On the threshold of the Great Fast

A few quick items as we start gearing up for Lent...

First I would like to bump an outstanding article over at Mike Liccione's blog on the danger posed by Jihadists. If you haven't read it, you need to. His preceding article on confession isn't bad either. And I particularly like the picture.

Secondly for any who are or may be in the Central Valley of California during the first weekend of Lent I would like to invite you to a Lenten retreat to be held at St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church in Merced on Friday March 6th at 7 PM and Saturday the 7th at 8:30 AM. The guest speaker will be Fr.Meletios Webber, the Abbot of St. John's Monastery. He is by all accounts an excellent speaker. Later on Saturday Fr. Meletios will also be the principal speaker at a Conference on Orthodox Christian Faith and Life to be held at St. Peter the Apostle Serbian Orthodox Church in Fresno from 1 - 6 PM. Q&A to follow all of the conferences. Fast friendly refreshments will be served following the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon events. Additionally St. Peter's is hosting the Central Valley's annual Pan Orthodox Vesper service for the Sunday of Orthodoxy. These events are free and open to the public.

Finally, as has been my custom since since I started blogging, I will be scaling back on the internet during Lent. I do not however expect to go completely offline as I more or less did last year. Still readers should expect reduced posting and delays (worse than usual) in replying to private emails. Barring something really significant that is also time sensitive there will be no new posts after tomorrow until Thursday at the earliest. In addition I expect that I will be traveling a great deal during Lent this year which will further impact my blogging and correspondence. Your prayers are coveted and appreciated.