Between the strict Fast of Great and Holy Lent and the austere Fast of Great and Holy Week is a two day period of great joy and celebrating. It?s kind of like a soldier who goes through basic training and then gets a furlough before having to report for duty on the battlefield.

   If we have been reading the scriptures regularly during Great Lent according to the Lectionary of the Church, we notice that the Epistle readings on Sundays all come from the book of Hebrews. Why is this? Plain and simple, one of the main themes of Hebrews is the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

   Have you ever felt like you have a problem that never goes away? Or you feel like you have one problem after the next? They just keeps coming and coming?somewhat relentlessly. Most of us do, if you do not, you are blessed. Most of us are fighting against problems in our life.

   M.

   In today?s gospel reading, the Second Sunday of Great Lent, we read from Mark 2:1-12 and we hear about the Paralytic at the town of Capernaum. What or who is a ?paralytic?? ?Paralytikos? comes from ?paralysis/paralyo? in Greek which is the same word we use in English.

   Dwight Moody told a story of a man who was asked by his ten-year-old son, ?Daddy, why don?t you ever go to church with us?? The father replied, ?I don?t need to go to church, son. My faith is established.? Later that same day the man drove his horses out of the barn and hitched them to a buggy.

   This past Friday, February 27^th, we celebrated the life of St. Titus the Presbyter of the Kiev Caves. He was a 12^th century priest in a monastery and he fell into a hateful relationship with a deacon named Evagrius.

   If any of us watch late night television, we may have seen the sitcom ?Friends? which broadcasts old episodes. Now in syndication, it was popular during the 1990s. Back then I didn?t like the show because of its numerous perverted and distorted messages about life.

   We talk a lot about humility but sometimes we have difficulty realizing what it truly is and how to practice it.

   Those of us who live and drive in Minnesota can appreciate the following short story. A hesitant driver, waiting for traffic to clear, came to a complete stop on a freeway on-ramp. The traffic thinned, but the intimidated driver still waited.

   Just about everyone has climbed a tree as a young kid. Our adventuresome nature gave us, sometimes to our surprise a new perspective on life. We could now see the whole neighborhood and could see beyond to other neighborhoods too.

   In society today there exists many false teachings and lies about who we are as human beings including our value, how we work, and how we are to relate to one another. As well, there are lies about the existence of evil and the devil and how he works in the world.

   What does it mean when we say ?church?? The word ?church? comes from the Middle English ?chiriche? which is a derivative of the Greek word ?kyriakos? which means ?the Lord?s house?.

   The Holy Prophet-King David, St Joseph the Betrothed, and St James the Brother of the Lord are commemorated on the Sunday after the Nativity. If there is no Sunday between December 25 and January 1, their commemoration is moved to December 26.