Real, authentic worship

There seems to be significant questions surfacing among Catholics as to what the worship of God entails. It is a rather deep and intricate answer but two paragraphs may begin to reflect upon what the Church gives witness to and what is reasonable. What does the Church teach regarding worship, relics and honor of the saints?

In the Catechism we read:

The Church also professes the Paschal mystery in the feasts of her saints, who suffered with Christ and with him were glorified. The Church offers the example of the lives of the saints to the faithful for imitation, in order to bring all to the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit. The liturgical commemoration of saints is effected in the services and in the veneration of their icons and their relics. The date of the veneration of saints is usually the day of their death, that is, their birth to heaven. It can also be the day of the finding or transferral of their relics. Every day of the Church Year is dedicated to one or more particular saints. The liturgical services (hymnography) for the saints are collected month by month in twelve volumes called the Menaia (from the Greek, meaning monthly).

AND

One of the first Fathers who elaborated a theological foundation for icon veneration was Saint John of Damascus. He teaches: “I venerate the icon of Christ the incarnate God … because the honour that we render unto the image belongs to the Prototype.” In the icon, we venerate not the image but the imaged person, whom we prayerfully contemplate. This is because the icon raises our mind from the image to the Prototype. The Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787 condemned Iconoclasm and confirmed the veneration of icons of the Lord Jesus Christ, the most holy Mother of God, and the angels and saints. Along with this, the Council distinguished between adoration, which is due exclusively to God (in Greek, latreia), and veneration (in Greek, proskynesis), which we render unto icons, the Gospel Book, the cross, and the relics of saints. We venerate icons by kissing and censing them, and lighting candles and lamps before them. The icon is also the Church’s teaching expressed in images. Therefore it should be written not arbitrarily but only accord ing to iconographic canons which ensure that the faces of Christ, the Mother of God, and of the saints are recognizable in all instances.

~Christ Our Pascha, 577, 591

St Timothy

The holy apostle and martyr, Timothy, bishop of Ephesus, is honored by the Church today.

This disciple and companion of St. Paul was put in charge of the christian community at Ephesus (reportedly for 15 years) and is honored as their first bishop. Around AD 97, he was killed by an angry mob, not unlike the silversmiths’ riot triggered by Paul.

The two letters addressed to Timothy in the New Testament are considered by modern scholarship to be compositions of the Pauline community.

The Kontakion for the feast reads:

Let us the faithful praise the Holy Apostle Timothy, the companion of Paul in his travels and together with him let us honor the wise Anastasius, who came as a star from Persia for the healing of the passions of our souls and the diseases of our bodies.

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St Maximus the Confessor

St Maximus the Confessor is liturgically commemorated today.

“God created all things with his limitless power, brought them into being, holds them there and gathers them together and sets boundaries to them; in his providence, he links them all – intellectual beings as well as sensible – to each other as he does to himself. In his might, God draws up all the things that are naturally distinct from each other and binds them to himself as their cause, their origin and goal; and through the power of this relationship to him as source, he lets them also be drawn toward each other…No being can permanently isolate itself through its own particularity or through the drive of its nature toward some other end; rather, everything remains, in its very being, bound without confusion to everything else, through the single, enduring relationship of all to their one and only source.”

A previous post on St Maximus can be read here.

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The Ukrainian Christmas Tradition

The Knights of Columbus is hosting a presentation on Ukrainian Christmas Tradition given by Fr. Paul Luniw.

Sunday, January 26, 2-3pm

Knights of Columbus Museum, One State Street, New Haven

Eastern Europe will the focus region of the European continent January 25 and 26.
Among the events will be a presentation by Fr. Paul Luniw, pastor of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Terryville, CT. On Sunday, January 26, at 2 p.m., Fr. Luniw will discuss Christmas customs and traditions in Ukraine. The event is free and open to the public.

The event is held in conjunction with the museum’s Christmas in Europe exhibition, which features 80 Nativity scenes from across the European continent. The show continues through February 2, 2020. Free admission and parking. Open to the public.

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Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Christ is born!

Sunday, 1/19, 32nd Sunday after Pentecost —Our Venerable Father Macarius of Egypt
10:30 a.m. For our parishioners

Epistle: 1 Timothy 1:15-17
Gospel: Luke 18:35-43, Tone 7

Monday, 1/20, Our Venerable and God-bearing Father Euthemius the Great —Civil Holiday of Martin Luther King Day
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, 1/21, Our Venerable Father Maximus the Confessor
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Wednesday, 1/22, The Holy Apostle Timothy; the Holy Venerable-Martyr Anastasius the Persian
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Thursday, 1/23, The Holy Priest-Martyr Clement
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 1/24, Our Venerable Mother Xenia the Roman
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Saturday, 1/25, Our Holy Father Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Sunday, 1/26, Sunday of Zacchaeus —Our Venerable Father Xenophon and His Wife Maria
9:00 Special Intention
10:30 a.m. For our parishioners

Epistle: 1 Timothy 4:9-15
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10, Tone 8

Parish announcements

Christ is among us!

This week’s vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Dionizia Brochinsky in memory of Dmyto Palazij.

The Ukrainian National Women’s League of America Branch 108 New Haven and St. Michael Parish will be preparing a Prosphora, a traditional Ukrainian Christmas meal, TODAY. We will have only one (1) bi-lingual Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, free for students Ridna Shkola and altar boys. We will be running a raffle. Please donate items for raffle and cakes for desert. You can buy tickets after each Divine Liturgy in the church hall or contact Anna Salemme 203-934-6520, or purchase tickets at SUMA credit Union.

House Blessings began on January 8th. If anyone would like to have their homes blessed, please fill out the form already provided and either drop it in the collection basket or return it to Fr. Iura or call the rectory. Thank you.

The next Financial Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 21, at 6:00 p.m. in the Holy Name Room. All Financial Committee members and interested parishioners are invited.

The Knights of Columbus offers congratulations to all those members who participated in the second “Exemplification of Charity, Unity and Fraternity”  3rd. Degree Ceremony at the KofC Museum, last Monday evening.

Sorokousty —All Souls Saturdays will be celebrated on February 15th, March 7th, March 14th, March 21st, and May 30th. Please take a book found in the entrance of the church, fill it out, place it in envelope, and drop it in the collection basket. Eternal memory.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: January 18-25, 2020 is the annual observance to pray for unity among Christians. The theme chosen for 2020 is “They Showed Us Unusual Kindness”(cf. Acts 28:2). Throughout 2020, join Christians everywhere in praying “that they may all be one” joining our prayer with that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray for Christian unity today, and in the days to come. For more information go to: www.geii.org

Dear Parishioners, as you can see, the Roof Repair Fund now totals $37,975.00. Thanks to your generosity, we are steadily nearing our goal of $40,000.00. Please continue with your generous donations to this restricted fund. A complete report will be issued shortly.

Adult Faith Formation

Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He replied, “Lord, please let me see.” Jesus told him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”

(Luke 18: 41-42)

GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN

Our father among the saints Gregory the Theologian was a great father and teacher of the Church. With Sts. Basil the Great and John Chrysostom, he is numbered among the Three Holy Hierarchs. St. Gregory is also known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers.

Gregory was born in 329 in Arianzus, a village near Nazianzus in the district of Cappadocia in what is now Turkey. He first studied in Caesarea of Palestine, then in Alexandria and finally in Athens.  As he was sailing from Alexandria to Athens, a violent sea storm put in peril his life and his salvation. With tears and fervor he begged God to spare him, vowing to dedicate his entire being to Him, and the tempest subsided. At Athens St. Gregory was joined by St. Basil the Great and their acquaintanceship grew into a lifelong brotherly love. 

After their studies at Athens, Gregory became Basil’s fellow ascetic, living the monastic life together in the hermitages of Pontus. His father ordained him presbyter of the Church of Nazianzus, and St. Basil consecrated him Bishop of Sasima, in the archdiocese of Caesarea.

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Into the Deep Lenten mini-retreat

Join Dan Burke for an Into the Deep Lenten mini-retreat to discover the depths of prayer.

All are welcome at St. Francis Catholic Church (1755 Stanley Street, New Britain, CT 06053) from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Saturday, March 21st. Mass will begin at 8:00 AM and registration is at 8:30 AM. Light breakfast and snacks provided.

Register:
Avila-Institute.org/events for the $20 early bird special! Register after March 1, 2020 and the cost is $25 per ticket or $30 at the door.

Here is the active online registration link: https://avila-institute.org/product/into-the-deep-new-britain-ct-march-21-2020/

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2020

As we celebrate both the mystery of baptism and the search for Christian unity through dialogue, we see the unity of the two in the sacramental mystery of our baptism: “The fact that our churches share and practice this same faith and teaching requires that we recognize in each other the same baptism and thus also recognize in each other, however “imperfectly,” the present reality of the same Church. By God’s gift we are each, in St. Basil’s words, “of the Church.” (Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, “Baptism and ‘Sacramental Economy’: An Agreed Statement, 1999). Ecumenism is the search for unity among all Christians. Unity must be established on truth, but we know that God is Truth (John 14:6).

The Truth that is God, we as human beings must state in human words. No human word can grasp the whole truth that is the Word. There are many different words and formularies, and even that which is certainly true can be expressed in different ways. Even very basically, that which was expressed in Greek, must for most of us be translated into English words! To express the truth requires hard work, understanding and discernment. The way of ecumenism is through dialogue, to strive to see in our limited human formularies what is the unchanging truth and what is not genuine. We see this especially in the dialogues between Catholics and the Oriental Orthodox Church, and also between the Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, where the differences in formulary have been recognized to be semantic and not essential.

The opposition to ecumenism, however, is fundamentalism. Fundamentalism rises from an underlying human need to be certain of one’s own self-righteousness. How I believe is right and everyone else is wrong. Deep-seated fundamentalism leads eventually to intolerance, ideology imposed on people, hatred and eventually violence. The world today is soaked through with hatred ideology and violence, with the dehumanization of “the other.” It is not a good atmosphere for the gospel of ecumenism. But as St. Paul said, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). If two people disagree, but have a good heart, they can find the common truth through dialogue. Sometimes we point to history as the taking of a strong stand, of condemning those who have the wrong “formularies,” as the righteous rejection of “heresies.”

The reality, however, is that there has always also been dialogue. Andrew Louth pointed out in a recent article (“Pseudonymity and Secret Tradition in Early Christianity: Some Reflections on the Development of Mariology,” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 60:4, 2016, p. 431) that “[Evagrius] was, in fact, so very much valued for his practical teaching that, even smeared with the brush of heresy, works ascribed to Evagrius himself survive in the manuscript tradition; many, however, found a safe haven under the name of Neilos … “We can learn from one another! Unity is always possible! But if hearts are closed, they will bring more division and even violence. We must shut out the noise and clamor of hatred, pride and self-righteousness, to hear the “still, small voice” of God like Elijah on the mountain (1 Kings 19:12).

Sts. Peter and Andrew, pray for us.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

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