Remember to support your parish

Dear Parishioners of St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church:

Although we are all saddened by the loss of our beloved Divine Liturgy in church, we are encouraging everyone who uses envelopes at the parish to please mail them in. We rely on the weekly collection to meet the mission of the Parish and our budget.

Please be so kind as to place your donation into your weekly donation envelope and enclose that into an envelope addressed to:

St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church
569 George Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Thank you and be assured of my continued prayers for all our parishioners,

Fr. Iura Godenciuc

Divine Liturgy for the week

Glory to Jesus Christ

Sunday, 3/29, 5th Sunday of Lent
10:00 a.m. For the people of the parish AND For all sick people from corona virus

Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-14
Gospel: Mark 10:32-45, Tone 1

Monday, 3/30, Our Venerable John Climacus
9:00 a.m. God’s blessings for the Yanovski, Korenovski, Chermak families requested by the Chermak family

Tuesday, 3/31, Holy Bishop Hypatius
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Wednesday, 4/01, Our Venerable Mary of Egypt
9:00 a.m. +Sophie Plachtyna requested by Sestretsi

Thursday, 4/02, Our Venerable Wonderworker Titus
9:00 a.m. God’s blessings for Stephania and Melania Korenovsky requested by the Chermak family

Friday, 4/03, Our Venerable Confessor Nicetas
9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts

Saturday, 4/04, Our Venerable Joseph and George; Saturday of Lazarus
9:00 a.m. No intention for the Divine Liturgy

Sunday, 4/05, Palm Sunday
10:00 a.m. For the people of the parish AND For all sick people from corona virus
Blessing of Pussy willows

Epistle: Philippians 4:4-9
Gospel: John 12:1-18, Tone 2

Parish announcements this week

Christ is among us!

This week vigil light is offered to God’s glory by Natalyia and Roman Sokhan in memory of Yaroslava Kalynec.

Asleep in the Lord: Lew Markiw. Please remember him in your prayers. Eternal Memory! 

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, there will be no Knights of Columbus meetings until further notice.

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the 1st meeting of the CT State Ukrainian Day has been rescheduled to April 26th, 3:00 p.m. in Ansonia at SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Memorandum of the bishops of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States of America regarding of the COVID-19 pandemic

Public Services

  1. All weekday and Sunday services will be celebrated temporarily without the participation of the assembly of the faithful. Our clergy will continue to celebrate and pray for you and with you vicariously. We will celebrate the Divine Liturgies and other services in behalf of and for all of you, especially for the sick and the healthcare providers. We will beseech the Lord for wise and prudent decisions on the part of government and medical authorities. We will pray for the eternal repose of the deceased. We are obligating our priests to be steadfast in prayer for their flock. Be as Moses, who raised his hands in prayer so that whole people of God could prevail over the enemy (cf. Ex 17, 11-12).
  2. Our churches will remain open for private prayer at designated times. We ask the pastors to guarantee the safety and frequent disinfection of our churches.
  3. We renew and confirm the dispensation from the obligation to participate in Sunday services. At the same time, we ask you to pray as a Domestic Church (as a family or household unit) on Sundays and on Holy Days. We suggest making use of the ZhyveTV and internet resources of your eparchy or parish. Read prayerfully the Holy Scriptures, reflect upon the source and meaning of your life, on God’s love and salvific action on our behalf.
  4. We encourage you to make best use of the quarantine time, which coincides with Great Lent, for personal prayer, reading the Word of God, and building a more profound relationship with Our Lord, our neighbors and in our families.
  5. We ask that all the Lenten practices — e.g., missions and spiritual exercises — be held with the aid of the internet and other means of social communication.

Sacraments and Sacramentals

  1. We kindly ask that you postpone, in consultation with your pastor, the Sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism and Chrismation) and Matrimony.
  2. The faithful can avail themselves of the Sacrament of Repentance (Confession) in church, taking all necessary precautions for social distancing.
  3. In cases of grave illness or danger of death, priests are obligated to administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, while assuring safety for all involved.
  4. Priests will celebrate funerals with the participation only of the immediate family members of the deсeased, according to local regulations regarding public assemblies.

Practical advice

  1. Dear priests, religious, sisters and brothers! If you feel sick, we urge you to stay at home, call your doctor, and obey all medical and civil regulations.
  2. We encourage our pastors to maintain personal contact with their faithful, especially with the elderly and sick by phone and via social media. Our priestly ministry continues without ceasing.
  3. Confessions are to take place in the open, not in a confessional. Safety of the penitent and priest must be assured.
  4. Frequently sanitize with disinfectant whatever people tend to touch in the churches: pews, door handles, etc.
  5. During private prayer in church, maintain a safe distance from each other (6 feet or 2 meters).
  6. Venerate icons and the Cross by bowing your head and with a sign of the cross or by prostrations. Do not kiss icons or the Cross.
  7. Comply with the guidelines and prescriptions of governmental authorities (town, county, state, federal) regarding public gatherings and personal safety.

These norms are effective immediately after being published on Wednesday, March 19, 2020. We carefully follow developments, consult experts and will update our norms and regulations according to new information and circumstances. 

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Annunciation to Mary

Blessed feast of the Annunciation
 
The oldest surviving icon of the Annunciation is found in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria in Rome, Italy, and dates from the second half of the second century. Priscilla is thought to have been a well-to-do Roman who converted to Christianity and was martyred. These Christian catacombs, along with many others found surrounding Rome, are a treasury of early Christian iconography.

Eastern liturgies online

Here is a link to various Eastern liturgies, Catholic and Orthodox, in the USA and Europe. There is also a button for the Deaf community.
 
http://liveliturgy.com

SAINTS AND LADDERS –St John Climacus

SAINTS AND LADDERS

This coming Sunday, the fourth of Lent, the Eastern Churches will commemorate St John of the Ladder (Climacus)(c579-649) monk and abbot of Mount Sinai and author of “The Ladder of Divine Ascent”, 30 stages rising through attention and humility into love and union with God.

The image of ascent remains perhaps for most of us when the exact words of the saint are forgotten and we may also find inner resonance to these words about Ascent this time of a stairway not obviously what some would expect the way to heaven to be. (see End Notes also if interested)

Mother to Son
By Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

END NOTES
1.with title we nod to an unrelated board game and
2. the photo is of Hughes with his mother and step father.
3. Jacob’s Ladder seen in a dream as connecting earth and heaven is not simply of ascent but a circulation up and down like the flow of arterial and veinous blood , may this be another and complamentary image of what in fact prayer and the psychospiritual life of a person may be.
— this circulation of heaven and earth is not I think John Climacus’ intention but he is the first to in writing give the Jesus Prayer in its full form and all centering or mantric prayer has the effect of following the circulation of breath and blood and life…
4.”Now I am climbed up and mounted so very high that I dare not look back for fear a giddiness should take me; and I have now but a short length of ladder to the mark to which it is the whole desire, longing, and delight of my heart to reach fully. When I go upward I have no giddiness at all; but when I look back and would return, then am I giddy and afraid to fall.”

Need food or groceries?

For those parishioners in need of food or other groceries, Father Iura is offering to purchase. We are looking to respond to this need for our parish elderly and shut-ins need.

If you are need, or are able to assist Father, please call 203-865-0388.

“Whatever you did for one of these least ones of mine, you did for me.” (Jesus Christ)