Dear brothers, Christ is risen!
We continue to live with the difficult conditions of the pandemic. Our minds and thoughts are with all our dear brothers and sisters who are struggling with this prolonged and unprecedented situation throughout the world. We are learning to live with it, to overcome one difficulty after another and to invoke God’s help more and more often. Our prayers have become more fervent and our hope in His providence greater.
For the second year in a row our brothers and sisters in Fiji did not experience Holy Week, the week of our Lord’s Passion and His resurrection in the churches. The outbreak of the pandemic in the islands just before Holy Week again forced the government to impose universal confinement of all residents.
Our priests could not go to the churches and only the children of our orphanage with the good nuns who take care of them were able to sing the hymns of Holy Week and “Christ is Risen” together.
The schools are also closed and the nuns, along with the older children, have taken over teaching the younger ones. Even the food shops are closed, making it difficult even to supply food to the St. Tavitha orphanage. Of course with our churches closed none of our faithful brethren can attend.
The wounds from the hurricanes that preceded the monsoon season have not yet fully healed. Many people have lost their homes and small possessions. They turn to our Church as much as they can to find shelter and a plate of food, especially on the island of Lampasa where the parish of Saints Nicholas and Athanasius always has its good priest Fr. Barnabas to take care of everyone in need.
Once our Church has made the loving decision to go and spread the Gospel of Christ in the Pacific Ocean, there is no choice but to look and move forward, responding to all the difficulties – biological and spiritual. To stand by the side of every helpless, every empowered person, everyone whose heart is seeking our Lord.
Please, dear brothers and sisters, in your love, in the difficulties that you are facing in Greece too, do not forget in your prayers the little Church of Christ in the distant islands of the Pacific Ocean. Our gratitude will be eternal and our humble prayers to the Lord will be constant.
We wish from the depths of our hearts that the grace and joy of the Resurrection of our Lord may be in your hearts forever and inspire your every thought, your every word, your every action and your whole life.
With great gratitude
✝ New Zealand Myrone
