Holodomor Remembrance New York City Bus Trip

Holodomor Remembrance New York City Bus Trip
Saturday, November 17, 2018

Bus Itinerary

Pickup —9:30am-Ikea Parking Lot (rear)-Brewery Street, New Haven

Arrival —12noon -Drop off-East Village-2nd Avenue and East 7th Street, New York City

Agenda

12:00 noon-3:00pm —Ukrainian Museum 222 East 6th Street
-Adults-$8.00/Seniors and Students-$6.00

3:00pm —Pick Up and Drop off-East Village to St Patrick Cathedral, Fifth Avenue (Between 50th and 51st Street New York City)

4:00pm —Holodomor Memorial Service at St Patrick Cathedral

6:00pm —Pickup to return to New Haven

Adults $40.00 per person
Students $20.00 per person

To reserve seats, please contact ASAP:

Maria Antonyshyn 203-795-6959

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Our Lord is the Life-giver. The gospels record Jesus’ presence at baptisms and weddings, but never at a funeral, for death cannot remain in the presence of the Giver of Life. Today Jesus comes upon a funeral in the village of Nain, it seems almost accidently and by chance, though nothing ever happens totally by chance. Jesus stops the funeral and raises up the young man, the only son of a grieving widow.

The Gospel continues the theme of last Sunday, “Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful, for today Jesus raises the young man, “When the Lord saw (the widow), he was moved with pity for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you, arise!’” (Luke 7:13-14). Here Jesus has compassion on the love of a mother for her child. Today is a prayer for a mother’s love, especially for mothers pregnant with unborn children, that they may bring them to life. Today shows us also the God’s giving of life is not only for the future world but begins here and now.

As we receive Communion, the priest says, “The servant of God receives the precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and life everlasting.” We are in the presence of the Lord, therefore in the presence of life. Jesus teaches, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly  (John 10:10).

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Natalie Fedoriw-Cybriwsky Asleep in the Lord

On Wednesday morning, October 3, 2018, Natalie Fedoriw-Cybriwsky, fell asleep in the Lord. She was 96 years old.

The wake Tuesday, October 9, 2018, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The Panachyda will be at 7 p.m.

Lesko and Polke Funeral Home, 1209 Post Road, Fairfield, CT.

The Funeral Liturgy will be at the parish on Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at 10 a.m.

You may read the full obituary here: https://leskopolkefuneralhome.com/tribute/details/321/Natalie-Cybriwsky/obituary.html#tribute-start

Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

May the Holy Theotokos assist Natalie before the Throne of Grace.

May Natalie’s memory be eternal.

Protection of the Theotokos

There is only one God, one Creator, one Savior, one Redeemer. Yet this one God has chosen to be friends with his creation. As St. Paul told us, he humbled himself to become a man, like us in every way except sin. There are many ways he could have become a man, but he chose to be born of a woman who in her human nature, accepted completely the will of God, so that through her God could enter into our time and our story. Then, at Cana, it was his mother, a woman, who by her plea, guided God to make wine out of water, telling the stewards, and through them, saying to all of us, “Do whatever he tells you.” 

Today, we rejoice and celebrate in this human being, who through her will, God intervened in human life to bring us salvation. This is why we can celebrate her protection, why we can sing, “Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Savior, save us,” and why we can even pray, “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” Glory to God, who has made us partakers in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

October Prayer Intention of Pope Francis

The Intention:

That consecrated religious men and women may bestir themselves, and be present among the poor, the marginalized, and those who have no voice.

In your daily prayer, pray for this intention.

(“The Holy Father has entrusted these intentions in a particular way to the Apostleship of Prayer, an organization that works to encourage Christians to respond to the Pope’s appeal and to deepen their daily prayer.”)

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Read: 2 Corinthians 11:31-12:9; Luke 6:31-36

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, Jesus commands us, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:47). In Luke’s Gospel, he commands, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Mercy, therefore, is perfection. How, indeed, can we, weak and finite human beings achieve “perfection.” How can we keep God’s command.

St. Gregory of Nyssa pondered that problem and asked that question. His response was, that perhaps consists in this: constant growth in the good. It might seem that God is asking the impossible of us today, “love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back.” This goes against every human instinct, yet this is what God demands, for this is how God is merciful. That God is merciful appears on every page of the Scripture, and we pray constantly, “Lord, have mercy.” We cannot ask God’s mercy unless we are merciful. Perhaps the answer to this problem is the same as perfection: we must constantly grow in mercy. If we do not, then we grow in hate. In we seek revenge and retribution, then pain and hate simply grow and grow in a circle of mutual destruction. God’s command is ultimately the only logic of a God who has created all things and loves all.

Today, we must do the impossible, today we must become a Christian, through God’s help. St. Paul tells us that we need God’s grace: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Falling Asleep of the Beloved Apostle, John the Evangelist and Theologian

Today, September 26 is the Feast of the Falling Asleep of the Beloved Apostle, John the Evangelist and Theologian

The gospel of John is considered the foundational gospel in the Eastern Church, and John is honored with the title of “Theologian,” for he explained well who Jesus, the Son of God, was. It is from his gospel that we know “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). He also showed us that love is the basis of our theology.

It was said that in his old age, John would simply preach constantly, “Children, love one another.” In the epistle for this feast, 1 John 4:12-19, we read, “No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us …. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.”

Saint John preached the Gospel in Jerusalem and Samaria, and was banished to the isle of Patmos. In old age, he returned to Ephesus where he made a home for the Theotokos. An ancient church marked the place until its destruction in World War I.

Tradition holds that John died during the reign of Trajan, a full century after the birth of Jesus.

The Dismissal for today’s Liturgy:

May Christ our true God, have mercy on us and save us, through the prayers of his most holy Mother, of the holy, glorious and praiseworthy apostle and evangelist, the pure and beloved friend and disciple of Christ, John the Theologian, whose venerable falling-asleep we joyfully celebrate today, and through the prayers of all the saints, for Christ is good and loves us all.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
slightly edited.

Latin Mass on September 30 in New Haven

On Sunday, 30 September, the Missa Cantata will be offered at 2:00 p.m. It is the external feast St Michael the Archangel.

The music for the Mass will include the Gregorian chant proper for Michaelmas (“Benedicite Dominum omnes gentes”), the chant Mass IV ordinary (“Cunctipotens Genitor Deus”), and organ music by Eugène Gigout and Charles Tournemire.

PAX!

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-11; Luke 5:1-11

Today begins the reading of the Gospel of St. Luke on Sunday (Second Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross). As in the case with the reading of St. Matthew after Pentecost (Matthew 4:18-23, Second Sunday after Pentecost), it begins with our Lord’s mission to his apostles, “Do be afraid, from now on you will be catching men (Luke 15:10). “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).

In the Gospel today, the pre-eminent apostle Peter speaks of his relationship with God. If one reads any of the writings or sayings of the saints, the most holy of people, one always sees a great humility, a sense of our own sinfulness. God is infinite and all-holy, we are finite and weak beyond measure. And so we confess before receiving Communion, “O Lord, I believe and profess that you are truly Christ, the Son of the living God, who came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the first” (1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus works a miracle and gives St. Peter and gives him a super-abundant catch of fish. The first thing Peter does is say, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8).

St. Paul in his Epistle, confirms that God is the giver of super-abundance. If this is so that we, also, in our humility must be generous, “Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work …. The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:7-8.10). These greatest saints, then, profess humility. Humility is not groveling before God, but simply the acute awareness of our relationship with God. It does not mean we disesteem ourselves, but that we find our true glory only in God, and not in our own strengths, and that we are destined to be more than our natural selves. It is sad that in these days of self-promotion and narcissism, humility has become the forgotten virtue, because it is at that point that the love of God fills and transforms our lives.

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