During this Year dedicated to Consecrated Life, we pray for the communities of consecrated life: monasteries, congregations, religious orders, lay institutes and for their holy vocations. OFFIICIIAL PUBLIICATIION OF THE UKRAIINIIAN CATHOLIIC EPARCHY OF STAMFORD ССіівваачч SSoowweerr VOL XXXIIII; No.. 3 STAMFORD,, CONNECTIICUT 06902 MARCH 29,, 2015 www..stamforddiio..org www..stamforddiio..org CChhrriisstt iis RRiisseenn!! IInnddeeeedd He iis RRiisseenn!! MMayy tthhe Riissenn May yourr hhomme Lord bring be fiilllleedd wiitthh allll ppeacee,, jjooyy andd tthhe blessiings of happiiness to thiis Holly you and to allll season. yyourr lloovveedd ones. If any man be devout and love God, and honors the acts and praises the offering. By descending into hell, he made hell captive. let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. He embittered it when it tasted of his flesh. Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord, And Isaiah, foretelling this, cried: If any man be a wise servant, and receive your reward, "Hell was embittered when it encountered let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord. both the first and likewise the second. thee in the lower regions." If any have labored long in fasting, You rich and poor together, It was embittered, for it was abolished. let him now receive his recompense. hold high festival. It was embittered, for it was mocked. If any have wrought from the first hour, You sober and you heedless, It was embittered, for it was slain. let him today receive his just reward. honor the day. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. If any have come at the third hour, Rejoice today, It took a body, and met God face to face. let him with thankfulness keep the feast. both you who have fasted It took earth, and encountered heaven. and you who have disregarded the fast. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the If any have arrived at the sixth hour, unseen. let him have no misgivings, The table is fully laden; because he shall in no wise be deprived. feast sumptuously. O Death, where is your sting? If any have delayed until the ninth hour, The calf is fatted; O Hell, where is your victory? let him draw near, fearing nothing. let no one go hungry away. Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, Enjoy the feast of faith; Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. let him also be not alarmed at his tardiness; receive all the riches of loving-kindness. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, Christ is risen, and life reigns. will accept the last even as the first; Let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in he gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, the grave. even as unto him who has worked from the first hour. Let no one weep for his iniquities, For Christ, being risen from the dead, And He shows mercy upon the last, for pardon has shone forth from the grave. is become the first-fruits of those who have and cares for the first; Let no one fear death, fallen asleep. and to the one he gives, and upon the other he bestows for the Savior's death has set us free: To him be glory and dominion unto ages of gifts. he that was held prisoner of it has ages. Amen. And he both accepts the deeds, annihilated it. and welcomes the intention, Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom ХХррииссттоосс ВВооссккрреесс!! ВВооііссттииннуу ВВооссккрреесс!! 22 MARCH 29,, 2015 SOWER POPE FRANCIS’ LLIIGGHHTT OONNEE CCAANNDDLLEE Address to Ukrainian Bishops Jerry Costello on Their Ad Limina Visit for The Christophers February 20, 2015 FINDING GOD’S LIGHT IN THE FACE OF TRAGEDY Your Beatitude, Lord Archbishop, Dear Brother Bishops, At our annual gathering of family and friends for I welcome you in this house, which is also your house. And Christmastime this year, I chose for a reading a short piece by you know this well, because the Successor of Peter has always Jennifer Hubbard. I’ve never met her, but she must be an amaz- received with fraternal friendship the Brothers of Ukraine, coun- ing woman: she and her husband lost one of their two children, try that, rightfully, is considered borderland between the heirs of Vladimir and Olga and those of Adalbert and a beautiful six-year-old daughter named Catherine, to the of the great Carolingian missions, as well as those that refer to the Holy Apostles of the Slavs, Cyril and school shooting at Newtown, Connecticut. She wrote about the Methodius. And even earlier, there are the traditions, documented in part, which mention the Apostle Andrew baby Jesus and said, “He will guide our way—restore our tired and the two Martyr Popes Saint Clement and Saint Martin I. You are welcome, very beloved. and weary hearts.” And she concluded: “He will lead us into With care I learned about your problems, which are not few, as well as about your pastoral pro- his light where we will once again be four.” grams. We entrusted them with confidence to the Mother of God and our Mother, who watches over all with To lose a child under the unimaginable horrors of the tender love. As a country, you find yourselves in a situation of grave conflict, which is being protracted for Newtown shootings and still cling to your faith—“we will once several months and continues to claim numerous innocent victims and to cause great suffering to the entire again be four”—is truly awe-inspiring. population. In this period, as I have assured you on many occasions directly and through Cardinal Envoys, I Then I read about Trudy and Lud Koci, and once again am particularly close to you with my prayer for the deceased and for all those affected by the violence, with I was blown away. The couple, from West Bloomfield, prayer to the Lord that He may soon grant peace and with the appeal, to all the parties concerned, that the Michigan, have remained steadfast in their faith even though agreements reached by common accord be implemented and that the principle of international legality be death has claimed four of their children. Four! I don’t know respected, in particular, that the truce recently signed be observed and that all other commitments be imple- mented, which are conditions to avoid the renewal of hostilities. how they do it—or I didn’t know, that is, until I read Marge I know the historical problems that have marked your land and are still present in the collective Fenelon’s account of the Kocis’ story in Our Sunday Visitor. memory. They are questions that, in part, have a political basis, and to which you are not called to give a direct Then I began to understand. response, but there are also socio-cultural realities and human dramas that await your direct and positive con- Judging from Fenelon’s story, the Kocis are something tribution. What is important in such circumstances is to listen carefully to the voices that come from the land, of a remarkable couple. Married for 57 years, they have eight where the people live who are entrusted to your pastoral care. Listening to the people, you make them solic- children, all adults themselves. Three are biological; five were itous of the values that characterize them: encounter, collaboration, the capacity to resolve controversies -- in adopted internationally. Four have died tragically—a biological a few words: the search for a possible peace. You fertilize this ethical patrimony with charity, the divine love son in a bike accident, an adopted Vietnamese daughter in a car that gushes from the heart of Christ. I know well that, at the local level, you have specific agreements and crash, a biological daughter from a brain injury, and an adopted practices among you, heirs of two legitimate spiritual traditions -- the Oriental and the Latin --, as well as with son from India, who had a degenerative brain disease. the other Christians present among you. This beyond being a duty is also an honor that must be recognized. “Their ability to endure the tragedies has nothing to do At the national level, you are full citizens of your country, and therefore you have the right to expose, with their own volition and everything to do with God’s grace,” also jointly, your thought about their destinies. Not in the sense of promoting a concrete political action, but Fenelon wrote. “That, they say, was what got them through it in the indication and reaffirmation of the values that constitute the coagulating element of Ukrainian society, all.” persevering in the tireless search for concord and the common good, despite the grave and complex difficul- Mrs. Koci added, “The Eucharist helped more than ties faced. The Holy See is at your side, also at that of international entities, to make your rights, your con- anything. If you really believe what the Eucharist is, how can it cerns and the just evangelical values that motivate you, understood. Moreover, it is searching to see in what not help you?” ways it can meet the pastoral necessities of those ecclesiastical structures that also find themselves facing new A longtime family friend, Father Tim Whalen, thought juridical questions.The crisis triggered off in your country has had, as is understandable, grave repercussions he had another reason or two.