On the blessed June 13th, the God-Loving Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Michigan City, as well as on June 14th, the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Goshen, Indiana, were blessed to welcome His Eminence, Archbishop Daniel with His Archpastoral visitation.

In his First Epistle to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul says, "Rejoice always."  That Joy was transmitted to the faithfull of both parishes by the great endeavor of His Eminence and the Holy Spirit. Saturday morning marked the beginning of grace, the blessing for the people of Holy Trinity Michigan Parish Family upon the Visitation of His Eminence. Everyone was looking forward to seeing their Archpastor and Vladyka Daniel once again to experience the radiating prominence of God's presence and care outpouring on us all.

Upon entering the Church, Archbishop Daniel was warmly welcomed with bread and salt by the Parish Council President, John Fritz. He extended his greetings to His Eminence on behalf of all parish family. He humbly requested to lift up prayers for the well-being of the parish, spiritual nourishment, and closer communion with God for all people. After this newly installed pastor of this parish family, Andrii Vatrych greeted His Eminence, humbly asking for prayers for all the world, especially Ukraine. He mentioned that these days, in the consequences of wars, a lot of people die. But even more, people nowadays decompose morally and spiritually, and we need to pray for the whole world that the healing Word of Christ may reach everyone. His Eminence pointed out that we are to celebrate life today and proclaim to the Whole World that the life is Christ, who is Himself the very source of it. When the world promotes ideas contrary to this, we have to stand for what is right and what is God-centered.

Following formal greetings of the Great Archpastor of our Church, the Solemn Liturgy took place. Beautiful singing of the choir and heartful prayer of His Eminence, as well as the great presence of our Great God and Lord Jesus Christ, filled the Atmosphere of the Church. The Gospel reading of the day talked about the importance of hearing, "He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me." (Luke 10:16-21) These words of the Lord were explored and explained by His Eminence during His sermon. Also, His Eminence spoke of the great perversion of today's culture, shifted from the truth, but what is more important from life. He explained the notion of the freedom and the freedom of choice and the way it should be practiced to be healthy. In the materialistic world, we become too materialistic, but a human person is so much more! It is a great world for everyone to explore himself. When we do not preach the word of God and keep it only to ourselves, we are selfish and cannot be saved because we are saved through the neighbors we bring to God. He concluded with the words of St. John Chrysostom, that we have to preach the Lord and use the tongue only when it is necessary. Upon these and many other powerful and God-inspired words that came out of the soul of His Eminence Archbishop Daniel, it seemed everyone applied and grasped them for the benefit of their souls. After this, the celebration of the Divine Liturgy continued.

Following the Divine Liturgy, His Eminence Daniel thanked everyone for inviting him and being part of His prayerful life. Concluding all that, meals and fellowship took place, where everyone was able to share their experience and communicate with their Archpastor.

The following day, His Eminence Archbishop Daniel arrived to the beautiful and God-fearing Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Goshen. The parish family was looking forward to this visitation, and they tried their best to elaborately prepare not only the physical temple but also their spiritual one. This was another Great Day blessed by the Lord in which everyone found comfort, peace, and life for themselves.

Upon Entering the Church, His Eminence was warmly welcomed by the children of this parish family and the parish council president, Geri Krueger, who greeted him with  words of thanks for His coming and His prayers for them all. Newly-installed pastor of the Parish, Father Andrii,  was greatly blessed to welcome His Eminence and once again requested upon all that was happening both in Ukraine and in the USA to lift up the prayers for all the people of both Ukraine and America. In the co-celebration of the pastor of this parish family, Father John Schmidt, and Deacon JamesStickel, His Eminence led the Solemn Liturgy. Special presence and more than 2000 years of tradition, were experienced by all people who came to taste of the feast prepared by the Lord and distributed by His Eminence for the common salvation and benefit of all. During the procession with the Gospel Deacon James was elevated to the rank of protodeaconby Archbishop Daniel. His Eminence expressed sincere gratitude for all the years of his dedicated service as a deacon. The abounding grace of the Lord moved the hearts of all who shared in the joy of the special event in the life of Deacon James.

If the previous day, the Gospel book instructed us about hearing, today, it instructed everyone about our eyes. His Eminence, Archbishop Daniel conveyed the message of the Gospel to people in the manner that it had to do with everyone's life. He mentioned a great billionaire from India who was looking for happiness in His life, and he never found it, whether in expensive cars, neither in all the Natural Resources of His Country he bought, nor in other immense stuff he was able to buy. He was only able to find it when, upon the request of his friend, he bought 200 wheelchairs for kids. When he visited the orphanage and presented them to those children, he said one boy approached him afterward, grabbed his hand, and said, "I am so grateful to you, sir; I just wanted to see your face so that I may recognize you in the Kingdom of Heaven and thank you again. This moment, he said, was the happiest in his life. He mentioned that it is easy to be Christian in the Church, but we have to be much more, to go and share Christianity with the world, to propagate life when the world propagates death. This and so much more was presented for all the faithful as the greatest nourishment and the living water to fill the souls of the faithful with spiritual food. Continuing the Liturgy and approaching the point when priests greeted each other in the altar, His Eminence turned to the people explaining that this is an ancient tradition that died in our Churches, but it brings so much sense for the people to do it together with the clergy. Following the words of His Eminence, all people turned to their neighbors and greeted each other with the Holy Kiss.

Concluding the Divine Liturgy, His Eminence presented certificates for the dedicated service of the numerous people who put a lot of effort into sustaining the Church for all these years: Nelya Novachenko; Boyd, Kirk and Valentina Brown, and Geri Krueger.

Following all the blessings that happened in the Church, everyone was invited to the festive meal prepared for the bodily nourishment of the faithful. This was a great time spent together sharing in the faith and communicating with each other, especially the great opportunity to approach His Eminence Archbishop Daniel, who is kind-hearted and open to all and ready to share the Lord with everyone.