Weekly Message February 27, 2026

Beloved brothers and sisters,

The first week of Holy Lent is already coming to a close.

Did you feel a difference? Maybe it felt both long and fast at the same time. 

That’s the gift of this season. The Church interrupts our normal pace. She slows us down. She increases the services. She invites us to pray more, to fast with intention, to attend classes, to gather at night when we would normally be home on the couch. Not to exhaust us—but to re-center us.

Lent is not about checking spiritual boxes. It is about recalibrating the heart.

We live in a time when conversations about mental wellness are everywhere—and rightly so. Anxiety, burnout, distraction, constant noise… they define so much of modern life. We are more connected than ever, and yet often more restless. More informed, yet more unsettled.

And into that reality, the Church offers something ancient and profoundly healing.

Great Compline quiets the noise.

The Presanctified Liturgy grounds us in the Eucharist.

The Salutations lift our eyes through beauty and hymnography.

The classes deepen understanding and give context to the journey.

This is not accidental. The Church has always understood what we are only now rediscovering: the soul needs rhythm. The heart needs stillness. The mind needs Christ at the center.

If we want to move toward Holy Week and the Resurrection in a meaningful way, we cannot stay spiritually scattered. Lent is the opportunity to gather the pieces. To focus. To return.

So as this first week closes, don’t let it slip by as just another week on the calendar.

Come to the services.

Come to the classes.Lean into the rhythm.

This journey toward His death and Resurrection is not just something we remember. It is something we walk.

And when we walk it intentionally, with Christ at the center, we don’t just arrive at Pascha changed—we begin to find the peace and wholeness our hearts have been searching for all along.

With love in Christ, 

Fr. Ev