Parish announcements this week

Christ is in our midst!

WELCOME NEW PARISHIONERS! New parishioners are always welcomed in our parish. If someone wants to register with our parish please contact Father Iura Godenciuc at (203) 865-0388 or our financial secretary Natalia Chermak.

DIVINE LITURGY: Dear parishioners and guests, after each Divine Liturgy, coffee and hard rolls are available in the church hall.

PASTOR’S ABSENCE: During my vacation, if you need a priest you may call: Fr. Stepan Yanovsky (203) 468-6457, or Fr. Ivan Mazuryk (203) 367-5054. From September 8, Fr. Volodymyr Piso can be reached at the rectory office (203) 865-0938.

VIGIL LIGHT: This week’s vigil light is offered to the glory of God by Nina Baker for God’s blessing and health for Natalia Cybriwsky.

UKRAINIAN INDEPENDENCE DAY: On Sunday, August 26th, after the second Divine Liturgy, all parishioners are invited to participate in our parish ceremony celebrating the 27th Anniversary of Ukrainian Independence Day. The ceremony will be held near our statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. May the Blessed Virgin always protect our native land!

PIEROGI TRANSPORT: Every year our Parish Pierogi Project workers make many dozens of pierogies to be donated to the annual Ukrainian Day Festival. This year, Chairman Walter Ushchak needs a volunteer who will be willing to transport all these pierogies to St. Basil Seminary in Stamford on Saturday, September 8th. If anyone is willing to do this, please contact Walter Ushchak in the church hall or at (203-444-1953). Thank you!

Luba Dubno is selling tickets for the Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Festival. Advance general admission tickets are $5 per person, age 12 and over. Tickets at the gate will be $10 per person. Please see Luba in the church hall following the Divine Liturgy.

Sestretsi members, parishioners of Saint Michael the Archangel Church as well as friends are cordially invited to attend our “Officer’s Luncheon” to be held on Sunday, September 16, after the 10:30 Divine Liturgy. Luncheon will be held at the Biagetti’s Restaurant , 77 Campbell Ave., West Haven, CT. Price $20.00 per person. Please see additional information shown in the vestibule. See Maria Sobko, Treasurer for more information.

KoC Meeting: Blessed Andrey Sheptytsky KofC Council will meet on Monday, September 10, at 7:00 p.m. in the Holy Name Room. All men of the parish are invited to attend the meeting.

STAMFORD CHARITIES APPEAL REMINDER: Please don’t forget to donate for the Charities Appeal. Please make your check payable to the BYZANTINE RITE DIOCESE OF STAMFORD. DO NOT MAIL THE FORM TO THE CHANCERY OFFICE IN STAMFORD. We sincerely ask all parishioners to make generous contributions.

We have frozen Pyrohy for sale while supplies last. More information can be read here: https://stmichaelukrainian.org/pierogies/

The Ukrainian State Ukrainian Day Committee wishes to thank those parishioners who attended last year’s Ukrainian Day Festival in Stamford, especially those who assisted us during the day who prepared food in their parishes. The Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Committee wishes to invite all parishioners to attend this year’s Ukrainian Day Festival to be held on Sunday, September 9, 2018. This Festival is the 51st festival and a time to renew friendships of the past and make new ones. Please make an effort to attend. The Festival will be held on the grounds of St. Basil’s Seminary, 161 Glenbrook Rd., Stamford, CT. The day will begin with a Pontifical Divine Liturgy at 11:00 a.m., celebrated by the Most Rev. Paul Chomnycky, Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford. Immediately following the Divine Liturgy and throughout the day, Ukrainian food, picnic food and other refreshments will be available. In the afternoon, a lively and colorful program will take place of Ukrainian dances, songs and music, which will include dance groups from various areas of Connecticut and New York. Following the program there will be a Zabava until 8:00 p.m. Tours will be given at the unique Ukrainian museum on the grounds as well as the Diocesan Cultural Center and you can browse through the Outdoor arts and crafts exhibits of over twenty vendors who have a variety of items for sale. Advance general admission tickets are $5 per person, 12 and over and are available from members of the committee in your parish or your pastor. Tickets purchased at the gate will be $10 per person. No food or liquor is to be brought onto the grounds of the festival, liquor will be confiscated by the Stamford police. This festival can only continue to exist if volunteers sign up to help out during the day. Please contact your pastor or members of the Ukrainian Day Committee in your parish to sign up. Please make that effort to volunteer; we need your assistance to continue this Festival, which helps sustain our Diocese, Seminary and our Ukrainian people.

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Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Sunday, 8/19 13th Sunday after Pentecost
9:00 a.m. +Edward Corfini requested by Chris Komody
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: 1 Corinithians 16:13-24
Gospel: Matthew 21:33-42, Tone 4

Monday, 8/20 Holy Prophet Samuel

Tuesday, 8/21 Holy Apostle Thaddeus

Wednesday, 8/22 Holy Martyr Agathonicus

Thursday, 8/23 Holy Martyr Lupus

Friday, 8/24 Holy Hieromartyr Eutyches

Saturday, 8/25 Holy Apostles Titus and Bartholomew

Sunday, 8/26 14th Sunday after Pentecost —The Holy Martyrs Adrian and Natalia
9:00 a.m. Special Intention
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14, Tone 5

Parish announcements this week

Christ is in our midst!

WELCOME NEW PARISHIONERS! New parishioners are always welcomed in our parish. If someone wants to register with our parish please contact Father Iura Godenciuc at 203-865-0388 or our financial secretary Natalia Chermak.

DIVINE LITURGY: Dear parishioners and guests, after each Divine Liturgy, coffee and hard rolls are available in the church hall.

Vigil Light: This week the vigil light is offered to God’s glory in memory of Myron Teluk given by Natalie Cybriwsky.

Asleep in the Lord: Myron Teluk died two weeks ago. Please offer a prayer for his peaceful repose and for his family who mourn him. Eternal memory.

The Ukrainian State Ukrainian Day Committee wishes to thank those parishioners who attended last year’s Ukrainian Day Festival in Stamford, especially those who assisted us during the day who prepared food in their parishes. The Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Committee wishes to invite all parishioners to attend this year’s Ukrainian Day Festival to be held on Sunday, September 9, 2018. This Festival is the 51st festival and a time to renew friendships of the past and make new ones. Please make an effort to attend. The Festival will be held on the grounds of St. Basil’s Seminary, 161 Glenbrook Rd., Stamford, CT. The day will begin with a Pontifical Divine Liturgy at 11:00 a.m., celebrated by the Most Rev. Paul Chomnycky, Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford. Immediately following the Divine Liturgy and throughout the day, Ukrainian food, picnic food and other refreshments will be available. In the afternoon, a lively and colorful program will take place of Ukrainian dances, songs and music, which will include dance groups from various areas of Connecticut and New York. Following the program there will be a Zabava until 8:00 p.m. Tours will be given at the unique Ukrainian museum on the grounds as well as the Diocesan Cultural Center and you can browse through the Outdoor arts and crafts exhibits of over twenty vendors who have a variety of items for sale. Advance general admission tickets are $5 per person, 12 and over and are available from members of the committee in your parish or your pastor. Tickets purchased at the gate will be $10 per person. No food or liquor is to be brought onto the grounds of the festival, liquor will be confiscated by the Stamford police. This festival can only continue to exist if volunteers sign up to help out during the day. Please contact your pastor or members of the Ukrainian Day Committee in your parish to sign up. Please make that effort to volunteer; we need your assistance to continue this Festival, which helps sustain our Diocese, Seminary and our Ukrainian people.

Luba Dubno is selling tickets for the Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Festival. Advance general admission tickets are $5 per person, age 12 and over. Tickets at the gate will be $10 per person. Please see Luba in the church hall following the Divine Liturgy.

Sestretsi members, parishioners of Saint Michael the Archangel Church as well as friends are cordially invited to attend our “Officer’s Luncheon” to be held on Sunday, September 16, after the 10:30 Divine Liturgy. Luncheon will be held at the Biagetti’s Restaurant , 77 Campbell Ave., West Haven, CT. Price $20.00 per person. Please see additional information shown in the vestibule. See Maria Sobko, Treasurer for more information.

On Saturday, September 22nd at Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center in West Hartford, there will be a Facilitator Training-Retreat for the “Lord Teach Me To Pray” (LTMTP) Ignatian prayer series. The only charge is for lunch; there is no charge for the retreat itself or for materials. Come & discern if God is calling you to become a facilitator! Or, if you are simply interested in finding out more about Ignatian Prayer and the “Lord, Teach Me To Pray” prayers series, you are also invited! For info and registration please go to lordteachmetopray.com, click on Facilitator Training-Retreats and scroll down to West Hartford for registration form, or call 504-439-5933.

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Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Read: 1 Corinthians 16:13-24; Matthew 21:33-42

This Sunday’s Gospel continues the theme of all the Gospels: that our salvation, which is freedom from sin and life in God, is founded on our Lord Jesus Christ. The Letter to the Hebrews begins: “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2). God has sent messengers to his vineyard, but they were killed by the vine-dressers, those who had control of the vineyard. Finally they did the same to the Son of God. Jesus, our Lord, was rejected by those in control of his people, the vineyard, who led him to crucifixion. The disciples expected retribution, but Jesus said, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” St. Paul confirmed this: “you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone” (Ephesisans 2:20).

On the cross, Jesus was abandoned by all, by the leaders of his people, by the mob that chose Barabbas (“The son of the father!”), and even by his own disciples, who betrayed him, denied him, and ran away in fear. Again, St. Paul tells us, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God …. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:18.25). It is through weakness in worldly power that the true strength of God is manifested, for “by death he trampled upon death.” We must not fear our weakness, but abandon ourselves completely to our Lord, “loving God with all our heart and mind and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves.” 

On August 10, we remembered the holy martyr Lawrence. When the pagan emperor demanded he turn over the treasure of the church, he brought him the blind, the lame, and all sorts of sick people, saying, “Here are the eternal treasures of the church.” Jesus also told the parable of the banquet, in which the servants are to bring in “the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Luke 14:21). Truly, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

CT State Ukrainian Day Festival-Sunday, September 9

Saint Basil Seminary
195 Glenbrook Road, Stamford

~11:00am –Divine Liturgy
~12:30pm –Food Court Opens
~2:30pm –Outdoor Concert
~5:00pm-8:00pm — Zabava-Halychany Band

Advance Tickets: $5.00 per person/at the Gate: $10.00 per person.

Tickets are available at the church hall following the Divine Liturgies on Sunday. See Luba.

Blessing of Herbs and Flowers on the Dormition

Blessing of Herbs and Flowers on the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God –August 15

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy tonight, Father Iura blessed herbs and flowers brought by the faithful for our feast. Why is this part of our Tradition?

Holy Tradition reveals to us that the Apostles, with the exception of St. Thomas, were transported mystically to Jerusalem in order to be with Mary, the Mother of God –the Theotokos– as she about to repose, and to be present at her burial. When the Apostle Thomas arrived the next day, the Apostles opened the tomb so that he could pay her reverence. The opened tomb revealed the body of the Virgin was missing, and filled with herbs and flowers interpreted as the sweet fragrance of Paradise. The faithful see this a certain sign of Mary’s purity and holiness.

Her passing is commemorated as the Dormition (the falling asleep) which is observed on August 15 preceded by a preparatory fast. The death of Mary’s body doesn’t last as she is believed to be body and soul, physically living the Most Holy Trinity in heaven.

As part of our celebration of Dormition, therefore, the priest blesses herbs and flowers which are used and kept in the homes. The blessing recalls for us the numerous cures and healings given to us by an extraordinary grace bestowed by the Mother of God. Holy Tradition and practice tells us that the herbs are used as natural medicine. During times of family strife or illness, it is a pious custom to place the flower petals in the house censer, together with the incense, and cense the whole house with it.

The Dormition of the Theotokos

“Come, all you ends of the earth, let us praise the blessed passing of the Mother of God. She delivers her sinless soul into the hands of her Son; through her holy Dormition, the world is given new life.” (Stichera at the Litija)

The feast of the birth of John the Baptist is sometimes called the summer Christmas, so also the Dormition (falling-asleep) of the Mother of God might be called the summer Pascha. In both these feasts the cosmic change accomplished by the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God is seen in the lives of human beings, for in Christ the order of mortality is overturned. In the mystery of Mary’s falling-asleep, we see our sinfulness is over-written by the sinless one, who in obedience turns over her “sinless soul” to the incarnate God.

The Gospel today is a story not about Mary, the Theotokos, but about Mary of Bethany, but the words addressed by God to her sister Martha become iconic for all human beings: “Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:42). What has she chosen? To sit at the feet of our Lord, to put Jesus at the center of her life, and to listen to him. This is Mary’s eternal mission, as she tells the stewards at the wedding in Cana: “Do whatever he (Jesus, her Son) tells you” (John 2:5). This is the mystery the ends of the earth celebrate today, for it has transformed the meaning of human life, and “through he holy Dormition, the world is given new life.”

Mediation by Archpriest David Petras

Celebrate the Dormition at St Michael’s

On Wednesday, August 15, Church celebrates feast of The Dormition of Our Holy Lady, The Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary (a Holy Day of obligation).

The Divine Liturgy will be served:

9:00 a.m. (in Ukrainian) with the Blessing of flowers and with Myrovann

7:00 p.m. (in English) with the Blessing of flowers and with Myrovann

***Bring herbs and flowers for blessing at the Liturgy as is traditional.

Forefeast of the Dormition of Mary, the Mother of God

Dance with joy, O peoples! / Clap your hands with gladness! / Gather today with fervor and jubilation; / sing with exultation. / The Mother of God is about to rise in glory, / ascending from earth to heaven. / We ceaselessly praise her in song as truly Theotokos. (Troparion, Tone 4)

Today the universe dances with joy at your glorious memorial, / and cries out to you, O Mother of God: / “Rejoice, O Virgin, pride of Christians!” (Kontakion, Tone 4)

We ought to attend to the highlighted portions of the above verses!

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Matthew 19:16-26

The Word of God: “it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven” We must not soften this saying in any way. We must ask: what does it mean to be rich? Wealth is relative. The poorest person in a first world country today has access to more gadgets and health care than the very richest at the time of Jesus. We see the problem of riches in the reaction of the young man. He cannot put faith in the Son of God, he cannot respond to the presence of God, because his heart is in his many possessions. (v. 22) Jesus teaches, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). But the rich in spirit cannot love God more than themselves, and it is a simple reality that if they cannot love God, they cannot love their neighbors, created by God. Mary therefore declares, “The hungry he has filled with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. (Luke 1:53) And Abraham tells the rich man in hell, “you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. (Luke 16:25) And James admonishes his flock, who honored a rich man, “Are not the rich oppressing you? And do they themselves not haul you off to court? Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you?” (James 2:6-7).

Make no mistake: riches are a scandal and an obstacle to our communion with God. Yet, in the end, Jesus always gives hope. The one who multiplied the loaves, the one who walked on water, the one who cured the boy the disciples could not cure, the one who forgave the servant who owed an impossible sum of money, the same can even do the greatest miracle and save a rich man, as the gospel today ends, “for God all things are impossible.” But it is much, much better for us if we hears the words of the Lord transfigured into glory on Mt. Tabor and who is risen from the dead. In him alone is all glory, life and love for all creation.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras