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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February prayer intention

For the month of February, the prayer intention of Pope Francis is:

That those who have material, political or spiritual power may resist any lure of corruption.

Let’s ask for the grace to be steadfast to the Gospel and teaching of the Church.

Meatfare Week

As a preparation for Holy Week and Pascha, the Gospel of the passion of our Lord according to St. Mark is read. Today Jesus enters Jerusalem as the people exclaim, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Which we sing at every Liturgy in the Anaphora. These acclamations proved to be hollow, when the priests and elders seduced the mob to ask for Jesus’ crucifixion.

Here is a meditation of St. Gregory on the Passion:

So let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law, not in a literal way, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but perfectly; not only for a time, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one; the city glorified by angels, not the one laid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams, beasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; but instead, let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly altar a sacrifice of praise. We must now pass through the first veil and approach the second, turning our eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honoring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.  (St. Gregory the Theologian, Homily, 45)

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

The parable read today is usually called “the parable of the Prodigal Son,” who is at the center of the story. It might also be called “the parable of the Merciful Father,” who welcomes back his son, embracing him, restoring him to his position, declaring a joyous celebration without even seeming to hear or listen to his son’s confession or protestation. It might also be called “the parable of the Petulant Son,” who is grumpy and peeved at the father’s merciful loving kindness because he thinks that he himself is so much better than his brother. As we prepare for the Great Fast, do we see a pattern developing? The pharisee thought he was much better than the tax-collector, the older son thought he was so much better than his prodigal brother, but God overflows in love for all his creatures. Perhaps the real main purpose of the Great Fast is to turn from pride to humility, to begin to see others through the eyes of God, to overflow in love for others. Truly, what does it mean to be a Christian?

The return of the prodigal Son was marked by a great banquet given by the Merciful Father. We are all invited to that banquet, celebrated at every Divine Liturgy, where the food is not the “fattened calf” but the body and blood of our Lord, the only-begotten Son of the Father. How do we approach this banquet, in the humility of the son who acknowledges his unworthiness or in the pride of the older son, who objects to the presence of his weaker brother? The answer is what it means to be a Christian.

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“Receive me now, Lord, as you once received the Prodigal. Open to me your fatherly arms, and in thanksgiving I will sing of your glory and goodness” (Sunday of the Prodigal Son Canon, Ode 1, troparion 3)

The parable of the Prodigal Son is also commemorated on the Second Sunday of the Great Fast, in the Canon of Matins, because the origin of the Triodion is from Palestine, where this Gospel was read on the Second Sunday.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Sunday, 1/28/18 Sunday of the Prodigal Son  —Our Venerable Father Ephrem the Syrian
9:00 a.m. For people of the parish
10:30 a.m. +Vasyl and Anna Lupsac

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Gospel: Luke 15:11-32, Tone 1

Monday, 1/29/18  The Transfer of the Relics of the Great-Martyr Ignatius the God-bearer (of Antioch)

Tuesday, 1/30/18 The Three Holy and Great Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom and the Holy Priest-Martyr Hippolytus
9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy served for a Special Intention

Wednesday, 1/31/18 The Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cyrus and John

Thursday, 2/01/18 The Fore-Feast of the Encounter; the Holy Martyr Tryphon

Friday, 2/02/18 The Encounter of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ
9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy served for a Special Intention
       ~Blessing of Candles

Saturday, 2/03/18 The Holy and Just Simeon, Who Received God, and the Prophetess Anna
9:00 a.m. +Ivan and Halyna Lobay (Pan.) requested by Maria Lobay

Sunday, 2/03/18 Sunday of Meatfare —Our Venerable Father Isidore of Pelusium
9:00 a.m. +Luka Szymkiw requested Szymkiw and Alderidge families
10:00 a.m. SOROKOUSTY
10:30 a.m. For people of the parish

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 8:8-9:2
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46, Tone 2

Parish announcements this week

Christ is among us!

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING: Will be held in the church hall on Sunday, January 28, 2018 at 12:00 after the Divine Liturgy.

1. VIGIL LIGHT: This week vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Halia Lodynsky for His blessing and health upon Stefan Yurchak.

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

3. Praying for All Souls

“Let us pray for our brethren that are at rest in Christ, that God, the lover of mankind, who has received his soul, may forgive him every sin, voluntary and involuntary, and may be merciful and gracious to him, and give him his lot in the land of the pious that are sent into the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, with all those that have pleased Him and done His will from the beginning of the world, whence all sorrow, grief and lamentation are banished.

The church sets aside certain days as “Saturday of the Souls”. In the Slav tradition we remember the Souls of our beloved dead beginning on the Saturday of Meatfare, and then on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Saturdays of the Great Fast, and finally on the Saturday before Pentecost.

This year, in order to allow a great number of people pray to attend the Memorial Service for the Dead, we will offer our prayers at the conclusion of the Sunday Divine Liturgies.

If You wish to join in this prayer, please provide a list of names before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, February3. The other dates for Sorokousty are February 24, March 3 and 10 and May 19. Please take your book of names found at the entrance of the church (or ask Fr. Iura for a new book), fill it out, place it in envelop and drop it in the collection basket. The Holy Fathers were convinced that the commemoration of the departed by alms and sacrifices (Divine Liturgies)  brings great comfort and benefit to them. Eternal Memory!

4. CATECHISM: 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.

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The Jesus Prayer

Today is a great day to learn more about The Jesus Prayer (“Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”), THE prayer for good Christians. Orthodox Metropolitan Kallistos Ware gives a fine presentation.

Listen to the presentation by clicking here.

What better way to spend some time on the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee than to learn about this prayer!!!

Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee: the Connection

The journey of the feast of lights was a journey to specific holy places. It is a journey which we now make in spirit, in order to find the light of Christ. Soon after this journey, we begin another journey, going with our Lord to Jerusalem, as he foretold in the Gospel of St. Luke: “When the days for his being taken up (which John calls his glorification) were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” During the Great Fast, then, we make another journey that ends in the holy city of Jerusalem, as Jesus 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). But his death is his glorification, “by death he tramples death,” and it is the way to resurrection, to a resurrection promised to all. Our journey likewise ends in life (resurrection) and in light, as the Gospel of Paschal Sunday, the Day of Resurrection says, “ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

The journey to light in the Christmas – Theophany – Encounter cycle ends in the temple, where the incarnate temple of God enters into the holy Temple, and there is proclaimed to the world by Simeon and Anna, who witness to his glory. The journey of the Great Fast then begins in the Temple, and two men go there to pray. One witnesses to pride and self-righteousness, the other to humility and repentance. The whole of the Great Fast is for us to make our choice on which to imitate. To be a Christian means to hear our Lord’s warning, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever exalts himself will be exalted.” This is the central meaning of the Great Fast, as our Lord invites us, “Come and see.”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras