Holy Eucharist Parish

Lest there be any doubt as to the coolness with which others see our Church… the Soul Children of Chicago singing “Lord, have mercy” in Slavonic (Господи помилуй).

A pysanky (decorative Ukrainian Easter egg) workshop will be conducted in the church auditorium from 6:30-8:00 pm on Tuesday, February 14, 19, and 21. Classes limited to 20 students, six years and older. Five year olds will be accepted if they are supervised by an adult. This workshop is open to all children of the parish, parents and grandparents are most welcome also. Please bring two or three eggs ONLY. For registration please contact Rose Swiecicki at 663-6513.

Dear Parishioners,

It has often been said that the three legs of our journey for the Great Fast are: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The Holy Church, in a manner very much like our own mother, strongly encourages each of us and all of us to increase our efforts in these areas as a means to help increase our focus upon our saving Lord. At the last regular meeting of the Parish Council, the members, recognizing that they are the elected leaders within the parish community, and that this leadership is not simply administrative but also spiritual in nature, decided that they would increase their efforts in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Specifically, each member of the Parish Council agreed to the following:

Regarding fasting – whereas the minimum requirement of the Church is fasting and abstention from meat and meat products on Fridays, each member agreed to extend this practice to Wednesdays; the word “fasting” implies that we eat less food than usual - a good rule of thumb is the following - if supper is your main meal of the day, then the amount of food that eat at supper should be less than the combined amount of food that you consumed at breakfast and lunch.

Regarding prayer – along with their regular daily prayers and prayer before meals, each member agreed to read from Holy Scripture every day, choosing from one of the daily readings listed in the weekly parish bulletin;

Regarding almsgiving – recognizing that almsgiving is much more than simply giving money to the Church and to the poor and needy, that it is offering time, talent and treasure to those in need, the members agreed that once each week during the entire 40 day Fast and Great and Holy Week they would go out of their way to visit with someone who was ill, homebound, or simply need cheering. This would be done with the intention that the Lord would use them as an instrument of His joy, peace and mercy to others.

The Parish Council recognizes that such an increase in these practices as listed above will be difficult and humbly asks for the prayers of all the parishioners. At the same, the Parish Council encourages all parishioners to join with them in this spiritual journey of the Great Fast, to increase efforts in prayer, fasting and almsgiving, so as to increase our focus on Jesus Christ.

May we all enter into this holy time of year with a joy in our step, and grow and be strengthened so as to celebrate worthily His Death and Resurrection.

Holy Eucharist Parish Council