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Getting Ready for Advent
Hello all, just jumping in here with a friendly reminder that Advent is upon us! As a mom of a biggish family, I thought I would share my #1 tip for making Advent a little bit more prayerful and a little less cray-cray. Drumroll please…..my life changing advice is try to get all your Christmas shopping done before Advent begins…seriously it can completely transform your Advent experience! I know that this may seem like a little thing, but believe me, it makes a big difference. All of that thought and effort early means the kids are not obsessing over gifts and you are not obsessing over gifts and you have…
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An Unexpected First Communion and “Becoming” Greek Orthodox — Part 2
If you haven’t read Last weeks post to understand the background and the differences between the Greek Orthodox Mass and a Roman Catholic Mass, you might want to go back and check that out. In a nutshell, we found ourselves with no Roman Catholic masses available on the Island of Santorini, but a very active Greek Orthodox church. In this scenario, a Roman Catholic is allowed and encouraged to attend the Greek Orthodox services and even to receive communion — if the Greek Orthodox priest will allow it — as we share this Sacrament in common with the Greek Orthodox. The only catch is many Greek Orthodox will not allow…
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An Unexpected First Communion and “Becoming” Greek Orthodox – Part One
Okay, I guess I should say up front, that — spoiler alert — our family is still Roman Catholic, but after having spent a week and a half in Greece and experiencing their different rite of worship, we feel a kinship with them that we hadn’t before felt. Maybe I should begin by saying that the Greek Orthodox are Catholic, but they are Eastern Catholics who split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1054 (not to be confused with Byzantine Rites that are Eastern Catholics who recognize the Pope), and there is a history of tension that still exists between them. This tension is over a few differences, including but…
