Category: Great Fast-Lent
What is Cheesefare Sunday?
Restoring a tradition of Social days
One of the resolutions of the 2016 Synod of Bishops of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) which met September 04-11, 2016, in Lviv-Brukhovychi, is the following:
In order to evoke an interest to the social ministering among faithful of UGCC and behave a virtue of sacrifice and mercy, to announce in UGCC:
- Sunday of a Prodigal Son – Day of the extreme care for prisoners; Sunday of Meatfare – Day of Social service and charity;
- Restoring a tradition of Social days initiated by righteous Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky;
- To organize days between Sundays, mentioned as previous points as Social days and be involved in intellectual and charitable activities at the parishes.
TODAY is Forgiveness Sunday; Lent begins tomorrow
Today, the Church calls this Sunday “Forgiveness Sunday” and you may also know it as Cheesefare Sunday. The Byzantine Church uses the image of Lady Lent to illustrate (especially to children) the meaning of Lent in an accessible way.
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
The three pillars of the Great Fast are fasting, prayer and almsgiving. In the Great Fast, the idea is to increase one’s prayer, perhaps adding to morning and evening prayer, prayer at noon. Feeding the mind/soul is needed: book will be chosen for special spritual reading?
Likewise, virtue is extroverted. This past year the Universal Church under Pope Francis drew our attention to living the Works of Mercy, the 7 spiritual and 7 corporal works of mercy. All of them are based in sacred Scripture; read the Gospel of Matthew 25. During Great Lent, what work of mercy will we do to live a Work of Mercy?
Lady Lent in your home?
The tradition is that before Lent starts, the family will make “Lady Lent” out of paper, clay or baked flour.
Lady Lent is made with no mouth as a sign of fasting. She has no ears, as she refuses to listen to gossip. Her eyes are closed, as she refused to watch and judge others. Her head is tilted, her eyes closed and her hands are folded reverently in prayer as a reminder of our spiritual journey during Lent.
She has seven feet, based on the number of Sundays until of Lent until Pascha. The tradition is that, every Saturday one of her feet is cut or broken off until she had no more feet by Holy Saturday, before Easter.
On Holy Saturday, the last foot is cut off and then is placed in a jar dried fruits and nuts, and whoever finds it receives a special blessing. Traditionally, whoever finds the last leg of Lady Lent, would right their his/her name and date on the back of it and keep it for good luck.
(h/t BC)
Preparing for Great Lent
The bishops of the U.S. Ukrainian Eparchies have drawn attention to the biblical figure of Zacchaeus, whose gospel narrative we just heard, as the figure we ought to follow in our preparations for Great Lent. One of the key points the bishops raise is really the last sentence of the pastoral letter when Jesus says to Zacchaeus –and He says to us– “Today salvation has come to this house.” Do we know, from personal experience, and not from an abstraction that TODAY the Lord is indeed in our house, that is, in our person???
The bishops of have given us a pastoral letter that opens up the relevant matters in the spiritual life: conversion to Jesus Christ and life in the Body of Christ (the Church). They write, “This is why the Church, in her wisdom, offers us the gift of the holy forty days of Great Lent each year before the celebration of Our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection, as a divine aid in attaining personal conversion.” Our thoughts, words and actions have consequences for ourselves and for the communities (family, social interactions, workplace) in which we spend time.
The bishops remind us:
During Great Lent the Church presents us with a sure formula for achieving this goal: prayer, alms-giving and fasting. During the time of Lent we are encouraged to be more devoted to our prayer life, through private meditation and by attending the beautiful and unique Lenten services celebrated in our parish churches. We are also encouraged to pay special attention to our brothers and sisters around us, who may be suffering physical, emotional, or spiritual distress, and serve them in their needs. And finally we are encouraged to fast, in order to attain humility through the taming of our physical appetites, our thoughts, our actions and especially our unruly tongue.
The sincere prayer our Shepherds “is that each of us, during this blessed time of Great Lent, may experience an encounter with Jesus and a personal conversion in Him so that we, along with Zacchaeus, would hear the voice of Jesus saying to us: ‘Today salvation has come to this house‘” (Lk. 19:9).
Please read the pastoral letter for Great Lent.
All Souls’ Saturdays (SOROKOUSTY)
All Souls’ Saturdays (SOROKOUSTY), February 18, March 11, 18, April 1, and then in Eastertime on June 3.The Divine Liturgy is offered at 8:30 a.m.
Please give Father Iura the names of your deceased loved one. Place it in envelope.
Let us remember all our loved ones who have gone to their heavenly reward. Eternal Memory!
Note Well: The word Ukrainian word “Sorokousty” means “forty mouths” (sorok = forty; ust = mouth). Originally, this was a prayer service offered by forty mouths or by forty priests. Historically, families would honor their deceased by holding services for them in the cathedrals on the 3rd, 9th and 40th day after their death —with 40 priests celebrating the services. Today, Sorokousty is the service that honors the deceased and is offered during Lent.
For more information read this link.