On Thanksgiving Day 2025 several members of ASONA travelled to the Ronald McDonald House in Mesa, AZ to prepare a Thanksgiving Feast for the residents. The volunteers spent several hours putting together a full Thanksgiving Feast for the house, which houses up to 30 families. For over 39 years, Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Central and Northern Arizona has provided a “home-away-from-home” for families traveling to the Valley for medical care for their children. The Ronald McDonald House is a “home-away-from-home” for families with sick or injured children. Subdeacon Michael and Katie Cassell led the volunteers, and have firmly established this as an annual service event for the … [Read more...]
The Days Before Us: Holy Week
Each Day in Holy Week is devoted to a particular theme. Review these each day with members of your family, especially your children, during the coming week. The Beginning of the Cross Lazarus Saturday "Having fulfilled Forty Days... we ask to see the Holy Week of Thy Passion." With these words sung at Vespers, Lent comes to its end and we enter into the annual commemoration of Christ's suffering, death and Resurrection. It begins on Lazarus Saturday. The double feast of Lazarus' resurrection and the Entrance of the Lord to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) is described in liturgical texts as the "beginning of the Cross" and is to be understood therefore, within the context of the Holy Week. … [Read more...]