Palm Sunday

Announcements

Philoptochos Palm Sunday Luncheon. . . . April 9 The GOYA teen ministry is asked to help in the Community Palm Sunday Fish Luncheon again this year in the Chopman Center. Please make plans to attend with your family !

Help Decorate Kouvouklion on Holy Thursday! . . . April 13 As we prepare to celebrate Pascha! All ages are invited to come to the church and help with decorating the Kouvouklion (the Tomb of Christ) with flowers immediately following the service of Holy Thursday night! Please consider taking the day off from school or work on Holy Friday. Service of the Royal Hours is at 9:00 a.m. You can come to participate and read the Royal Hours service. Important note: this is a family opportunity, not a “drop-off” event. Young children must be supervised by a responsible adult.

Make Plans for the Anastasi Dinner . . . . . April 16 Don’t forget to make plans to attend the Resurrection Orthros, Liturgy and Dinner at Saint George on Saturday evening/early morning of Pascha. Following the liturgical celebration of the Resurrection, join your family, friends and other members of Saint George to celebrate the Feast of Feasts!

Agape Vespers & Pascha. . . . . April 16 Agape Vespers Service at 12:00 p.m. MARK your calendars also for the Feast of Saint George on Saturday, April 22nd! All the children are invited to come for this beautiful and bright service. It is a great way for all children and families to attend the service to share in a special celebration of Pascha and to honor our Patron Saint at the Great Vespers 6 p.m.!

Αre we willing to suffer with Christ?

The Cross shows us, in the most possible vivid way, that Christ suffers with us in our sufferings. Christ does not merely identify with our wounds, but is crucified to participate in our suffering and to show His love to us through His passions. The question is if we are willing to suffer with Christ for the salvation of mankind; if we are willing to love Him so as to evangelize His love to others by offering ourselves in philanthropy, taking part in the suffer-ings of our fellow man. Without such an offering, without this kind of sacrifice, there will be no resurrection.

Pain as it is related to death

Archim. Joel Giannakopoulos

Pain is related to death. For pain is daily death. Death is something ab-stract, but pain is specific. We fear death but we do not live it. We all though live pain, both young and old… Great pain often causes the de-sire of death, and, something more, it makes [death] its savior. In this way we are forced to think that there is something better than life. No knowledge can obstruct the metaphysical desire of pain. Pain knows more than knowledge. Thus, the pain we have in facing life and death verifies that whatever comes from the present life in this world is a trumpet, an echo, a voice of the other world, of eternity.

Palm Sunday

(John. 12, 1-18)

How interested are we to meet Christ?

Six days before Christ’s passion, we find the Lord at the house of Martha and Mary where he had resurrected their brother Lazarus. Out of deep gratitude, Mary anoints the Lord’s feet with myrrh. And Judas protests, supposedly from concern for the poor. Here, we see Mary’s loving disposition towards the Lord, which calculates neither money, nor what impression this will give to those around her. Perhaps few Christians understand what great importance this worship of the Lord has. Usually we become busy with practical things, more or less just like Judas is thinking here as well. Taking the example from Mary, we must stress here that it is a worshipping disposition towards Christ that has great importance. This is not something simply expressed through a few works. It is the deepest flame, the desire of the soul to be given God and to enjoy him. However, few overcome the impediments which they must overcome in order to arrive at union and communion with God, which is incomprehensible delight. Also, the evangelist stresses that certainly many came to see Jesus but mostly Lazarus, and his resurrection, although Jesus is everything. In this manner, men rise up in certain situations to hear certain news, to satisfy their curiosity and not to have personal communion with Christ. And this is incredible. And so, we Christians, how interested are we to meet with Christ? Usually other things that encircle Christ move us, attract our interest, but nobody seeks Christ. People do not have a disposition to travel along with Christ and to go where he goes – to his Passion – and to where he leads them. As we come, my brothers, into Holy Week, let us consider these things, so that with the grace of God, this time we will truly be there with the Lord. To feel his love but also to love him without calculations, without a disposition to be rewarded – at such times no one thinks of what he will get. Truly, therefore, we are to die to sin and to rise with the Lord in new life.