Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

2 Corinthians 6:1-10; Luke 5:1-11

On this Sunday, we begin to read the Gospel of St. Luke, which will be the Word of God proclaimed to us in the Church Year from the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross to the coming Great Fast. It is fitting that this Sunday’s Gospel tells us what is involved in being a Christian. We all want to be called after Christ, but do we truly grasp what this will mean. One certain meaning of the Christian faith is that it is unexpected, that it brings great blessing out of the desert of the world: “After Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.’ Simon said in reply, ‘Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. (Luke 5:4-6)” This is the power of faith, which was again reaffirmed after Jesus’ resurrection: “When it was already dawn, [the risen] Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, have you caught anything to eat?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ So he said to them, ‘Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.’ So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. (John 21:4-6)”

The risen Christ is with us, filling all corners of our life. St. Paul in today’s epistle, expresses this Christian paradox very forcefully, “We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things. (2 Corinthians 6:8-10)” St. Paul warns that the true believer must suffer “afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts, (2 Corinthians 6:4-5), but that “Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)” St. Peter is reduced to humility at the miraculous catch of fish and begs, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. (Luke 5:8)” Jesus does not accept this, just as he did not accept Peter’s refusal to have his feet washed at the Last Supper, ““Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me. (John 13:8)” Instead, he makes him a fisher of men. Beloved in Christ, Jesus will also not accept our refusal to follow him, to love God with our whole heart and mind and soul, to love our neighbor as ourselves, as St. Paul exhorts us, “Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.’” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Sunday, 9/24/17 16th Sunday after Pentecost
9:00 a.m. +Walter, Mary, Lillian, John requested by Cathy Kolesnik
10:30 a.m.  For the people of the parish

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11, Tone 7

Monday, 9/25/17 Our Venerable Mother Euphrosyne
9:00 a.m. +Maria Sowa (Pan.) requested by Bohdan Sowa

Tuesday, 9/26/17 The Passing of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
9:00 a.m.  +Ivana Bohoslova

Wednesday, 9/27/17 The Holy Martyr Callistratus and His Wife
9:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Thursday, 9/28/17 Our Venerable Father and Confessor Chariton
9:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 9/29/17 Our Venerable Father Cyriacus the Anchorite
9:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Saturday, 9/30/17 The Priest-Martyr Gregory
9:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Sunday, 10/01/17 17th Sunday after Pentecost
9:00 a.m. Special Intention
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:16:7:1
Gospel: Luke 6:31-36, Tone 7

Parish announcements this week

Christ is in our midst!

1. WELCOME ALL NEW PARISHIONERS! New parishioners are always welcome in our parish. If someone wishes to join, please contact Father Iura Godenciuc at 203 865-0388 or our Financial Secretary Natalie Chermak at 203 468-0367.

2. VIGIL LIGHT: This week vigil light is offered to God’s greater glory by Cathy Kolesnik for special intention.

3. FOOD DRIVE: Judy Ellis leads the mercy project which provides food items to the needy. A container is in our church vestibule for non-perishable food. This collection will be taken every week. Father Iura will distribute the food to those in need. Thanks for your generous support.

4. St. Michael’s day will be celebrated on November 12, 2017. On this day we will have only one (1) Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. After the Divine Liturgy, we will have a dinner and short program. All parishioners are cordially invited to this celebration. Tickets will be available through Luba Dubno. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, $10.00 for youth between 14-18. Free for students Ridna Shkola, altar boys and for children under 12. We will be running a raffle. If you would like to donate any items to be raffled, please bring them to our church hall on Sundays before our Feast Day. Also we ask to donate cakes for a desert.

5. A note of gratitude: The Connecticut State Ukrainian Day Committee would like to express our deepest gratitude to all New Haven parishioners who volunteered their time and efforts which helped to make our 50th Anniversary a great success. To those who sold admission and raffle tickets those who helped out by working at the stands in Stamford, those dedicated workers of the Pyrohy Project and those who transported the Pyrohy from New Haven to Stamford we say Thank you.

6. ANNUAL STAMFORD CHARITIES APPEAL: REMINDER: Please don’t forget to donate for the Charities Appeal. Please make your check payable to the Diocese of Stamford. DO NOT MAIL THE FORM TO THE CHANCERY OFFICE. We sincerely ask all parishioners to make generous contribution.

7. EPARCHIAL FAMILY DAY RETREAT: “The Christian Family in Today’s World” on October 1, 2017, Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, St. Mary’s Villa, 150 Sisters Servants Lane, Sloatsburg, NY. Program:  Registration, 9:00 a.m.; Divine Liturgy, 10:00 a.m.; Lunch, 12:30 p.m.

Presentations: “The Christian Family in Today’s World!” by Father Bohdan Tymchyshyn, STD, PhD; “The Challenge of Raising Children in a Christian Way in the 21st Century” by Dr. Barbara Lutz; “Strategies for strengthening families and coping with the complexities of family life” by Father Yaroslav Nalysnyk; “How to provide spiritual care for divorced Catholics and broken families in our Eparchy!” by Fr. Martin Canavan.

At 4:00 p.m., a Moleben to the Mother of God with the Rite of Anointing will be prayed.

8. BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENTS: Dear parishioners. The information in this bulletin is from you and for you. You comprise the bulletin. If you have items of note, please bring them to our attention so that we can let everyone know.

9. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We are in the process of cleaning, painting and updating the interiors of the church hall and the Church. Right now we would appreciate volunteers to help with cleaning and painting the walls and rooms in the church hall and the Church. Work crews are being scheduled. Please contact Father Iura with your availability. Your support and help is greatly appreciated and will help preserve the church for the future.

10. ROOF REPAIR FUND ROOF, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLEDGES: Please consider the immediate as well as the long term repair capital improvement projects that are being planned, both now and the future and make a generous contribution to allow us to protect our property. The church hall roof which is 34 years old has developed major leaks. Most of the other roofs especially the sacristy roof has serious problems. These roofs must be repaired to prevent further water damage to our property and we cannot pay for them from regular weekly collection. Roof Repair Fund envelopes as well as the long term Pledge forms are available in the vestibule of our church for your special sacrificial gift. Thank you for helping to keep our physical structures in good condition for our use today and for the next generation tomorrow.

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The Lucan Jump

We make the Lucan jump today. That is, we move from reading the Gospel of Matthew to the Gospel of Luke.

We gain another view of our Salvation; we see Jesus and unfolding of God’s Kingdom.

St Luke, pray for us.

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ

Sunday, 9/17/17 Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross
9:00 a.m. +Hryhorij Dubno requested by the Family
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Galatians 2:16-20
Gospel: Mark 8:34-9:1,Tone 6

Monday, 9/18/17 Venerable Father Eumenes, Bishop of Gortyna, Wonderworker
8:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, 9/19/17 Holy Martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius, and Dorymedontus
9:00 a.m. Special Intention

Wednesday, 9/20/17 Holy Great-Martyr Eustathius and companions
9:00 a.m. +Aniela Gerula requested by Kateryna Szymkiw

Thursday, 9/21/17 Leave-taking of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
9:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 9/22/17 Holy Priest-Martyr Phocas, Bishop of Sinope
5:00PM God’s blessing for Brooks Patrick Converse and  Alicia Maria Wasynczuk

Saturday, 9/23/17 Conception of the Honorable and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John
10:00 a.m. For God’s blessing and health for teachers and students of Ridna Shkola

Sunday, 9/24/17 16th Sunday after Pentecost
9:00 a.m. +Walter, Mary, Lillian John requested by Kathy Kolesnik
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6:1:10
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11, Tone 7

Parish announcements this week

Christ is in our midst!

1. WELCOME ALL NEW PARISHIONERS! New parishioners are always welcome in our parish. If someone wishes to join, please contact Father Iura Godenciuc at 203 865-0388 or our Financial Secretary Natalie Chermak at 203 468-0367.

2. FOOD DRIVE: Judy Ellis leads the mercy project which provides food items to the needy. A container is in our church vestibule for non-perishable food. This collection will be taken every week. Father Iura will distribute the food to those in need. Thanks for your generous support.

3. ANNUAL STAMFORD CHARITIES APPEAL: REMINDER: Please don’t forget to donate for the Charities Appeal. Please make your check payable to the Diocese of Stamford. DO NOT MAIL THE FORM TO THE CHANCERY OFFICE. We sincerely ask all parishioners to make generous contribution.

4. VETERANS POST 33: TODAY there will be a meeting of the Ukrainian –American Veteran Bishop John Stock Post 33 of New Haven. We will begin the meeting immediately following the second Divine Liturgy. The meeting will be held in Classroom 2. For more information, contact the Post Commander Carl Harvey at 203-389-6076 or crharv384@optimum.net.

5. PARISH COUNCIL MEETING: There will be a Parish Council meeting TODAY at noon after the Liturgy. The main topic of discussion will be the planning of St. Michael’s day and other future events.

6. BULLETIN ANNOUNCEMENTS: Dear parishioners. The information in this bulletin is from you and for you. You comprise the bulletin. If you have items of note, please bring them to our attention so that we can let everyone know.

7. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED; We are in the process of cleaning, painting and updating the interiors of the Church hall and the Church. Right now we would appreciate volunteers to help with cleaning and painting the walls and rooms in the church hall and the Church. Work crews are being scheduled. Please contact Father Iura with your availability. Your support and help is greatly appreciated and will help preserve the church for the future.

8. ROOF REPAIR FUND ROOF, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLEDGES: Please consider the immediate as well as the long term repair capital improvement projects that are being planned, both now and the future and make a generous contribution to allow us to protect our property. The Church hall roof which is 34 years old has developed major leaks. Most of the other roofs especially the Sacristy roof has serious problems. These roofs must be repaired to prevent further water damage to our property and we cannot pay for them from regular weekly collection. Roof Repair Fund envelopes as well as the long term Pledge forms are available in the vestibule of our church for your special sacrificial gift. Thank you for helping to keep our physical structures in good condition for our use today and for the next generation tomorrow.

9. USE OF THE FACILITIES: As we are improving the physical plant of the property, the question of the proper protocol for reserving time and space has come up. Simply put, Father is the Administrator and responsible for scheduling. So please, if you have a need, a program, an event, a meeting, whatever the case may be, you are required to communicate with Father Iura as to your needs and time. And please try to make it at least a month in advance. There are numerous things and events going on. Every effort is made to put the events as they are planned on the Church calendar which is posted on the website for your convenience. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Parish more user friendly for everyone.

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Bishop Paul requests assistance for the hurricane survivors

A Message from the Eparchy of Stamford regarding the hurricane tragedy

Dear Reverend Fathers,

In the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which devastated many parts of Texas and Florida, as well as some neighboring states, I am, on the directive of His Excellency, Bishop Paul Chomnycky, OSBM, asking you to hold a special collection in your parish – as soon as possible – to come to the aid of the many who desperately need it.

We have no doubt that your parishioners, having witnessed the devastation on TV, understand and empathize with those suffering and will recognize the importance of giving support and of being as generous as possible. Please remind them that we are, indeed, our brothers’ keepers!

Please forward the collected funds to the Chancery by the end of September, so that they can be transmitted to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which will then distribute the monies to those suffering the aftermath of the hurricane devastations.

Fr Ihor
Vicar General of the Eparchy of Stamford

Sunday after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Galatians 2:16-20; Mark 8:34-9:1

The first sticheron of the Feast of the Holy Cross tells us, “By this Cross …. In his mercy (Christ) clothed us with beauty and made us worthy of heaven.” This is confirmed in the Hymn of Light from Matins: “The Cross is the beauty of the Church.” How can this be? For the Cross is ugly torture, and the Prophet Isaiah foretells of the Messiah:

“See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him— so marred were his features, beyond that of mortals his appearance, beyond that of human beings. He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. (Isaiah 52:13-14; 53:2-3)”

One is reminded of St. Paul, “For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)”  We might re-phrase: “In his ugliness, we have all been made beautiful.” Where is the beauty of the Cross? It is in the holiness of Jesus, who died that the Kingdom of God – life, love, mercy, wisdom – might be established in the world. We are called to “take up the cross,” which means uniting ourselves with Christ in love that the truth and wisdom and the glory of God might shine forth.

Today, therefore, St. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. (Galatians 2:19-20)”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

The Easier, Lighter Way of the Cross

 

Today’s meditation is done by Sr. Vassa Larin

“Then Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur; they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ And he cried to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.” (Ex 15: 22-25a)

This passage is from the first reading at Vespers on the great feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, celebrated this Thursday (NC). What does this passage have to do with the feast? The “tree” that Moses throws into bitter water, and that makes the water sweet, is traditionally seen as an image of the “life-giving” Cross.

Water itself, essential for our biological life, is an image of life. But our life, in merely biological terms, devoid of Christ and His cross-carrying journey, can be bitter. The small and great pains through which we inevitably journey, as we transition from one life-situation to another, can be pure bitterness for us, outside of the Cross. Because from a Christ-less, Cross-less perspective, they are meaningless. And meaninglessness, as Carl Jung noted, is one of the biggest traumas of the modern-day psyche: Today we tend to fear, said Jung, that our lives are meaningless.

But in light of the com-passionate, co-suffering with us of the God-Man, Who walked through all our suffering and darkness, even unto death on a cross and descent into our hell, we are given new meaning and new purpose in our New Companion, our primary cross-carrier and Lord Jesus Christ, Who brings us new life through His death. Admittedly, He doesn’t explain to us the “meaning” of all our suffering. Instead He, Who is the eternal Logos, Meaning itself, takes on, in our shoes, all our darkness and suffering, by walking through it in His humanity, and then overcomes it in His divinity, trampling death “by death.” In communion with Him, we go forward His way, of walking through things, according to our responsibilities, rather than avoiding them. And then He does the rest, by His grace, overcoming in us our merely-human anxieties and discouragement, into which we easily slip when on our own, in self-reliance, trying to carry all the ups and downs of the world on our own shoulders. In Him, I discover the “ease” and “light” of His Way, if I just try it; if I try His “how,” rather than ask my “why,” and connect with Him today. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,” He says to me today, “and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11: 28-30) So let me try Him today, and find rest for my soul.