By Phoebe Farag Mikhail This is my seventh year since staring Being in Community that I have shared my Great Lent reading list, and it has become one of my most popular posts. This year’s list includes some older books... Read More

By Phoebe Farag Mikhail  My favorite song from The Sound of Music, “I Have Confidence” has inspired my word of the year for 2023. Maria, a novice out of place in her convent, accepts the challenge of becoming a governess... Read More

By Phoebe Farag Mikhail I have a delicious fall/winter book stack, I must say, and I’m glad I have the opportunity to share it with you! Many of these books also serve as wonderful holiday gifts, so consider this my... Read More

by Phoebe Farag Mikhail “Look for the faithful,” Traci Rhoades writes in her new book, Shaky Ground. When I read her words about who to look to in times of crisis, these words stuck, because I recognized that over the... Read More

By Phoebe Farag Mikhail “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Mark 1:1 Every time I read this verse I get chills up my spine. I imagine and wonder what St. Mark must have felt... Read More

by Phoebe Farag Mikhail My family and I have rearranged our lives in such a way to make it possible for us to participate in every Holy Week service. We did so in part because we knew how exhausting it... Read More

by Phoebe Farag Mikhail In the Coptic Orthodox Church, we don’t have an Ash Wednesday to kick off the Lent the way the Catholics and some Protestant churches do, or a Forgiveness Sunday rite the way the Eastern Orthodox Churches... Read More

By Phoebe Farag Mikhail The Great Lent is almost here, and with it the opportunity to spend more time on growing our spiritual lives. Lent is for making room for more prayer, more Scripture reading, and more spiritual reading. Whatever... Read More

Still, living in the Northeast, one cannot help but witness fall’s indiscriminate beauty. Autumn here is admittedly spectacular, no matter where you go. As long as there are trees, there is beauty unhad at any other time of the year.... Read More

This past Saturday, the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated the Feast of the Nayrouz—Coptic New Year. The Coptic calendar is based on one of the oldest calendars in civilization. My dear friend Maria Andrawis, who has worked with refugees and IDPs... Read More