January 2024 Newsletter – To Everything A Time

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven

A number one hit with the oldest lyrics? That is Pete Seeger’s song Turn, Turn Turn covered by the Byrds in 1965. The lyrics from Ecclesiastes ca. 300 BC

The first eight verses of Chapter 3 tells us that everything is suitable for its time. God is in control, indeed sovereign, and that gives us reassurance and a sense of sobriety. We cannot necessarily fathom the mystery of God, but we can say that we are ok with the mystery He offers if we have faith in His goodness – the goodness of God Who gave His Son Jesus so that we might be saved. We just celebrated that beginning by allowing Jesus to be reborn into our lives.

I remember my mom talking about songs like Turn, Turn Turn with some sense of amazement – ‘they’re singing about the Bible,’ or words to that affect. Truthfully, it wouldn’t take too much effort in going through the pop and rock songs of the 1960’s and 1970’s and even beyond to see the influence of faith, the Church, and scripture in a good number of those hits. I suppose my memory of my mother’s talking about scripture in pop and rock music attuned my ear, gave me an awareness of God permeating every time and season, every method of expression.

It is a positive practice for us, as Christians, to remain aware, to listen and look, for God is continually making Himself known through ordinary means and in each time and season. We will find Him in music, literature, the beauty of nature, and in each other. Speaking of times and season, we just experienced a very short Advent which kicked-off the new Church year. Now we will experience a somewhat shorter Christmas season because Pre-Lent begins January 28th. Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent is just around the corner – February 14th. As we wend our way through God’s seasons and times, as we keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to the revelation of His mystery and His timeless grace, let us meet each season in this new year both reassured and open to Him.

Happy New Year and welcome to our January 2024 Newsletter. The Newsletter covers the good we are doing and will be doing as God’s people in our corner of the world. Need your house blessed? It is Epiphany / Kolędy House Blessing season so make your appointments with Fr. Jim. The annual parish meeting and elections are upcoming, please plan to attend. Why not run for office… We are once again holding our Outrageous Valentine’s Raffle to support our youth ministry. Get your tickets now. We give thanks for the many blessings in our lives and look forward to the events of 2024, Lent which is just around the corner, and our Basket Social! Also, check out the poetry of Rev. Walter Andrew Hyszko for the New Year. Check it all out in our January 2024 Newsletter.

Bible Study for the Second Week of Christmas 2023/2024

This week’s memory verse: And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

Isaiah 6:8
  • 12/31 – Psalm 66:16
  • 1/1 – Matthew 5:16
  • 1/2 – 1 Peter 3:15
  • 1/3 – Acts 1:8
  • 1/4 – Acts 4:20
  • 1/5 – Romans 1:16
  • 1/6 – Daniel 12:3

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Grant that I, like the Humble Shepherds, may act on faith and bear witness to you always and everywhere. Grant also an abundance of vocations to our Holy Church.  Amen.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds 2023

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy…

My homily on Christmas was centered on Paul’s letter to Titus, someone we do not encounter very much in the Church year (4 times at most). As I mentioned, Titus was the first Bishop of Crete, that small Mediterranean island that lies between Athens and Rhodes.

On Christmas we focused on the confidence Titus needed because he was charged with developing the Church in Crete, a place Paul had never visited. 

As I also mentioned, there is a lot in Paul’s letter to Titus about Church organization, differing groups of people and their roles and responsibilities and how they are to grow in faith, but key to all of that was how the grace and love of God that appeared in Jesus Christ should cause us all to live and act, eager to do what is good. 

Indeed, we are to live with the confidence of a people who have been redeemed, saved, delivered, and cleansed; a people belonging to God.

About 86 years before Paul wrote his letter to Titus, Jesus was born, and the first to encounter Him besides Mary and Joseph were the Humble Shepherds of the area.

Like all of us, those Humble Shepherds had not done anything to merit the announcement they heard. They hadn’t even bought a lottery ticket. They weren’t thinking – I’m in it to win it. Yet the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared to them.

God’s coming among us brought about real change and it is change that will last forever. It will last despite the world’s denial, despite any negative thing we could think of, and it will overcome for as Jeremiah proclaimed: I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. That is God’s promise and Jesus’ coming did that!

What can we take away from this encounter with those Humble Shepherds who were so highly blessed? 

We can take an attitude of confidence because Jesus saved us despite ourselves. We can develop an active disposition – to get up, go, learn, then witness, and proclaim based on faith alone without any prompting, without fear. We can live as Jesus intends – in gladness and comfort knowing we are His. Come, let us go to the stable.

Reflection for the Shepherd’s Holy Mass / Pasterka at Midnight on the Solemnity of the Nativity 2023

We await the blessed hope, 
the appearance of the glory of our great God 
and savior Jesus Christ,
who gave Himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness 
and to cleanse for Himself a people as His own, 
eager to do what is good.

If we happen to catch a few of those Christmas shows and movies, and if our hearts are moved when George Bailey comes home having realized the value of life and see the redemption of Mr. Gower (It’s A Wonderful Life), when Kris Kringle speaks to the Dutch girl and delivers the X-ray machine to the hospital, and renews the faith of Doris and Susan Walker (Miracle on 34th Street), when the Grinch’s heart grows, when the soldiers return in honor and respect for General Waverly and to give him themselves as a Christmas gift (White Christmas) we realize the coldness of the world and worldly has not entered in or taken hold of our lives. 

Watching these movies each year reassures my heart because I allow it to be moved. It shows me a people who through some unfortunate occurrence lost confidence in the salvation brought to the fore this very night. Blessedly, they regained it through the witness of people of faith. It gives me confidence that Jesus still holds unto me and to us. It reminds me of my blessed hope in spite of all things.

In tonight’s Epistle Paul is writing to Titus, not someone we hear a lot about. Titus was the first Bishop of Crete, that small Mediterranean island that lies between Athens and Rhodes.

At the time of this writing Titus needed confidence because he was charged with developing the Church in Crete, a place Paul had never visited. There is a lot in the letter about the organization of the Church, differing groups of people and their roles and responsibilities and how they are to grow in faith, and as we hear this evening reminders for how the grace and love of God that appeared in Jesus Christ should cause us all to live and act, eager to do what is good. His grace and love are meant for the constant renewal of our confidence in God’s love and goodness.

What is key for us to understand is Titus, the people of Crete, and Paul himself were living confidently in the fresh experience of Jesus’ coming. The Messiah, Emmanuel, had come to save those who would believe and that was already past tense. They, having experienced the redemptive sacrifice of Christ awaited His return. We likewise await His rebirth in our hearts. For those people of Crete, and us, it all comes down to how we live in confidence as redeemed, saved, delivered, cleansed people who belong to Jesus.

Today, tomorrow, and always let us allow the experience of Jesus’ coming live anew in us. Let His redemptive sacrifice fill our hearts with thankfulness and true joy – the confidence of redeemed, saved, delivered, and cleansed people who belong to Him.

Bible Study for the Octave of the Nativity 2023

This week’s memory verse: Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

Romans 13:11
  • 12/24 – 2 Peter 3:8-9
  • 12/25 – Galatians 4:4
  • 12/26 – Revelation 3:20
  • 12/27 – Galatians 6:9
  • 12/28 – Revelation 3:11
  • 12/29 – Luke 12:40
  • 12/30 – Revelation 22:12

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your re-Advent within me. Grant that seeing the lateness of the hour I may use Your grace for complete dedication to Your work.  Amen.

Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Advent 2023

The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”

Welcome as we enter the fourth week of this Advent. In actuality, this fourth week of Advent lasts only seventeen hours, from midnight until 5pm when the Vigil of the Nativity begins.

For some of us who have Polish ancestry, the Vigil or Wigilia starts when the youngest child sees the first star in the sky – a fitting reminder of the star appearing this night over Bethlehem. 

As we recognize, this year’s Advent was short and the Church accounts for the varying length of Advents by calling this time Late Advent.

Lateness carries various meanings – but the key meaning for us is that time is running short in our preparation for Jesus’ re-advent in our lives. Are we prepared to welcome Him anew into our lives? Are we expecting Him with the eagerness of a child? And… once reborn in our lives what do we plan to do with this great grace He will impart to us?

Throughout this week we have heard from the Prophet Samuel. We saw the parallels between Hannah, the barren woman who by the grace of God becomes the mother of Samuel the prophet and how she offered her son back to God for His service and Mary the virgin who would bear the Son of God Who would be offered for us. Both sang a canticle of joy to God.

Today in Samuel we reach toward the other end of things begun with Hannah. David is at rest in Jerusalem, having overcome his enemies and resolves to build a Temple for God.

God speaks to David through Nathan. “Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in?’ The question may seem odd to us – wouldn’t God want a Temple? Well, yes, He does – but not as David envisioned.

Indeed, God longs for a Temple and the one He desires exists within us.

As we approach Him in the manger tonight at Midnight or tomorrow or throughout the forty-day season ahead, let the feelings in us, the tear we may shed, be for the joy of welcoming Him anew into the Temple of our hearts.

Join Us for the Forty Days of Christmas

Join us this Christmas Season and celebrate the rebirth of Jesus in our lives.

All services are at the parish at 1040 Pearl Street in Schenectady.

  • December 24: Fourth Sunday of Advent. Holy Mass at 10am and Noon.
  • December 25: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas), Shepherd’s Holy Mass / Pasterka at Midnight and Holy Mass of the Day at 10am.
  • December 26: Feast – St. Stephen the Martyr. Holy Mass at Noon.
  • December 27: St. John, Apostle & Evangelist. Holy Mass at Noon with Blessing of Wine (bring a bottle or two to be blessed).
  • December 28: Commemoration – Holy Innocents. Holy Mass at Noon.
  • December 30: Solemnity – Holy Family. Holy Mass at Noon.
  • December 31: Sunday – Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds. Holy Mass at 10am and Noon.
  • January 1: Solemnity of the Circumcision. Happy 2024! Holy Mass at Noon.
  • January 2: Solemnity of the Holy Name of Jesus. Parish Feast. Holy Mass at Noon.
  • January 6: Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord. Holy Mass at Noon includes blessing of chalk, charcoal, and incense.
  • January 7: Sunday – Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. Holy Mass at 10am and Noon.

Bible Study for Late Advent 2023

This week’s memory verse: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13
  • 12/17 – Romans 12:12
  • 12/18 – Philippians 4:4
  • 12/19 – Psalm 28:7
  • 12/20 – Psalm 100:2
  • 12/21 – Nehemiah 8:10
  • 12/22 – 1 Thessalonians 5:16
  • 12/23 – Zephaniah 3:17

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, As I encounter each day, grant me cognizance of Your call to holiness and blamelessness in my entirety. Allow me to see every reason I should rejoice in You.  Amen.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Advent 2023

May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely, spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome as we enter the third week of our new Church year and this Advent.

We have been focusing on our call to active engagement and preparation, both for Jesus’ return at the end of time and on our need for renewal for Jesus’ re-advent within us.

As Peter did last week, St. Paul writes in his letter to the Church at Thessalonica in relation to the kind of people Jesus’ followers – Christians – are to be, a people: holy and blameless in their entirety. Preserved blameless.

Well, thanks Father, great advice, Now, how are we to do that? I know that I try and fail much more than I would like. When confronted by stress and life’s everyday goings on I seem to slip back into old habits and sinfulness. When I know I should say something or do something, especially if I am unsure of a relationship, I get afraid and draw into myself. I can hear the priests and Levites asking me: “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Now we must be careful. We could let the facts of our current life, and the times we fail and sin, cause us to give up, to say I just cannot do it. We must not do that because as Isaiah proclaimed and Jesus admitted: the LORD has anointed Me; He has sent Me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. We had recourse to that renewal in today’s Advent Penitential service

You see, we can check ourselves, we can say I can and will, I will not give up but rather rejoice in the very fact that Jesus came to set me free from my old ways and most particularly from being down on myself. 

The practicalities, taking it one item or step at a time. I get mad driving – admit that and then practice exchanging curses for blessings and prayers. Overly critical of others, offer to help instead. Afraid to speak, take the risk. It won’t be easy, but it is possible especially when we keep an attitude of rejoicing in our freedom in Christ. He will not blame us, but rather grant us the grace to overcome.

The Baptist and Forerunner said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord.’” So let us remind ourselves to rejoice as we make our ways ever straighter, holy, and blameless in our entirety.

Bible Study for the 2nd Week of Advent 2023

This week’s memory verse: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23
  • 12/10 – John 15:16
  • 12/11 – John 15:8
  • 12/12 – Philippians 1:6
  • 12/13 – Matthew 3:8
  • 12/14 – Romans 7:4
  • 12/15 – Psalm 1:3
  • 12/16 – John 15:4-5

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Tend me that I may be fruitful in hastening Your return. Grant me the grace of individual preparation and the work that shows You forth in all I do. Amen.