sade065

The powerful story of repentance that we find in the life of Saint Mary of Egypt which was recorded by the monk Zossimos, can be a memorable one for teenagers and college students. For the younger children though that you might be working with, consider this Orthodox craft: 1. Color two images of Saint Mary of Egypt The first, from her former life possibly with brighter clothing, youthful skin, etc and the second after her years in the desert as an ascetic. I chose these two images because one depicts the humility needed to bring about repentance, and the second with hope and stronger faith, prepared to meet God at her death. 2. Cut the images out 3. Glue those images, back to back, with a popsicle stick in between 4. Write the word "METANOIA" (or REPENTANCE) on the sticks with the definition "Turn one's life around" on the reverse side. As I retell the story, I'll ask the children to show me which side of her we're looking at. Then, we will literally, T...

This year for the Publican and Pharisee Sunday lesson, here's an idea to get your kids and teens active. Meet outside and introduce the story with two balls. Make your kids observe them, feel them, and throw them around to each other in a circle facing each other. Ask them to articulate just how different these two balls are. The beach ball is puffed up, displaying an array of colors in a fancy design for all to see. It is like eye-candy. When attempting to fly, especially upwards to heavens, it is tossed to and fro by the waves of air, pushing it in several directions without ever arriving at the destination. It is weightless. It is too plastic, and possibly too perfect. Worse yet, when the air is let out and deflated......there's nothing left. (A balloon also works great and can be blown up gradually in front of the kids as you give "prideful" examples, being the best soccer player, the faster runner, the best singer, first at spelling bee, etc) The tennis ball i...

Clean Monday is the very first Monday which begins Great Lent, and it is a quite somber day on the spiritual calendar. In Greece, it is customary for young and old to fly kites. We have been encouraged to give this activity a bit more meaning for the soul here in America, possibly the day or two beforehand, with the following activity. On the Sunday evening before we begin Great Lent, there is always held the Vespers of Forgiveness where each parishioner asks the priest and one another for forgiveness. It marks the beginning of a great journey in which we embark to clean our souls of the darkness built up from our sins. Consider gathering your youth (ages 2-18) and even their parents earlier that day, or the day before to set aside for Confession and Kite Flying! The younger children can prepare and experience Confession as a group with the priest, who can speak with them openly about the topic of sin and all can kneel under the "epitrahelion" for the final absolution to conc...

A dear friend spent all of July again this year hearing the confessions of maybe 300 or so teenagers in America. A tough job? Sure, it must be exhausting, but for him and every other clergy, our good Lord sends strength, accountability, and compassion to offer just the right medicine to these wounded souls. And this is just what he discovered: wounded souls . My clergy-friend and I both agreed, the devil is working overtime on our kids. What they are facing today is worse than we faced. It's more intense, more damaging, and more in their faces than ever. I share with you a few of these findings. For boys aged 11-18, they are simply bombarded with pornography. Our media has made this extremely accessible. But I liked my friends response- he explained that every time a young guy looks and deletes an image he is training himself to do this when the right one comes along, so therefore after a few short years of marriage, he will want to click "delete" and search for the next...

If the best doctors help to heal our physical bodies by knowing the "right" medicine, so even more does the spiritual father, who is enlightened by God, prescribe the much-needed healing for our so ul. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." This is the path to purification, and one does not accomplish it on his own. The Church is our hospital offering the healing medicines of Holy Confession, the Holy Eucharist, and Holy Unction. Without the Church, we are easily mislead into wrong "treatments" prescribing ourselves pain killers when we might need a spiritual heart transplant!!! (Mark 2:17 or Matthew 9:11-13, Luke 5:31)

If you are looking for ideas for Holy Week in your parish, here are two of my favorites. 1) HOLY FIRE IN JERUSALEM Gather a collection of videos of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem.  That miracle is one many of our kids have never heard.. and the miracle continues each year! On the Eve of the Resurrection, inside the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem, the Holy Fire descends on the Patriarch of Jerusalem from within the Holy Sepulcher and believers pass the light around to all the faithful, who usually hold 33 candles bound together, to signify the 33 years of Christ's ministry on the Earth. The fire is miraculously given but also miraculous in nature, because it does not burn, just as Moses and the Burning bush. Believers have proved this by passing their hands through the fire, beards and faces...as many photos show. It's color is different than normal too, with more of a white-blue hue. The Holy Fire also bounces around like no light show ever manipulated by machines! Pilgrims ...

One small way of making the Sacrament of Confession real for kids, is by having them feel the weight of our own sinfulness! (This was tested on teens and proved to be powerful). Without giving away the punchline, ask your kids to pair up (girls with girls, boys with boys)having one hold the other in a piggy-back fashion. Read out loud together a spiritual text on Confession or story from a Saint's life for approx. 5-10 minutes. Check in often with the child bearing the weight- ask him/her how they're feeling....how much longer do they think they can go on.... is the weight getting lighter or heavier as they get tired? (For younger children, use a backpack and heavy items that are labeled with example sins. Discuss each sin as it is placed inside) Finally, read out loud the "Prayer of Absolution" that the priest reads at the end of the Sacrament of Confession, and allow the kids to take their seats... thus releasing their burden . Introduce the idea that the weight we...

I'd like to solicit ideas as a follow up to the last post on secularism. Please share your ideas to the following: If the Fathers of the Orthodox Church could safeguard the Truth by writing the Nicene Creed in AD 325 and 381, than it must be the answer we offer our youth for tomorrow's generation. In what ways do you teach the Nicene Creed to your children and families?