priority<\/em><\/strong>. This is especially crucial for those families with children. They must experience as much of Holy Week and Pascha as possible with their parents.<\/p>\n2. In our homes we should strive to \u201ckeep out the world\u201d and enter into the peace, solemnity, and theology of the events of the last days of our Lord.<\/p>\n
3. Be sure to read the last chapters of the Holy Gospels that speak of the Passion, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ.<\/p>\n
4. If you are visiting another parish and wish to receive Communion, make sure that the priest knows who you are and that you are prepared. This should be done in advance by phone, email, or any other way.<\/p>\n
5. Last year\u2019s palms (and\/or pussy willows) should be placed outside in an area to decay where they will not be disturbed. They are holy and should not be simply thrown out with the garbage.<\/p>\n
6. Before venerating Holy Objects, such as the Cross, the Chalice, Icons, or the Winding-Sheet, make sure to wipe off your lipstick or chapstick. Reminder: we do not kiss the face of our Lord, His Mother, or the Saints; instead kiss the hands or feet.<\/p>\n
7. If you haven\u2019t yet made your Confession during Great Lent, try to make it before the end of Holy Week. Speak with your priest to arrange a time.<\/p>\n
8. Make an attempt to make amends with those we may be upset with or those who are upset with us, so that on Pascha we can joyfully sing, \u201cLet us call brothers, even those that hate us, and forgive all by the Resurrection!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n9. Stay after the \u201cMidnight Service\u201d on Pascha morning for the blessing of baskets and festive meal. Let us share in the joy of the Lord\u2019s Resurrection with fellowship and love.<\/p>\n
10. During Bright Week, sing or read the Paschal Hours instead of your \u201cnormal\u201d morning and evening prayers. Let the joy of praising the Lord\u2019s Resurrection accompany you throughout Bright Week, the Paschal season, and your whole life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I saw these last year on Fr. Peter Preble’s blog, and thought they were excellent to bring into focus what is really important during this sacred season. 1. Make participation at the Services a priority. This is especially crucial for those families with children. They must experience as much of Holy Week and Pascha as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpeterorthodoxchurch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}