Parish announcements this week

Christ is among us!

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

2. VIGIL LIGHT: This week vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Dionizia Brochinsky in memory of +Daria Fedoriw.

3. Asleep in the Lord: +Robert Hickerson. Please remember him in your prayers. ETERNAL MEMORY!

4. St. Michael’s Parish and UNWLA Branch 108 will hold its annual PROSFORA, traditional Christmas luncheon on Sunday, January 21, 2018. On that day we will celebrate only one Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, free for children Ridna Shkola and altar servers. We will be running a raffle. Please donate items for raffle and sweet for coffee.

5. SOROKOUSTY: The Memorial Service for All Souls will be observed on February 3 and 17, March 3 and 10,  and May 19. Please take your book of names found at the entrance of the church (or ask Father Iura for a new book), fill it out, place it in envelope and drop it in the collection basket. Let us remember all our loved ones who have gone to their heavenly reward. Eternal Memory!

6. KOLIADA: Dear parishioners, in this week’s bulletin you will find special Koliada envelops. If you would like to make a donation to the Koliada (Ukrainian Christmas Carols), please enclose your donation, write your name on the envelope and drop the envelope into the collection basket during the Divine Liturgies. Thank You!

7. Dear Parishioners: As you may know, Mr. and Mrs. Yuriy Faryna have recently suffered a tragic loss when their house burned to the ground. They have lost their home and most of their possessions. As they struggle to get back on their feet, I would humbly ask that you all consider making a gift donation to help them. There are gift envelops in the vestibule of the church. If you would like to assist this family, please place your gift in these envelops and place them in the collection baskets. Checks should be made out to “Yuriy Faryna” or you may give cash. All gift donations will be forwarded directly to the family. Thank You! Fr. Iura Godenciuc.

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Pope Francis to meet the Ukrainians in Rome

Holy See Press Office Director Greg Burke issued a statement today, January 12, stating that Pope Francis has accepted an invitation from His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Archbishop Major of Kyiv-Halyč of the Ukrainians and, on Sunday, January 28 at 4 pm, will visit the Basilica of Santa Sophia in Rome and meet with the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic community.
 
(picture from a visit of the Ukrainian bishops at the Holy See)

St Theodosius

On the weekly liturgical calendar for this week you may have noticed that today’s saints is Theodosius, the Venerable Father and founder of monastic life lived in community.

He was known to heal the sick and being “extremely compassionate.”

Today, we need his witness and guidance in the manner in which we live our Christian life with others (family, friends, fellow parishioners, coworkers, and our enemies).

He died on this date in AD 529.

Here is a 2 minute video on St Theodosius introducing his life.

Prayer for New Year

Remember us, O God; from age to age be our comforter. You have given us the wonder of time, blessings in days and nights, seasons and years. Bless your children at the turning of the year and fill the months ahead with the bright hope that is ours in the coming of Christ. You are our God, living and reigning, forever and ever. Amen.
 
(At the conclusion of the 9 a.m. Divine Liturgy today this prayer was prayed. In the coming week, pray it again and again.)
Image by J. Rego

45th Annual March for Life

Info for those attending the MARCH FOR LIFE on Friday, January 19, from Father Robert of the Holy Family Ukrainian Catholic Shrine: Christ is born! Glorify Him!

“We will have a Divine Liturgy celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, JANUARY 19 (church will be open at 9:00 a.m.), at Holy Family. It will be in English. You are all most welcome to join us. After the DL, we will be heading down to the Rally and March, so the church will not be open.

We will also be participating in the “Big Mass” at the Basilica on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. So, the church will not be open.” www.ucns-holyfamily.org

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Sunday, 1/07/18 Sunday after Theophany —the Synaxis of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

9:00 a.m. +Mychajlo Kuchnij requested by Jaroslaw Paluha

Christmas —Julian calendar

9:45 a.m. Great Compline
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish
~followed by Anointing with oil

Epistle: Galatians 4:4:7
Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12, Tone 5

Monday, 1/08/18 Venerable Father George the Chosebite; Venerable Mother Domnica; and Emilian the Confessor

Tuesday, 1/09/18 Holy Martyr Polyeuctus

Wednesday, 1/10/18 Holy Father Gregory, bishop of Nyssa

Thursday, 1/11/18  Venerable Father Theodosius, Founder of the cenoebitic monastic life

Friday, 1/12/18 Holy Martyr Tatiana

Saturday, 1/13/18 Holy Martyrs Hermylus and Stratonicus

Sunday, 1/14/18 Leave-taking of the Feast of the Holy Theophany — Sunday of Zachaeus
9:00 a.m. +Nicholas Muryn requested by Michael and Mary Muryn
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Timothy 4:7:13
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-17, Tone 6

Parish announcements this week

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

VIGIL LIGHT: This week vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Luba Romaniw for a special intention.

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

SOROKOUSTY: The Memorial Service for All Souls will be observed on February 3 and 17, March 3 and 10,  and May 19. Please take your book of names found at the entrance of the church (or ask Father Iura for a new book), fill it out, place it in envelope and drop it in the collection basket. Let us remember all our loved ones who have gone to their heavenly reward. Eternal Memory!

KOLIADA: Dear parishioners, in this week’s bulletin you will find special Koliada envelops. If you would like to make a donation to the Koliada (Ukrainian Christmas Carols), please enclose your donation, write your name on the envelope and drop the envelope into the collection basket during the Divine Liturgies. Thank You!

KofC: The parish KofC Council will hold its next regular meeting on TOMORROW, January  8 at 7:00 p.m. in the church hall. All men of parish are invited to attend to see what the Knights are all about and what they do and what you can do with them for your parish.

St. Michael’s Parish and UNWLA Branch 108 will hold its annual PROSFORA, traditional Christmas luncheon on Sunday, January 21, 2018. On that day we will celebrate only one Divine Liturgy at 10:30 a.m. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, free for children Ridna Shkola and altar servers. We will be running a raffle. Please donate items for raffle and sweet for coffee.

VETERANS POST 33: The next meeting of the Ukrainian-American Veteran Bishop John Stock Post 33 of N.H. will be held on Sunday, January 28, 2018, church hall, classroom 2 immediately following the second Divine Liturgy. For more information, contact the Post Commander Carl Harvey at 203-389-6076 or crharv384@optimum.net

Know your Catholic Faith: Christ Our Pascha, the Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church is now available online in English, www.royaldoors.net. We are working to get the print edition when it is available.

Holy Theophany at St Michael’s 2018

Holy Theophany of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ
Saturday, 6 January 2018

9:15 a.m. Great Compline
10:00 a.m. The Liturgy intention is for the people of the parish

~Great Sanctification of Water AND at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy there will be a Myrovannia (anointing with oil)

Blessing of Water

As a cradle Byzantine, my memories of church when I was a young boy are spotty. They touch only those aspects that somehow grasped my attention. One of these was the blessing of the water on Theophany: the solemn prayer, the priest lifting up the trikirion and thrusting it into the water, the going up to receive the holy water for our home. I don’t remember how much I understood, but this was a very powerful part of our faith.

The Christian faith does not depend on exotic substances, in magical elixirs, in secret formulas, but the Christian faith is the transformation of simple gifts of life – of water, of bread, of wine, of oil. Our water is no longer ordinary water, but it has been touched by the feet of God incarnate. Merely to see this day, merely to drink this water, merely to pray to Jesus baptized by a human hand transforms us. We need water to live, to drink it for nourishment, to wash with it to be kept clean, and now to be baptized with it for the life and cleansing of our souls as well as our bodies. The prayer for the consecration of water on Theophany may be said to be thrilling. We use words in ways we do not usually use them. The words come to the water, and all creation is transformed.

And so the priest prays: “By your will you brought forth all things from nothingness into being; by your might you control creation, and by your providence you govern the world. You created all things from four elements, and crowned the cycle of the year with four seasons. The spiritual powers tremble before you. The sun praises you, the moon glorifies you, the stars serve you. Light obeys you, the depths tremble before you, and the springs adore you. You spread out the heavens like a tent. You established the earth upon the waters. You fringed the seas with beaches of sand. You poured forth air for breathing. The angelic powers serve you; the ranks of archangels worship you; the many-eyed cherubim and the six-winged seraphim stand before you or hover over you, yet they dare not gaze at your unapproachable glory. Although you are God, boundless, indescribable, and without beginning, you came upon earth, and taking the likeness of a servant, became like one of us.”

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Schmemann at the beginning of 2018

At the beginning of a new year the following words of Father Alexander Schmemann give us much to think about:

“…What then gives meaning to a particular day, to the TODAY we live in? Is it not simply one day out of a long sequence of days that each one of us has to live through? Yet for me, as a Christian, its new and deep meaning comes from the past. It is a day related to Christ’s coming into the world, a day AFTER His coming, and thus the Christian is the one who first of all, REMEMBERS. He can forget Christ; he can wake up in the morning and think only of the petty concerns of that particular day, yet, on a deeper level, even these minor concerns become a very different experience if he remembers that he is not simply John Smith who has to do this or that, but the one to whom Christ has come, whose life Christ has assumed and has given new meaning. “Today,” however, has a second meaning, because it is also a day BEFORE Christ’s return. Thus I am always living between the two comings of Christ: the one in the past, the other in the future. And finally, the meaning of TODAY comes to me from the words of Christ, who says that He is ALWAYS with me. “And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 27:20). Past, present, future – we see that the time in which we live is not only the time of the calendar, but the time that is shaped from inside and transformed by faith, by Christian experience. It is related to the coming of Christ in the past, to His coming in the future, and to His presence now…”