Mission Days –Ascension to Pentecost 8

Day 8 – Friday

Read: Gospel of John 17:18–24

Prayer. For You, Lord, are the help of the helpless, the hope of those without hope, the Savior of the storm-tossed, the haven of those at sea, the physician of the sick. Be all things to all people, O You Who know each one and their request, each household and its needs. Deliver, O Lord, this city (this village, this monastery), and every city, town and village, from famine, plague, earthquake, flood, fire, sword, foreign invasion and civil war. (Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great)

Missionary tasks.

1. Personal/Family. Over the past year how have I done good to a neighbor in need? As a family let us resolve to engage in some form of charitable works once a month for the benefit of someone who lives close and is in need.

2. Parish. Let us frequently inform our parishioners about di erent social ministry initiatives in our parish. Let us keep the community informed about parish members who are in need (especially the elderly who live alone). Let us encourage our parish youth to organize and implement some initiative for the bene t of the needy on the territory of our parish.

3. Beyond the parish. Let us look if among my neighbors there isn’t some individual or family that is in dire need. Let us try to help this person, these persons, with a kind word, with some concrete assistance.

Mission Days –Ascension to Pentecost 7

Day 7 – Thursday

Read: Gospel of John 16:23–33

Prayer. Remember, O Lord, the people here present and those who are absent for just causes, and have mercy on them and on us according to the multitude of Your mercy. Fill their store-houses with every good thing; preserve their marriages in peace and concord; nourish the infants, guide the young, strengthen the aged; com- fort the fainthearted; gather the scattered; bring back the wayward, and join them to Your holy, catholic and apostolic Church. (Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great)

Missionary tasks.

1. Personal/Family. Let us make an exam- ination of conscience regarding our personal prayer and our common prayer as a family. Today-tomorrow I will pray for the health and salvation of each family member, neighbor, friend, co-worker.

2. Parish. Let us nd some new way to advertise our parish services (bill-boards, social media, pamphlets…). Let is help parish prayer groups and additional members.

3. Beyond the parish. If we know someone who does not go regularly to church, let us invite them to join us. If they decline, let us ask them if we can pray for any special intention on their behalf.

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar dies

His Beatitude, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar fell asleep in the Lord at 6:30 pm (Kyiv time), Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

GOD GRANT HIM ETERNAL REST!

January 26, 2001 – February 10, 2011 he served as a Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Born in Lviv, Ukraine, on February 26, 1933, Lubomyr Husar fled from Ukraine with his parents in 1944, ahead of the advancing Soviet army. He spent the early post-World War II years among Ukrainian refugees in a displaced persons camp near Salzburg, Austria. In 1949, he emigrated with his family to the United States of America. From 1950 to 1954, he studied at St. Basil’s College (Ukrainian) Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut. He continued his studies at Catholic University of America in Washington DC, and at Fordham University in New York. He was ordained a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest of the Eparchy of Stamford on March 30, 1958. From 1958 to 1969 Fr. Husar taught at St. Basil’s College Seminary, and also between 1966 and 1969 was the pastor of Holy Trinity Ukrainian Greek Catholic parish in Kerhonkson, New York. In 1969, Fr. Lubomyr went to Rome, where he earned a doctorate in Dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Urbanian University in 1972.

During his stay in Rome he joined the Ukrainian Studite monastic community at the Studion Monastery not far from Castelgandolfo, Italy, and was elected hegumen (superior) of the monastery in 1974. He was consecrated a bishop in 1977 in the Studion monastery chapel in Castelgandolfo by Patriarch Josyf Cardinal Slipyj. He was named Archimandrite (Abbot) of the Studite Monks in Europe and North America in 1978. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, he returned to his native country and served as spiritual director of the newly re-established Holy Spirit Seminary in Lviv. In 1994, he established a new Studite monastery near Ternopil, Ukraine. The Synod of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Bishops elected him Exarch of the Archiepiscopal Exarchy of Kyiv-Vyshhorod in 1995.

In 1996, the Synod elected him as auxiliary bishop with special administrative delegated authority to His Beatitude Myroslav Ivan Cardinal Lubachivsky, Major Archbishop of Lviv. Upon the death of Cardinal Lubachivsky on December 14, 2000, Pope John Paul II named Bishop Husar apostolic administrator of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv.

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Mission Days –Ascension to Pentecost 6

Day 6 – Wednesday

Read: Gospel of John 16:15–23

Prayer. In the morning, we were lled with Your mercy, and we rejoiced and were glad in all our days. Let us be glad in return for the days when You humbled us, the years when we saw evils. Look upon Your servants and upon Your work and guide their children. May the radiance of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct the work of our hands for us; direct the work of our hands. (Psalm 90(89):14–17)

Missionary tasks.

1. Personal/Family. Let us ask ourselves as a family, what have we done over the past year to help our parish grow. Let us go to our pastor and tell him what personal responsibility I am ready to take upon myself in the life of the parish.

2. Parish. Let us think about how volunteers are organized in our parish and what we might do better, so that our parishioners recognize their personal responsibility for the life of the parish community.

3. Beyond the parish. I will tell others what my responsibility is in the parish and why I go to my parish (what I like the most about it).

Mission Days –Ascension to Pentecost 5

Day 5 – Tuesday

Read: Gospel of John 16:2–13

Prayer. May our mouths be lled with Your praise, O Lord, that we may sing of Your glory. For You made us worthy to partake of Your holy divine, immortal and life-giving Mysteries. Preserve us in Your holiness that we may meditate all the day upon Your justice. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Missionary tasks.

1. Personal/Family. By ourselves or together as a family let us once again read His Beatitude Sviatoslav’s Pastoral Letter, “The Vibrant Parish: a Place to Encounter the Living Christ” (2011) and ask ourselves if anything has changed in our lives from that time.

2. Parish. Let us make an effort to ensure that our parishioners have access to a variety of good reading material. Let us take care that in our parish everyone can and something for his or her growth in understanding the truths of our faith.

3. Beyond the parish. Let us share His Beatitude’s Pastoral Letter on the “Vibrant Parish” with those who have never heard of it. If I have read some good book or seen a film with a positive religious theme, I will share it with others.

Mission Days –Ascension to Pentecost 4

Day 4 – Monday

Read: Gospel of John 14:27 – 15:7

Prayer. Remember, O Lord, those who have brought these gifts, and those for whom, through whom, and on behalf of whom they have been brought. Remember, O Lord, those who bear fruit and do good work in Your holy churches, and who remember the poor. Reward them with Your riches and heavenly gifts of grace; for earthly things grant them heavenly ones; for temporal ones, eternal, for corruptible, incorruptible. (Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great)

Missionary tasks.

1. Personal/Family. Let us take interest to learn how my parish lives during the week and whether I might dedicate some of my time or talents. In our families let us take note of our children’s God-given talents and encourage tham to share those talents for the good of others.

2. Parish. Let us express our gratitude to those who over a variety of ministries and services in our parish community. Let us resolve to take an active part in organizational parish meetings, especially for pastoral planning.

3. Beyond the parish. Let us give a good example of [charitable work] volunteerism in the Christian community and invite others to share their gifts, even those who are distant from the Church.

Mission Days –Ascension to Pentecost 3

Day 3 – Sunday

Read: Gospel of John 17:1–11

Prayer. Lord, I am here. Lord, I am Yours! (Let us repeat this prayer throughout the day.)

Missionary tasks.

1. Personal/Family. Let us speak to Jesus after Holy Communion using our own words and thank Him for His presence in our life. At home, after Divine Liturgy, let us recite together one of the Prayers of Thanksgiving printed in our prayerbook. Let us make this a family practice.

2. Parish. Upon receiving the Holy Eucharist, let us think about our parish community and remind ourselves that at that very moment we are bound together with one another in the deepest spiritual unity.

3. Beyond the parish. When we exit the church, especially on Sunday, the Day of our Lord, let us make every e ort so that before unbelievers our Christian demeanor be our sermon about a God, who wishes to embrace all humanity unto Himself.

Sunday of the First Ecumenical Council

On this Sunday, we commemorate the First Ecumenical Council held in the year 325. This Council defined our faith in Christ, that he was truly God, who had been born of the Virgin Mary as a human being, therefore uniting God and us. The proclamation of faith that they composed is now read at every Divine Liturgy. It was completed in its present form at the Council of Constantinople in 381, with a fuller definition of the nature of the Holy Spirit. When the Creed is about to be read, the deacon intones, “Let us love one another, that with one mind we may profess: (we then recite the Creed).” In our faith, we profess the love of God for us, because he has come to be with us, and has sent the Spirit of truth in our hearts, to “ … guide you to all truth. (John 16:13)” The truth is this: that Jesus the Messiah is truly the Son of God, that he is our Redeemer, and that he has ascended into glory, but has not left us orphans, sending his Spirit into our hearts and minds and souls. Jesus told us, “I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)” If this is indeed the truth, then, as the deacon in the Liturgy says, we must profess it “in one mind.” We conclude the prayer of the Anaphora by saying, “Grant that with one voice and one heart we may glorify and praise your most honored and magnificent name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

Today’s Gospel tells us that this is exactly how we are united to God, and become “partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4): “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. (John 17:11)” There is no unity more perfect than the unity of the Trinity, and in our life of faith, we share in that unity. Throughout the history of the Church, there have been those who have erred either by saying that Jesus is not perfect man or by saying that he is not perfect God. We too often let our own self-righteousness dominate the transcendent truth of the faith. However, the deacon says one thing even more profound – this unity must proceed from love, for he says, “Let us love one another that we may profess … “ The world today seems to thrive on a rhetoric of hate rather than love, and the false ideas of the world can easily infect the Church. The feast today is directly opposed to hatred, it tells us that we can achieve the unity that God desires only through love, for “God is love. (1 John 4:8)”

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Mission Days –Ascension to Pentecost 2

Day 2 – Saturday

Read: Gospel of John 14:10–21

Prayer. Come, O faithful, let us climb the Mount of Olives with the apostles, let us lift our minds and hearts on high. Let us behold the Lord as He is taken up. Let us cry out with joy and thanksgiving. Glory to Your ascension, O most merciful One. (Aposticha, Ascension Thursday)

Missionary tasks.

1. Personal/Family. Let us make an examination of conscience using the catechetical part of our prayer book, and thank God for the gift of liberation from sins, granted especially through Confession. In our family let us establish the practice of a daily forgiveness of offenses, so that we might not go to sleep in anger against one another.

2. Parish. Before celebrating Pentecost, if we have wronged anyone by word or deed, let us resolve to seek their forgiveness and to forgive anyone who may have wronged me.

3. Beyond the parish. There is no one without sin. Today-tomorrow, whomever we meet in person, whoever catches our attention in social media, let us seek to look at each person through the eyes of God, as someone whom the Lord wishes to save.

Divine Liturgy for the coming week

Christ is Risen – Indeed He is Risen!
Christos Anesti! – Alithos Anesti!
Christos voskrese – Voistinu voskres!
Al Maseeh Qam! – Haqqan Qam!
Christus resurrexit! – Vere resurrexit!

Sunday, 5/28/17 Seventh Sunday of Pascha, Holy Fathers of the 1st Ecumenical Council of Nicea
9:00 a.m. Special Intention
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Acts 20:16-18, 28-38
Gospel: John 17:1-13, Tone 6

Monday, 5/29/17 Venerable-Martyr Theodosia the Virgin
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, 5/30/17 Venerable Father Isaac, Abbot of the Dalmatin Monastery
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Wednesday, 5/31/17 Holy Apostle Hermas; the Holy Martyr Hermes
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Thursday, 6/01/17 Holy Martyr Justin the Philosopher and Companions
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 6/02/17 Holy Father Nicephorus the Confessor
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Saturday, 6/03/17 Holy Martyr Lucillianus and Companions
9:00 a.m. +Ivan & Halyna Lobay (Pan.) requested by Maria Lobay

Sunday 6/04/17 Eighth Sunday of Pascha  —Holy and Glorious Pentecost
10:30 a.m. For the people of the parish

Epistle: Acts 2:1-11
Gospel: John 7:37-52; 8:12, Tone 7