Pastor’s Corner May 2013

Annual egg hunt 2103, following Paschal Sunday Vespers

Each year as we come to the end of Great Lent and rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I feel two equally strong emotions: relief and regret. Relief, because the ascetic struggle of the lenten season is past, and regret, because the ascetic struggle of the lenten season is past! This is so, because when Great Lent concludes, my everyday to-do lists occupy my time, and my everyday worries occupy my mind. Then, I begin to long for Great Lent, when my life is centered on Christ and my anxieties disappear in His presence.

Yet, St. Paul reminds us “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (I Cor 10:31). We are to be filled with Christ’s Spirit at all times, though Great Lent is the season that particularly trains us for this.

Cleaning the church for Pascha 2013

Here at Holy Ghost, I am often reminded of St. Paul’s words when our steadfast and faithful parishioners caretake their church property. Although they make gargantuan efforts to clean the church during the lenten season and for the Paschal feast, they are there weekly, routinely (with the same vigor), cleaning, polishing, and decorating the building for the glory of God. They become my examples for doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way.

Jesus Christ does not disappear from our lives after Great Lent. He walks beside us, filling our work-a-day world with His glory. Christ is risen! Risen indeed!

In Him, Fr. Steven J. Belonick