Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I wish you joy as we enter the holy Fast in preparation for the great Pascha of our Lord!

It is right to join prayer to our fasting during this time in order to cast out of our lives every weight which clings so closely; to cast into the sea, by the grace of God, the heavy things that stood for a long time like dark mountains in our hearts, obscuring the bright and enduring light of the risen Son of God.

If rigorous physical exercise produces sublime results for the body, this is incomparably more so for both body and soul when spiritual exercise is performed with trust in the Living God.

Accordingly, the Schedule of services for this week is particularly rigorous:

• Sunday 22nd: Forgiveness Vespers following Coffee Hour. (Please plan to stay a little late tomorrow so that we can enter Lent rightly: forgiving, and forgiven.)
• Monday 23rd:  6pm Great Compline with the Canon of St. Andrew
• Tuesday 24th:  6pm Great Compline with the Canon of St. Andrew
• Wednesday 25th: 5:30pm Presanctified Liturgy followed by Lenten Potluck, and class on Wounded by Love.
• Thursday 26th: 6pm Great Compline with the Canon of St. Andrew
• Friday 27th: 6pm Salutations to the Theotokos.

To Learn more about Forgiveness Sunday: http://lent.goarch.org/forgiveness/learn/
To learn more about the Canon of St. Andrew: http://www.goarch.org/multimedia/isos/isosfall2005/

I look forward to seeing you all this week.

With love in Christ,

Fr. Jeffrey