EASTER SUNDAY
APRIL 4, 2021
Saturday, April 3 HOLY SATURDAY
6:00 PM Resurrection Matins / Procession / Easter Divine Liturgy
Blessing of Artos – Myrovania – Anointing with Holy Oil
Blessing Easter Foods / Baskets
Sunday, April 4 EASTER SUNDAY – EASTER DIVINE LITURGY
11:30 AM Anointing with Holy Oil – Myrovania
Blessing Easter Foods / Baskets
Monday, April 5 BRIGHT MONDAY
9:00 AM ✞ ✞Mary Ambrose – Jewel Johnstone
Wednesday, April 7 BRIGHT WEDNESDAY
9:00 AM God’s blessings for Matthew Poullard, requested by Gary and
Jacinta Poullard
Saturday, April 10 BRIGHT SATURDAY
4:00 PM ✞ Eugene Slabinski – Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ropietski.
Distribution of Artos and Anointing of Holy Oil
Sunday, April 11 SUNDAY OF ST. THOMAS
8:30 AM God’s Blessings and Good Health for all Parishioners
Distribution of Artos and Anointing of Holy Oil
The Easter Lily
Who doesn’t love to have the nice white lily as part of the Easter gift?
In fact, the lovely white trumpet lily has been enjoying a great favor in being included
as a principal item for church decoration for quite some time. A Lily is the perfect gift of nature to beautify our Easter. Isn’t it?
But its acceptance in America, as such, dates back around the 1800s. It came in with the rise in the Easter observances by the Protestants in America. And, strange, it took some more time to find a widespread acceptance. For, the early Americans those days were not used to seeing a lily waiting to be picked up for the Easter decor. The Native American lilies, for example, the garden or, Madonna lily, bloom in the early summer. Though it could be forced to bloom earlier using the hothouse conditions, the hassles associated did not allow it to be accepted widely. And custom did not find a widespread growth until a lily was imported.
In the 1880s, while in Bermuda, Ms Thomas P Sargent became familiar with a beautiful lily that blooms naturally in springtime. She just fell for this lovely white ‘Bermuda’ lily. She brought its bulbs in back home in Philadelphia. There, a nurseryman called William Harris, fostered its popularity among other florists.
Following this it did not take long for the flower to win the hearts of million to be the main flower of the Easter floral arrangements.
Easter Is The Gift…Easter is the gift of HOPE
Easter is the gift of PEACE
Easter is the gift of LOVE
Let us rejoice in Him,
Who gives them all.
May God bless you at Easter,
And keep you all year through.
May God give you all the faith it takes,
To make your dreams come true.
May His love and wisdom always help,
To guide you on your way.
May His light shine down upon you now,
To bless your Easter Day.
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
Let not your soul be sad
Easter is a time of joy
When all hearts should be glad,
Glad to know that Jesus Christ
Made it possible for men
To have their sins forgiven
And, like Him, to live again . . .
So at this joyous season
May the wondrous Easter Story
Renew our Faith so we may be
Partakers of “His Glory!”
✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠✠
If we could just Lift up our hearts
Like flowers to the sun
And trust
His Easter promise And pray,
“Thy will be done,”
We’d find the peace
We’re seeking,
The kind no man can give-
The peace that comes
From knowing
He died
So we might Live!
During the season of the Pentecost, which extends from the Pasch (Easter) to the Descent of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of the joy of the Resurrection we do not make any bows, nor do we kneel. The Council of Nicea (325) gave us the following rules regarding this matter: “Since there are some who kneel on the day of Lord and during the season of the Pentecost, for the sake of uniformity in all eparchies, the council decrees that during that time prayers be offered up to God while standing”.
May the special blessings of this joyful Easter
Fill your heart with gladness
An Easter Prayer
Of all of God’s gifts
Easter shows us our fate
Forgiven we will rise
And pass through Heaven’s gate
This Easter remember
The sacrifice of a Son
And through His resurrection
Eternal life we have won
This Easter I pray
That the love of God
Is resurrected
Reborn, renewed
Inside your heart
God Bless You
BLESSINGS FOR A JOYOUS HAPPY EASTER
THE GLORIOUS FEAST OF THE RESURRECTION
The resurrection of Christ is incontrovertible proof of his divinity. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith. What meaning would Christ’s teachings have had if the resurrection, which he had so frequently predicted, had not taken place. The Resurrection of Christ is the sure pledge of our own resurrection to a happy everlasting life. Just as Christ rose, so too shall we rise one day to a new and glorious eternal life. Christ Himself assured us of this when He said: “The hour is coming in which all who are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they who have done good shall come forth unto resurrection of life; but they who have done evil unto resurrection of judgment…For this is the will of the Father who sent me, that whoever beholds the Son and believes in Him, shall have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.
The resurrection celebrations begin with a procession around the church, accompanied by the ringing of the church bells. This procession is the symbol of the myrrh-bearing women who went to the grave of the Lord.
After the procession, the Matins of the Resurrection begins before the closed doors of the church, as though before the sealed tomb of our Lord. Here for the first time we hear the joyful hymn: “Christ is risen from the dead…” As the hymn is being sung, the priest opens the doors of the church with the cross, as a sign that Christ’s death opened the gates of heaven.
The Easter Salutation: “Christ is risen!” was spoken for the first time by the angel to the women at the Lord’s tomb. This joyful greeting has already, for hundreds and hundreds of years, echoed among our people throughout the entire Paschal season. By this salutation we express the joy of Easter (The Resurrection) and profess our faith both in Christ’s resurrection and our own.
On the day of the Resurrection the Divine Liturgy is carried out with great solemnity. The reading of the Gospel in different languages signified that the doctrine of Christ is proclaimed in all languages and to all peoples. After each sentence of the Gospel, the church bells are rung to symbolize that the good news of Christ is being proclaimed to all creatures.
The Artos (Greek word which means bread) is the symbol of the bread of everlasting life – our Lord Jesus Christ. Placed on the top of the Artos an icon is tied representing Christ coming forth in glory with a flag of victory in his hand, from the grave. The Artos is blessed and placed on the tetrapod for the people to kiss as a reminder of Christ’s presence among them. It remains throughout the entire Bright Week until Bright Saturday when it is cut up into pieces and distributed to the faithful.
SS Peter & Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church 