Ascension to Pentecost

Day 1: Friday, May 30

Theme: The Gift of Baptism & Divine Adoption

Intention: For our godparents and godchildren, parents and children, the priest who baptized me, for those preparing for baptism and for all who still do not know Christ.

Prayer: O Jesus Christ, we implore You: grant every one of us during these Mission Days the gift of a new Pentecost, the renewal of the grace of our Baptism and Chrismation. Through Your Holy Spirit, renew in us the gift of faith, the gifts and fruits of Your Holy Spirit, so that we may become a new creation in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “We need to continually remember our Baptism and ask ourselves: ‘What does our Baptism mean for us?’ so that we not waste the great gift of our Baptism, but be able to live according to our baptismal promises” (His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar).

Day 2: Saturday, May 31

Theme: The Word of God

Intention: For renewed dedication to the daily reading and meditation upon Holy Scripture among the faithful.

Prayer: Make the pure light of Your Divine knowledge shine in our hearts, O loving Master. Open the eyes of our minds that we may understand the message of Your gospel. Instill in us the fear of Your blessed commandments that we may subdue all carnal desires and follow a spiritual way of life, thinking and doing all that pleases You. For You, O Christ our God, are the enlightenment of our souls and bodies, and we give glory to You, together with Your eternal Father and Your most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “I believe, and I know, that one word of the Holy Gospel is worth more than all human wisdom, more than all human science” (Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky).

Day 3: Sunday, June 1

Theme: Leaders in Faith

Intention: In thanksgiving for all leaders, teachers, confessors, faithful witnesses and martyrs of the UGCC.

Prayer: All the choirs of the hierarchs, might luminaries of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church! As faithful followers of the Apostles and as good shepherds, you faithfully preserved the flock entrusted to you; you led it along paths of truth and carefully fed it with spiritual food, not hesitating to give up your lives for your sheep. Therefore, together with Saint Josaphat the priest-martyr, implore the Chief Shepherd, Christ God for our Church and its faithfulness to His commandments; and that He may grant us His great mercy. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “Do you not sometimes forget that the words of your teaching educate holy citizens for the Church militant on earth? Do you not at times forget that your work with a young soul may produce a real saint? Though misunderstood by others, they have unlimited potential before God, are people of sacrifice, people of love, aflame with God’s love…” (Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky).

Day 4: Monday, June 2

Theme: The Gift of Consecrated Life

Intention: For vocations to religious life from our parish community; for those who are already serving in consecrated life, for their perseverance and blessing.

Prayer: Venerable fathers of the Monastery of the Caves, Anthony and Theodosius, the first flowers of the Kyivan Church, and all the countless righteous ones, who followed in their footsteps, dedicating their lives to God! You shine forth as an example of Christian perfection, and you teach us by prayer and self-denial to model ourselves on Christ-God for the salvation of our souls. Therefore, implore the good God, that we may be made worthy of your intercession, and that together with you, through prayer and sacrifice, we may obtain for the Church of Christ and our nation mercy and God’s bountiful blessings. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “The monastic life was, is and will remain an extraordinary power in Christ’s Church, and we all desire that this power have its proper place within the Church, fulfilling its mission according to its calling from God” (His Beatitude Sviatoslav).

Day 5: Tuesday, June 3

Theme: To Be a Disciple of Christ

Intention: For renewed dedication to being a faithful disciple and follower of Christ.

Prayer: O Lord, Source of wisdom and grace! Open my sinful lips and teach me the manner in which and for what needs I should pray. For You know the great multitude of my sins, but their enormity can be vanquished by Your loving-kindness . . . Guide my life along Your ways, for You govern all creation by a word with the ineffable power of Your wisdom; show me the way in which I should walk, O tranquil Haven of those who are turbulently perplexed. Grant the Spirit of Your wisdom to my deliberations, giving the Spirit of understanding to my ignorance. With the Spirit of Your holy fear, overshadow my deeds and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “Having received the call from Christ: ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,’ (Mt 28:19), the disciples travelled throughout the world announcing the Good News of the Gospel” (Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky).

Day 6: Wednesday, June 4

Theme: Responsibility for the Gift of Faith

Intention: For the affirmation of faith through action, through the study of the foundations of faith, through prayer and works of mercy.

Prayer: The blessed preachers of Christ received the torch of the Holy Spirit; they spoke with divine inspiration, using few words, but rich in meaning. They proclaimed with boldness the doctrines of the Gospel and the traditions of righteousness. Clearly, they have been illumined with truth from on high; they have made firm the foundation of the faith as a strong mountain. Grant us, O Lord, the gift of a deeper faith, that we too, illumined by Your grace and inspired with ever greater boldness, may proclaim Your Gospel by our spoken word and by the daily witness of our Christian life. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “A living faith in a short time becomes for the Christian, who possesses it, more precious than gold or silver. This faith is so sweet, and brings such comfort and joy; so much so, that a disciple of Christ is ready to give up ones’s life so as not to lose his faith” (Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky).

Day 7: Thursday, June 5

Theme: Readiness to Witness and Serve

Intention: For a renewed spirit of self-sacrifice, generosity and humble service.

Prayer: Apostles, prophets, martyrs, bishops, venerable and righteous ones, having finished the fight well and having kept the faith, you now have free approach to the Saviour. For our sake, we beseech you, entreat Him in His goodness to save our souls. Amen

Quote for the Day: “Learn to work with a spirit of sacrifice. For surely there will come a time when it will be necessary to give up everything, and become confessors for our sacred faith, and perhaps to offer one’s life in sacrifice for the good of the Church and the people” (Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky).

Day 8: Friday, June 6

Theme: Carrying our Cross

Intention: For the gift to embrace one’s cross in life, to carry it willingly, and to follow Jesus.

Prayer: Having put on the breastplate of faith and having armed yourselves with the cross as a sword, you showed yourselves to be mightly warriors. You courageously opposed the persecutors, destroyed the deception of the devil, and victorious, you were granted crowns. Pray always in our behalf that our souls be saved. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “But this is the path. Without the cross, the Christian style is not Christian, and if the cross is a cross without Jesus, it is not Christian. The Christian style takes the cross with Jesus and goes forward – not without the cross, not without Jesus” (Pope Francis).

Day 9: Saturday, June 7

Theme: Being Filled with a Missionary Spirit

Intention: For the renewal of a missionary spirit in our own hearts, in families and parishes; for all missions and missionaries in the UGCC.

Prayer: O Lord, our God, for the salvation of the human race, You sent Your only-begotten Son and God, our Lord Jesus Christ, look now upon Your servants listed for baptism . . . grant them at the appropriate time the bath of rebirth, the forgiveness of sins and eternal garments. Unite them to Your Catholic and Apostolic Church and number them as members of Your flock. Amen.

Quote for the Day: “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples” (Pope Francis).

Day 10: Sunday, June 8

Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit

Theme: The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Intention: For the gift or renewed zeal to share with others our experience of faith and the joy of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Almighty God, King of Glory, Jesus Christ, You Who love the human race with Your whole heart, and in Your providential wisdom You continually care for each nation, look mercifully upon our country that it may become a holy nation, and fulfill the mission entrusted to it by God. Amen.

Quote for the Day: Jesus entrusts His disciples with a specific task: “To bring glad tidings to the poor . . . to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19).