The Children’s Word is a weekly bulletin for Orthodox Christian young people. Copyright 2017 Alexandra Houck.

Email is orthodoxchildrensword (at) gmail.com. Find it each week at myocn.net.

God be merciful to me, a sinner!

“Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for to such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Mark 10:14

Sunday, February 5, 2017 Volume 5, Issue 6

Which way do YOU pray?Which way do YOU pray?Which way do YOU pray?Which way do YOU pray? When we hear a story, sometimes

we think about how we fit into it, don’t we?

Today we hear the story of the Publican

and the Pharisee. Do you remember it?

Two men went to the temple to pray. One

of them said, “God, I thank you that I am

not like other people.” He went on to com-

pare himself to other people, other sinners.

He told God all the great things he did. But

the other man would not even look up, and

just said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

When we hear this story, we think about how we fit into it. You can ask

yourself: Which way do I pray? Do I tell God all the great things I have

done? Do I compare myself to the bad kids at school, and remind God that

I’m not like them? OR do I tell God that I make mistakes? Do I ask Him

to help me with my problems?

Which way do YOU pray?

Just think: the two men came to the same temple. They came to talk to the

same God. But how different they were! Remember, God wants all of us to

talk to Him, to pray to Him. But let’s follow the example of the humble

man. “God be merciful to me, a sinner!”

A Ministry of the

Orthodox Christian Network

Here is a very new icon of Saint Valeriu.

When we read about this saint’s life,

we know how cruel and awful the Com-

munist rulers were to him.

But in the icon, doesn’t he look peace-

ful? We remember he is now at peace

in heaven, with the best Ruler of all!

What’s in the icon?

WORD SEARCHWORD SEARCHWORD SEARCHWORD SEARCH

Can you find these

words in the jumble?

CHRIST

EXAMPLE

HUMILITY

ICON

IMITATE

LOVE

PRAYING

ROMANIA

VALERIU

E L P M A X E B R P A Q G Y Q

V W I R C L S N D R C T T L C

O Y R H B A F P D A A I X S O

L Y T O M I K H M Y L V X G I

N F J F M Y T J U I L W V M F

G S Y X Z A D S M N R V I D C

A K V C H I N U I G E T T F X

R V N L S B H I V R A X R Q J

V A L E R I U Z A T H T R L E

S E B K H Z J N E C F C X K X

S Y C X Z S G N I G K W M T D

H U I C I D O I H R Q M B T L

M I N V K C P U S O T R H P Q

D T W D I D Q W K S B G K N N

T S K O P M O D B R M X G S Q

Have you ever tried to copy

somebody? Maybe you’ve tried to be like

an older brother or sister. Or maybe you try to

imitate somebody on TV, like a sports star or an

actress. When we see something we like about

somebody, we might try to be like him or her!

God wants us to copy somebody too. You know

who, don’t you? His Son, our Lord Jesus

Christ! We read about how Jesus acted, and we

want to try to copy Him, to be like Him!

Today we remember a saint who really tried to copy our Lord, to be

like Him. Saint Valeriu was born less than 100 years ago, in Romania.

At that time, the country of Romania was being taken over by leaders

who hated the Christian Church. When Valeriu was a teenager, he

was part of a group for Christian young people. That might sound

okay to us, but to the cruel people in power, it wasn’t okay. In fact,

Valeriu was sent to prison—for 25 years!

So that’s where this young man went…to spend the rest of his life in

prison. But even in prison, Valeriu tried to imitate our Lord, Jesus

Christ. He was kind to other prisoners. He prayed with them and told

them about God’s love for them. Once, Valeriu gave up his medicine so

that another man would live. Saint Valeriu is such a great example for us

because when he copied Christ, other people wanted to copy him too!

THE SAINT OF THE PRISONS SAINT VALERIU GAFENCU, OF ROMANIA

We celebrate the nameday of Saint Valeriu today, Sunday, February 5th.