I spent the past week as a counselor at the inaugural session of Camp St. Joseph of Damascus.
My experience there was absolutely grace-filled and I made strong connections with fellow Orthodox Christians that I know will last a life time.
We were blessed to have Fr. Joseph Kimmett as our session priest and to have visits from Sayidna John and Fr. Bogdan Bucur.
This session’s focus was on the Theotokos and on her Dormition in particular.
We particpated in orthros, vespers, and paraklesis services throughout the week as well as fun activities, sports, and Christian education classes.
These activities and services prepared us for — and culminated in — the celebration of the divine liturgy on the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos.
This was my first time in a monastery — I really enjoyed it.
The church and monastery grounds were beautiful, and the services were prayerful and somber.
Although we missed the myrrh-streaming Holy Theotokos Iveron Icon, the analogion it had rested on was thoroughly soaked with extremely fragrant myrrh and we had the blessing of venerating that.
I hope everyone had a prayerful Holy Week and a wonderful Pascha!
I was very fortunate to be able to fit my term projects into the service schedule at my parish in Albany.
Although one class has some upcoming deadlines, the warm weather and blooming flowers are welcoming in the end of the school year.
This semester was a doozy and my head is still spinning from the amount of work I’ve had to turn in, but by God’s grace I’ve been able to get everything done.
I’m looking forward to some post-master’s vacation time and to Bright season cookouts.
God bless!
