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2 THE SHEPHERD • SEPTEMBER 2026 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO BACK TO CLASS! Welcome to the Liturgical New Year for Women of the Word. We pray everyone had a most blessed summer. Our first Summer Book Club was a great success, and we think we may do it again next year! So much good discussion, deep wisdom from the author, and genuine listening and sharing from our lives. If you have not read anything from Mother Siluana Vlad, we encourage you to discover her moving and spiritually enrich- ing books, God, Where is the Wound? and The Theology of the Ordinary: Finding God in the Turmoil of Day Life, the book we read together this summer. Now we are so excited to begin our next scriptural adventure together as we take up our new study, The Holy Spirit: Our Foun- tain of Life. • Our purpose is to grow toward unity with Christ. • The goal of our course is to expand our inner awareness, experience, and under- standing of the Holy Spirit through explo- ration of Old and New Testament Scrip- tures and the Prayer to the Holy Spirit. • This course is for women of all ages who seek a deeper connection with Jesus Christ in an Orthodox Christian context, wheth- er they be “cradle,” convert, catechumen, or inquirer. • Our materials will be the Holy Bible and a small book by Fr. Joh Oliver, Giver of Life: The Holy Spirit in Orthodox Tradition. Women are encouraged to use the Bible they find most helpful, but The Orthodox Study Bible is our recommendation. (Fa- ther Oliver’s book will be provided at the first meeting of the class to those who reg- ister.) Today was another deadline to write to you. I’m always amazed at how a message I need appears at the moment I need it. The past month at work has had me going 24/7; I’ve been away fromChurch and others have been filling in for me where needed, truly appreci- ate all of them. I have spent little time with my family and friends, and much less time with my faith. Over this period, I truly felt an ever-increasing emptiness. My major distrac- tion ceased yesterday – I woke up this morn- ing and resumed my morning readings that I had neglected for a month. And there it was in the first thing I read this morning. “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a soli- tary place; and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). What a reminder, the Son of God, with all power and authority, needed solitude. We so often forget His example and ignore our own need to disconnect and spend time with Him. We awake and immediately engage with all the distractions of our world. We reach for our cell phones before our feet hit the floor to plug in. Our televisions go on, filling our minds with all the news and turmoil of the day. We start our daily run, running from pil- lar to post, only to feel exhausted at the end of the day. In our exhaustion, we sometimes wonder why God feels distant. Today’s readings reminded me that He is never distant, I just haven’t been commit- ting time to Him or listening. I have failed to make a choice to be alone with Him; to step away from the noise and let my soul breathe. I was reminded that I need to find a quiet place to be alone with Him and to hear His words. The reading was also a reminder that “what God says in the quiet is almost always more important than what the world says in the noise.” ~ The Louhs I know we all have a lot going on and that sometimes it is difficult to take the moment to be with Him. I pray we will all find time to step away from the noise, the demands, and constant stimulation of the world and to take a moment of quiet to be with Him. He always reminds us what is truly important in our lives. Many blessings, Jim Gilpin, Parish Council President FROM THE PARISH COUNCIL PRESIDENT The Church has always celebrated the be- ginning of the New Year on September 1st. This pious tradition the Church holds be- cause this was the day that Jesus of Nazareth began preaching the good news of His mis- sion. The bookstore would like to send warm greetings to all our parishioners for the be- ginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year. With the beginning of the New Year, it is our hope that many more of us will be motivated to broaden our understanding of the fullness of the Orthodox Christian Faith. A wonder- ful book to consider as we journey through the liturgical calendar year is Heaven Meets Earth. This is a beautifully designed book to enhance your family’s celebration of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. Writ- ten for all ages and illustrated with icons and more, the book brings alive each of the Twelve Great Feasts (plus Pascha, the Feast of Feasts) with hymns, traditions, Old and New Testament Scriptures, explanations of the festal icons, and quotes from the Church Fathers. May we all learn to deepen our faith one feast at a time. Also, as the new school year begins, nurture your children’s hearts and minds with trust- ed Orthodox resources from our bookstore. You’ll find a wide selection to support learn- ing and spiritual growth all year long. As St. Seraphim of Sobolev reminds us: “Do not adapt your faith to your life, but your life to the faith”. We look forward to seeing you in the book- store! Stephanie Mourafetis, Mary Mastorakos, Francesca Captain, Hitomi Shue, and Kaylin Marino BOOKSTORE WOMEN WORD OF THE • We will be meeting on the second Saturday of each month from September through May, except for the December meeting date that falls on our parish feast day. This year we have the pleasure of introducing an online “landing page” for our study assign- ments, announcements, resources, and regis- tration! Women of the parish and their friends are warmly encouraged to visit the landing page and register by using the link wowsandiego. carrd.co or contacting Kay Harkins at kay- harkins@mac.com .