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Orthodox Christian Parenting, hosted by Faithtree Resources Executive Director (and mom of four!) Michelle Moujaes, is a weekly podcast for parents and grandparents navigating the holy struggle of raising kids in the Orthodox Faith. Each episode offers honesty, encouragement, and practical wisdom from the Church—creating space to exhale, freedom from the pressure to be perfect, and openness to grow as you raise children who are deepening their knowledge and love of Christ.
Welcome to Orthodox Christian Parenting, where we bring the church's timeless wisdom into the everyday chaos of raising kids. I'm Michelle Mujaias. And as a mother of four, here's something I know for sure. Holy week can feel overwhelming, especially if you have children. Late nights, long services, emotional intensity, and this nagging series of questions like, are we doing this right?
Michelle Moujaes:Is this too much for my kids, or are they even getting anything out of it? Well, today, we're talking about how holy week can become one of the most spiritually formative weeks of your child's year and how you as their parents can help them enter into it more deeply. I can't wait. Be sure to download the free holy week discussion guide linked in the show notes below, or you can find it at faithtree.org/parenting. It includes some amazing conversation starters and a bunch of resources to help you guide your children through the most important week of the liturgical year.
Michelle Moujaes:Today, we're talking about how to help our children not just attend Holy Week services, but how to encounter Christ through them. And I am so honored to have two friends of mine and trusted leaders in the church here with us today, Father Jim and Presbytera Donna Pappas. Father Jim is a priest in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese who has guided families through Holy Week services for decades. He currently serves a Central California parish in the metropolis of San Francisco and among many other beautiful parts of his ministry is actively involved in prison ministry. He and his beautiful bride Pres. Donna are part of the leadership team of the Metropolis's Family Wellness Ministry.
Michelle Moujaes:Pres. Donna works as an educational consultant for reading intervention programs, and she is a passionate motivator about all things Holy Week. I know she motivated me in so many ways on how to engage more fully in Holy Week myself, and I can't wait for all of us to learn from them both today. Together, they bring pastoral wisdom and lived experience on how to help children deeply engage in the most sacred week of the year. Father Jim and Presdonna, welcome, my friends.
Fr. Jim Pappas:It's great to be with you. Okay. Talks first. We tend to do that a lot. Yeah.
Michelle Moujaes:I love it. It's because you're one. Well, we're thrilled to have you here with us. Especially, I'm thrilled because I know I've learned from both of you, but particularly you, Presdana, have been so inspiring to me about your love for Holy Week and the services and how they tie to the liturgical year. And so I'm excited for our audience to get to hear from you as well.
Michelle Moujaes:What makes holy week such a sacred and special and formative time, especially for parents that are trying to invite their children into it?
Pres. Donna Pappas:We are the church of the resurrection. It is the definition of what it is to be Orthodox. That whole journey of Holy Week encapsulates what it is to truly be that church of the resurrection. You you go through the highs and the lows and the grief and the joys. And at the end, you you're exultant and you're jubilant and there's rejoicing.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And and I think that journey deepens that sense of who we are as Orthodox. It's just it encapsulates it all.
Fr. Jim Pappas:You know, I have to tell you, when Donna was studying the Orthodox faith, I had the blessing of being able to bring her into the faith. I I ended up becoming the fringe benefit. But, when she was coming into the faith, I said, you know what? We're in Lent. If you wanna be sold on the church, I said, you're gonna walk through Holy Week.
Fr. Jim Pappas:I need you. She was living in our way. I said, if you can, get down here as often as you can. I was serving the Saint Paul's in Irvine, and be part of our Holy Week experience. I said, I'll guarantee you that you won't even look back after that.
Fr. Jim Pappas:And it's exactly what happened at the end
Pres. Donna Pappas:of It was it was so astounding to me. I remember calling my mom on, on Sunday and saying, mom, I celebrated Easter. No. No. Like, really celebrated it.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Like like like the way I always thought it should have been, but I never quite got there. And and it's like in the Orthodox church, if you've only been raised Orthodox, you don't realize how short everything else falls of the Orthodox experience of Holy Week.
Fr. Jim Pappas:And she actually told her mom, she goes, and they didn't mention the Easter bunny once. Well,
Michelle Moujaes:it's so interesting to me because what you're describing is what I feel like I am growing in as I get older and as I go to POSCA services. It seems like we kinda leave the intellectual piece, and we really are in the experiential piece. Right? The senses are activated. And I I find I find that's an important thing, at least for me as a mother, and maybe you can speak to this.
Michelle Moujaes:But how do we not go at it intellectually, you know, so that we really do experience what you just described with our children?
Fr. Jim Pappas:I'm actually gonna tie in something. When I was 10 years old, I decided I wanna do all of holy week. We're all the evening services during holy week. And mom was, you sure about that? I said, yeah, mom, I do.
Fr. Jim Pappas:So I served in the altar, and I will tell you, because of the the beauty and the excitement of it, and each evening unfolding into something different, and me just in the back being able to watch father Anthony, bless the memory, and to watch how he was alive in the experience, we got to Pascha, and I burst into tears because it was over. And I didn't want it to be over because that that experience, that emotional depth had just transformed me. And that was at 10 years old.
Michelle Moujaes:Father, let me ask you, because I didn't have that experience at 10, and I would dare say that maybe my children haven't had that experience. So what is it? What what was it about that experience for you as a 10 year old that allowed you to be formed so deeply?
Fr. Jim Pappas:I was actively physically involved what was going on. So besides listening and to the and it was in half in Greek, half in English, but either way, not just that kind of experience, but I was tangibly involved. And that makes a big difference, and that was something that Donna and I have been discussing as we were going through this topic here is is kids have to have more of a tangible. Specific ages, what do they do? They deal with concrete things.
Fr. Jim Pappas:They don't not until we get into more of our teen years are we beginning to think more abstractly. So the more activity that's going on and tying in the activity to the week will make a difference for, all ages, really, truly. And so here in Fresno, for instance, and I carried some of this stuff all the way over from my previous two parishes, and I have to give this one to father this is how old I am because I keep talking about people of blessed memory. Father George Stephanides is a blessed memory in Irvine. My first experience is his father George insisted that we pull in all ages into the activities during the week.
Fr. Jim Pappas:For instance, one of the things that we did for the older kids, and actually some of the younger kids too, I handed out readings. So all those Psalms at the beginning of each evening, for instance, the ortho service, and then during the vespers on Good Friday afternoon, it wasn't my chanters reading those psalms. It was a variety of congregants reading those psalms. We send out a reading list. We kind of vetted it out to make sure that somebody was not somebody wouldn't be uncomfortable reading, but we and we worked with the kids that were capable of doing that beforehand.
Fr. Jim Pappas:But the reading list was a vast reading list when you think about all those psalms, and every day was a different reader. And so it pulled in the whole congregation, and a lot of the kids involved, teenagers, junior high ages, some fourth and fifth graders. It just depended on the age. But I will tell you that people were calling on the phone constantly saying, okay. I have my reading.
Fr. Jim Pappas:I'm gonna I wanna practice it with you, father, before I do. Or, you know, father Jim, at that time, it was just mister Jim, you know? And it was just they were so excited about having that experience. That So was one of those things where we pulled in here to Fresno. And during that time too, one of the things, and Donna really helped me with this a lot, she didn't think that first Holy Week experience I was gonna put her to work, but we have we had our Good Friday retreat.
Fr. Jim Pappas:So we had basically almost an all day retreat. Somebody's over there doing the flowers, others doing such, and the parents were all there, but the kids were there, and we had all kinds of activities for them during that day. And then it culminated with the taking down from the cross, and something that we introduced here just a few years back. Instead of having a couple of my altar boys go out and receive Jesus' body off the cross, we turned it into an entire youth group coming up. So all of the children are standing around holding one section of the sheet.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Twenty, thirty, 40 kids, everybody's touching the sheet, and Jesus is going in the middle of the sheet. It's just a beautiful experience to watch this.
Pres. Donna Pappas:It's them.
Fr. Jim Pappas:And the awe and the awe on their their faces as they're they're studying this as as Christ is coming down off of the cross. And the reading itself, I actually stop at specific sections of that particular gospel reading to make it look like we're actually in the moment.
Michelle Moujaes:Instead of
Fr. Jim Pappas:me just reading it through, I'll stop. And so Joseph took the, you know, took the body, and I stop. And somebody's taking down the body, and then such and such and such, and then somebody's doing something else. And then they even with the anointing of the myrrh, I let the kids actually anoint the body with the myrrh. So that really is transforming.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Pivotal. It's just it's pivotal for for for kids because it's tangible. They're they're active. They're participating. They're they're part of this incredible experience.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And and so I think Holy Week provides those moments, and then it it starts early. It starts in the Saturday of Lazarus. Saturday of Lazarus, that is that is such a jubilation for our kids because we have we have liturgy, and we have a pancake breakfast. Then we all sit around and we make palm crosses, and the kids are making palm crosses. And and they're tiling jingle bells onto palm fronds because on Sunday when they come back, they're gonna be waving those fronds, and the bells are gonna be jingling.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And it's and so when you talk about a sensory experience, it's tapping into all of those senses. And and so they may not remember all of the symbolism, but they're gonna remember the waving of the palm frond. They're gonna remember the jingling of the bells. They're gonna remember the the fragrance of myrrh. They're gonna remember the the smell of the incense.
Pres. Donna Pappas:All of those things are capturing their comprehension.
Fr. Jim Pappas:I I think another concept that I have is or a belief that I have is I don't like people thinking that we're we're gonna go through Lent and go through this week, like somehow that we have this amazing burden on our shoulders that is a burdensome experience. For me, it's all joyful. Even some of the saddest parts in the back of my mind in trying to express that, even my sermons afterwards is I finish it up with, but here we are towards our glorious resurrection. Here we are to the glorious resurrection. This is not a sadness that's going to literally stop there, but just to be able to help them to see the joy in it.
Fr. Jim Pappas:When we have services with the kids during the week, and I truly celebrate some of the antics of the children, there might be some goofy sad thing going on, and then some kid does something that's absolutely hysterical because kids understand things so differently, and they accept things so differently.
Michelle Moujaes:One of the things that you said that I love is there is an experiential absorption of what's happening. It doesn't feel intellectual. So that's that's beautiful. That's how I mean, that's really our way. Right?
Fr. Jim Pappas:And the church
Michelle Moujaes:is that we experience it. We're not just studying it, although that's good, and there's a place for education. But the the question that comes to mind when I think about all of the beautiful strategies and different opportunities you're creating, if a parish doesn't have that built in to kind of their flow or if a parent is new and is learning to kind of I don't wanna optimize. That's not a very good word when it comes to our experience in the liturgical life of the church. But when they wanna optimize what their children are experiencing, how can they support and and really come along side those kind of things happening?
Michelle Moujaes:Like, so for example, if you're in a parish that doesn't let your children read or if you're in a parish where we really do work to keep kids a little bit more quiet during those things, how can parents help them understand and tap into the joy that you just described? What would that look like?
Fr. Jim Pappas:Some of the things that I'm doing now and some of the things we've introduced, because we're so cross cultural in my parish, I've learned those from those from my Middle Eastern background that they're there. Like, the all the bells connected through the week that we use, that came from my Middle Eastern folks, my Antiochian folks. Then there's some things that the Romanians have, taught me that we've encountered and encouraged our families to do. So we're teaching them that the church is much bigger than our individual jurisdictions. And I've never been afraid of using that.
Fr. Jim Pappas:And so that's anyway, so getting get utilizing that, there was this gentleman who said, you know, father, in Lebanon, we have we put bells on the on the hamfrans, and this is probably not new to those from that background at all. So we're telling you something you've already known, but there are many folks that don't. So if if in fact we have we get to that point where it's like this particular community doesn't follow these particular traditions, and they only do things in a particular way, there isn't any reason why a parent can't create the little church of the home and basically take a lot of these things and say, today, we're gonna go to church and do this, but we have this little tradition that we're gonna do. Get a palm frond, tie a bell to it, read some of the prayers, get the kids to shake the bells, and, you know, coming even before they come to church.
Michelle Moujaes:And it's an invitation. What I'm hearing is an invitation for parents to engage and take some onus on, you know, the actual happenings, not just waiting to see, like, what it looks like, but, okay, we are celebrating. It also puts kind of in the parents' lap this idea of our own pursuit of learning and understanding and handing down. You know, one of my favorite parts in scriptures when Saint Paul says handing down the faith just as it was handed down to you. So you cannot borrow the faith of somebody else, of your parents, your grandparents, or you have to actually engage in that.
Michelle Moujaes:And it feels like there's lots of opportunity to do that. It also means that we have to navigate some of the harder things. Like, how do you explain to a 10 year old the suffering Sure. Of our lord? Like, what does that look like?
Michelle Moujaes:How do parents navigate stuff like that that might not just be the jubilant or the celebratory pieces, but also those things that are kinda hard?
Pres. Donna Pappas:Actually, when you talk about betrayal, grief, death, we have children who have already been exposed to those things.
Fr. Jim Pappas:When
Pres. Donna Pappas:I go to school, I am going to learn betrayal. It's going to happen. It's like, you're not my friend anymore.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Mhmm.
Pres. Donna Pappas:You're not coming to my birthday party. Betrayal. Somebody shares a secret that you've shared. They understand that. Grief.
Pres. Donna Pappas:How many of our children have lost a pet or a relative? Death or somebody that's been ill and somebody dies? These are realities. And I know there are parents who really want to shelter their their their children from those kinds of events, But they're life. They're part of life.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And
Fr. Jim Pappas:We encourage parents to not shelter their kids from those things, to to deal with life in all with all of its aspects and with all of the nuances that come with it.
Pres. Donna Pappas:We're the church militant, and our loved ones are in that church triumphant. And so we're all one church. We're all unified. And and it's interesting story. My daughter was maybe 18 old
Fr. Jim Pappas:This is beautiful.
Pres. Donna Pappas:My father-in-law passed away. And she's two years old. She's helping me make the koliva, and we're getting ready to leave. And I said, honey, do I have everything I need? And
Fr. Jim Pappas:This was unprompted, by the way.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Two years old. She runs out of the room, and she comes back in holding a portrait of her grandfather. And it was like, you're right. We need to have a picture of Papu. And
Fr. Jim Pappas:He made the connection even at that age. Understood
Pres. Donna Pappas:that he's still part of this.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Right.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And so I think it's important that we use a holy week to frame these negative experiences as part of our humanity.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Our family pictures and portraits are all incorporated around our icons too. Right. Because they're you know, these are we're we're small s saints, but, you know, we're living images of Christ, are we not? And so it's not like, okay, the icons are gonna go over there, but we're gonna keep all the family over here, because, you know, from that experience alone from our 18 old, we you learn so much about what what they absorb, and we don't think that at that age they remember anything, but the fact is is they remember quite a bit.
Michelle Moujaes:I wanna get practical for parents that are either new to the experience or who maybe have children at ages where it's becoming more appropriate for them to be more Right. Heavily integrated. But is, like, the aim that we go to every service during Holy Week?
Fr. Jim Pappas:It just depends on that age, though. If the child can handle it and that the parents are able to vet that out and see that they are able to handle it, then bring them, of course. But I don't want them to have a negative experience by saying my parents forced me. Just because they wanna go through the experience, then are they gonna force me, and I'm just gonna learn how to like it. There's gotta be a priming.
Fr. Jim Pappas:There has to be a a working them into it. And so it just it it it depends on the age is where I'm going. It depends on the age, but I am one who believes that children belong in church. I'm not one of these people that will say, no. At a certain age, yes, whatever it be, but just send them the Sunday school lock them in.
Fr. Jim Pappas:No. They're not gonna get the feel and have the experience unless the the rhythm is created from a very, very young age.
Michelle Moujaes:Let let me drill in on that for just a minute, father. So the question that comes to mind is, is this something that is personal for each household? Like, so we we can evaluate our children and what we think would be reasonable. So if we have a one year old to come to every service may not seem like the right move for our family. But if we have teenagers, then we really wanna find ways to integrate them into the rhythm of the week.
Michelle Moujaes:Personal.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Yeah. Not one size fits all.
Michelle Moujaes:Okay. Okay.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Exactly. I haven't talked about it when not not yeah. One size doesn't
Michelle Moujaes:fit all. Fit. Oh, okay. But for parents who are anxious to really help their children enter the joy of Pascha by going through Holy Week and really being immersed in the life of this sacred week, what would be three priorities that we could encourage parents to think about?
Fr. Jim Pappas:Donna asked me the question yesterday, and I'm blank at what I said. I I I immediately had an answer, now I'm blank. One was find joy. I remember that. Find joy in all of it even through the sad times of the services.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Participate. Participate is really key.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Find ways to make it tangible. You know, when when you're in the bridegroom services and we're talking about the fig tree, bring in some figs. Have some figs. Talk about them at dinner when we get to the the foolish and the wise virgins with the
Michelle Moujaes:Lamps.
Pres. Donna Pappas:The lamps. You know? Talk about that. Talk about, you know, a wedding and how important it is to be ready for the wedding. And
Fr. Jim Pappas:Have the kids create in that one there, have the kids create a little tiny little lantern that they can bring to church just to hold during that particular time.
Pres. Donna Pappas:With that
Fr. Jim Pappas:little I submit to the gospel reading with an electric candle in it, the whole thing that they can they can actually
Michelle Moujaes:I love it.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Hold that and and and embrace the the the reading that way.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Real, more tangible. I think one of
Michelle Moujaes:the things I'm hearing you say when you talk about making things tangible and making it actual, it takes a little bit of prep work perhaps on the on the end of the parent. Do the reading, kind of anticipate what's coming, and then really be thoughtful and intentional about how I can make this alive for my kids. I never did that. Like, I never brought figs, but what an easy and wonderful way to, like, bring faith to life.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Michelle Moujaes:I love it. I love it. Alright. Can I throw some questions at you from our Go
Pres. Donna Pappas:for it?
Michelle Moujaes:Here we go. This one comes from Maria from Naperville in Illinois. She has three children ages two, six, and nine, and she asks, I want my kids to experience holy week, but by the time we get to Thursday or Friday, everyone is exhausted, including me. Is it better to just push through and attend more services, or should I protect the peace at home? And how do I know when I'm being faithful versus just overextending our family?
Fr. Jim Pappas:Well, you gotta balance it. I you don't want the kids to be say, I hate this week, and I'm never going back because mom or dad pushed me through it.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Mhmm.
Fr. Jim Pappas:So find the ones that they want them to participate in and build them up to that particular one.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Mhmm. Be selective.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Be selective. Yeah.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Friday, it's the Friday afternoon service instead of the Friday evening service.
Michelle Moujaes:Right.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Maybe, maybe on Thursday, it's the pre sanctified it's no. It's the it's liturgy in the morning.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Liturgy in the morning instead of the evening. Instead of the 12 gospels, you basically come in in the morning because you're getting you're getting a repeat. Anything that's in the morning is automatically repeat from the evening before anyway. It's just a continuation. Yeah.
Fr. Jim Pappas:When is holy week? It's all and it's it's basically a weeklong vigil.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And if if it makes more sense for the family, come to the Saturday morning, holy Saturday morning. Mhmm. It's the it's the precursor of the resurrection.
Michelle Moujaes:Such a fun one.
Pres. Donna Pappas:They're banging the pots, they're ringing the bells, and they're celebrating, and and it's just it's magnificent.
Fr. Jim Pappas:So I said we're do a show and tell here. This these are called Love at Lent by Presvytera Michelle Bonanno Triant. And there's a series of cards that can take us all through Lent and Holy Week. And
Michelle Moujaes:Where do we find those?
Fr. Jim Pappas:It's a deck of cards. Well, sell them in my bookstore, and I think we order them. We can get them online too.
Michelle Moujaes:We will link them below.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Basically, and each day you pick another type of thing to do at home with your families.
Michelle Moujaes:It's I love it.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Beautiful ways of creating
Fr. Jim Pappas:Right.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Memories during Lent. The it's a it's part of that beautiful
Fr. Jim Pappas:And I'm not even sure whether you get these anymore, but I have to tell you, those old scriptographic books. And I this has been my go to for I'm so old. Old. Okay? But they're just great, and they're so child friendly, and they're still relevant.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Okay? This is a really good one here. I've just basically taken them because I don't if you can buy them anymore. I copy them. And then the GOA also, which is going to help, has this one, Journey Through Holy Week.
Michelle Moujaes:Oh, I've seen that. It's so good.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Yeah, this is so good.
Michelle Moujaes:So good.
Fr. Jim Pappas:And it's so very helpful. And again, it's it was designed for families and designed for children especially.
Michelle Moujaes:There are
Pres. Donna Pappas:priests and parishes that have publications on their websites, their parish websites, to also help parents with ways of getting through, you know, Holy Week and making it real and tangible for their children. Plug into that. But as we said before, it's not a one size fits all. What works best for your family. If it's killing you to miss a Friday night, but the kids there's just no way to get the kids there and you can't find someone to cover and watch your children, pull it up virtually.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And and and let let them hear those melodies. Let them hear those the lamentations as they go from somber to not as somber to hopeful. It's it's it's a it's a beautiful thing.
Michelle Moujaes:I just love it. Alright. Let me ask you one more question. This is from David in Sacramento, and he has one son aged five. He says, I didn't grow up Orthodox, so Holy Week still feels a little overwhelming to me.
Michelle Moujaes:I don't always understand what's happening. How can I, as a parent, lead my child when I'm still learning myself? It's a good question.
Fr. Jim Pappas:So it's a togetherness thing at that point. Daddy's learning too. Daddy's gonna walk with you through this, and then they're going to find, well, activity cards.
Pres. Donna Pappas:We're going to learn to
Fr. Jim Pappas:It's really up.
Pres. Donna Pappas:And I think the infographics and and and, you know, things like like this are really helpful. Often, the parish will publish something to help parents during that week to kinda give them a heads up. Talk to your son's Sunday school teacher. They will have great ideas of how to make it more real for them. It's a shared learning experience.
Pres. Donna Pappas:It's it's a family journey.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Over the years, we've always had some kind of a project we've asked the the the we've asked the community to do during Lent. I mean, it's one of many that we've done. But when Marie Kondo became a very popular author on how to basically purge and clean and organize your home, I thought, isn't that the same thing we do during Lent with our soul? Exactly. We want to clean the house in order to prepare the house for something extraordinary.
Fr. Jim Pappas:And so what we did was is we took her principles, and we said, okay. This is what we're gonna be doing for our soul during Lent.
Michelle Moujaes:Wow.
Fr. Jim Pappas:But how about if we start also going home and cleaning and purging things in the home? Because when you do that, you begin to find a way of understanding what it means to get many things in your life in order and not just the tangible things, but the spiritual things as well. People really kind of enjoyed it because they said it forced them during this period of time to clean things up. And Love they really appreciated the connection. And so that parent can also find ways to show the child this is a connection to something even spiritual.
Pres. Donna Pappas:If it's not serving you, why are you still holding on to it? That's That's internally as well as externally.
Michelle Moujaes:I love it. I I love what what I think I if I were to recap everything that you've said here today, it's that there's an intentionality, a softness. There's not like this. We will muscle through and check off every service off our list, but more of there's an invitation for us to come with our families and participate as fully as we can and really experience and engage in a way that is forming. And I I love that.
Michelle Moujaes:It feels so much kinder than the alternative, so I love it.
Fr. Jim Pappas:I remember my parents telling me, though, when they were growing up, is first of all, the Greek that they spoke was not necessarily the Greek that they used in church services. Right? So we would sit there, and we'd start squiggling, and my my mom would pinch us to behave. I'm so glad we're past the days of pinching. Pinching.
Michelle Moujaes:Yeah. I wouldn't wanna be pinched. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think you've brought some great wisdom to allow us to think about the joy of entering in even through the harder times, even through the grief of the week, but really to bring our children and just try.
Michelle Moujaes:Just come and try and be kind to yourself. So that's beautiful. Any last thoughts?
Pres. Donna Pappas:Take time. Take time to experience it yourself as you're going through. As parents, I would say part of the impact that my husband's week had on him when he was 10 years old was seeing the modeling of the the priest that he was serving. This was a man who was so completely experiencing what was going on that by his example
Fr. Jim Pappas:He really lived it.
Pres. Donna Pappas:It it fed it fed my husband's perception of Holy Week. And allow Holy Week to become more real for us. As it becomes more real for us, it becomes more real for us for our children because they see the way that it affects us.
Michelle Moujaes:I love it.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Mhmm.
Michelle Moujaes:So good.
Fr. Jim Pappas:What she said.
Michelle Moujaes:What she said. Beautiful. Well, father Jim and Donna, we are so grateful for your time.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Thank you for the opportunity, Michelle.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Call it Pascha from now.
Fr. Jim Pappas:That means good Pascha.
Pres. Donna Pappas:Yeah. A glorious resurrection.
Michelle Moujaes:Yeah. Same to you. Christ is risen.
Fr. Jim Pappas:Truly he is risen.
Michelle Moujaes:And thank you for joining us. Remember, Holy Week is not about getting it perfect. It's about showing up and letting Christ form our families. Again, don't forget to download this week's digital discussion guide because it's a good one. And remember, preparation starts at home.
Michelle Moujaes:Children are formed through their participation. So take them. Just go. Even if it's imperfect, even if you're sure your kid won't totally understand all that's going on in the is, even when you're tired. Because you guys, it's in the midst of all of that that we begin to plant eternal seeds.
Michelle Moujaes:I will see you next time when we will all proclaim together the good news that Christ is risen.