
The other day, I looked over at our little manager set
and saw that it was empty.
Spunky had taken the figurines and set them up somewhere else in the house.
I think she did a pretty good job.
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Christ is Risen!
We had a beautiful Pascha service this weekend, and afterward, we all celebrated together by digging into our baskets, which were filled with all sorts of delicious treats.
Someone brought a huge basket full of red eggs, which you can crack against another person’s egg to see who “wins” (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding). My hubby won seven times in a row- I only one twice and then our priest’s son (he’s 2) kept cracking, or crushing, his egg against mine until it was a mess. Punky tried his first hard boiled egg, but didn’t like it very much.
In the afternoon, we had a picnic and an indoor Easter egg hunt since it was raining outside. Punky and Spunky came home with baskets full of candy, which they dug into right away. Spunky hadn’t even finished looking for eggs when she ate her first piece of candy.
However, the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. It was a busy and joyful weekend!
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Prayer for Children
O God, our heavenly Father, who loves mankind and are a most merciful and compassionate God, have mercy upon Your servants for whom I humbly pray to You to care for and protect. O God, be their guide and guardian in all their endeavors, lead them in the path of Your truth, and draw them nearer to You, so that they may lead a godly and righteous life in Your love as they do Your will in all things. Give them Your grace, and mercy so that they may be patient, hard working, tireless, devout and charitable. Defend them against the assaults of the enemy, and grant them wisdom and strength to resist all temptation and corruption, and direct them in the way of Salvation, through the goodness of Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
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