Christ is among us!
Blessings of Homes: If you would like to bless your house please fill the form that are in the vestibule or call the rectory office 203-865-0388.
If you would like to have a Confession, Holy Communion or prayer of the sick at your house or nursing home, please call the rectory at 203-865-0388.
Sorokooutsy (All Souls Saturdays) will be celebrated on Saturdays, February 18, March 4, 11, 18 and May 27. Please take a book found at the entrance of the church, 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!
Tantsi —Ukrainian Folk Dancing for older kids, 6 and up, started on Friday, January 20, with a Parent Meeting 6pm with Stephanie Tomaszewsky, instructor and in partnership with Artistic Director Orlando Pagan. Classes will start on January 27. All parents and students should attend. Any questions will be answered that night. Please contact Halia Lodynsky by text if you have any questions at 203-494-6278.
FOOD DONATIONS: A container is in our church vestibule for non-perishable food. This collection will be taken twice per month. Father Iura will distribute the food to the Little Sisters of the Poor who have offered to help in the Ukrainian crisis. Thank you for your generosity and your support.
PYROHY: There will be pyrohy (varenyky, pierogi) for sale in the church hall as long as supplies last.
Though there is no special office for this Sunday, it is commonly seen as the beginning of our preparation for the Feast of our Lord’s Resurrection. Today we must be Zacchaeus. When Jesus came to Jericho, “Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.” Today is where we start our search for God, who is coming to take away the sin of the world. Today we must be filled with the desire to see God, as was Zacchaeus. Today we must acknowledge our sins, for Jesus is coming to our church, today he is coming into our homes, more exactly, into the home of our heart. What a contrast between Zacchaeus and the Blind Man of Jericho who could not see and begged Jesus for sight.
The coffin of the late Pope Benedict XVI is placed in its final resting place in the grottos of St. Peter’s Basilica. The cypress coffin is placed inside a zinc coffin which is placed inside an oak coffin and then buried.
Yesterday, January 3rd, the container we packed with boxes of winter coats for kids, clothes and medical supplies on November 12, 2022 finally arrived to our people in Ukraine. Father Roman (our point person in Ukraine) AND his team have unpacked and distributed the donations.
Saint Basil the Great was born to a wealthy yet pious family at Caesarea in 330. Highly educated in philosophy, philology, oratory, law, naturalist, astronomy, mathematics and medicine, he developed a close friendship with Saint Gregory the Theologian in Athens. He later returned to Caesarea, where he became an ascetic and laid the foundations of Eastern monasticism, later being joined by Saint Gregory.