Spiritual Life Ministry
CURRENT AND UPCOMING SPIRITUAL LIFE EVENTS
2025 Holy and Great Lent Psalter Group Readings
Holy and Great Lent starts on Clean Monday, March 3. Join your brothers and sisters in Christ as we once again unite to pray the Psalms throughout our journey to Pascha. You only need a Bible and time to set aside each day.
This spiritual exercise also allows us to pray for one another, our parish, and any special intentions we may have.
Sign up here for our Annunciation Psalter Group
Resources for praying the Psalter, available through the Resource Center or online:
The Psalter According to the Seventy (Greek English). This beautiful hardcover edition contains the translation of the Psalms used in our liturgical services.
The Psalter (“pocket” size). Just the right size to take with you wherever you go.
Christ in the Psalms. In two-page meditations on each of the psalms, Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon takes readers on an enlightening pilgrimage through the Church's prayerbook.
Songs of Praise: A Psalter Devotional for Orthodox Women. Along with the Psalter, this book offers reflections on the Psalms and pages for journaling.
Orthodox Study Bible. The complete Bible with commentary.
“Bind yourselves to your brethren. Those bound together in love bear everything with ease…. If you want to make the bond double, your brother must also be bound with you. He wants us to be bound together with one another, not only to be at peace, not only to be friends but to be a single soul. Beautiful is this bond. With this bond, we bind ourselves to one another and God. This is not a chain that bruises. It does not cramp the hands. It leaves them free, gives them ample room and greater courage.”
-St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 9.4.1-3
May it be blessed
MISSION
Our mission is to nurture adult parishioners' spiritual life and development through Christian education, Bible studies, retreats, prayer, and fellowship.
PARTICIPATION
We organize and coordinate weekly Bible Study groups at church, Advent and Lenten retreats, the Psalter, and monastery trips.
CONTACT
RESOURCES
The Pascha Lenten days and weeks approaching Great and Holy Week are an excellent opportunity to learn more about our Orthodox Faith. Pascha becomes a time of increased introspection when many ask questions about the Orthodox Faith and their own spiritual journey.
Our committee is here to help you find answers to your questions, remind you about prayers you may have forgotten about, and introduce you to new materials, translations, and anything else that can help you grow in your faith.
Here are a Few Ideas:
SUGGESTIONS ON PRAYER & HYMNS:
Lenten Prayer Vof St. Ephraim:
Add THIS PRAYER to your daily prayer life during Lent.
Akathist Prayer to the Virgin Mary:
Add THIS PRAYER to your daily prayer life during Lent.
Learn to Chant the Akathist Service:
Listen to Audio HERE as you follow along in English.
Learn to Chant the Akathist Hymn:
Listen HERE as you follow along in English below.
O Champion General, * I, your City, now ascribe to you * triumphant anthems * as the tokens of my gratitude, * being rescued from the terrors, O Theotokos. * Inasmuch as * you have unassailable power, * from all kinds of perils free me so that unto you * I may cry aloud unto you: * Rejoice, O unwedded Bride.
Learn to Chant the Hymn to the Virgin Mary:
Listen to Audio HERE as you follow along below.
Seeing the beauty of your virginity, * and how resplendently shone forth your chastity, * amazed was Gabriel who cried to you thus, O Theotokos: * What shall I present to you * as a worthy encomium? * What shall I address you as? * At a loss and perplexed am I. * As ordered, therefore, thus do I shout to you: * Rejoice, O Maiden who are full of grace.
Read
The Lenten Spring by Fr. Thomas Hopko.
Or Listen Here
Add a chapter to your daily prayer life.
It is a very easy-to-read book; chapters are very short, with only 3-5 pages per chapter. Fr. Hopko talks about the joy and happiness that The Pascha Lent brings to us. Summarizing the parables, fasting, and repentance in just a few pages, he gives you a very good idea of what Pasha is about and, at the same time, tells you to go and learn more. I have read this book twice and am about to reread it. We do have it in the Resource Center.
