Please note that Great Lent began this year on February 23. During Great Lent we abstain from meat and dairy products including fish (although fish is allowed on Palm Sunday – April 5). Let us recall that fasting is a tool given to us by God to aid us spiritually. For some it is easy to fast, for others it is difficult. However, what is most important is that we make a sincere effort to follow the fast. Why? Simply because the fast helps us to see our sins by helping us to focus spiritually. Eating “light” foods, or perhaps rather, abstaining from “heavy” foods such as meats and cheeses, allows us to be less focused on our stomachs and more focused on our souls, and of course, in this season when we undergo our journey to the Resurrection of our Lord we dearly wish to improve ourselves spiritually that we might meet the risen Christ better than we were when we began Great Lent. St. John Chrysostom writes that we abstain from meats that we might abstain from our sins. This nicely sums up the reason the Holy Church, as a loving mother, gives us the gift of fasting. Pascha is April 12 – may God grant us all a spiritually profitable Great Lent!

Yes - you read that right! Great Lent ends on Friday, April 3 when Holy Week begins. Thus, this Sunday is the last of the Great Lenten Sundays. What does that mean? First - consider how quickly Lent has passed. There is just a short time left. Use this time wisely! Secondly - come to Church this Saturday evening and Sunday night! We commemorate St. Mary of Egypt this last Sunday of Great Lent. She was a great sinner, but she also repented greatly and was forgiven. We too can repent as she did - but the first step must be taken in God's Church. All are welcome - please join us!

Our video ministry is weaker than it needs to be. We need help! Can you take videos? Do you LIKE to take videos? You can help introduce others to St. Vladimir's and the Orthodox Church by helping us take videos of Divine Services, sermons, lectures, and other parish activities. Please help! See Fr. Gregory for more information!

Bishop Peter will lead the sacrament of General Unction at St. Vladimir's on Tuesday, March 31 at 6:00 p.m. Unction is a sacrament of the Holy Church and thus although we welcome all to be present at the beautiful Divine Service, only Orthodox Christians who have recently been to confession (within the last three weeks before the Unction service) may be anointed. The ideal situation would be to confess and partake of the Mystery of Holy Communion on Sunday, March 29 and then partake of Unction on March 31. Please see me or Fr. Michael with questions and please plan to prepare yourself and to partake of this Holy Mystery as an aid to spiritual (and bodily) healing. Following the Unction service will be a light Lenten meal. All are welcome!

Tonight and tomorrow morning we celebrate the special feast of the Laudation of the Mother of God. This is also known as "Akathist Saturday". This evening's special Matins service is interspersed with the full Akathist to the Mother of God. Tomorrow's Divine Liturgy contains special hymns to the Mother of God. This is a feast at which monastics are often tonsured as the Mother of God is seen as a prototype of monasticism by the Holy Church. Please join us for this beautiful feast - the Laudation of our greatest intercessor before her Son on our behalf!

If you missed last night's Matins service, which included the full reading of the penitential canon of St. Andrew of Crete AND the full life of St. Mary of Egypt you will want to hear it soon - probably right now! To do that go to our Sound of the Parish Blog at the link below. You can fine the service there. Great Lenten Hours begin tonight at 5:00 p.m. with the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts at 6:30 p.m. After the Liturgy will be a Lenten meal and a meeting of our Great Lenten Book Club. Please join us as your schedule allows!

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/

As part of pre-Paschal Church School activities we invite parish children 7 years and older to participate in the lessons and workshops on traditional art of pisanki egg decorations.

Every Thursday starting next week, March 26th, bring your child to the house of one of our parish elders and founders Natalia Vasilyevna Dale. The workshop will begin at 4 pm and finish at 5:30 pm.

The age restriction is due to the nature of the art requiring much patience and concentration for lengthy periods of time. Besides learning how to use wax in their painting of the eggs, children will learn the meaning behind various ornamental symbols, be able to share artistic ideas, generally socialize with each other while working, visit with Mrs. Dale and see her beautiful home, learn a little about the history of our parish, and much more! This workshop will run for a few weeks (except for the Holy Thursday on April 9th) even into the post-Pascha period, as long as there is an interest amongst the artists.

Please make sure to call Andrea Lasichak (734-433-1615) or email (alas40@aol.com) to let her know you are bringing your child, so she will have enough supplies for all participants!

Congratulations to Angelina Noll who received a very high award at the annual German Day Competition at the University of Michigan. From the Saline Area Schools weekly “News & Notes”:

On Friday, March 13, twenty eight ambitious German students from Saline Hight School (SHS) participated in the 31st annual German Day Competition at University of Michigan.

The competition 27 area high schools and middle schools who competed in eleven different competitions including: spelling bee, commercials, music, skits, foods, poetry and conversational interactions. ...Angelina Noll, senior at SHS, who only started in German last year, was awarded a 2nd place prize in the Level 3 conversational interaction category. She expertly conversed with the judges extemporaneously on various topics.

Please find our weekly audio podcast, The Path, is available at our Sound of the Parish site:

http://soundoftheparish.blogspot.com/

The Holy Church, as a loving mother, offers us many opportunities to grow spiritually. This Wednesday evening we are afforded a unique opportunity - the Standing of St. Andrew. On Wednesday of the fifth week of Great Lent each year the Holy Church appoints for us to read the entire penitential canon of St. Andrew of Crete (the same canon that was split over the first four evenings of Great Lent) and the life of St. Mary of Egypt. Only ONE LIFE is appointed to be read without fail at the Divine Services of the year: that of St. Mary. We can deduce from this that it is important for us to hear this life. We encourage and invite all to participate in this unique Matins service! Please join us beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday! PLEASE NOTE: the evening Presanctified Liturgy this week is on Thursday and there will be no Friday morning Presanctified Liturgy this week.