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UNIONTOWN, Pa. — The 84th annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help took place Sept. 1-2 at Mount St. Macrina drew a large number of young families.
Saturday’s activities began with matins, a procession with the Our Lady of Perpetual Help icon, Divine Liturgy celebrated by Bishop Kurt Burnette of Passaic, and a welcome by the Basilian provincial, Sister Ruth Plante.
The welcome was followed by the solemn blessing of water and the Paraklesis to the Mother of God service. Enrichment sessions included, “The Three Martyred Bishops,” by Father Peter Borza; “The Yeast and the Dough,” by Deacon Gregory Loya; and “Bereavement,” by Ed Horvat. There were also special activities for children and teens.
Father Andrew Deskevich celebrated vespers with Divine Liturgy, during which the Basilian Associates renewed their commitment. Later in the evening, pilgrims processed to Mount Macrina Cemetery for a parastas service, celebrated by retired Bishop John Kudrick of Parma. Next, a candlelight procession led to the shrine altar, where pilgrims prayed the Akathist to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. A teen and young adult social, concluding with a compline service led by Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma, wrapped up the evening.
Sunday began with early morning matins and Divine Liturgy; a Slavonic Divine Liturgy, celebrated by Father Michael Hayduk; and a Divine Liturgy for Vocations, celebrated by Bishop Lach.
Bishop Lach began his homily with a reflection on the Gospel reading. The first commandment Jesus gave was to love.
“Many Christians are forgetting the commandment of love. If we have no respect for the human being, we have no respect for God. If we have no respect for God, we have no respect for the human being,” he said.
The bishop said this is so important today because “many Christians are confused by the recent scandals” in the church. He asked who the credible witnesses are for us to follow and replied that they are “the bishops and priests who give their lives to follow God, to be an example, to lead us to God.” He said that without such consecrated men, “how can we help you?”
The bishop encouraged pilgrims to pray for vocations.
“Are you praying every day with your grandkids?” he asked. “We don’t have enough priests in our Byzantine Catholic Church. It is not enough to criticize our bishops, priests.”
The bishop said people also “need to be open to new life, to accept more kids — not only one!”
He spoke about living a life of sacrifice.
“If you really want to sacrifice, you will be nothing, but you need to know that your recompense will be great,” he said. If believers show people who God is, go to people, meet them, communicate with them, despite their small congregations, he said, “I assure you, you will not die.”
If believers would practice “love for God, love for neighbor 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he said, they would lead people to God.
“Don’t worry about the future of our Byzantine Catholic Church. God is with us!” he said.
The afternoon began with the popular children’s procession to the Mother of God Shrine. Each child received a flower, a medal and a bracelet and was blessed by one of our bishops.
Sister Ruth addressed the children and said that when they see that bracelet, whether on their wrists or on the floor in their room, it should be a reminder of how very much they are loved.
The enrichment sessions on the martyred bishops and bereavement were repeated, with the addition of a session on the theme, “The Charism of Hospitality,” by Deacon Lucas Crawford. The mystery of anointing was administered to the infirm, sick and physically challenged pilgrims. Special activities for children and teens were also held in the afternoon.
The highlight of the pilgrimage was the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, celebrated by Metropolitan Archbishop William Skurla of Pittsburgh. Bishop Edward Malesic of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was the guest homilist.
Bishop Malesic began by saying that the recent church scandals were “heavy on my heart — and on yours, too. We make sure of what happened in our history will never happen again,” he said. He then led everyone in praying the Hail Mary.
Bishop Malesic said being a Christian in the Early Church was not easy. He referred to all of the sufferings St. Paul endured and asked, “Why did he keep on doing it?” The answer: “for the love of Christ, whom he knew was alive. That encounter kept him going.”
But, Bishop Malesic said, the hardships were not limited to one man.
“How did that fragile, often divided, maligned community survive? One word: faith. They moved forward,” he said. “The church survived by the blood of martyrs; the church grew by generation to generation.”
The bishop then recounted the difficulties the church faced throughout its history up to the present time.
“The news reminds us every day of failed leadership,” he said, reminding his listeners that all people are guilty of the seven deadly sins.
“We are not here because we are good – but because God is good. Jesus is the common denominator,” he said. “We are earthen vessels, weak; still Christ comes to us and we go to him. It is not about us; it is about him. His will we seek, not ours.”
“I have no doubt that Mary has been leading us to this pilgrimage. Like children, we hold on to her hand as she leads us to Jesus,” Bishop Malesic concluded.
Sister Ruth then extended her thanks to all who worked so hard to make the pilgrimage a success and encouraged all to “remember that your heavenly mother is watching over you.”
Later in the evening, Bishop Kudrick was the celebrant for the prayer service and candlelight procession throughout the shrine grounds. He began his homily by reflecting on this year’s pilgrimage theme, “Mary, Hope of All Generations.”
He said he remembered a talk by the late Bishop Fulton Sheen, who said that the church has faced a crisis every 500 years of its existence.
Bishop Kudrick gave a list of those crises and said that there is “a minority of individuals who bridge that gap” between crises.
“Mary, the Mother of God, carried us over perhaps the greatest crisis in the world: God became human. It is that spirit of Mary that will carry us over this crisis,” he said.
Mary is the “quintessential image of the church. She was created as a member of the not-so-holy human race. Mary was without sin, but the rest of us will be free of the power of sin by repentance,” he said. The bishop encouraged all not to give up.
“Let’s not abandon Jesus because of Judas,” he said. “Let’s not give up on ourselves; let’s not give up on our church.”
A teen and young adult social, with a compline service led by Bishop Lach, concluded Sunday night.
The final service of the pilgrimage was Monday morning Divine Liturgy, celebrated by retired Bishop Gerald Dino of Phoenix. He began his homily with the story of the Annunciation, and the angel telling Mary she had “found favor with God.”
The bishop then pointed out all the difficulties Mary faced and said, “Look at the life of the Blessed Mother. What does that mean to be ‘favored of God’?” He said being “favored by God” means “chosen by God for some noble purpose.”
Bishop Dino said the mission of the faithful is for their salvation and for the salvation of other people. “We have to face struggle, pain, in order to have a meaningful life,” he said.
He said the church scandals “shows every one of us is weak, and many clergy have rejected the noble cause God has given them,” he said.
“God wants each and every one of us to fulfill the noble cause he has given us. When we reject that, our life is worthless,” he added.
“Take courage in the Blessed Mother; she is the one who inspires us to take up the noble cause God has given us,” he said.
Sister Ruth then gave a final send-off, quoting an African saying, “If you don’t take care of your body, where shall your soul live?” She said the pilgrimage took care of their souls and, referring to the extreme heat of the weekend, said, “Now go take care of your bodies. Get hydrated before going home!”
Caption: Women wearing traditional blouses touch and venerate the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that was being carried in procession around the grounds of Mount St. Macrina. (Photo: Reen Nemeth)
As published in Horizons, Sept. 9, 2018.
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