Month: January 2017

Jan
12
2017
By Fr. Michael Bombak

Mark 9:10-16- A Little Foolishness [Spoilers: Rogue One]

Faith, ,
Christ is Born! From the outside looking in there are many situations which appear as though the good guys have lost because they are silenced. The latest Star Wars Movie "Rogue One" is a great story of standing up to evil and inspiring hope- a story filled with sacrifice for the greater good. I discussed the movie afterwards with my seven year old son who was disheartened that "all the good guys died" in the movie. Sure enough they did all die, but there was something worth dying for, and because of that in the end, the good guys did…
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Jan
11
2017
By Fr. Michael Bombak

Mark 8:30-34- Go for the Gold!

Faith, ,
Christ is Born! Do you have dreams of being an Olympic athlete? When I was in grade school I had a number of friends who wanted to play in the NHL. By High School some of these friends were training very hard to make the cut- they only attended school for certain classes, took special training programs during the day and worked very hard to catch up on the studies they had missed in the evening after their training. The cost of professional athletics is incredible! Striving for athletic excellence changes what you eat, what you do in your spare…
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Jan
10
2017
By Fr. Michael Bombak

Mark 8:22-26- Ask your Doctor if Spiritual Eyes are Right for You!

Faith, , , ,
Christ is Born! Number one...or number two? Number three...or number four? Is this clearer...or is this? This little song and dance should sound familiar to any of us who do not have perfect vision and need to have our eyesight checked to see if our glasses prescription has changed. Sitting in the chair the lenses are looked through, rotated and flipped and slowly but surely your view of the world becomes clearer. The blind man at Bethsaida experienced something similar in our gospel passage today. His vision comes back to him by degrees. First he sees a shapes which resemble…
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Jan
06
2017
By Fr. Michael Bombak
Matthew 3:13-17- A Community of Persons

Matthew 3:13-17- A Community of Persons

Faith, ,
Christ is Baptized! At the World Meeting of Families, during the Papal visit to Philadelphia in 2015, a little boy asked Pope Francis what "God did with all His time before He created the world." The Holy Father paused for a few seconds and then responded "He loved." It is through this feast, the Holy Theophany, where God is manifested to the world as a truly loving God. God is not a monad but a community of persons, One God in three Divine Persons- Tri-unity- Trinity. Our God is a God of love, and love, which is always about the…
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Jan
05
2017
By Fr. Michael Bombak

Luke 3:1-18- On the Road to Meet the Saviour

Faith, ,
Christ is Born! My grandfather spent many years as a draftsman working to design our highways. Years later my father would work with the construction crews which would actually level the ground and imprint the road not only on the map, but on the earth itself. My biggest contribution is using those highways to drive across the country. My journeys across the country would have been impossible without them! A lot of work had gone into establishing those roads. The people who John was ministering to in our reading today asked him an important question: "What must we do?" They…
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Jan
04
2017
By Fr. Michael Bombak

Luke 21:5-7, 10-11, 20-24- Missionaries, Not Tourists

Faith, ,
Christ is Born! I remember the drastic change in mood in the story "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" when Lucy has tea with Mr. Tumnus. To that point in the story she had accidentally slipped into what seemed a private magical world in an upstairs wardrobe and was being shown around by Tumus, to her mind a friendly mythical creature. All changes in an instant when Lucy wakes up after being lulled o sleep by Tumnus over tea. Tumnus had intended to deliver her over to an evil witch. He was a secret agent and the magical world…
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Jan
03
2017
By Fr. Michael Bombak

Luke 21:12-19- The Trial of Life

Faith, ,
Christ is Born! Our Lord made many promises to us during His ministry, and one of the more inconvenient ones was that life would be a trial. If we truly were to follow Him, we would be called out on it, and not by "the man", "them", "the bad guys", but by our friends and family- those who are closest to us. Jesus is telling His fellow Jewish disciples that they would be delivered to synagogues to be persecuted by those who were praying right next to them on a regular basis! Jesus Himself, after all, was betrayed by one…
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Jan
03
2017
By His Beatitude Sviatoslav
Pastoral Letter on Gender Ideology

Pastoral Letter on Gender Ideology

News,
ENCYCLICALOF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPSOF THE MAJOR ARCHBISHOPRIC OF KYIV-HALYCHOF THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCHCONCERNING THE DANGER OF GENDER IDEOLOGY Dearly Beloved in Christ! Introduction 1. In the twentieth century, the people of Ukraine suffered from a godless Soviet regime that attempted to forcefully tear people from the roots of faith and impose an atheistic worldview. Presented as the only “scientific” one, this worldview denied human persons’ freedom of conscience and deprived them of the right to freely profess their religious beliefs. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world stands before similar challenges, which, however, are not accompanied…
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Jan
03
2017
By Fr. Michael Winn
2016 Christmas Pastoral Letter of His Beatitude Sviatoslav

2016 Christmas Pastoral Letter of His Beatitude Sviatoslav

News,
CHRISTMAS PASTORAL LETTER OF HIS BEATITUDE SVIATOSLAV Most Reverend Archbishops and Metropolitans, God-loving Bishops, Very Reverend Clergy, Venerable Monastics, Dearly Beloved Brothers and Sisters, in Ukraine and throughout the world And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) Christ is born! Glorify Him! Today our hearts are filled with lightsome Christmas joy. The eternal God becomes man, so that man might be united and reconciled with Him forever. The Son of God becomes the son of the…
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Jan
03
2017
By Fr. Michael Winn

Christmas Pastoral Letter of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of Canada

News,
PASTORAL LETTER FROM THE UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF CANADA ON THE OCCASION OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD 2016/2017 To the Reverend Clergy, Monastics, Seminarians and Laity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada: Christ is born! Let Us Glorify Him! The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. (Isaiah 9:2) At the Complines service on the Eve of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we sing out “Z Namy Boh! God is with us!” This beautiful hymn evokes in us…
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