(so close to 100 that i need a big post something to celebrate me actually doing for this for 100 days...shows celebrate 100 episodes, & since i am on the same level as syndicated sitcoms it seems only appropriate i do the same...so it better be something good...just wait & you shall see)
Holy Week!
...now i know what you are thinking, she has lost her sense of time...that was last week; well actually according to the "one true faith" orthodoxy ;) holy week is this week which means Christ is Rising on Sunday...for real, my easter is this upcoming Sunday (no, no one is wrong it is a calendar thing) & i have to admit this is my absolute favorite time to go to church...
it could very well be that when i was younger i got to skip school (if it was not during spring break) pretty much thursday & friday to go to church...so what if i spent a few hours in church to have a whole day off...or the fact that my mom would bribe us with TCBY to get through services (if you know my brothers you know why a bribe was in order)...or the fact that on friday night after services, as a teen group we would hold a vigil &
well that is how my love for Holy Week grew...all these memories surrounded Jesus dying on the Cross for you & i...but then as i grew older it became different to me...it wasn't about all the fun reasons to go to these services it was about understanding the passion...understanding His dying, His rising, & then His going forward...some of the my most peaceful moments happen during the services throughout lent...very prayerful & helpful feeling that comes from being in church...just being there makes me feel at home...
so this upcoming week as i attend services i will look forward to the bridegroom services followed by healing services & being blessed with holy oil...only to be able to hear the 12 passion gospels, followed by lamentations (where in my church the 2 choirs sing back & forth one in arabic and one in english & it gives me goosebumps) and we walk around the church carrying candles & the beir of Christ & finally celebrating Jesus rising which is pretty amazing as we all descend out of church and the priest/bishop knocks on the door (the symbolic tomb of Jesus) of the church (my mom told me that my giddo used to be the one who answered from the inside so i feel a part of him is always there)...and we sing Christ is Risen...it is amazing feeling & after all these years some of my most favorite services to go to...
Happy Palm Sunday (Happy American Easter & Happy Passover)
Here is to Holy Week...
Prayer of St. Ephraim:
"O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen."
<3 MLJ
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