Update on Humanitarian Efforts in Ukraine

U.S. Senator Blumenthal will be visiting the parish on December 10th at 11:30 a.m. The meeting will take place in the church hall.
 
The main focus of his visit is to let our community know where things stand with the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative and our Wounded Ukrainian Soldier Project.

The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

The feast today is the story of our salvation through the temple of God.

The first temple was the temple in Jerusalem. It was a foreshadowing of the temple to come. It was localized in one place – the city of Jerusalem. In it were no images of God, for “No one has ever seen God. (1 John 4:12)” The Liturgy tells us that he is “ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing, yet ever the same.” The temple was his footstool on earth. Here animal sacrifice was offered to God, which was only a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice to be offered by our Lord, “when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12)”

The second temple is Mary, the birth-giver of God.” In today’s feast, she enters the temple of Jerusalem in order to replace it, for she shall bear God within her womb. As the new and living temple of God, she is our temple, for like Mary, who carried God in her womb, we receive God into our bodies in Holy Communion. As Mary was fed in the temple by angelic bread, so we receive the bread of life, the Body of Jesus, and his holy blood of the perfect sacrifice, which becomes our sacrifice of praise. St. Paul teaches us, “I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1),” in Sunday’s Epistle, he wrote, “you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but 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. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)” This is the temple of God for us today.

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Prophet Obadiah

We know nothing certain about the life of the Prophet Obadiah. The Synaxarion [the lives of saints] identifies him with the servant of King Ahaz, who left to become a follower of Elijah, but that is not possible, since Obadiah’s prophecy was against Edom, pointing to a time after the exile. He is one of several prophets commemorated in the Phillip’s Fast, and verse 21 can be related to the coming of Jesus into the world: “And deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingship shall be the Lord’s. (Obadiah 21)”

When our Lord was born, he was given the name “Jesus,” our Savior or “Deliverer.” The Greek text, however, is “men saved.” Certainly the wicked Herod thought him a king to rival him, and so persecuted the innocents of Bethlehem. Obadiah tells us that the Lord alone is our true king, who told Pilate at his trial, ““My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here. (John 18:36)”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Sunday, 11/19/17 24th Sunday after Pentecost —The Holy Prophet Obadiah; the Holy Martyr Barlaam
9:00 a.m. +Emilia Dubno requested by the Family
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Ephesians 2:14:22
Gospel: Luke 12:16-21, Tone 7

Monday, 11/20/17 Forefeast of the Entrance of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple; Commemoration of Blessed Josaphata Hordashevska, First Superior of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate
9:00 a.m. no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, 11/21/17 The Entrance into the Temple of our Most Holy Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary
9:00 a.m. Special Intention

Wednesday, 11/22/17 Post-feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God; The Holy Apostle Philemon and companions
9:00 a.m. +Ivan Sowa (Pan.) requested by Bohdan Sowa

Thursday, 11/23/17 Thanksgiving Day; Post-feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God
9:00 a.m. no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 11/24/17 Post-feast of the Entrance of the Mother of God; The Holy Great-Martyr Catherine
9:00 a.m. no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Saturday, 11/25/17 Leave-taking of the Entrance of the Mother of God; Our Holy Father and Priest-martyr Clement, Pope of Rome
9:00 a.m. +Eugenia Kozak Harvey (4th Anniv., Pan.) requested by Carl Harvey

Sunday, 11/26/17 25th Sunday after Pentecost —Our Venerable Father Alypius the Stylite
9:00 a.m. Special Intention
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Ephesians 4:1:6
Gospel: Luke 13:10-17, Tone 8

Parish announcements this week

Christ is among us!

1. VIGIL LIGHT: This week vigil light is given to God’s glory offered by Mary Ann and Allan Yursha in memory of +Michael Kurylo.

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

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 support.

4. PRE-CHRISTMAS FAST: The Philip’s Fast (Pylypivka), the pre-Christmas fast, begins today. The Church begins the Fast the day after the feast of the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Philip. The Fast is a period of 40 days of spiritual preparation for the celebration of the Nativity/Theophany cycle of the liturgical (Church) year. Historically, the Philip’s Fast (Pylypivka) was a period of strict fasting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday –days of strict fasting without meat, dairy products or oil (in Slavic countries). Now the bishops have indicated that the Fast is lessened a bit also to include fasting, works of penance and doing charitable work. BUT today we observe the Fast on Wednesdays and Fridays by an abstention from meat and foods that contain these ingredients.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church teaches her faithful that “Penitential fasting practices, repentance and abstinence that aim to satisfy the sins committed and to achieve the highest level of perfection is the oldest tradition in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church” (CCEO: 882, §1). Recall, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church maintains that “Abstention from meat and meat products is to be observed on all Fridays of the year except for compact weeks, patronal feasts and the twelve major feasts” (CCEO: 882, §4).

Definitions: Abstinence means that we do not eat a certain type of food, for example meat and oil, or any other foods that have that as an ingredient.

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Philip’s Fast (Pylypivka) begins

The Philip’s Fast (Pylypivka), the pre-Christmas fast, begins today. The Church begins the Fast the day after the feast of the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostle Philip. The Fast is a period of 40 days of spiritual preparation for the celebration of the Nativity/Theophany cycle of the liturgical (Church) year.

Historically, the Philip’s Fast (Pylypivka) was a period of strict fasting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday –days of strict fasting without meat, dairy products or oil (in Slavic countries).

Now the bishops have indicated that the Fast is lessened a bit also to include fasting, works of penance and doing charitable work. BUT today we observe the Fast on Wednesdays and Fridays by an abstention from meat and foods that contain these ingredients.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church teaches her faithful that “Penitential fasting practices, repentance and abstinence that aim to satisfy the sins committed and to achieve the highest level of perfection is the oldest tradition in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church” (CCEO: 882, § 1).

Recall, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church maintains that “Abstention from meat and meat products is to be observed on all Fridays of the year except for compact weeks, patronal feasts and the twelve major feasts” (CCEO: 882, § 4).

Definitions

Abstinence means that we do not eat a certain type of food, for example meat and oil, or any other foods that have that as an ingredient.

Fasting means that we eat less food. A general rule is that for a day of fast, the amount of food of the main meal is less than the other two meals combined.

Those exempt from fasting and abstinence are:

  • Children under the age of 14
  • Adults over the age of 60
  • those who are gravely ill
  • pregnant women
  • post-partum mothers
  • breast-feeding mothers
  • travellers (if travel time exceeds 8 hours)
  • those engaged in heavy labour
  • those who eat from the table of others
  • the poor who live from charity

On December 24, the Vigil of the Nativity, there is an abstention from meat, dairy and eggs, and foods that contain these ingredients.

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St Philip the Apostle

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls Phillip, who immediately follows him. He then brings his friend Nathaniel to Jesus, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth. (John 1:45)” This is the feast to begin our Christmas preparation. Phillip leads us to the one true Messiah, the child born of Mary in Bethlehem. The child “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. (Phillipians 2:6-8) It was not until he was to be arrested and executed, that Phillip understood the totality of the mystery he discovered. At the Last Supper, Phillip asked Jesus, “Master, show us the Father,” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Phillip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Every Christmas journey, we should become a more faithful follower of Jesus, especially in these days.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras