Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ

Sunday, 10/01/17 17th Sunday after Pentecost — Protection of the Mother of God

9:00 a.m. For God’s blessing and health for Sophie DeCarlo on her 100 birthday requested by Barbara Schwartz
10:30 a.m.  For the people of the parish

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 6: 16-7:1
Gospel: Luke 6: 31-36, Tone 8

Monday, 10/02/17 The Holy-Priest Martyr Cyprian; and the Holy Martyr Justina; and Holy Andrew, Fool for the Sake of Christ
8:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, 10/03/17 The Holy Priest-Martyr Dionysius the Areopagite
8:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Wednesday, 10/04/17 The Holy Priest-Martyr Hierotheus, Bishop of Athens; Our Venerable Father Francis of Assisi
9:00  +Ivan and Halyna Lobay (Pan.) requested by Maria Lobay

Thursday, 10/05/17 The Holy Martyr Charitina
8:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 10/06/17 The Holy and Glorious Apostle Thomas
6:00 p.m.  For God’s blessing and health for Michelle Turczyk and Trinidad Perez

Saturday, 10/07/17 The Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus
8:00 a.m.   no special intention for the Divine Liturgy

Sunday, 10/08/17 18th Sunday after Pentecost
9:00 a.m. +Anna Docknevich requested by Martin Docknevich
10:30 a.m.  For the people of the parish

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 9: 6:11
Gospel: Luke 7:11-16, Tone 1

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 by Christine and Marybeth Gawron in memory of +Paul, Dorothy and Timothy Gawron.

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. FEAST DAY CELEBRATION: 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. 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.

6. 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.

Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos

On this Sunday, we celebrate the feast of the Protection of the Theotokos. This commemorates the vision of St. Andrew, the Fool for Christ, who, during an attack, as the people kept an All-night Vigil of Prayer, saw the Mother of God holding a protecting veil over her city. We can say, then, that this feast celebrates the power of Mary, who fights on behalf of Christians, and is a mighty protector of the people. On this day we read the common Gospel from St. Luke on feasts of Mary, the story of Mary and Martha. Maybe a better gospel would be the story of the wedding at Cana in Galilee. There, at Cana, it was Jesus’ 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.” As his mother, she began the story of Jesus’ mission, even though he had said, “My hour has not yet come.” This truly is power given to her by God. This is still Mary’s relationship with us. She is our protector and motherly intercessor. She is the mother of all believers, for our Lord, on the cross, gave her to his beloved disciple and through him to all of us. Her message to us always, every time she appears, is “Do what my Son tells you.”

Today, we have fierce debates about the role of women in the Church. But the evidence here is for the power of women, just as Eve brought about the fall of the human race by her disobedience (Adam only ratified her decision), so Mary brings salvation into the world by her obedient decision to become the mother of God Incarnate. She said, as every Christian must also say, ““Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” And Mary receives this great power in a human way, through humility and weakness. She plays a hidden role in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles, but it is through her weakness that the Christian finds strength, it is in her humility that we find wisdom, and in her death we are given the hope of life, “O Theotokos, … in your falling asleep you did not forsake the world … and through your prayers you deliver our souls from death. (Troparion of the Feast of the Dormition)

Benefit for Wounded Soldiers

We invite everyone to a fundraiser benefiting  wounded Ukrainian soldiers undergoing medical treatment in the U.S. The concert/dance will be held 5:00 p.m. on October 14th at the Ukrainian American Club, 279 King Dr., Southport, CT.

Food and beverages may be purchased. Musical entertainment will be provided gratis by a trio from Ukraine that has performed over 100 concerts in Ukraine’s ATO war zone.

$25 tickets are available from Fr. Iura, Myron Melnyk (203) 397-2087, or Carl Harvey (203) 530-8232.

Father Leo Lawrence Goldade, RIP

Word has been received that Father Leo Lawrence Goldade, OSBM, 75, died today, September 27, 2017, in a New York hospital after a long fight with illness. Please, pray for his peaceful repose.

Our Lady of Sorrows and Saint Josaphat, pray for Father Leo, and for us.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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)

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.

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