On the fifth week of the Lent the service of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is celebrated. This is the longest canon including the reading of the life of St. Mary of Egypt followed by the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, and it can be called the culmination of the Lenten feats. The service is held on Thursday but if the feast of Annunciation occurs on this day, the service of the Great Canon is transferred to Tuesday.

At this difficult time, the work of the Charity and Social Service Department of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese continues, in particular, regular humanitarian aid visits to Laguna Province. We thank the sponsors of the FMI Charitable Foundation, its director, the head of the Department for Charity and Social Ministry of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, Priest David Grubbs, and the rector of the Holy Cross Parish in Siniloan, Archimandrite Philemon (Castro).