{"id":5685,"date":"2017-12-07T08:31:02","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T13:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5685"},"modified":"2017-12-07T08:31:02","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T13:31:02","slug":"christmas-pastoral-message-of-the-ukrainian-catholic-hierarchy-of-the-u-s-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/?p=5685","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTMAS PASTORAL MESSAGE OF THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY OF THE U.S.A."},"content":{"rendered":"
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PASTORAL MESSAGE OF THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY OF THE U.S.A. TO OUR CLERGY, HIEROMONKS AND BROTHERS, RELIGIOUS SISTERS, SEMINARIANS AND BELOVED FAITHFUL<\/span><\/h2>\n

CHRIST IS BORN!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The birth of Christ \u2013 the time when the Christian world becomes immersed, as if in a fairy-tale of its childhood: fancy sparkling garlands, glistening Christmas tree ornaments and the comfort of family festivities, with its familiar aroma of Holy Eve supper reminiscent of childhood and the excitement of waiting for gifts as children.\u00a0 At this time, it even seems to adults that the mystical joy of Christmas, almost here and now, is leading them to the Promised Land of comfort and fulfillment of all dreams.\u00a0 We would venture to say that Christmas, somehow in a mysterious, incomprehensible way, hands down to us the distant, gentle taste of Heaven.<\/p>\n

On a purely human level, Christmas, possibly as no other of our Christian feast days, manifests to us the essence of all our most profound aspirations, that is, to be part of a community, the community of a large family, sitting at the festive table of Our Heavenly Father.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, somehow we forget or we don\u2019t want to possibly remember, that in order to achieve the aim to which our entire inner being aspires, it is necessary we go all the way through.\u00a0 For we, as human beings, still find ourselves in the valley of tears and as our divine services say, the earthly \u201clife \u2013 is but a shadow and a dream\u201d.\u00a0 To walk along this road, along the road of achieving our destiny \u2013 is to follow Jesus Christ.\u00a0 It means to follow Him Who put aside His glory and entered the darkness of this world, where the human being suffers, removed from the intimacy of God.<\/p>\n

Christ could have been born in a royal palace.\u00a0 He could have become a worldwide ruler who imposes his will on the passive masses of subjects, whom He forcibly pulls, each and every one, into the embrace of the Loving Father.\u00a0 However, how could God, who is Love, desire compulsory \u201clove\u201d?\u00a0 Could a Loving Father try to compel his children to love Him by force?<\/p>\n

This is the reason why Christ did not choose the path of power. \u00a0He chose the path of Love, which is the only one that can overcome evil which reigns in this world.\u00a0 Love is the one and only thing that can prompt the human heart to respond with love.\u00a0 He chose the path of accomplishing the will of the Father in order to gather together into one all the scattered children of God (John 11, 52) through Sacrifice.\u00a0 His mission \u2013 redemption of humanity, restoring the relationship of the human person with God, this \u2013 the Sacrifice, is a sacrifice from the very beginning to the very end.<\/p>\n

The Sacrifice which began at that moment when the Son of God, the Second Person of God, set aside his Glory, Power, Grandeur and lowered Himself, assuming human nature, becoming one of those who suffer in the valley of banishment.\u00a0 His Sacrifice passed both through the cold cave, which served as a stable for flocks of sheep in the vicinity of Bethlehem \u2013 the town of his human ancestor \u2013 King David.\u00a0 It went through the simplest manger, where feed was left for the livestock, through the prickly hay, through the rejection of the neighbors.\u00a0 It continued through the flight into Egypt and simple years of childhood and youth in the forgotten Galilean town, which, it seems, had a bad reputation among the people.\u00a0 His Sacrifice undergoes the rejection of those to whom He was sent, who dishonored Him by their ridicule and cruelty all the way to the Cross.\u00a0 Nonetheless, Christ fulfilled His mission and accomplished the will of the Heavenly Father.<\/p>\n

Each one of us is called to walk down His path, to continue His mission.\u00a0 However, this requires our understanding of the fact that we are members of His Body, that is, the Church.\u00a0 This demands of us an ever closer union with Him here on earth, a unity with Him in Love, in order to be able to unite ourselves with His Sacrifice, as participants in His mission.<\/p>\n

In Christmas, in a mysterious and incomprehensible manner, the beginning of His mission is joined together with our foretaste of Heaven.\u00a0 The beginning and end unite. Simultaneously, we have a call to come walk with Him on the way, and in doing so, we already have the power to experience in advance the foretaste of the joy of a completed journey.\u00a0 Thus Christmas is not only the joy of a family celebration, not just the shimmering heavenly lights, but a call directed to each one of us, a call to set out on a journey.<\/p>\n

At the time of beginnings of the Chosen People, God said to our Forefather Abraham in Ur of Chaldea: come out of yourself.\u00a0 And this call is directed to each one of us: come out of yourself.\u00a0 Come out of your preoccupation with daily monotony; come out of your fears and limitations and come stand before the manger in which the mission of Christ begins.\u00a0 It is a mission which is not easy, but a necessary prerequisite for reaching the goal of our existence, \u2013 to be with God for all eternity.<\/p>\n

Christ is Born!<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

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+Stefan Soroka
\nArchbishop of Philadelphia for Ukrainians
\nMetropolitan of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States<\/p>\n

+Paul Chomnycky, OSBM
\nEparch of Stamford<\/p>\n

+Benedict Aleksiychuk (author)
\nEparch of St. Nicholas in Chicago<\/p>\n

+ Bohdan J. Danylo
\nEparch of St. Josaphat in Parma<\/p>\n

+John Bura
\nAuxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia<\/p>\n

+Andriy Rabiy
\nAuxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PASTORAL MESSAGE OF THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY OF THE U.S.A. TO OUR CLERGY, HIEROMONKS AND BROTHERS, RELIGIOUS SISTERS, SEMINARIANS AND BELOVED FAITHFUL CHRIST IS BORN! The birth of Christ \u2013 the time when the Christian world becomes immersed, as if … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5685","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\/5685","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=5685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5686,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5685\/revisions\/5686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stmichaelarchangel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}