We will be chanting together,
Father Gerasimos Makris, April 7, 2006

Dear Students,

In a few days, many of you will be going to your homes for Holy Week and the Great Feast of Feasts of Pascha. Regardless if you stay here or leave however, we will all be chanting together the Troparion of the Bridegroom: “Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night; and blessed is the servant, whom He shall find vigilant; and unworthy is he, whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, that you will not be overcome by sleep, lest you be given up to death, and be shut out from the Kingdom…”

Contemplating on these thoughts, I have shared with you, during the last several months, excerpts from the book “If We Confess Our Sins” by Fr. Thomas Hopko. Truly it is through confession that we remain “vigilant” so that we do not become “overcome by sleep” and are not “given up to death and shut out from the Kingdom.”

As the Great Lent comes to its end, let us take advantage the Holy Mystery of Confession, so that we may enter and experience the “Kingdom” on the Holy Day of Pascha.

Excerpt from “If We Confess Our Sins”:

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven…
Is my joy and gladness in God? Or is it in this world with its passions, powers, possessions and praise? Am I mean and grouchy or jealous and moody? Am I despairing and without hope? Am I pessimistic and anxious? Do I complain and spread darkness and irritation to others? Is my faith of no consequence in my actions and attitudes to the events of life? Do I really “consider the lilies of the fields…” and trust in God and rejoice in this trust? Is my treasure in God or in myself? Is my life “hid with Christ in God in heaven” or am I in fact a man of this age in body, mind and spirit? Do I believe and have in truth the “joy of believing”?

Waiting to chant “Christ is risen” with you, I remain,
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Gerasimos