Friday of Cheesefare Week

Breaking of bread at Emmaus

One of the images for the Great Fast is that of a journey. Since the Fast lasts 40 days, the 40 year journey of the Israelites through the desert to the Promised Land is a particularly powerful image. The Israelites were fed on manna in the desert, but in our journey we are fed by the Body of Christ in the Presanctified Liturgy. Jesus said: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51).

The readings from Zechariah tell us of another journey: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to rescue my people from the land of the rising sun, and from the land of the setting sun. I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem … Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to implore the favor of the Lord” (Zechariah 8:7-8.22). Jerusalem is our goal. There our Lord died and there he gave us life. Our Lord said, “Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem” (Luke 13:33).

We are invited to follow him in our hearts to the heavenly Jerusalem where all glory will be fulfilled.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Medical Equipment and Medical Supplies Drive

The United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) Connecticut will conduct a Medical Equipment and Medical Supplies Drive beginning Monday, February 12, 2018 through Monday, March 25, 2018 with drop off:

  • St Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church Hall, 569 George Street, New Haven, CT
  • Ukrainian National Home of Hartford 961, Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford, CT

Items may include medical durables (for example:  beds, recliners, wheelchairs, canes or walkers) and medical supplies (for example:  adult or children diapers).

If you would like to make a financial donation, please make checks payable to UUARC 1206 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111.

Thank you.

If you have any questions, please contact the following persons:

Myron Kolinsky-860-563-4072
Ihor and Natalia Rudko-860-537-4051
Ivan Kebalo-860-299-6727
Halia Lodynsky-203-494-6278
Myron Melnyk-201-264-9793

Anne Applebaum speaking at Yale

The Polish-Hungarian Friendship Society will be hosting a discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum on Tuesday, February 13, at Yale University in Linsly-Chittenden Hall 317 at 5:30 p.m. The discussion will be moderated by Laszlo Gendler.

Ms. Applebaum recently published Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine.

Mention of Applebaum and her new book was noted on this parish blog here.

An article on the book by George Weigel.

Thursday of Cheesefare Week

In Cheesefare Week, we read the passion of our Lord according to St. Luke. What strikes me today is how the passion affects the people around Jesus. The women of Jerusalem receive a warning. The corrupt rulers Pilate and Herod make up and become friends. The venerable Joseph of Arimathea, member of the council, who “had not consented to their decision and deed,” courageously asks for the body of Jesus and gives it burial.

Simon of Cyrene is made to bear Jesus’ cross, becoming an icon for all of us who believe, for Jesus said, “Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” But what is the cross – it is love for the other to the point of laying down our own lives. The soldiers receive forgiveness, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Then the soldiers repent, “Certainly, this was a righteous man.” (Verse 23:47) Maybe we have this mercy thing upside down. We say, repent and we will show you mercy, maybe it goes the opposite way, we show mercy and the person repents.

Jesus shows mercy to the woman caught in adultery, then tells her, “Go, and sin no more.”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Holy Prophet Zechariah

“Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell within Jerusalem; Jerusalem will be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of old age (Zechariah 8:1-2).

Zechariah was the prophet of the restoration of Jerusalem. In faith, we see this restoration in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was born in Bethlehem, in the environs of Jerusalem. He fulfilled the prophecy, “I have returned to Zion, and I will dwell in Jerusalem.” He is the light of the city. In the Feast of the Encounter, we see our Lord in Jerusalem, in its spiritual center, the temple and we see Zechariah’s prophecy fulfilled again. “Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem,” and in the present feast we see the old man Simeon and the old woman Anna in Jerusalem welcoming the coming of the Lord. Zechariah sees the Lord coming to Jerusalem as its king, prophesying Palm Sunday, “Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).

Zechariah thus sets the seal on our pilgrimage in the feast of lights, as we come to the spiritual Jerusalem, welcoming Jesus as our Savior, our priest and our king. To find life in him is the continual renewal of our faith.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Nicholas Losten asleep in the Lord

In Christian charity, your prayers are requested for Nicholas Losten who fell asleep in the Lord.

Nicholas E. Losten, 95, a brother of Most Rev. Basil H. Losten, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, December 20, 2017.

Mr. Losten was born on June 16, 1922 in Chesapeake City, MD, the son of the late John and Julia Losten. He worked on the family dairy farm, “Losten Dairy”, and was a milkman for the wholesale-retail milk business until its sale in 1968.  He then went to work for Pennsupreme Dairy until he started a second career in construction, working for Weaver Pole Line Construction and Danella Construction Company.

After his retirement from construction, he enjoyed working and maintaining the family farm.  He was an avid goose and deer hunter.  He was a leader of Future Farmers of America;  was a life member of the Chesapeake City Fire Department and a member of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church.  May his memory be eternal!

Carl Harvey and Myron Melnyk honored

At the conclusion of today’s 9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy, we heard of the beautiful awards that two of our dear friends and fellow parishioners received recently. The following was heard:

This past week in Washington D.C., Mr. Carl Harvey and Mr. Myron Melnyk were awarded with medals from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in recognition of the work they have done in support of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This is for the work our Ukrainian American Veterans have done to help bring wounded Ukrainian soldiers here to the United States where they will be receiving medical treatment which is unavailable in Ukraine. Not only is this a high honor for Carl and Myron, it is also a recognition of the support and donations the we, as a parish, have given to our Ukrainian American Veterans Post here in New Haven. Congratulations, Carl and Myron!

Sunday of the Last Judgment

Today, the Church begins her preparations for the Great Fast ( aka, Great Lent).

In the coming weeks we will delve into what the Great Fast means for us.

Archpriest David Petras writes,

In our preparation for the Great Fast, we must notice a theme emerging. In the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, the Pharisee was not justified because he failed to see the image of God in the tax collector. (“I thank you that I am not like this tax collector,” Luke 18:11). In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the older son was not justified because he failed to see the image of God in the prodigal returned home. (“But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him,” Luke 15:20).

Today, in the final judgment, the Lord says to the condemned goats, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it (show charitable works of mercy) to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me” (Matthew 25:45). In the popular mind, Lent is a time for self-denial. Stop, that’s it. But why? Because if we do not deny ourselves, we cannot see the image of God in the other, in each and every other human being that he has created.

Possibly the Last Judgment was commemorated on this Sunday, because it is the conclusion of a “Church Year.” Next Sunday, Cheesefare Sunday, we begin again with the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall.

The Great Fast is our journey through the Old Testament, which is concluded with the New Covenant: the Mystical Supper, the Crucifixion and the Glorious and Life-giving Resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. We then see through the lens of the Resurrection how God’s plan is fulfilled in Christ in the Gospel of John the Theologian (until Pentecost), in the Gospel of Matthew (from Pentecost to the Exaltation of the Cross), and in the Gospel of Luke (from the Exaltation of the Cross until the Sunday of the Prodigal Son).

Then on this Sunday, we celebrate the last and final and eschatological mystery of the Final Judgment, in which God brings to completion and perfection the whole human story. That may be why, on the day before the Sunday of the Last Judgment, we remember the death of each human being, which is the completion and perfection of our own individual story and our inclusion in God’s ultimate divine plan. Interestingly, the Roman Church read the Gospel of the Final Judgment on the last Sunday before Advent, which began their liturgical year.

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The Encounter of Simeon and Anna

Today’s feast is also as known the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple of the Purification of Mary (Lk 2:22-40). The Liturgy of the Church prays:

“The sacred Virgin offered the Sacred One in the Sacred Place to the Sacred Minister. Clasping Him in his arms, Simeon received Him with joy and cried out, ‘Now, Master, you release your servant, according to you word, in peace, O Lord.’ “ [From Vespers]

“Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. See, he said, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
(From Isaiah chapter 6, the second Reading at Vespers of the Feast of the Encounter)

“Simeon spoke to the Mother of God, saying: one of the Seraphim purified the lips of Isaiah with a burning ember. You fill me with light as you entrust to me, with your hands as with tongs, the one whom you hold, the Lord of the light that knows no evening, and the King of peace.”
(Troparion at Glory, Ode 5, Canon of the Feast of the Encounter)

Simeon holds God in his arms, the burning coal inaccessible to our human nature, yet made flesh and able to be embraced in love. God is often described as a spiritual fire. He appears to Moses as the bush which burned but was not consumed, which in turn became an image of the Virgin Mary who bore the fire of the Godhead in her womb. The holy John the Baptist protested, “Who has ever seen the sun, that is radiant in its essence, being purified? How then shall I cleanse in the waters the one who is the brightness of the glory, the Image of the everlasting Father? How shall I, who am like straw, touch the fire of your divinity with my hand? For you are Christ, the wisdom and power of God. The Spirit comes upon the apostles in the form of tongues of fire.” (1st Troparion, Ode 4, Canon of Theophany)

The Spirit comes upon the apostles in the form of tongues of fire. God is the light of knowledge and understanding and the fire of love. How can we dare to touch him and live? Simeon holds him and cries out, “Now you may dismiss your servant!” Yet we do, and Holy Communion is called the “coal” in some Eastern Christian traditions, the ember that purified the lips of Isaiah. God cleanses us from our sins and makes us worthy to receive him more intimately than Simeon, in our lips and in our body. We receive Communion “for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.” As we celebrate this feast, we can never comprehend this gift.

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