In the past few weeks, we heard of several more tragedies that seem to be a growing trend.

   How can we tell if someone is dead? How do we know if they have died? We can tell if a person is still living in two ways. Number one is breathing, if the lungs are taking in and expelling air.

   Growing up as little children what are some of the first words we learned? Some may say, ?Mommy? or ?Daddy?; others may say ?Hi? or ?Bye-Bye?; but inevitably one of those words would be??No.? Perhaps for some of us the word ?No? is seared into our childhood psyche like no other word.

   When some one says 9-11 almost everyone in America will know that it refers to September 11, 2001, the day of the infamous attacks on the United States by 19 hijackers who flew two airline passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon near Washington DC, and one that crashed

   Nothing can be more infuriating than dealing with someone who pretends to be something they are not. The disdain may come in different ways. We may feel jealous that the person receives praise, accolades and recognition that he/she truly does not deserve.

   Welcome to our Greek Festival! In a short while the Divine Liturgy will finish and you will be able to partake of some of the tastiest food in the Twin Cities. Gyro sandwiches, lamb and chicken dinners, Greek salad, and one of my favorites: souvlaki. My mouth is watering just talking about them.

   Twenty or thirty years ago, if someone wanted to learn how to prepare a meal, they would probably ask a host for a recipe, get yiayia and theia to show them, or buy a recipe book. We can still do these today, although yiayia and theia might leave out a key ingredient to preserve the secret recipe.

   How many of us were invited to a summer gathering at a friends or neighbor?s house? Perhaps, we hosted such an event at our own home. What did we do to prepare for the event? Probably we cleaned the house, made food or told certain guests what type of food to bring to share.

   I and my family had the great blessing to travel to Colorado this past week for a nephew?s wedding and a vacation in the mountains. Being there, and especially during our ascent to the summit of Pikes Peak at 14,000 feet, I could not help but marvel at the gift of God?s creation.

   If anyone is reading the news headlines lately, you have probably noticed a lot of talk about marriage. Talk like the adulterous affair between the famous actor and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his long-time housemaid.

(Negativism/Legalism/Hypocrisy of Jewish Leaders- carrying mat on Sabbath)

   A conscientious wife tried hard to please her overly critical husband. He was the most cantankerous at breakfast. If she prepared scrambled eggs, he wanted poached.

                (Based on ?The Message of Sunday Gospel Readings? vol.2 by Coniaris (p.43-47))

   ?God is dead!? This is the infamous proclamation of the 19^th century German philosopher Friedrich

   How many of us have witnessed or experience a vicious circle? A vicious circle is like an endless cycle of negative experiences that compound and aggravate each other creating there own perpetual motion.

   How many of us took a nap in order to stay up late for tonight?s service? How many of us needed some extra sleep after the extra worship services of Holy Week? I imagine there has been a little extra sleeping going on and there will be more siestas tomorrow afternoon.

   How many of us are rudely awakened by an alarm every morning for work? Those darn things are designed to make the most annoying noises to rest us out of our blissful sleep, pull us out of bed and get our day rolling.