On the fourth Sunday of Lent we celebrate St. John Climacus, who wrote The Ladder of Divine Ascent. This is quite a hefty work, which even adults may find intimidating. However, it offers a useful guide for leading a Christian life and attaining salvation that is well within the reach of children. I offer here some ideas for teaching about St. John and what he taught about reaching Heaven.

Is your green ready? I remember loving St. Patrick's day as a child. My younger sister and I would wear pajamas with green in them the night before to prevent any early morning pinching! A day when pinching is allowed! What kid wouldn't love that?! However, other than the fact that he was associated with Ireland, I really knew nothing about St. Patrick.

As a teacher myself, I often find I adapt ideas for my classroom (in a school setting or my home) from inspiration found from other teachers, parents, and clergy. Many of us gravitate to certain Orthodox blogs and websites specifically for this very reason – inspiration. We aspire to improve ourselves by searching for ways to enrich our spiritual lives as we see what others are doing in their lives and classrooms.

On February 2, we'll be celebrating the Meeting (Presentation) of the Lord in the Temple. This day is also sometimes referred to as Candlemas (which I love) because on this day prayer candles are blessed during the liturgy.  This feast day seems to me to be the somewhat forgotten feast of the major feasts of the Lord. We've just finished celebrating Christmas, which took so much time and energy, followed by Theophany.  It is so easy to want to "take a break" and forget this feast.  However, this is an important and beautiful feast, and it is one we should commemorate with great joy.

A recent WHO report had the following statements:

In low- and middle-income countries, complications from pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 years. … About 16 million girls aged 15 to 19 years and two million girls under the age of 15 give birth every year. Worldwide, one in five girls has given birth by the age of 18. In the poorest regions of the world, this figure rises to over one in three girls.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas of Myra and Lycea. This popular saint performed many miracles and helped many people during his life. He saved the people of Myra from famine. He protected sailors at sea. He resurrected three children who were killed by a butcher for food during a famine. And of course, we all know the story of how he saved the merchant's three daughters from a life of immorality by secretly giving their father gold for their dowries.

As we approach Christmas, it’s so easy to get caught up in the preparations for the feast the way the secular world celebrates it that we can easily become completely and totally distracted. After all, it takes weeks to decorate, etc. So I came up with some ideas to help Orthodox families prepare in a way that helps children learn about the feast.

Here are some phenomenal resources for us to read to our children during December:

Having grown up Catholic, I have always loved the tradition of the Advent wreath. So, when I converted to Orthodoxy, I was happy to find an Orthodox version of the Advent wreath. We light ours and do the appointed readings at Sunday night dinner. Then, throughout the week, we keep the candles lit for dinner as it makes the cold, dark, winter nights feel so much cozier and reminds us of the light that comes into the world at Christ's Nativity.

In this age with its emphasis on self-esteem, we may have trouble sorting out words that build up the body of Christ from remarks that merely puff up.