The Good News

Holy Cross girls from the Heywood, Robertson, Ebrahimi and Green families ready for a week of fun and prayer outdoors.

St. Eugene’s Youth Camp 2018

by Kathy Pieracci

We went to a new location this year in the beautiful hills, close to the south entrance to Yosemite, at Sugar Pine Christian Camp in Oakhurst. Change can be difficult; however, being surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation we immediately felt at "home," beginning our week surrounded with the beauty that God provided for us.

Our morning prayers, Vespers, and Liturgy services were held at our campfire site, along with many evenings of wonderful skits, discussions, and of course s’mores. All activities were held outside, whether we were playing games, doing Arts and Crafts or studying the Feast Days of the Theotokos. We offered many new activities this year such as archery, BB gun targets, canoeing, paddle boarding, a ropes course with a zip line, a train ride and hikes. We were blessed to have 13 campers and 3 adult volunteers from our church.

Here are a few comments from our campers:

"The ropes course and zipline was my favorite. It was challenging but fun at the same time."
-Amelia

"I enjoyed making a stained-glass cross with the icon of the Theotokos in the middle."
-Lily

"I really liked hearing the birds singing and seeing the sunshine filter through the trees during morning prayers."
-Josefine

"Learning the Theotokos at the age of 3 walked up the stairs to the High Priest"
–Lily

"Not sure anyone will say anything different than ‘Glop’ as my favorite meal."
-Josefine

"No matter where our little camp family goes, we will always have each other to laugh with and make memories with."
-Georgia

On Taking Up the Cross

And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. (Luke 9:23)

St. Innocent

"To take up one’s cross means to accept and bear unmurmuringly everything unpleasant, painful, sad, difficult and oppressive that may happen to us in our life...[to] bear all without malice, without murmuring, without criticism, without complaint, that is, without regarding oneself as offended and without expecting any earthly reward in return; to bear it all with love, with joy and firmness...

"...In whatever position you may be, and whatever sufferings of soul you may feel, do not despair and do not think that the Lord has abandoned you. No! He will always be with you and will invisibly strengthen you even when it seems that you are on the very brink of perdition. He will never allow you to be tempted more than He sees fit. Do not despair and do not be afraid; but with full submission and surrender to Him, have patience and pray. For He is always our Father, and a very loving Father...

"...If you bear your sufferings with submission and surrender to the will of God and do not seek consolation anywhere or in anyone except the Lord, then in His mercy He will not abandon you and will not leave you without consolation; He will touch your heart with His grace and will communicate to you the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Amid your sufferings ...you will feel in your heart ineffable sweetness, a wonderful peace and joy which you never felt before; and at the same time you will feel within you the power and ability to pray to God with true prayer and to believe in Him with true faith. Then your heart will burn with pure love for God and your neighbor..."

—St. Innocent of Alaska, from Indications of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven (originally written in the Aleut language)

Seminary Send Off!

We had the joy of sending our own Ryan Patrick Miller to St. Tikhon’s Seminary in South Canaan, PA the last week of August. We were able to send him off with a blessing and a scholarship to begin his studies.

Births and Baptisms

Avery Olivia Blighton
Marie Lorraine Winegar
Isaiah Theodore Simonson
Emma Vasilisa MacKinnon
Elizabeth Brown
Esther Rose Duke

Put your faith into action by donating to the

Archangel Michael Food Closet

"I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors."
John 4:38

All nourishing, nonperishible foods are welcome.
Some special needs for October and upcoming holidays are:

Canned yams (29oz)
Canned cranberry sauce
Apple juice or cider (64 oz)
Stuffing
Eggs & egg cartons (please take eggs directly to the fridge in the food closet)

You can help struggling families by:

Donating food items.
Registering at amazon.com to deliver food directly to the church.
Volunteering Tuesday mornings at the Food Closet.
Supporting fundraisers (purchase a parish cookbook!)
Writing a check to Holy Cross, memo: Food Closet.

Thank you again for your support.

Questions: Contact Ginny Nelson or Fr. Andrew Jacobs

Recent Events

Tragic fire at our Mother Parish

On July 12, tragedy struck the Holy Myrrhbearing Women in West Sacramento when an electrical fire broke out in the church. The fire destroyed the interior of the church and has likely compromised the structure itself. Adding to the difficulty, the parish’s insurance will cover only a portion of what is needed to rebuild.

Holy Myrrhbearers is the oldest Orthodox parish in Sacramento. The church temple was constructed in 1925 through the labors and sacrifices of the parishioners.

In the midst of the recent tragedy, God’s mercy and care is evident. Three icons survived the fire unharmed: the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. Many parish communities have responded with help, including Holy Cross. To date Holy Cross has donated Liturgical items to aid in resuming Divine services, and parishioners have contributed over $6,000 toward reconstruction efforts. Further donations can be made directly through the website at:
http://www.holy-women.com/index.php

Brewfest & BBQ Fundraiser

Thank you to everyone who supported our "Brewfest & BBQ" fundraiser on Saturday, June 30th. We featured beers from seven different breweries, BBQ’d delicious food and raised almost $1,400 for our building fund! Stay tuned for more fundraising events and opportunities to help build our church!

Archangel Michael Food Closet - more than just food!

The Archangel Michael Food Closet provides food for 66 families every month, 40 of whom have school age children.

In addition to the weekly food program, bags of basic school supplies (pencils, paper, glue, etc.) were distributed to 83 students in grades kindergarten through high school at the beginning of the current school year.

Many of the families expressed gratitude and appreciation. Donations from Elevation of the Holy Cross and St. Athanasius Antiochian Orthodox Church parishioners helped defray the cost. We are blessed to be able to provide this additional outreach to our local community.

Building Fund Updates

YTD Raised: $16,286.35
Pledging families: 14
Total: $285,842.84

Numbers as of August 31, 2018

9000 Jackson Rd, Sacramento, CA 95826 holycrosssacramento.org
Mailing: 2443 Fair Oaks Blvd #295, Sacramento, CA 95825

Elevation of the Holy Cross Orthodox Church, Sacramento