Sunday after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Galatians 2:16-20; Mark 8:34-9:1

The first sticheron of the Feast of the Holy Cross tells us, “By this Cross …. In his mercy (Christ) clothed us with beauty and made us worthy of heaven.” This is confirmed in the Hymn of Light from Matins: “The Cross is the beauty of the Church.” How can this be? For the Cross is ugly torture, and the Prophet Isaiah foretells of the Messiah:

“See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him— so marred were his features, beyond that of mortals his appearance, beyond that of human beings. He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. (Isaiah 52:13-14; 53:2-3)”

One is reminded of St. Paul, “For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)”  We might re-phrase: “In his ugliness, we have all been made beautiful.” Where is the beauty of the Cross? It is in the holiness of Jesus, who died that the Kingdom of God – life, love, mercy, wisdom – might be established in the world. We are called to “take up the cross,” which means uniting ourselves with Christ in love that the truth and wisdom and the glory of God might shine forth.

Today, therefore, St. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. (Galatians 2:19-20)”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

The Easier, Lighter Way of the Cross

 

Today’s meditation is done by Sr. Vassa Larin

“Then Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur; they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, ‘What shall we drink?’ And he cried to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.” (Ex 15: 22-25a)

This passage is from the first reading at Vespers on the great feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, celebrated this Thursday (NC). What does this passage have to do with the feast? The “tree” that Moses throws into bitter water, and that makes the water sweet, is traditionally seen as an image of the “life-giving” Cross.

Water itself, essential for our biological life, is an image of life. But our life, in merely biological terms, devoid of Christ and His cross-carrying journey, can be bitter. The small and great pains through which we inevitably journey, as we transition from one life-situation to another, can be pure bitterness for us, outside of the Cross. Because from a Christ-less, Cross-less perspective, they are meaningless. And meaninglessness, as Carl Jung noted, is one of the biggest traumas of the modern-day psyche: Today we tend to fear, said Jung, that our lives are meaningless.

But in light of the com-passionate, co-suffering with us of the God-Man, Who walked through all our suffering and darkness, even unto death on a cross and descent into our hell, we are given new meaning and new purpose in our New Companion, our primary cross-carrier and Lord Jesus Christ, Who brings us new life through His death. Admittedly, He doesn’t explain to us the “meaning” of all our suffering. Instead He, Who is the eternal Logos, Meaning itself, takes on, in our shoes, all our darkness and suffering, by walking through it in His humanity, and then overcomes it in His divinity, trampling death “by death.” In communion with Him, we go forward His way, of walking through things, according to our responsibilities, rather than avoiding them. And then He does the rest, by His grace, overcoming in us our merely-human anxieties and discouragement, into which we easily slip when on our own, in self-reliance, trying to carry all the ups and downs of the world on our own shoulders. In Him, I discover the “ease” and “light” of His Way, if I just try it; if I try His “how,” rather than ask my “why,” and connect with Him today. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,” He says to me today, “and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11: 28-30) So let me try Him today, and find rest for my soul.

Holy Day Liturgies September 14

On Thursday, September 14th, we will celebrate the great feast of The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross (known, simply as the Exaltation of the Holy Cross). By the Cross of Jesus Christ we are saved!
It is also a day of abstinence. We may not eat meat. (See Statutes, c. 476 2:4).
 
The Divine Liturgy will be offered at 9:00 a.m. (in Ukrainian) and again at 7:00 p.m. (in English).
 
Please come and pray, and bring a friend.

Praying on 9/11

A cross made from steel beams found in the rubble of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York stand outside St. Peter’s Church in New York Aug. 17.  (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Today is the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Let us be united in prayer for the souls lost, the families and friends who continue to mourn and for the gift of peace.

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.

We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here—
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives with courage and hope.
We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.

God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.
Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

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50th Connecticut Ukrainian Festival

Today, the Ukrainian faithful and friends gathered to pray, have fun, and share friendship at the 50th Ukrainian Festival at St Basil’s Seminary in Stamford, CT. There were 15 CT parishes and institutions who participated in making the Fest a success.

Thanks to our parishioners, Gloria and Donald Horbaty, for their good work in leading the Fest! They have worked the festival for 50 years and were given recognition by Bishop Paul Chomnycky, OSBM.

The Divine Liturgy was served by Bishop Basil Losten with a clergy assisting. The Bishop, 87, the bishop-emeritus of the Stamford Eparchy, returned from a meeting of bishops in the Ukraine to pray with us and to represent Bishop Paul. On June 10th, Bishop Basil celebrated the 60th anniversary of his ordination to priesthood.

Our cultural festival included music, folk dancing, Ukrainian and American cuisines, tables selling honey, garlic, books, jewelry, and arts and crafts.

Here are some pictures to give a sense of the day.

Good food, time with new and old friends made for a very lovely day to express the beloved Ukrainian culture through expressions in art, food, music and folk dancing.

May the Holy Theotokos abundantly bless all the participants.

Sunday before the Exaltation of the Cross

Galatians 6:11-16; John 3:13-17

The Gospel today refers back to a story of Moses from the Old Testament:

“The Lord sent among the people seraph serpents, which bite the people so that many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses: Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover. Accordingly Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and recovered. (Numbers 21:6-9)”

This is a very unusual story, almost magical where a representation of a serpent is a healing talisman. However, for the Christian believer the full meaning is revealed only in our Lord Jesus Christ. St. John tells us that just as Moses raised the serpent in the desert, so Jesus was raised on the Cross so that anyone who looked upon him was healed of their sins. The serpent in the desert was not the serpent Eve saw in the tree in Eden, who brought death into the world through sin through his lie, but it was a serpent of life, who brought healing through the truth of faithfulness to God. But this was only a foreshadowing of Jesus. Of our Lord, St. Paul said, “For our sake God made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)” The serpent in the desert was bronze, yet brought salvation from the fatal bites of serpents. Jesus is truly God and truly a man, and brings the salvation of freedom from sin and death. Yes, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3:16) ” That is why in this great feast we celebrate this week, “We bow to your Cross and glorify your holy resurrection.”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

Feast of the Birth of the Theotokos

Christians of East and West can express their gratitude for today’s feast to brought  to our awareness by Eastern monks. It was in the seventh century, this feast  of Our Lady was celebrated by Greek Christians. The narrative of Mary’s Nativity is not testified to in sacred Scripture but known only from apocryphal sources. By the end of the seventh century this feast gained acceptance in the Diocese of Rome.

Our meditation for today

The Epistle today is from Philippians, and it is about Christ, “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. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. (Philippians 2:7-9)” The mystery of Mary, the Theotokos, the Birth-giver of God, is united with the mystery of Jesus our Lord, the Giver of Life to all. Every feast is a celebration of the one Paschal Mystery, how through his death on the Cross (“by death trampling upon death”) the Son of God bestowed life upon the whole world, and how, therefore, in our humiliation, in giving ourselves in love to God and, through him, to each other, we find glory in God.

Joachim and Anna were humbled and desolate, barren of children, and yet, “from infertile ground, the fertile ground is born. From her has grown the Gardener (see that Mary Magdalene mistakes the risen Christ for a gardener) of all fruit, the flower bringing life, who by the will of God nourishes the universe. (1st Troparion, Ode 3, Matins of the Pre-feast)” Today we chant that “Joachim and Anne were freed from the reproach of childlessness.” This mystery must be re-lived in the life of Christ, the child born of Mary, who dies on the Cross in desolation, so that all the universe may be freed from the “despair of death,” and find life in God.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras