SS Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church

JANUARY 24, 2021

Saturday, Jan. 23                 

             4:00 PM                 God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners

Sunday, Jan. 24                      SUNDAY OF THE PUBLICAN & THE PHARISEE

            8:30 AM         Helen Youells – Louise Hubiack

Saturday, January 30

            4:00 PM                    ✞Robert Bath, Jr. – Joanne Rovinski, Stacy Hart & family.

Sunday, January 31                SUNDAY OF THE PRODIGAL SON

           8:30 AM                      God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners                            

The four Sundays (Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican, 

Sunday of the Prodigal Son, Sunday of Meat-Fare and 

Sunday of Cheese-Fare) form a pre-Lenten period, 

preparing us for the Lenten season 

Faith might not be as precise as logic,

but it is much more comforting.

Khrystos Razhdayetsia – Christ is Born

The Publican and the Pharisee

Before the soldier goes to battle, he undergoes a long period of military training to prepare himself physically and psychologically for combat and to enable him to bear the burdens and inconveniences of military life.

In like manner, holy Church, our good Mother, prepares us, her children, spiritually for the struggles we must undergo before she imposes upon us the strict Great Fast (Forty-Days Fast). This is precisely the aim of the four pre-Lenten Sundays, which begin with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee and end with Cheese fare Sunday. In the Church services of those Sunday’s, holy Church places before our eyes several biblical scenes: the proud Pharisee and the humble Publican, the conversion of the Prodigal Son, the scene of the Last Judgment and the expulsion of our First Parents from Paradise. These dramatic scenes have the power to move us to the depths; they reveal God’s mercy and justice, and convince us of the need for conversion and penance for our salvation. Meditation on these events should evoke in us a serious attitude toward fasting; convincing us of its necessity and benefit as it gradually prepares us for the Fast itself.

PIGGIE/HOLUBTSI DINNER: Saints Peter & Paul Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Wilkes-Barre will hold a take-out Piggie / Holubtsi Dinner on Sunday, January 31^st, 2021.  Dinners may be picked up between 12:00 (noon) and 3:00 pm in Our Parish Parking Lot, corner of North River and West Chestnut Streets, Wilkes-Barre.  Dinner includes; Piggies (meat & rice stuffed cabbage), mashed potatoes, vegetable, bread and butter and dessert.  Dinners will be $12.00 for adults and $7.00 for children (12 and under).  Drive-up customers will be welcomed, but reservations are Strongly Encouraged, (570) 829-3051.

GROW WITH GOD

Grace is a gift from God that enables us to live more fully in union with Him. It strengthens our desire to choose good over evil. It also helps us to manage difficulties in our lives better. When we feel humility, compassion, forgiveness we’re putting others’ needs before our own. These are signs of God’s graces working within us. 

When we let Him work through us, we help Him to do the same for others. We can show His love for others in how we treat them and in how we pray for them. 

Sympathy: Our sincere sympathy on the news that Father Frank Patrylak was called to his eternal rest on Wednesday January 20, 2021. Details were not available at this time. 

JANUARY 10, 2021

aturday, Jan. 9

4:00 PM ✞Eugene Slabinski – Ron & Dortha Bienick

Sunday, Jan. 10 SUNDAY AFTER THE THEOPHANY

8:30 AM God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners  



Saturday, Jan. 16 

4:00 PM           ✞Frank Cembrock – Ellen Demchak  

Sunday, Jan. 17 THIRTY SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

8:30 AM God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners

⬥⧫⬥⧫⬥⧫⬥⧫⬥⧫⬥

Transfiguration of Our Lord Weekend Liturgy

Saturday 6:00 PM    Sunday 10:30 AM

I cannot change yesterday…

I can only make the most of today…

And look hopefully toward tomorrow

Khrystos Razhdayetsia – Christ is Born

Slavyte Yeho – Glorify

 Live A Happier Life

Next time you wake up, instead of dreading the day ahead,
rise and shine and expect something wonderful to happen today!

When you go outside, notice people going about their lives,
and wonder to yourself what they’re thinking, and if they’re happy.

Feel the rain or wind on your face, don’t hide from it.  Isn’t it refreshing?

Smile at everyone you meet. It is a fact that people tend to
respond to the look you are wearing on your own face!

Wiggle your toes if you are bored. Be happy that you have toes to wiggle!

Be polite, and say please and thank you.
That girl taking your order at the fast food place
is a human being, too – be nice to her.

When you are eating, really slow down and enjoy every bite of what you are eating!
It’s good … well, and even if you don’t like it, isn’t it great that you have food?

Never underestimate yourself! You are always growing and learning.
Just because you didn’t succeed at something
in the past doesn’t mean you can’t get it right this time around!

Stop complaining about your life. Never take for granted all the joys and freedoms
you have. Remember those who have less. Tell everyone who is important to you how you feel about them! You do not ever want to spend your days regretting things you never told them.

And last but never least; remember that life is about love.
Give love when you can, and it will be given to you!

THIS NEW YEAR

Give us through this New Year quietness of mind
Teach us to be patient and always to be kind.
Give us reassurance when everything goes wrong
So our faith remains unfaltering and our hope and courage strong.
And show us that in quietness we can feel Your presence near
filling us with joy and peace throughout this New Year.

SANCTUARY LIGHT: A new chart is available for your request to have a Sanctuary Light burn for your loved ones either in honor of or in memory of. This light burns for the week starting on a Saturday and ends on Friday. Requests have been very sparse so please try to consider having a light shine by your request. 

ENVELOPES:  If you know of a parishioner who did not pick up their envelopes for 2021, please see if you can deliver them if they are your neighbors or friends. Thank you.

A Year of Time. .

    …Though even thinking on the subject of time may prove discomforting, it is not a bad idea—especially at the beginning of a new year.

As we look into 2021  we look at a block of time. We see 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds. And all is a gift from God. We have done nothing to deserve it, earn it, or purchased it. Like the air we breathe, time comes to us as a part of life.

    The gift of time is not ours alone. It is given equally to each person. Rich and poor, educated and ignorant, strong and weak—every man, woman and child has the same twenty-four hours every day.

    Another important thing about time is that you cannot stop it. There is no way to slow it down, turn it off, or adjust it. Time marches on.

    And you cannot bring back time. Once it is gone, it is gone. Yesterday is lost forever. If yesterday is lost, tomorrow is uncertain. We may look ahead at a full year’s block of time, but we really have no guarantee that we will experience any of it.  Obviously, time is one of our most precious possessions. We can waste it. We can worry over it. We can spend it on ourselves. Or, as good stewards, we can invest it in the kingdom of God.

    The New Year is full of time. As the seconds tick away, will you be tossing time out the window, or will you make every minute count?

JANUARY 3, 2021

Saturday, Jan. 2

4:00 PM ✞ Anna Giza – Kathleen Miick 

Sunday, Jan. 3 SUNDAY BEFORE THE THEOPHANY

8:30 AM God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners  



         This brand new year

            As now you humbly pray

      You had secure in our dear Lord

     Each step along the way.

Lord I have no idea what’s going to happen in this New Year but all I pray is that you will guide me, and help me! Please help me to look to you always, and through everything that I do, May I bring praise and glory to Your name, I thank you Lord for another year. Amen.

Wednesday, Jan. 6 THE HOLY THEOPHANY – BLESSING OF WATER

10:00 AM Great Compline – Z Namy Boh – Litia Service – Divine Liturgy 

 Anointing with Holy Oil 

God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners 

Saturday, Jan. 9

4:00 PM ✞Eugene Slabinski – Ron & Dortha Bienick

Sunday, Jan. 10 SUNDAY AFTER THE THEOPHANY

8:30 AM God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners

Transfiguration of Our Lord Weekend Liturgy

Saturday 6:00 PM     –        Sunday 10:30 AM

Recipe for a Happy New Year.

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past sins—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time. Into each day put equal parts of prayer, fasting, faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, kindness, love, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), contemplation, and one well-selected resolution. Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

Anonymous

THE EPIPHANY

FEAST OF LIGHT

JANUARY 6^TH

On this day, Dear Savior,

Your light shines brightly in our midst.

You are the Light of the World, the Light in our darkness, ever with us, ever showing us the way.

On this great feast of Light, when the Magi came guided by a star, 

may we, like them, offer You gifts that symbolize our love for You.

May we offer You the gold of our faith, the myrrh of our repentance

 and the frankincense of our devotion.

May we bow before You, Holy Savior,

 as the three Wise Men did, with great and abiding joy.

On this day, may we, too, stand in Your light 

and so give glory to our God. Amen.

Give a Kind Word

Do you know a heart that hungers for a word of love and cheer?

There are many such about us; it may be that one is near.

Look around you, if you find it speak the word that’s needed so,

And your own heart may be strengthened by the help that you bestow.

Never think kind words are wasted, bread on waters cast are they

And it may be we shall find them coming back to us, some day.

WATER BLESSING

On the feast of Theophany is the Great Water-Blessing of Jordan Water, for Jesus was not baptized by the Jordan but Jesus Christ who baptized the whole world through the Jordan.  This sacred tradition of the Eastern Church can be traced back to the first centuries of Christianity. In the course of time, different rites developed for the Great Water-Blessing on the feast of Theophany. From earliest times our people have greatly cherished the custom of the Great Water-Blessing (Blessing of Jordan Water). The people attached great significance of the Blessed Jordan Water which they kept in their homes as something possessing great sanctifying powers. 

From very ancient times the Eastern Church has regarded the sanctified Jordan water as a great sacramental, possessing miraculous powers for healing both soul and body. In a sermon on the feast of Theophany St. John Chrysostom says: “This is the day on which Christ was baptized and blessed the substance of water. For this reason, at midnight of this feast, the faithful take water home and keep it throughout the year. It is interesting to note that this blessed water is not spoiled for a long time; it remains fresh even for two or three years, and after such a long period its quality does not differ from the water recently brought from the well.” The Greek Church calls the Jordan water “mega hagisma” which signifies “something very sacred.