Last week I began a list of concrete ways families can make the invisible God visible in daily family life. This week, I am adding a few more items to that list.
To make the invisible God visible in the Christian home do:
11. Attend Vespers on Saturday and Liturgy on Sunday.
12. Remind and teach your children of the significance of the weekend services as being all about the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.
13. Stop making excuses for not attending services.
14. Observe and attend as many as of the Great Festal services as you can. These also point to Death and Resurrection of Christ.
15. Commit your family to an act of Christian service at least once a month.
16. Embark on a pilgrimage to a monastery at least once a year.
17. As nice as church camps are for your children, do encourage your parish priest to start a family camp weekend involving parish families going to camp.
18. Attend services at a sister parish when she is observing her patronal feast day.
19. Have your children read a spiritually edifying book at least once every quarter of the year.
20. Make a point of discussing the Sunday gospel readings and your parish priest’s homily with your children.
I think there are more items I can add to the list, so look for another ten items in next week’s refection.
The blessing of the Lord be upon you,
The unworthy +Paul
2 Comments on “Making the Invisible God Visible; Let’s Get Down to Basics Part 2”
Your Grace,
Bless, Master. Thank you for the continuation of such a practical list. Regarding your eighteenth point, although I am aware this list is personal and for families, I was wondering out of curiosity what you think about Orthodox parishes that are geographically close together “closing” on days that their neighbors are celebrating their patronal feast to explicitly promote attending the neighbor parish. I have heard about this before in the past, and a sort of Sunday of Orthodoxy-style service occurs with the faithful from throughout the area. I think it is an interesting idea that potentially opens up communication and joint efforts between parishes if all those involved agree to this sort of thing. Thank you.
>>>Subdeacon Peter
If the parishes are close enough I think that is a great idea. Some parishes in our diocese do that. +Paul