A Prayer for Mothers

Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the women of theory who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.

Give them the strength to live and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly. Give them the faithful support of husband, family and friends as they care for the physical and spiritual growth of their children. Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood. Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most. Amen.

The Samaritan Woman

The theme of baptism continues in this Sunday’s Gospel, re-affirming that Pascha is a feast of resurrection and of baptism, being born into eternal life. The center of Jesus’ conversation with this unnamed woman (the Church later gave her the name Photine, the “enlightened woman”) is about water. They met at Jacob’s well, a place of great tradition, a sign and a promise of God’s love and mercy for his people. Jacob’s well provided the riches of water to a desert place, the sign that God would always provide for and bless his people. However, the encounter with the woman reveals something more: Jesus is the Messiah to come, he is greater than the Patriarch Jacob. The water of Jacob’s well is only for this world, Jesus would give “the water that would become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. (John 4:14)” This clearly refers to our baptisms, as it comes immediately after the comparison of Jesus with John the Baptist, and the baptisms done by Jesus’ disciples.

We renew our baptism every time we receive Communion, and they are for life, for eternal life, from God, the giver of life. A couple of observations: as for Nathaniel, Jesus signs his ministry with intimate knowledge of the people he meets. He sees Nathaniel under the fig tree, and he tells the woman about her five husbands. In both cases, they become his disciple because of his knowledge of him. This is a theme of John’s Gospel, the shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him. Second, it should be to our wonder that Jesus always comes to the most underprivileged. To whom does he reveal the mystery of eternal life in baptism: to the paralytic who had no friends, to the woman who had led a shameful life, and came to the well at noon who no one else would be there, and to the blind man suspected of sin because of his blindness. And the disciples marvel that Jesus speaks to a woman! Not just any woman, but a heretical, decadent Samaritan woman! Are we humble enough to accept Jesus as our Messiah?

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

50th Ukrainian Day Festival

Dear CT State Ukrainian Day Committee Members & Clergy:

The first meeting for the 50th CT State Ukrainian Day Festival will be held on Monday, May 22, 2017 beginning at 6:30PM. His Excellency, Bishop Paul, will be in attendance.

The meeting will be hosted by:
SS Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church
105 Clifton Ave.
Ansonia, Ct.

Refreshments will be served before the actual meeting.

Because of time restraints and conflicts, the committee could not schedule a final meeting of the 49th Festival and distribution of proceeds. Therefore, at this meeting we will be providing the final report for last year’s festival, as well as voting and presenting the distributions.

We hope that everyone can make this very important meeting. Everybody is welcome to attend, so please invite others from your parish to join for this meeting especially those who contributed to last year’s festival by volunteering that day and/or preparing food for the event. New members and ideas are always welcome.

Save the Date: Sunday, September 10, 2017 – 50th CT State Ukrainian Day Festival

We ask all clergy to please make the announcement about the meeting and 50th Festival in your parish bulletin and during liturgies.

Sincerely Yours In Christ

Donald K. Horbaty
Roman Stanislavskyy
Festival Co-Chairman

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, 5/07/17    Fourth Sunday of Pascha —Healing of the Paralytic Man
10:00 a.m. Pro Populo
Moleben to the Mother of God

Epistle: Acts 9:32-42
Gospel: John 5:1-15, Tone 3

Monday, 5/08/17    Holy Apostle and Evangelist John
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, 5/09/17    Translation of the Relics of Nicholas of Myra
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Wednesday, 5/10/17    Holy Apostle Simon the Zealot
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Thursday, 5/11/17    Holy Apostles Cyril and Methodius
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 5/12/17    Holy Father Epiphanius and Germanus
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Saturday, 5/13/17    Holy Martyr Glyceria
8:00 a.m. +Catherine and Joseph Levitzky (Pan.) requested by Joseph M. Levitzky

Sunday, 5/14/17    Fifth Sunday of Pascha —the Samaritan Women
8:30 a.m. Moleben to the Mother of God – Sestrichi
9:00 a.m. Pro Populo

Epistle: Acts 11:19-26 and 29-30
Gospel: John 4:5-42, Tone 4

Looking ahead liturgically

May 25, Ascension Thursday
May 29, Fifth All Souls Sunday
June 4, Solemnity of Pentecost
June 5, Feast of the Holy Trinity
June 11, All Saints Sunday

Parish announcements this week

Christ is risen!!!

1. WELCOME NEW PARISHIONERS! New parishioners are always welcomed in our parish. If someone wants to register with our parish please contact Father Iura Godenciuc at 865-0388 or our financial secretary Natalie Chermak at 468-0367.

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

3. TODAY, we will celebrate only one (1) Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.  After the Divine Liturgy we will hold our Annual Parish meeting in the church hall. All parishioners are invited to attend.

4. ROOF REPAIR FUND: Please make a generous contribution to allow us to repair the leaking roof of the Church Hall and other roof structures adjoining the Church and the Hall. These roofs must be repaid to prevent serious water damage to our property and we cannot pay for them from regular weekly collection. Roof Repair Fund envelope are available in the vestibule of our church for your special sacrificial gift. Thank you for helping to keep our physical structures in good condition for our use today and for the next generation tomorrow.

5. NEXT Pyrohy Saturday: We will be making pyrohy on Saturday, May 20th. We need your help also on Friday, May 19th to peel potatoes . Please come and help. See Walter Ushchak for ways to help this vital parish activity.

6. The next meeting of the Ukrainian –American Veteran Bishop John Stock Post 33 of New Haven will be held on Sunday, May 21, 2017. We will begin the meeting immediately following the second Divine Liturgy. The meeting will be held in Classroom 2. For more information, contact the Post Commander Carl Harvey at 203-389-6076 or crharv384@optimum.net.

7. City of New Haven Memorial Day Ceremonies on May 28th

The observance this year will feature two wreath-laying ceremonies and a free patriotic concert. At 1:00 p.m. at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial park on Long Wharf Drive, there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at the V-shaped monument. At 3:00 p.m., the ceremony will be at the World War Memorial Flagpole on the New Haven Green.  At 5:00 p.m. there will be a FREE patriotic concert featuring Orchestra New England at the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts. For more information or to obtain tickets to the concert, contact Carl R. Harvey, Commander, UAV Post 33 by calling(203)389-6076 or by e-mail at crharv3841@optimum.net prior to May 18th.

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Sunday of the Paralytic Man

A mystery might be defined as something hidden or veiled.

In Jesus our Lord the mystery was revealed, as St. Paul tells us, “the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past … has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.” (Colossians 1:26-27)

St. John Chrysostom also describes the mystery. He tells us that if an unbeliever enters a church during a baptism, all he sees is people being washed. But a believer sees people being reborn in the Spirit. The unbeliever sees only with the eyes of the body, the believer sees with the inner eyes of the soul.

When we are baptized all our body sees and feels is water, but by the Spirit our sins are washed away and we become children of God.

When we receive Holy Communion, all we see and taste with the eyes and mouth of the body is bread and wine. But with the eyes of the Spirit we see the forgiveness of sins and the bread of life. In baptism, we made a commitment to Christ and we renounced the slavery of sin. St. Paul: “Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. (Romans 6:3-4)”

Therefore, today’s story of the Paralytic Man. He sees the water of Bethesda, but it is the presence of God, Jesus our Lord come in the power of the Spirit, who gives him the strength to walk. This teaches us that by ourselves we cannot be healed or saved. We need the grace and strength of God to find forgiveness and life. Baptism is not just the day of our washing in water consecrated by the Spirit, it is renewed every day by our choice again and again to follow Christ day by day. Baptism, Communion, Forgiveness and Life are constant realities leading us to the fullness of life in Christ.

Patriarch’s birthday

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych, major archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, is pictured in Rome, Feb. 23, 2016. (CNS photo/Paul Haring).

Today is the 47th birthday of our Patriarch, Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kiev-Halych.

Since March 23, 2011 he has served as the Father of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Offer a prayer for His Beatitude!

May is the Month of Our Lady

In addition to the myriad of feast days honoring Our Lady in her many titles and virtues, the entire month of May is especially given to her praise. In the words of Pope Paul VI: May is “a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God . . . For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God’s merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother’s throne.”

The Myrrh-Bearers – Third Sunday of Pascha

This Sunday presents us with the proclamation of the resurrection according to St. Mark.

We are first confronted with the death of our Lord. Joseph of Arimathea goes to Pilate to reclaim the body. Pilate wonders that he died so quickly, while Joseph entombs his body with great care and love. As Christians we must confront the reality that Jesus died as a sign of his love. His glory was the Cross, making the Christian faith unique – love is found in sacrifice, life is found in death, power is found in service. And St. Paul’s words are read on Good Friday: “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside.’ (1 Corinthians 1:18-19)” Believing in the Resurrection, we are confronted with the Christian paradox that the world cannot understand.

The women go to the tomb on the third day, but Jesus is not there. The young man announces to them: ““Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him. (Mark 16:6)” The women are told to announce the resurrection, but they fail to do so, “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:8)” This too is a challenge to our faith. Where do we seek the Christ? Can we today complete the mission the women were entrusted with, can we proclaim the resurrection? Do we understand the gospel and commit ourselves to the Lord, “who trampled upon death by death.”

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras

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, 4/30/17     Third Sunday of Pascha of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
10:30 a.m.  Pro Populo

Epistle: Acts 6:1-7
Gospel: Mark 15:43-16-8, Tone 2

Monday, 5/01/17 Holy Prophet Jeremiah
8:00 a.m. no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Tuesday, 5/02/17    Holy Father Athanasius the Great
9:00 a.m. God’s blessing and health for Mary Ann Yursha requested by the Sestrichi

Wednesday, 5/03/17    Passing of Theodosius of the Cave
9:00 a.m.  +Ivan and Halyna Lobay  requested by Maria Lobay

Thursday, 5/04/17    Holy Venerable Martyr Pelagia
8:00 a.m.  no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Friday, 5/05/17    Holy and Glorious Martyr Irene
8:00 a.m.  no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Saturday, 5/06/17    The Holy and Righteous Job
8:00 a.m.  no intention for the Divine Liturgy

Sunday 5/07/17    Fourth Sunday of Pascha of the Paralytic
10:00 a.m. Pro Populo

Epistle: Acts 9:32-42
Gospel: John 5:1-15, Tone 2