Reflection for the Solemnity of the Christian Family 2022

Living as God’s own.

Did you not know I had to be in My Father’s house.

Welcome and thank you for joining us this Sunday as we testify to our faith in our Lord and Savior, join in fellowship in His Holy Name, and celebrate the entire family of faith which is all of us who dwell in the Kingdom.

As I have occasionally commented, our Church takes this time, about mid-October, to transport us into the Christmas season as we consider the childhood of Jesus and His life within the Holy Family; as we consider our lives within the family of faith, the Kingdom of God.

It seems sort of funny, our Church was ahead of the current day Christmas rush as far back as 1914 when this Solemnity was established at Holy Synod.   

On this occasion, with its focus on family and a kind-of Christmassy theme we may feel transported back to our own childhoods, the lives of our children and grandchildren, especially in their earliest years, our families, the love, events, and even trials we have shared. Family – and the idea of Christmas – we connect with all that, and that is good. For most people it is the place good is first felt.

Considering all that we experience and share in our own families, how do we feel, what do we think, when we consider, hear about, and ponder the family of God, the Holy Church, the Christian Family?

We could consider a gamut of thoughts and feelings. Just as in any family, there will be those who say all things must change, those who say we need improvements, those who say nothing must ever change. There is a whole range of opinions from one end to the other. However, lets step away from all that and consider something completely different – our Lord’s words: Did you not know I had to be in My Father’s house.

Jesus’ incarnation, birth, and young life in the family ushered in the very thing He preached. It was the message He was meant to bring: The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, believe.

In ushering in the Kingdom, in drawing us into one family, Jesus seeks an essential change in us, His Kingdom dwellers and workers. We are called to now focus our priorities and lives on the new reality, the Kingdom reality. We are now to live as God’s own family with the Father at the head and Jesus as our brother, united in the Spirit.

In our new reality, the strictures and structures of family have vastly expanded. Relationship has evolved. We have become a new people, reborn, regenerated, and connected one to another. Being there, we have cause to proclaim: Did you not know I had to be in My Father’s house. Saying so, and truly living as a family, we join in carrying out our responsibilities in our Kingdom work of evangelism, fellowship, and worship. We rejoice as family, as God’s very own.

Bible Study for the 27th Week in Ordinary Time 2022

This week’s memory verse: For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 10:10
  • 10/2 – Romans 15:7
  • 10/3 – 2 Timothy 4:1-2
  • 10/4 – Colossians 3:12-14
  • 10/5 – John 6:37
  • 10/6 – Romans 8:31
  • 10/7 – Romans 5:8
  • 10/8 – John 1:12

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, grant me complete acceptance of Your gifts of power, love, and self-control. Assist me by Your Holy Spirit to use these gifts to live Your gospel life and do all You ask of me. Amen.

Reflection for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022

Accepted and used.

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.

Welcome and thank you for joining us this Sunday as we testify to our faith in our Lord and Savior and join in fellowship in His Holy Name.

God gives – isn’t that a wonderful statement? God has placed gifts in us, as St. Paul tells Timothy, a spirit of power, love, and self-control.

These gifts from God are a sure antidote to the things that humans face every day – weakness, anger and hatred, and a lack of control over both ourselves and our surroundings.

The interesting thing about gifts is the choice of the one receiving them. The receiver has the choice of accepting and using the gift, accepting the gift and leaving it unused, misusing the gift, or just ignoring it.

Growing up, I, like you was trained to be thankful for gifts, and to accept them with grace. We were also taught that we must not waste what we were given. Perhaps in some ways that accounts for some of the clutter we all have – what to do with that ceramic chicken table setting someone gave us?

God only gives needful and useful gifts. No ceramic chickens from God. We have these gifts of power, love, and self-control but now we must apply them. As professing Christians, that is what we are to do.

Jesus shows us how we are to apply these gifts in everyday situations, during the ordinary of our lives. We are to use our power, love, and self-control as His servants and servants of each other. We are to see with faith, the size of a mustard seed, how God’s gifts intertwine and bind our relationships with Him, our brothers and sisters in the Kingdom, and all of God’s creation.

Jesus wants us to use these gifts in doing all He commands, that is, to walk the gospel path where we give completely of ourselves, where we clothe and feed those in need, where we visit those alone, and where the beatitudes mark our life. We can all look those up.

To those given more, Jesus calls for more. For all of us in relationship with each other, we are to be a representation of Jesus’ dwelling with us, His abiding presence. Look on each other and see Jesus abiding; His gifts ready for application.

Today, as we pause to consider the pets we love or have loved, we see in a special way the implementation of God’s gifts. We recognize a dependency in the ones given to us, for care, for companionship, for a recognition of their innocence and their sharing of unconditional love which we need to reciprocate. God thus uses creation to illustrate in the simplest of ways how the accepted gift is to be used. May we ever show how we have accepted the spirit of power, love, and self-control placed in us and how we have used them as His servants.

October 2022 Newsletter – Gifts To Good Use

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

UhOh! It’s October. Pumpkin spice, apple pie and crisps, gourds, the colors of Fall, and all that goes with it. That means we will shortly be bombarded with the need to shop for our Christmas gifts. The disciples gathered (Acts 1:1-11) and asked Jesus a lot of questions. They wanted to know the times and occasions for various future events. Jesus spoke to them rather about gifts. Our knowledge of what is to come is indeed influenced by our experiences, plans, and calendars. We prepare for Holy Synod, decorations, the covering of flower beds in anticipation of frost. Yet we can never fully know our tomorrow. Jesus was not interested in tomorrow or what was coming. That was for His Father (Matthew 24:36). Jesus was interested in and wanted to prepare us for action now. So in addressing His disciples (yes, us), He promised the Holy Spirit, Who would outpour gifts on us.

Gifts are wonderful, aren’t they? God’s gifts are particularly special. But just as with every gift we must make decisions. Will I use it, leave it unused, misuse it, or ignore it. The Holy Spirit has indeed come. We celebrated that fact on June 5th this year. We momentarily reflected on the outpouring of the Spirit’s sevenfold gifts. Perhaps some of us were moved to more deeply explore those gifts, to see where they were active in our lives and the life of our parish and wider Church. And yes, the Holy Spirit has been busy while we reflected! Never doubt that. We have been granted wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Of course we should give thanks, but more-so we should be active in setting those gifts to work in our lives, in the life of our parish, and in the wider Church.

Jesus wants us to rightly use the gifts we possess and make ourselves visible in doing His work in the world. No worry about tomorrow. Decide to put the Spirit’s sevenfold gifts to work today and urgently work so that all their qualities shine from us as we show Jesus to the world.

Welcome to October and all the beauty and grace God offers to His faithful!!!

In October we stand as an ally during Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). We celebrate the month of the Holy Rosary, honor St. Francis with the Blessing of Pets, stand with St. Clare of Assisi in our devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament, prepare for the XXVI Holy Synod of our Church and the grand celebration of the 125th Anniversary of the Organization of our Church. We continue our series of devotions to the Infant of Prague in the Polish Language — Koronka do Praskiego DzieciÄ…tka Jezus w Waszych intencjach w każdy wtorek o godz. 12:30 po poÅ‚udniu. We celebrate the Solemnity of the Christian Family. Also, note the reminder concerning All Souls Day.

Get you tickets for our Christmas Vigil Raffle with a chance to win $2,500 and check out the great insurance special being offered by our sister organization, the Polish National Union.

Check that and more in our October 2022 Newsletter.

Bible Study for the 26th Week in Ordinary Time 2022

This week’s memory verse: Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 13:16
  • 9/25 – Proverbs 19:17
  • 9/26 – Acts 20:35
  • 9/27 – 2 Corinthians 9:7
  • 9/28 – 1 John 3:17
  • 9/29 – Luke 6:38
  • 9/30 – 1 Corinthians 13:13
  • 10/1 – 1 Timothy 1:5

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, grant me a spirit of agape love and a realization of the Your call to that charity in all I do. Aid me in closing the chasms of my life by Your grace. Amen.

Reflection for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2022

Where charity prevails.

between us and you a great chasm is established

Welcome and thank you for joining us this day in our worship of our Lord and fellowship in His Holy Name.

There are several things to consider today: The way we live our lives; The need for repentance i.e, change where necessary; and The reality of the Hell we build if we close or limit ourselves toward the other. All of this is summed up in the gospel as the “great chasm.”

Jesus uses the story of Lazarus and the rich man pointing to the necessity of living a life of love, for a life of love converts us fully, brings us most fully to the likeness of His Heavenly Father. This is the life we are called to, to be the model of God in the world exemplified in love.

Now, the confusing part is our perception of what love is. We mess ourselves up by quantifying and qualifying our love toward others.

The Greeks had it a bit easier for the word Agape means a love that is complete charity, total self-giving. This is the complete love Jesus speaks of and requires from His disciples. We are to live and practice, without quantifying, self-giving toward all we encounter. That powerful love, so often unseen and unexpected in our world, when shown, breaks down barriers and brings people into the Kingdom.

The rich man had none of that. Factually, his love was completely self-centered and could not even contemplate self-giving. He existed is a loveless great chasm, a place of emptiness, a hollow place. He made that chasm impenetrable, uncrossable, and a place of blindness toward anyone else. He never even saw or heard Lazarus under his window.

Could he have repented? Most certainly. The rich man could have opened his ears, eyes, and heart to Lazarus. He could have taken from himself and could have given, inviting Lazarus in to dine with him, not counting the cost. He could have offered his friendship to Lazarus and opened himself to him.

Yet, as we see in Jesus’ telling, the rich man could not even do that after death. There he was, in Hell, being tormented, crying out for pity – pity for himself. His self-centered life lived on into eternity, he remained in the chasm he built. Lazarus remained as nothing, just a potential water bearer and message carrier for the rich man’s needs. Not once does he look up to Abraham and Lazarus and beg forgiveness.

We must examine the places where we have built great chasms in our lives, where our love is less than the full giving Jesus requires. If there is a great chasm, let us work to close it. It is certainly not easy, it wasn’t easy for most of the Apostles and saints at first, but they got there. They closed the chasms of their lives and lived complete love as we must do.

Bible Study for the 25th Week in Ordinary Time 2022

This week’s memory verse: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 10:16
  • 9/18 – 1 Corinthians 11:26
  • 9/19 – Matthew 26:26-28
  • 9/20 – Acts 2:42
  • 9/21 – John 6:35
  • 9/22 – John 6:53-58
  • 9/23 – 1 Corinthians 11:28
  • 9/24 – John 17:21

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, I pray this week for Marianna and Karina, that Your overflowing hope may dwell in them as You now do. Grant that my hope may also be renewed and invigorated. Amen.

Reflection for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, First Communion, and Back To Church Sunday 2022

HOPE!

Who is like the LORD, our God, who is enthroned on high and looks upon the heavens and the earth below? He raises up the lowly from the dust; he lifts up the poor to seat them with princes, with the princes of his own people.

Welcome and thank you for joining us this day in our worship of, and hope in, the Lord.

Thank you for joining for this celebration – a day in which the door to the reception of Jesus’ body and blood is opened to Karina and Marianna – a time in which the hope unity with Jesus offers – is made very real to them.

Thank you for joining us on this Back to Church Sunday, a moment in which we revitalize the hope we all have in Jesus.

The Church offers some tough readings and a difficult to understand gospel today. We may puzzle and wonder what that is all about. Recall, we read a gospel about a cheating steward who is getting fired and who then gets commended for more cheating.

Jesus was using a negative example to show that the businessmen of His day were more wise, bold, and forward-thinking in the management of what they had than the people of God were in managing what they had – their hope. Jesus calls on us to pursue the Kingdom of God and its hope with at least the same vigor and zeal that the worldly pursue their profits.

On special days like today we tend to look back at our first communion, our innocence, the joys of the day that perhaps we could not fully comprehend. When I made my first communion it was with a certain fear and trembling made more so by hair that had to be perfect, a back straight, kneeling stiff and straight through the whole Mass, and the thought drummed into my head of the power and glory I was entering into as Christ entered into me. I did not understand until much later the hope I now owned.

Today Karina and Marianna are surrounded by their closest family and friends and the entire family of the Holy Church worldwide. They are made one with all of us in the body and blood of Christ. Most importantly, they share in the hope we have. Know that as you are surrounded today in love, so in receiving Jesus you will always be filled and surrounded by Jesus’ loving presence

By the Eucharist we live in Jesus’ eternal presence. Our, and your hope is in the assurance of Jesus fully present and real to us. We look steadfastly at Jesus and understand inside and out that living in Him gives us forever hope – a confidence that nothing can get in the way; nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus fully in and surrounding us.

Karina, Marianna, all of us receiving Jesus grow here and now in wisdom, boldness, vigor, and zeal for the Kingdom. In receiving Him we are lifted to heaven, seated with the hope filled royalty of the Kingdom.

Bible Study for the 24th Week in Ordinary Time 2022

This week’s memory verse: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2 Corinthians 5:17
  • 9/11 – Romans 12:2
  • 9/12 – Revelation 21:1-4
  • 9/13 – 1 John 3:9
  • 9/14 – 1 Peter 1:23
  • 9/15 – Ephesians 2:8-9
  • 9/16 – Colossians 3:10
  • 9/17 – Romans 8:21

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Thank You for making me Your new creation, a member of Your body. Grant that I may shine forth love toward all in the model You gave me. Free me from anything that blocks my way to loving fully. Amen.

Reflection for the Solemnity of Brotherly Love 2022

In Christ.

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Welcome and thank you for joining us this day in our worship of, and dedication to, the Lord.

Today we celebrate a very special Solemnity. If we look up the definition of liturgical solemnity, we will see the following: A solemnity is a feast day of the highest rank celebrating a mystery of faith.

From the practical side of things, we know that this Solemnity was instituted in the Church at a time when we faced persecution for our beliefs. No, this wasn’t in the first centuries, the time of the martyrs, but rather in the early 1900’s. We decided as Church, the Body of Christ, His new creation, to emphasize Christ’s teaching on love, whether it be toward one another or toward those who hated us.

It remains sad, even to this day, that those who wish to come into our Church face castigation and persecution. So, we must remain steadfast in our love of these enemies. As St. Paul tells us, our love of them will heap burning coals on their heads. In Biblical language that means that our goodness will embarrass those who hate, and who knows, may convert them to ways of love.

The scholar of the Law knew the answer when he approached Jesus. To him, there was no mystery of faith. The scholar knew he was to love his fellow Israelites. Those were his neighbors, no one else.

Now the scholar wished to justify himself. That meant that he wanted to proclaim a legal verdict (as in a courtroom) of his righteousness and faithfulness, his innocence in the way he treated his fellow countrymen. The scholar wanted to be judge and jury over himself.

Jesus was having none of that and goes on, through the parable of the Good Samaritan, to open the mystery of faith to this scholar and those around him, and in turn to us. Our love is to be unlimited in relation to God and others, and that ‘others’ includes both friend and enemy.

Our love is to be such that it makes those closest to us and enemies uncomfortable. We are to bear an overwhelming love – a love I know we practice here so beautifully – which points to the fact that we are Christ’s new creation. We are fully in Christ.

We are indeed Christ’s new creation. Our lives have been taken out of this world and have been placed in the Kingdom. We have been severed from the ways of sin and death to eternal life in the love of Christ, the Kingdom of love.

While there are many ways to shine forth in the Kingdom – through prayer, worship, and fellowship – the premier way is to shine forth love. All those others – prayer, worship, and fellowship exist in support of the building up of the love of Christ in, and out of, us. So, as people in Christ, His new creation, let us be the Kingdom’s brightness of love always and everywhere.