Reflection for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

Stand up.

“Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid”

Welcome as we once again enter the Ordinary season of the year. This is a time of growth, a time to engage in the work of standing up as God’s faithful people. As we re-enter this season, we see a very pointed story. It is the story of those who stand up, struggle, persevere, and have victory.

We start with Jeremiah. Jeremiah, sometimes called the weeping prophet for very good reason. He did not want the job, the ministry of prophet. He resisted and argued with God, providing every excuse for not doing that work. God won. Jeremiah did the right thing. He submitted himself.

Jeremiah had no happy message. Sometimes it is said that Jonah was the joyous prophet, only reinforcing the good news of God while in Israel. Jeremiah spoke only of doom – of condemnation. He spoke against greed and in opposition to false prophets. For those strong words he was beaten and imprisoned, he was laughed at and mocked. The people shut their ears to God’s truth and their accountability before God. In the end he tried peaching from exile, again to no affect.

For Jeremiah, it was not the words nor even the suffering. His mission was to stand up to wrong, to speak truth to un-listening ears, so that God’s truth would be known. God does not count success as the mark of our faith, but rather our willingness to stand up, even in the midst of the failure and to still offer the message of hope – the intervention of God in the world. That message resounds with all who are abandoned, oppressed, and outcast, who know no justice. Sin will not win.

In Psalm 69 we hear David exclaim: Because zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me. In other words, he takes it standing up for God above all. David relies on God rather than the world and personally feels every sin committed against God.

Paul reminds us that sin and death are not our destiny, the intervention of God in His Son Jesus has stood us back up.

Being lifted up, relying on God, speaking the truth, having zeal for God’s way are all markers of one who stands up. We will not be able to hide any shrinking back. So, stand today, stand always, stay strong and be acknowledged before the Father.

Bible Study for the 11th Week in Ordinary Time 2020

This week’s memory verse: Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

Philippians 4:11
  • 6/14 – Matthew 6:33
  • 6/15 – Hebrews 13:5
  • 6/16 – 1 Timothy 6:6
  • 6/17 – Psalm 22:26
  • 6/18 – John 4:14
  • 6/19 – Matthew 5:6
  • 6/20 – Psalm 90:14

Pray the week: Lord of Life, grant that I may always recognize You as my satisfaction and fulfillment. Lord, You are enough for me.

Reflection for Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi 2020

Enough for me.

“Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”

Thursday, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Today is the Sunday within the Octave, the eight-day period that began Thursday which we spend in celebration of Jesus’ wonderful gift to us. 

Is Jesus’ gift enough?

The Russian poet and singer-songwriter Bulat Okudzhava  wrote ‘The Prayer of François Villon,’ in Polish, Modlitwa François Villona. Its words are those of a person who prays that the Lord will grant gifts to all who ask, and after doing so would leave just a little for him. Its first stanza:

“As long as the world’s still turning, As long as the air’s still sweet, Lord, won’t you give to all of us Whatever it is we need. Give a mind to the wise one, To the coward a swift horse, Give some gold to the happy man, And don’t forget about me.” As the song ends, he repeats “Give a little to everyone, And don’t forget about me. Dajże nam wszystkim po trochu. I mnie w opiece swej miej.”

Is Jesus’ gift enough?

This song strikes home in its melancholy. Is God generous enough to leave just a little for me? Will He remember me in the midst of all the woe and strife in the world? Will my prayer rise up before Him? Will He reach out to me?

St. Thomas Aquinas answered that question as he contemplated the great gift of the Eucharist and our sharing in it. The bread, broken, fractured for us. The wine poured out. In each particle, in each droplet, the fulness of Jesus resides. No person receives more or less of Jesus. All receive equally. There is enough for all. Aquinas also echoes St. Paul in pointing out that while all receive the fulness of Jesus, it is the state of our heart that matters most.

Is Jesus’ gift enough? Yes. Is it enough for me? That is the real question. The state of our hearts in their attitude toward God, the state of our lives in their imaging of Jesus’ way, and our relationship to others shows whether what we have received is enough for us. It is not a question of God’s giving, but our receiving. If we have taken the gift seriously it has changed our hearts. The state of our heart matters most.

Let us, as we fall in worship before this great gift, receive Jesus as enough for me and live in Him. Let us then carry His fulness into the world and to our eternal reward.

Bible Study for the 10th Week in Ordinary Time 2020

This week’s memory verse: But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8
  • 6/7 – 1 Peter 2:1
  • 6/8 – 1 Peter 2:12
  • 6/9 – Galatians 6:1
  • 6/10 – 1 John 2:1
  • 6/11 – 1 John 2:4-6
  • 6/12 – 1 Corinthians 3:1-3
  • 6/13 – 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Pray the week: Holy Trinity, grant me the strength and grace to reject sin, to mend my ways, to perceive You in each person, and to one day see Your glory.

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2020

His image.

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

Today we celebrate the ineffable nature and character of God made known to us by Jesus. That is enough for us. As the psalmist desires, we too only wish to live in the house of the LORD all the days of our lives, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

God’s wonderful mystery will be fully revealed to us when we finally go home to Him. In the meantime, we have work to do.

St. Paul tells the Corinthians and reminds us: Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

If we can simply do that, the God of love and peace will be with us.

Mending our ways is hard work, work that requires the full-on help of God’s grace. Mending our ways takes conversion, a turning of our hearts. It takes action, a doing of the right and a rejection of the wrong, a rejection of our own sinfulness. Yes, we sin, and we sin grievously.

Each night I review my Facebook feed. I find much good there, positive words, connections, mutual support and encouragement, an ability to be with distant family and friends and a chance to keep each other informed. Unfortunately, I also see words of hate, words that come from prejudice (a pre-judging of people), words that reflect frustrations, inordinate fears, and frankly a lack of knowledge pivoted to accusation and hate. Individuals are turned into “them” and “those.” I see it when people turn away from others physically, when we see someone approaching and turn the other way. How did we forget the Gospel lesson: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. The world – all of us. Given to save, not to condemn.

If we think ourselves God’s followers, those who give God praise, glory, and honor, how can we hold any prejudice toward anyone? If we believe God, we know we are all created in His image. If we dishonor, disrespect, blame, accuse, or prejudge anyone we do so to the face of the Father. We do it to Jesus. We disrespect the Spirit. We must learn to agree, live in peace, and greet all with a holy kiss. We must mend our ways. 

Mending our ways from the overt and covert sins we engage in holds promise, not just for the moment God will be fully revealed to us, but here, today, for that is the action of kingdom builders. LORD, pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own.

June 2020 Newsletter – No Anxiety

Be anxious for nothing

Philippians 4:6

St. Paul is writing to the Philippians. He starts in Chapter 4:6-7 by saying, Be anxious for nothing. Now we might say, good advice Paul, thanks, but you do not understand. After all, we have disease, civil unrest, the problem of generational prejudice, murder bees, plus a stadium sized asteroid making a close pass at earth. How can I not be anxious? Paul is not writing in a vacuum. Paul’s command, Be anxious for nothing is not an option. All of our undue cares intrude into an arena that belongs to God alone. Having undue care knocks God out of His Father role and makes us father instead of child. Let God be Father. Paul goes on to tell us to pray to God, to ask, for there are no areas of our lives that are of no concern to God. Pray with confidence, thanksgiving, and receive peace.

June and warmer weather. The world continues to change – and some of that change has long been required. Read our Commitment to Dignity.

June also brings thoughts of our heavenly, spiritual, and earthly fathers. We are called to action. Our newsletter contains information on various summer events being held virtually including PolishFest, our Men’s Spiritual Retreat, and Kurs. As of now we plan to reopen on July 19th with one Holy Mass and with certain required conditions. We will do so responsibly and with great care and only if the situation continues to improve! We look forward with hope and continue to be the faithful church at home and together.

Read about all it in our June 2020 Newsletter.

Bible Study for the Octave of Pentecost 2020

This week’s memory verse: Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Malachi 2:10
  • 5/31 – James 2:1
  • 6/1 – 1 Corinthians 12:15-19
  • 6/2 – Romans 12:16
  • 6/3 – Revelation 7:9
  • 6/4 – 1 Corinthians 12:12
  • 6/5 – Colossians 3:11
  • 6/6 – Matthew 28:19-20

Pray the week: Holy Spirit destroy my fears and prejudices. Grant that I may see in each person another self and the image of You. Heal us of our stupidity.

Reflection for Pentecost 2020

The whole world.

“And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Par’thians and Medes and E’lamites and residents of Mesopota’mia, Judea and Cappado’cia, Pontus and Asia, Phryg’ia and Pamphyl’ia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyre’ne, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 

A strong driving wind. The City of Jerusalem filled with visitors from throughout the world. They heard it, were shocked and amazed, and came to attention. They came running. The light of the Holy Spirit’s fire filled the precinct where the Apostles were staying. They appeared to the crowd, on fire, lit by the Holy Spirit. They spoke in the languages of the world. Each person, with their cares and worries, with their outlooks and prejudices and opinions heard, no distinction. The Holy Spirit at work through these Apostles – witnesses – focused them on renewing the face of the earth.

The fire of the Holy Spirit and His gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and holy fear were operative that day and have been ever since.

On that day, of the approximately one million people in Jerusalem, three thousand came to be baptized. Three thousand came to realize that cares, worries, outlooks, fears, prejudices, and opinions were the work of the opposer, of the devil. What the three thousand discovered was that human distinction meant nothing. They learned that the unity of the body, as Paul would later write, was what mattered, for they were the body of Christ in the world. They were the Holy Church.

The world remains afire, afire in opposition. Cares and worries, outlooks and prejudices and opinions – the ability for humans to ignore the image of God in each other burns. We have, as a people, resolutely ignored the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

The seed of change must start with us. We must listen to the Spirit, we must accept His gifts, and not just count them theory, and a nice thing to have, but as the mark of our lives; the mark we will leave on society, our cities, towns, and villages, and upon the whole world. We are that three thousand.

As the new three thousand we must allow the Holy Spirit to burn away cares, worries, outlooks, fears, prejudices, and opinions. We must allow the Spirit to open our eyes to the dignity and worth of every person. We must be serious and be the witnessing Church, the body of Christ, for and with all, here and now.

Novena to the Holy Spirit in Preparation for Pentecost – Day 9

To be prayed daily as we prepare for Pentecost

In the Name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

V. Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And You will renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, my Lord and my God, I adore You and humbly acknowledge here in Your sacred presence that I am nothing, and can do nothing, without Your operation within me. Come, great Paraclete, thou Father of the poor, thou Comforter of the blest, fulfill the promise of our Savior, who would not leave us orphans, and enter my mind and heart as You descended on the day of Pentecost upon the holy Mother of Jesus and upon His first disciples. Grant that I may have a part in those gifts which You did so prodigally bestow upon them.

Take from my heart all that is not pleasing to You and make of it a worthy dwelling place for Jesus. Illumine my mind, that I may see and understand the things that are for my eternal welfare. Inflame my heart with pure love of the Father, that, cleansed from attachment to all unworthy objects, my whole life may be hidden with Jesus in God. Strengthen my will, that it may be conformable to the will of my Creator and guided by Thy holy inspirations.

Aid me to practice the heavenly virtues of humility, poverty, and obedience which are taught me in the earthly life of Jesus. Descend upon me, O mighty Spirit, that, inspired and encouraged by You, I may faithfully fulfill the duties of my state in life, carry my daily cross with patience and courage, and accomplish the Father’s will for me more perfectly. Make me, day by day, more holy and give to me that heavenly peace which the world cannot give.

O Holy Spirit, Giver of every good and perfect gift, grant to me the intentions of this novena of prayer. May the Father’s will be done in me and through me. And may You, O mighty Spirit of the living God, be praised and glorified for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for Saturday, May 30th: Come, O Holy Comforter, and grant me a relish for heavenly things. Produce in my soul the fruits of virtue, so that, being filled with all sweetness and joy in the pursuit of good, I may attain unto eternal blessedness.

Let us pray: O God, who as at this time did teach the hearts of Your faithful people by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then is said the Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory be….

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory be …

Let us pray. Almighty God, You instruct the hearts of the faithful thru the grace of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and to ever rejoice in His comfort, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen

In the Name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Novena to the Holy Spirit in Preparation for Pentecost – Day 8

To be prayed daily as we prepare for Pentecost

In the Name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

V. Come, O Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And You will renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, my Lord and my God, I adore You and humbly acknowledge here in Your sacred presence that I am nothing, and can do nothing, without Your operation within me. Come, great Paraclete, thou Father of the poor, thou Comforter of the blest, fulfill the promise of our Savior, who would not leave us orphans, and enter my mind and heart as You descended on the day of Pentecost upon the holy Mother of Jesus and upon His first disciples. Grant that I may have a part in those gifts which You did so prodigally bestow upon them.

Take from my heart all that is not pleasing to You and make of it a worthy dwelling place for Jesus. Illumine my mind, that I may see and understand the things that are for my eternal welfare. Inflame my heart with pure love of the Father, that, cleansed from attachment to all unworthy objects, my whole life may be hidden with Jesus in God. Strengthen my will, that it may be conformable to the will of my Creator and guided by Thy holy inspirations.

Aid me to practice the heavenly virtues of humility, poverty, and obedience which are taught me in the earthly life of Jesus. Descend upon me, O mighty Spirit, that, inspired and encouraged by You, I may faithfully fulfill the duties of my state in life, carry my daily cross with patience and courage, and accomplish the Father’s will for me more perfectly. Make me, day by day, more holy and give to me that heavenly peace which the world cannot give.

O Holy Spirit, Giver of every good and perfect gift, grant to me the intentions of this novena of prayer. May the Father’s will be done in me and through me. And may You, O mighty Spirit of the living God, be praised and glorified for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for Friday, May 29th: Come, O Spirit of holy Fear, penetrate my inmost heart, that I may set You, my Lord and God, before my face forever; and shun all things that can offend You so that I may be made worthy to appear before the pure eyes of Your divine Majesty in the heaven of heavens, where You live and reign in the unity of the Ever-blessed Trinity, world without end.

Let us pray: O God, who as at this time did teach the hearts of Your faithful people by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then is said the Our Father and Hail Mary and Glory be….

Our Father …
Hail Mary …
Glory be …

Let us pray. Almighty God, You instruct the hearts of the faithful thru the grace of the Holy Spirit, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and to ever rejoice in His comfort, through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen

In the Name + of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.