{"id":308,"date":"2014-01-06T15:32:26","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T20:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=308"},"modified":"2014-02-03T10:33:44","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T15:33:44","slug":"pastoral-message-of-the-ukrainian-greek-catholic-hierarchy-of-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=308","title":{"rendered":"Pastoral Message of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Hierarchy of USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pastoral Message of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Hierarchy of USA<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year we Ukrainians conclude the Jubilee Year Commemorating the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of our ancestors in the River Dnipro by the Grand Prince, St. Volodymyr the Great, the Equal-to-the-Apostles. Because of this dramatic and blessed event, our people were illuminated by the light of Jesus Christ and His Word penetrated their hearts.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis states in his Encyclical Letter, Lumen Fidei: \u201cThe light of Faith: this is how the Church\u2019s tradition speaks of the great gift brought by Jesus.\u201d The Holy Father continues by quoting St. John\u2019s Gospel where Christ says of Himself: \u201cI have come as Light into the world, that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness\u201d.<\/p>\n

That darkness was shattered by the appearance of a bright star followed by the Wise Men from the East. We are able to celebrate anew the great mystery of our faith \u2013 the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ \u2013 because we inherited this faith from our ancestors. And what a mysterious and magnificent faith this is. The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, took on flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus became man so that all of us can become children of God, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, partakers of His glory.<\/p>\n

All of this is beyond our ability to comprehend. It is astonishing that Almighty God became an infant for our salvation. The Word of God went through the whole process of conception and birth for us.<\/p>\n

This \u201cgood news\u201d was announced to the shepherds. Together with them we are filled with wonder as the heavenly angelic host praises God and sings, \u201cGlory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those who enjoy His favor rests\u201d The Gospel passage continues, \u201cthe shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, in accord with what had been told them\u201d. In one of our Christmas carols we sing: \u201cO Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining, this is the night of the dear Savior\u2019s birth.\u201d As with our ancestors, now we are not alone. \u201cGod is with us.\u201d Entering into our world, Jesus, the Messiah, affects our every movement, our every action, our every aspiration, in fact our very life and destiny. The\u00a0 Incarnation, God-becoming-man, is not an illusion. It makes sense. \u201cThrough Him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through Him. All that came to be had life in Him\u201d.<\/p>\n

Christmas is such an obvious opportunity for renewal. This past \u201cYear of Faith\u201d urged us to rediscover and renew our relationships with Christ that was given to us in Baptism. By virtue of our Baptism we are all called to share the \u201cgood news\u201d with others, to evangelize, whether it is in our home in the example of prayer and witness we give, or perhaps at work, or in different organizations, both religious and secular. In some ways we are all given situations in which God is calling us to witness our faith.<\/p>\n

1025 years ago, our ancestors were enlightened by Christ and His \u201cgood news.\u201d This blessed gift they passed on to us. Now, let us pass it on to others. Let us rejoice on this great feast of the Nativity of our Lord and let us be grateful to Jesus for being born for our salvation. Christ is born \u2013 let us glorify Him!<\/p>\n

We wish all of you a truly grace-filled Christmas and a very blessed and prosperous New Year. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.<\/p>\n

CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pastoral Message of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Hierarchy of USA This year we Ukrainians conclude the Jubilee Year Commemorating the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of our ancestors in the River Dnipro by the Grand Prince, St. Volodymyr the Great, the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoral-message-of-theugcc-hierarchy-of-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308\/revisions\/310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}