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2 THE SHEPHERD • APRIL 2024 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO As I am writing this, we are at the doorstep of Great Lent, when you read it we will be two weeks into our seven week journey. This last month, Father Andrew, Jimmy and Stella Pappas, and I attended the Metropolis Cler- gy Laity at St. Nicholas Ranch. The theme this year was “Contemplate, Reconcile, and Unify.” The guest presenter was Father Nich- olas Louh from Jacksonville, Florida, who has written books and speaks on Ancient Faith Radio. One of the messages he shared with us is how the Devil loves for us to sow seeds of division. He challenged us to recog- nize the seeds seeking to divide us and to toil so that they don’t take root. Another thing Father Nicholas shared that struck me was his story of going to Mount Athos. He said that when he arrived he no- ticed a monk ringing a bell every 30 min- utes. He asked why and was told that it rep- resented another 30 minutes of our life that has passed. It reminded me of a lesson my grandfather had given me as a young boy. He sat me down and he grasped at the air in front of my eyes. He said “you know what that was . . . it was a moment and it’s gone. Your life will be filled with moments; you can use them or lose them!” We can’t fence time, it simply passes. With each passing moment, we inch closer to our Judgment Day, a day of salvation or condemnation. We are told that it’s never too late to pick up our cross. In the Epistle Read- ing on Forgiveness Sunday we were remind- ed that “the day is at hand” and it is full time to awake from our sleep. In Romans 13:12, in this moment, He directs us to cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light. I pray that each of us will see His light and that we will continue our walk together in His light. Please join us for the GOYA Palm Sunday Luncheon on April 28th. Please contact Bill Navrides at bill.navrides@sharp.com to get your tickets. Our Pascha Picnic will be held on May 5th at Flinn Springs County Park lo- cated at 14787 Olde Highway 80 in El Cajon. The Dance and Choral School will be selling food again this year, please contact Timmy Paraskevopoulos at t_nicolaou@hotmail.com to place your order. I hope to see you all. Many Blessings, Jim Gilpin, Parish Council President FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL PRESIDENT continues 3 Greetings Friends of the Choir: Kali Sarakosti! Many birthday wishes for Helen, Libby, Dor- othy, and Stella! May God grant you many years! Please enjoy this little article of our youth choir that was put together for our Metropo- lis Music Ministry for their monthly bulletin Grace Note . Katherine Loukatos Meck Choir Master CONNECTING THE NOTES AND NEUMES This year, our youth choir began an adven- ture in discovering and singing more of the beautiful hymns of our faith that are sung not only on Sundays during the Divine Liturgy but at other services throughout the year. Prior to this year they have learned hymns from Vespers and the Memorial Service. We have 12 young singers, many of whom join us every Sunday (they sometimes outnum- ber the adults!). Each quarter they sing the Divine Liturgy by themselves and sing Mys- tic Supper each Sunday before going to Sunday School. However, one day, while chanting during a baptism, I noted the odes of Katavasia of the Holy Cross chant- ed for that service. I was struck by the special story NEWS LOFT FROM THE A few of us continue to meet Wednesday mornings at one of our homes and hope to meet up until Holy Week. We have been fo- cusing our discussion on the Gospel passage of the day. We plan to meet for bag lunch fel- lowship following the Wednesday morning Pre-Sanctified Gifts Service on April 10. All are welcome to join us! Several of us have been reading Nun Kather- ine Weston’s book Anxiety, Trust, and Grati- tude – a perfect book for Lent when we shift our focus to a more intense period of reflec- tion, worship and prayer. She offers many helpful insights on prayer, such as: “to pray we have to lay aside our anxieties in a state of spiritual sobriety… God wishes us to live in a state of prayer and attentiveness to our in- ner state.” (p.21) This book also offers great comfort and is a source of wisdom especially when confronted with hard challenges and times of great uncertainty. Nun Katherine guides us in our need to develop a “radical sense of being alone with God,” in a type of prayer, “in spirit and in truth” as St. John the Evangelist says – “where there is no one and nothing in the universe except oneself and God.” And she offers, “We may need to try different approaches to reach this realization.” We are also encouraged, “When the days are evil, redeem them through prayer.” (p. 69) So prayer is seen as a continual support, a way to connect and have a relationship with God, as an antidote to heal challenges, deal with uncertainties, and transform difficulties into blessings. And the pathway to these healings and bless- ings is through humbling ourselves in grati- tude to God – for His unending compassion, His immeasurable goodness, His great Love and Care for us. As the author phrases it so beautifully, “Gratitude is a creative way in which we can cooperate with divine provi- dence and invite grace into a situation or into our lives. ” (p.71) And on this topic of gratitude and thanksgiv- ing, another member of our group also of- fered this quote from Fr. Stephen Freeman’s book FACE TO FACE: “We were created to give thanks to God, not as payment in ex- change for things we enjoy, but because of who and what we are: the priests of all Creation. Thanksgiving is the active voice of humility, the recognition that our existence and all that we do is the gift of God. The giving of thanks is not just a response to a pleasing outcome, but the most profound acknowledgment of who God is in all things and at all times.” (p. 157) WOMEN WORD OF THE continues 7