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2 THE SHEPHERD • JULY 2022 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO June began with joy as I watched one of our parish children rush into the Narthex on Pentecost to light a candle. He had always en- tered the Narthex with a smile on his face and a skip in his feet. But on that Sunday, his joy was so infectious that I was overcome with a tear of joy just watching him. I thought if only I could approach each Sunday with that joy and walk into the Sanctuary with those eyes of wonder as if I were seeing things for the rst time. It is said that the Grace of the Holy Spirit brings joy to us. It is a gi that lls what is lacking in us. It is also said that joy and sad- ness cannot occupy the same space. On Sunday of All Saints, I received my second gi of joy. I was working in the Narthex and decided to sit in the back row of the Church to hear the sermon. I sat in the seat which had always been occupied by our beloved departed Christina Tzathas. As Deacon Michael spoke of our need to be quiet to truly hear, I thought of Christina and the joy it brought me just seeing her each and every Sunday. Her unassuming kindness and her quiet strength of faith were a gi of ex- ample and my thoughts of her brought an- other tear of joy. My third gi of joy was seeing our commu- nity on full display as our Festival returned a er two long years. I watched as our youth danced and brought joy to the crowds. So many of the sullen faces of isolation were lit with joy. And there it was, another tear of joy, as I watched our youth celebrating together. A special thanks to all our volunteers who worked so hard for months to pull things together and exhibited so much joy as they shared our Greek culture with the commu- nity. Over and over, I heard the words from our guests “we’re glad you’re back, we missed you!” It was all pres- ent, the smell of the food, the music, the dancing, and most of all, the fellowship of being together. Truly an amazing come- back; thank you to everyone who helped bring joy to us all! Like love, joy is a choice. Not only can we can choose how we feel but we can choose to share joy with those around us. Each day we awake is a cause for joy, we are alive and have another opportunity to do God’s work. We can give joy to another person with some- thing as simple as a smile or a kind word. May the vision of a child help us all to nd joy in our hearts and inspire us to share it with others. Many Blessings, Jim Gilpin Parish Council President WOMEN WORD OF THE Last month our WOW group had a wonder- ful visit with Sister Vassa Larins from Vien- na. As mentioned in last month’s article, Sr. Vassa is well-known for her YouTube chan- nel, “Co ee with Sister Vassa,” where she discusses topics of interest concerning our Orthodox faith and practices. For our one-hour meeting with her here at St. Spyridon’s, we asked her to share with us her thoughts about fruitful ways to move along in our individual spiritual journeys as well as further insights into our vision as a ministry. On the rst point, Sr. Vassa encour- aged a daily and consistent habit of “small doses” of Scripture reading with the idea of taking small bites to ponder more deeply. Related to this, many of us are nding her book, Re ections with Morning Co ee: 365 Daily Devotions for Busy People, to be very helpful in this practice. Also, in terms of daily prayer, a caution not to over-ritualize it but sometimes to vary the prayers included in order to keep a fresh focus on the words and the meaning of the prayer rather than on the routine itself. In terms of thoughts for our Women of the Word ministry, one of the most helpful parts of the discussion was about understand- ing better the role of the eotokos. Sister Vassa explained: “ is is why the Mother of God is traditionally perceived as an image of the Church—because she gives birth to the Word. And that’s what all of us are called to do, as Church.” at is, the eotokos is our example/teacher of what we are all called to do, giving birth to Christ in the world (very di erently from her special role of course!), “this calling of giving birth to the Word in our surroundings is a unique-to-each-of-us o ering through the prism of our own partic- ular experiences, to somehow share His truth through the Scripture, His Word, the living water which we have imbibed.” at was so tting to what we aim to be as a ministry as well as individuals. Another really helpful part of the discussion was about “Faith over fear. Every day of the year” which is what is imprinted on her 2022 Mug as a guide for the year. In explaining this, Sr. Vassa elaborated that fear is the oppo- site of faith , not doubt. And it’s about saying “NO!” to anxiety, dread, and all the things that attack us daily and worry us and instead about surrendering to God’s will and putting our focus and trust back on Him. Like love, joy is a choice. Not only can we can choose how we feel but we can choose to share joy with those around us. FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL PRESIDENT On behalf of our Anthousa Chapter, I want to thank everyone for their generous support of our pastry booth during the Festival. It truly takes a village. Our community never says no! To the many bakers and volunteers who tirelessly gave of their time over the course of many weeks to create the very BEST pastries around – THANK YOU! I cannot tell you how many people said they were so excited for the long-anticipated return of our Festi- val and how much they missed our wonder- ful Greek delicacies. During the summer months, we continue to need your help in providing refreshments that we share during our Fellowship Hour. Please consider sponsoring with your friends and family. Let’s keep it simple by providing cookies or donuts, fruit, and juice. To sign up contact Anne Zouvas at (619) 248-6644. ank you for your support! Look for chapter updates throughout the summer and plan on joining us for our Sum- mer Ice Cream Social on Saturday, July 30th at the home of Marilyn Kromydas Yeatts. Currently not a member? Please consider joining us! www.anthousa.org/Anthousa_ Membership.html With love in Christ – So a Samouris Anthousa Chapter President PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS continues 5