The link below is to the Archeparchy which will channel the funds to Ukraine. (Via PayPal) Online Donation to Ukraine
People can mail checks to our church as well. Make the check out to Nativity Church
and in the memo line write Ukraine.
From Father Richard: One type of question I get all the time from people who call and are thinking of donating:
"Where is this money going and how will it be spent?" because they are suspicious about
administration costs and potential misuse of donations. The newsletter link below has tons of
very helpful information (even though some of the videos are only in Ukrainian.)
We hope this will make people feel much
better about their giving, and it will help connect them more with the fruit of
their giving. Link to Newsletter
Today's letter from Patriarch Sviatoslav (courtesy of Paul and Michelle Warila)
From His Beatitude Patriarch Sviatoslav
English translation of His Beatitude, Sviatoslav of Kyiv and Halych,
Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church this morning from Kyiv:
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
Today is Saturday, February 26, and the sun is rising over Kyiv, over Ukrainian Kyiv, over Kyiv that is triumphing, over Kyiv that has survived another night, a night blessed by God.
Allow me to address all of you with a word of greeting, a word of blessing, and a word of thanks.
First of all, allow me to pass on to you the words of greeting and support from the Holy Father, Francis, who called me himself yesterday in order to express his support. He said literally the following words: "Farò tutto che é possibile." (I will do everything possible.) Of course, to stop the war, so that innocent people do not die, so that Ukraine has the opportunity to develop freely. I would like every to be thankful to the Holy Father, because the whole global community is mobilizing itself in our support.
I would like to thank everyone today who in the last few days have sent me letters of support and solidarity with Ukraine, with the Ukrainian people, and with our Church.
I would like to thank the Bishops’ Conference of Europe and its president, the archbishop of Vilinius, archbishop Gintaras Grušas, as well as the bishops of Poland, Germany, France, England, Italy, USA, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, but it was particularly pleasant for me to receive a letter from the all the Catholic bishops of Kazakhstan expressing their support for our Ukraine and expressing their unity with our people in prayer.
To all those who are supporting Ukraine in various ways, in the name of our people, in the name of our state, in the name of besieged Kyiv, in whose streets battles are taking place, let me say a sincere “thank you.”
They say that when artillery speaks, muses are silent. Let the muses remain silent, but we Christians, we people, have no right to be silent.
In these moments when blood is being poured out on the land of Ukraine,
when the words of Patriarch Joseph are being repeated, mountains of bodies and rivers of blood, in our cities and all the shores of the Dnipro river, from the borders with Belarus, to the shores of the Black Sea, no one has the right to be silent, because with a word, lives can be saved. But silence can kill.
I ask all those who heard our voice from Kyiv flowing with blood: fight for peace. Intercede for those who require your aid. Do everything so that the aggressor retreat and leave the land of Ukraine. Whoever you may be, whether you are leaders in parliament, politicians, military personnel or church leaders, do you work, say your word to support Ukraine.
I would particularly like to thank His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew, who expressed his concern for my personal wellbeing here in Kyiv and shared his brotherly support and prayer. We see that in the face of death, in the face of brutal military force, every church schism and division falls, and we all unite in the name of God and the good of the person.
I want to thank all our bishops, especially those who are in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, all our priests who are in besieged cities and serve the Ukrainian people, who open their homes, who open their churches, their cellars, to all our monastic communities, to our seminaries, who open their buildings and residences to all those in need today.
I also would like to thank all our brothers and sisters, all our faithful, our bishops, our monastics, on the territory of Western and Central Ukraine. Today there are tens of hundreds of thousands of refugees moving in your direction. Accept them in the name of Christ, as emissaries of God. “He who accepts you accepts me,” said the Lord to His Apostles. In the name of God, receive those who knock at the door of your homes.
In this dramatic but heroic time, let us continue to pray.
Today, on this Saturday, we celebrate the Universal Commemoration of the Dead, and we especially pray for our soldiers who gave their lives for Ukraine, especially in these last days. We embrace in prayer the border guards of Snake Island in the Black Sea, our hero who with the price of his own life stopped Russian armies at Kherson by blowing up with himself a bridge across the Dnipro. Today the Ukrainian land and Ukrainian people are giving birth to many such heroes. We pray for all those who gave their lives for Ukraine. We pray for the innocent victims among the civilian population: women, children, the elderly. Today we commend to God’s hands all those who have already departed this world and ask that the Lord receive them in His embrace.
Ukraine is conquering. Ukraine is fighting. But we ask the world today to be in solidarity with us and not to remain silent, because the word saves, the word builds peace. Silence and indifference kill.
From our golden-domed, holy city of Kyiv, the new Jerusalem, with my whole heart, I impart to you my blessing, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church
Nativity Parish is an Eastern Catholic parish which celebrates
the Byzantine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
Fr. Richard Janowicz, Pastor rjano@aol.com
Cantors: Joe Escobar, Jeremy Morton
704 Aspen Street
Springfield, Oregon 97477
541-726-7309
"We believe that the venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches
is an integral part of the heritage of Christ's Church . . .
the first need for Catholics is to be familiar with that tradition..."
- Pope John Paul II, Orientale Lumen, "Light of the East" (1995)
"That the Eastern Catholic Churches and their
venerable traditions may be known and esteemed as a spiritual treasure for the whole Church."
- Pope Benedict XVI, Prayer Intention for November 2011
"Your meeting, organized under the aegis of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe,
is a sign of the rich ritual variety of the Catholic Church on this continent,
which is not limited to the Latin tradition. Among you, I see many who represent
the different Churches of the Byzantine tradition and many from beloved Ukraine."
- Pope Francis, Address to Eastern Catholic Bishops
of Europe (2019)
Brethren:
As we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl with an oracular spirit, who used to bring a large profit to her owners through her fortune-telling.
She began to follow Paul and us, shouting, “These people are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”
She did this for many days. Paul became annoyed, turned, and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” Then it came out at that moment.
When her owners saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the public square before the local authorities.
They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These people are Jews and are disturbing our city
and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us Romans to adopt or practice.”
The crowd joined in the attack on them, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely.
When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake.
About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened,
there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose.
When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”
He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”
So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once.
He brought them up into his house and provided a meal and with his household rejoiced at having come to faith in God.
Gospel: John 9:1-38
As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes,
and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see.
His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.”
So they said to him, “So how were your eyes opened?”
He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.”
And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.”
They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.
Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.
So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.
They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?”
His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for him self.”
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Messiah, he would be expelled from the synagogue.
For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.”
So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.”
He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”
So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses!
We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.”
The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.
It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.
If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.”
They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.
When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and the one speaking with you is he.”
He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Monday:
• Bible Study - 7:30 p.m.
The Gospel of Matthew
Wednesday:
• Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord — Vigil Liturgy - 7:30 p.m.
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