Saturday, Jan. 17
4:00 PM Good Health and God’s Blessings for
Dorothy Wujcik – Sons Les & Len Wujcik
Sunday, Jan. 18 SUNDAY OF ZACCAHEUS
8:30 AM God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioner
Thursday, Jan. 22
9:00 AM Gloria Suscavage – Paul & Susan Suscavage
Saturday, Jan. 24
4:00 PM Helen Harnen – Stanly & Mary Lou Grontkowski & Family
Sunday, Jan. 25 SUNDAY OF PUBLICAN AND THE PHARISEE
8:30 AM God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners
DIVINE LITURGY REQUESTS: If you have a request for a Divine Liturgy, you will please call Father Popyk at the rectory in Nanticoke. The number is – 570-735-2262. Father has his book for the listings and the Divine Liturgy can be entered as you call. Thank you.
Easter is upon us in the coming weeks. Easter Sunday is April 5, 2015
THE EASTER CYCLE
The Easter Cycle begins with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (next week, Sunday the 25th), ten weeks before Easter, and terminates eight weeks after Easter with the Sunday of All Saints. The Easter cycle is divided into pre-paschal, the season or period before Easter, and the Easter season.
The pre-paschal season consists of four Sundays preceding Lent. These are: The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Meatfare and Cheesefare Sundays, and also the Great Fast of the Forty days Fast – which extends from Cheesefare Sunday to Palm Sunday, and finally, Passion Week – which is usually included in the Great Fast.
The Easter cycle lasts from the Sunday of St. Thomas (the Sunday after Easter) to the Sunday of All Saints. The period from Easter to Pentecost embraces fifty days and is called by the common name of Pentecost. The Sundays in the Easter season are each named for the event recounted in the gospel of that day. These occur in the following order: the Sunday of St. Thomas, the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women, the Sunday of the Paralytic, the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, the Sunday of the Blind Man, the Sunday of the Fathers of the Church, the Sunday of the Descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost) and the Sunday of All Saints. The Easter season, i.e., the post feast of the Resurrection, lasts forty days, that is, to the feast of the Ascension of our Lord.
The principal aim of the Paschal cycle, first of all, is to prepare our hearts and souls for a worthy encounter with the Risen Christ. We prepare ourselves for this joyful meeting by humble prayer, fasting, penance and meditation on the Passion and sufferings of Christ. This preparation culminates in Easter Confession and Holy Communion. And so, with a pure heart, we go forth to meet the Risen Christ, singing the hymn of victory: “Christ is risen from the dead, by death He conquered death, and to those in the graves, He granted l
BLESSING OF HOMES
Among the various petitions mentioned in the ceremony during the blessing of the water is the sanctification of homes. With this the Church imposes a duty and obligation upon the priests to bless the homes of the faithful entrusted to their pastoral care at the beginning of the New Year. Theologically speaking, the blessing of homes constitutes an invocative blessing, meaning that by his prayer and by the sprinkling of the Holy Water the priest invokes God’s protection upon the home and those living in it.
As our souls, so also our homes become tainted by the sins of those living in them and, consequently, lose God’s protective power. Every year, then, at the Feast of the Epiphany, they should be blessed again to secure for them God’s blessings and protection. Just as the faithful cleanse their soul of sin at least ONCE A YEAR, and the church is blessed with the newly blessed water every year, so should the homes of the faithful be yearly blessed to invoke God’s blessings and protection on it and its inhabitants.
As we renew the insurance on our home every year, so we should renew our insurance of God’s protection and his blessing which is of greater importance and more effective. As we welcome our priest during the holy season of Epiphany to bless our home, let us be mindful that he is bringing to us the “blessing of Jordan,” and that unless God protects and blesses our home, we “labor in vain.” (Ps. 127:1)
BLESSINGS OF HOMES: Anyone interested in having their home blessed, please submit your name, address and phone number in the collection basket, the list in the vestibule or contact Father Popyk
SANCTUARY LIGHT: The Sanctuary Light is requested to burn the week of Jan. 17 – 24 by Albert Ferkel in memory of Parents Albert & Catherine Ferkel.
Dates for the Sanctuary Light is available for the weeks of Jan. 31-Feb. 7 and
Feb. 14-21
HELP NEEDED: We will be dismantling the Nativity Scene this Sunday, January 18 about 10:30 AM. Help is needed to do this job. Please anyone who can come to help in this project will be greatly appreciated. If we have enough workers it can be accomplished in a few hours.
MYASOPUSNA – MEATFARE SUNDAY:Dinner tickets are now available for the Myasopusna Festival to be held at the Transfiguration of Our Lord Church Hall in Nanticoke, PA on Sunday, February 8, 2015 from noon to 3:30 PM. The Myasopusna (Meatfare) festival is the parish’s annual prelenten celebration, preceding the Lenten Great Fast. Dinner includes a platter of kobasi, haluptsi (stuffed cabbage), varenyky (pierogis), black bread and butter, and a homemade dessert, and will be served from 12:30 to 1:30 PM. Borscht and beverages will be available for purchase. A variety of Ukrainian crafts, including pysanky, embroidery, woodcrafts, beadwork, and ceramics, will be on display and available for sale or by raffle. Following dinner, live entertainment will include the Holy Year Choir, Kazka Ukrainian Folk Ensemble, and the Saint Mary’s Ukrainian Dancers. Dinner tickets are $15, with an advanced ticket price of $12, if purchased by February 1. The church hall is located at the corners of Bliss Street and Center Street, in the Hanover Section of Nanticok
ST. MARY’S BYZANTINE CATHOLIC CHURCH INTERNATIONAL DINNER CLUB, 320 Mifflin Ave. Scranton, Pa. 18503 presents “A Taste of Greece” prepared exclusively for you by Chef Robert Olecki on Thursday, February 12, 2015 with seatings at 5:30 and 6:30pm. The menu will start with a Greek Salad followed by the Entrée of Braised Lamb Shank served with cous cous with golden raisins, peppers and onions, along with Eggplant Caponata. The dessert will be Galaktoboureko (Greek Custard pie). Coffee, tea, water or soda is included for $20.00 per person and a Cash bar is available. before February 9th with your reservatione..
SS Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church 