On April 9, Sasha Vujacic invited children from a local Serbian Orthodox church to attend the Lakers vs. Nuggets game at the Staples Center. As one girl, Arianna, put it, “This was the best night of my life!” For all of the children, it was an exciting night watching the Lakers and getting to meet Sasha personally after the game. We interviewed parish priest Father Blasko Paraklis to learn more about their church, Sasha’s charity work and his status as a role model.

What is the name of your church, where is it located and can you tell us more about it?

Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos Serbian Orthodox Church, located at 2148 Michelson Dr., Irvine, Calif., 91612. Since we are a missionary parish, as of now we have no permanent facility. We lease a facility and we created a beautiful chapel inside an industrial building at the above address. Even in a leased facility, we have regular services and a full parish life. We welcome all God’s thirsty souls.

How did your church become connected with Sasha Vujacic? Has he done any other charity work with your church prior to this event, and what kind?

The first year when Sasha started his career with LA Lakers he came with Vlade Divac to our annual Serbian-Greek Friendship Night fundraiser event. Ever since then, he comes at least once a year to support our church and our community. His willingness to generously share his time, sign autographs, take photos and donate Lakers souvenirs for the auction significantly contributes to the success of the event he attends.

Each time Sasha comes, the crowd, most especially the children, excitedly welcomes him. Because of his love and generosity, we feel that he is very much part of our community. One day when we build a church, he will be remembered in the history of our parish as one of the great supporters.

Would you consider Sasha a good role model for people and why?

We are very proud of him. It is truly special for us to have Sasha as an ambassador of our church and of our people playing on the LA Lakers team. He is certainly a role model as a basketball player and because of his great personality and great talents.

We all enter this world, through the will of God, each of us with certain tasks, and each of us with certain talents. Our talents are meant to reveal the glory of God. The talents and the gifts which were radiating through Sasha’s personality when I met him were the gifts of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness. By multiplying those gifts of the Holy Spirit, Sasha will fulfill his duties towards God, his church, his family, his team and his fellow man.

Which part of the game do you think was the most exciting for the kids?

As the children said at the end of the game, “It was awesome!”

One of the most important things in raising children is to help them make right choices in life and help them develop good habits. For them to see Sasha and other young players doing something good and positive not only for themselves but for others as well is a valuable lesson. They realized that Sasha and other athletes infuse cheer and happiness into the lives of many people. They realized the importance of multiplying and sharing God-given talents with others. Through Sasha’s generosity, the children realized that the true glory is in serving others.

When they met with Sasha at the and of the game, they saw how humble, loving, charitable, and generous Sasha was not only for providing the tickets for all of them to attend the game, and for supplying the food and refreshments, but for taking the time to give autographs and take pictures with them even though he was tired. They will remember his humbleness and generous heart more even than the victory of the LA Lakers over the Denver Nuggets.

What is the biggest spiritual challenge you as a priest have to deal with and how are you dealing with it?

The biggest challenge is to resurrect someone spiritually. In this country and in the whole world materialism is more and more enslaving mankind. People forget that man has both soul and body and that we have to take care of both. In order for us to live, we need to feed our bodies on a daily basis. We need to wash them, to protect them with clothes, etc. If we were to stop doing that our bodies would die. When our limited body needs so much food, care and attention, how much more food, care and attention does our unlimited soul need? What do we do when we are hungry? We eat the first thing available at our hand.

That is the same thing with the soul. The soul is hungry and thirsty for God and all that is God’s – His love, righteousness, and justice – and if we do not feed our soul with the ways of God, than the soul grabs the first thing at hand. That is why some people turn to drugs and other options that so damage both the body and the soul. Like our body, the soul must have some kind of nourishment. What would happen if we gave our body the wrong kind of food? Certainly we would get sick, or even die. In the same vein, without the right kind of nourishment, the soul can die spiritually even before we die physically.

The Gospel of Christ is the code of human life! If we build our life and our souls on Gospel principals, our own life and life in general in this world would be much more beautiful and easier. The most powerful means of resurrecting people spiritually is through prayer, love and patience.

How can individuals of Sasha’s stature help you to overcome those challenges in the future?

By being a role model in the Orthodox Faith, that is living the Faith on a daily basis, and by being active in the Church life as much as possible, Sasha and all others will be doing their part.