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This year, our school has placed our final exam schedule beginning on Easter Monday. This means Passion Week is going to be filled with a lot of studying to prepare for finals. This is going to be my first time ever being away from my family on Great Friday-Feast of the Resurrection. Last year I was able to fly home for these days since Easter was earlier. 

I am really upset because I do not feel it is going to be the same this year. I look forward to Passion Week every year since it is my favorite season, and now school seems to occupy this time. I managed to book a flight for Palm Sunday since our school gave us a long weekend. 
 
What advice can you give me to be able to still enjoy the high peak of Passion Week while doing my duty in preparing hard for my finals. As for Easter, all the Egyptian group here also are not going back home, so at least we will have each other on Easter night, but I still know if it will not be much of a celebration when my family and I are apart.

Because of this unique situation, learn to view every opportunity as a chance for spiritual growth and maturity even when it is not presented in the customary fashion. Without a doubt, our church is exceptionally beautiful at this time of the Holy Great Fast, but this year you can learn to carry the church with you wherever you are. H. H. Pope Shenouda III says that "Egypt is not just a nation in which we live, but a nation that lives within us." Likewise and more so, this saying can also be attributed to our beloved church, for she lives within us. Take leadership and share the prayers of this very spiritual season with your fellow Coptic youth and encourage the group to keep up with all the prayers and prophecies of each day. Perhaps you can designate various locations for studying so that you can unite and pray or read together quietly. If that venue is not available, then pray in your own rooms or listen to sermons or the Holy Week chants in your car. If you have cd's or can purchase or download the Holy Week chants and readings on your pc, iPod, or iPads, you can keep up with all the prayers wherever you are. Use this opportunity to strengthen your commitment to God. If the opportunity arises that you can attend church for however brief the time, then seize every moment to do so. If not, then remain assured that God is everywhere and will always be with you. When you learn to enjoy His presence and company in your life without necessarily being in the most optimal circumstances for worship, you will have learned a valuable lesson and your spiritual life will truly be seasoned with a deeper love for God. No more will you find excuses for not staying connected with Christ, for you will realize that nothing can keep you apart.

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39).