December 2023 Newsletter – Anticipation

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

I was listening to religious radio the other Sunday, just after Thanksgiving, and the commentator mentioned that we are now in the Christmas Season. Now, I am not a Negative Nelly, correcting everyone for such mistakes. I am happy that they recognize the need to celebrate the season. The better question, Why the rush?

If you are old enough you might remember the days when the decorations were put up on Christmas Eve or in the week before Christmas. Folks prepared for Christmas by living with a sense of anticipation. Anticipation – the old ketchup commercials where they sang Anticipation while the ketchup slowly trickled out of the bottle. Anticipation like in the heart of a child awaiting Christmas morning, a bride her wedding, parents the birth of a child. Those and many other occasions we each know very well.

We Catholics know something of anticipation. In every Holy Mass we await the living presence of the Lord Jesus and our receiving Him in Holy Communion. We live seasonally anticipating the celebration of the key moments in our Lord’s life which encompass our salvation history. It does not all happen right away. Advent calls us to a spirit of anticipation. The Holy Church guides us through this season focusing on our Lord’s coming and echoing Psalm 130: I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.

Let us imagine our keeping of this time of anticipation. What awaits us? A grand celebration of forty days beginning Christmas Day and lasting until February 2nd. We will together celebrate those moments of salvation history that focus on family, the impoverished that first met Jesus, and His revelation to the nations. On the other hand we can meet Christmas exhausted, throw out the tree the next day, and miss all Jesus revealed to us. So, let us celebrate by keeping this time of anticipation for if we do the peace of Christ will indeed reign in our hearts.

Think December is busy? You’ll be right. Our schedule is jam packed with activities that help us anticipate Christmas and the Christmas Season. Advent begins a new Church year. We have our Charity Organ Concert on December 3rd at 4pm to support Blessed virgin Mary’s fire recovery fund. Come share in our annual Vigil / Wigilia Dinner on December 10th. Rorate Masses (Holy Mass by candlelight only celebrated Wednesdays at 7:30am) throughout Advent help us prepare. Come help us decorate the church in our Greening of the Church. Read a portion of St. Ephraim the Syrian’s Stanzas on the Nativity and engage in charitable giving of food and clothing for those in need. Too much to mention here, so check it all out in our December 2023 Newsletter.

Organ Blessing and Charity Concert for Church Affected by Arson

On Sunday, December 3rd at 4pm the Most Rev. Anthony Mikovsky will be present to bless our new organ. Following the blessing, a concert of organ music will be presented. The concert will raise funds to support Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Latham, New York which was affected by an arson fire this past May.

The arson attack destroyed the parish’s storage garage and parts of the church and its kitchen. A free will offering will be taken up at the concert to assist in fire recovery. A reception will occur after the concert.

Annual Winter Clothing Drive

The United Young Men’s Society of Resurrection is conducting its annual clothing drive.

Let us be Christ to our community!

Needed: Articles of clothing to help dull the winter chill.

Your Reward: A good deed that reflects the love of Jesus.

Please help out by using either the pdf form or Excel file below to record items you are donating and take them to a charity of your choice. Use the Excel file to optionally automatically tally your donations. Turn in the forms at church. If you need help in delivering items, please let us know and someone will assist you.

Winter Clothing Drive PDF Count SheetDownload
Winter Clothing Drive Form FillableDownload

October 2023 Newsletter – Earnest Love

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

Welcome to October! We see a wonderful theme for this month carried on from our celebration of Brotherly Love in September. It is this, a theme of deep focus on sacrificial love. Peter reminds us of our Christian duty to sacrificial love in 1 Peter 1:22 as quoted above: love one another earnestly. How do we grow in love?

October is the month of the Holy Rosary. We must ensure, of course, that we keep the rosary in perspective as a methodology for concentrated prayer and not as some sort of magical mystery thing. The rosary takes us on a tour of the glorious, joyful, and sorrowful moments (called mysteries in the rosary) in the life of Jesus. What we see in each moment of His life and that of Mary is their living out the sacrificial love that marks the gospel way of life. They give of themselves totally to do as God the Father asks. By their example and our focusing on that example, we discover new ways to share our love. We pause to recollect how we might imitate Jesus and follow His call to love as the Father asks.

Also in October we celebrate the Christian Family in a special way. The family, as designed by God, is the seed bed for developing a life that conforms to St. Peter’s guidance – foremost by obedience to the truth. The family relationship, the smaller model for the wider Church, is the place we learn true self-sacrifice, whether it is giving up our time or treasure to serve another member or in giving up our dreams to bring the aspirations of the other to fruition. Further, the truth of God and our obedience to it is also self-sacrifice founded in love. No, we must not meander through life just doing whatever we please if we call ourselves Christian. We set aside our urges to do as we please in order to follow Jesus’ way of life and the Father’s call to us.

To love one another earnestly means we place our whole selves in the service of love. We privy ourselves by obedience to God’s truth and with sincerity follow Jesus, imitate Mary, love on our families, and take a back seat to the other.

Fall is here and we are busy. The blessing of pets will occur at Holy Masses on Sunday, October 1st. We celebrate the month of the Holy Rosary with regular prayer on Fridays at 3pm and we honor the Christian Family with a special Solemnity on October 8th. We cover the unfortunate occurrences (debacle) in the Polish Catholic Church in the Republic of Poland. Read up on the PNUA transition to the PNA.

We look forward to the months ahead replete with activities including our Seniorate Thanksgiving celebration. Fr. Jim will offer online catechism classes starting October 11th. That and so much more to read up on.

Check it out in our October 2023 Newsletter.

July/August 2023 Newsletter – On the Faithfulness Track

And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me

Balaam’s ass is one of two animals in the Bible that can speak. She is also one of two who are a blessing to their human companions. I encourage you to read the whole story found in Numbers, Chapters 22 through 24. This story has much to tell us about our walk of faith.

Baalam was a soothsayer or magician. The King of the Moabites had called on Balaam to curse Israel who were coming out of Egypt into his land. At first Balaam would not go, listening to God, but later relented under much pressure. All along God tells Balaam not to go, but he later chooses to go, agreeing to say only what God tells him. Along the journey Balaam’s ass bows humbly and will go no further. Balaam beats the animal three times. Finally the ass speaks and asks Balaam why he has hit her. He gets angrier and tells her he would kill her. Then God opens Balaam’s eyes and he sees the Angel of the Lord with sword drawn standing in the road. The angel tells Balaam: Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.

This is a story of faithfulness and of weakened faith. The Angel (of course) and the ass are absolutely faithful to God, and in terms of the ass, to Balaam. This loyalty failed in Balaam. He chose to neglect God’s command, preferring to try making a deal with God so he could please the King of the Moabites. He also chose to hit his animal. Balaam’s disloyalty causes God to show that He is the One in charge. He can send angels and cause animals to speak. Balaam (and we) are reminded that we must follow God’s instruction. We cannot double-deal. We cannot bargain out of doing as God asks without consequences.

Our walk of faith is to be a life of loyalty to God’s command, His Word Who is Jesus, the Holy Spirit’s work in the Church. Let us not veer!

Welcome to our July/August 2023 Newsletter. We are enjoying the hot summer days and are engaging in many wonderful activities that grow our faith, serve our community, and foster our fellowship as the family of God in Schenectady.

Read a report from the Men’s Spiritual Retreat. Join in the great activities offered for our youth, musicians, and parish. We have replaced our organ – take a look. Our Food Bank partnership is underway and CarePortal is serving those most in need (23 requests met, 67 children served, and an economic impact of over $32,800).

Please join us for our parish/community picnic on the church grounds on Sunday, August 20th after the 10am Holy Mass.

BTW – we still need help in getting our funeral candlesticks refinished. Let Fr. Jim know if you have the skillset to help. 

Check out all that and more in our July/August 2023 Newsletter.

May 2023 Newsletter – Winners, Victors, Conquerers

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

As this newsletter was being prepared we were in the midst of final preparations for our 19th Annual Basket Social. The golabki (golumbki, golumpki, piggies) were being made, the programs printed, the baskets organized and sorted, and finally everything moved into place (tables, the microphone/ speaker, food, all the odds and ends).

Leading up to the Basket Social there was of course normal trepidation. Will anyone show up? What other events will pull people away that weekend? The only worry I did not hear concerned the weather, but I am sure someone must have mentioned it. The weeks leading up provided perfect opportunities to talk about what really mattered: faith that overcomes all things, confidence, victory in Christ, and the care of the Good Shepherd – on the very day of the Basket Social. Immersed in the Easter Season those are the things we celebrate and most central to our celebration is victory, winning.

In the end, the Basket Social was a great success, the most successful ever. We literally won. In this winning we are reminded to really focus on the victory we have in Christ Jesus. Yes, we did very well. Yes, this year was a success. But what happens tomorrow and the day after and into eternity.

1 Corinthians 15:57 reminds us of what should be primary to us, at the top of our agenda. It is not momentary wins and occasional losses, but eternal victory in the defeat of death by the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is the forgiveness of our sins. St. Paul continually focuses his teaching on Jesus’ victory which has made us a new people. He tells us: ”In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).

As we prepare for the big things in the life of our faith family, our own families, and our daily lives let us concentrate on what resolute faith teaches us – that we are indeed winners, victors, and conquerers through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome to our May 2023 Newsletter. We continue our journey of joy through the Easter Season literally ending the month with Pentecost, the 50th day after Easter.

There is tons in this month’s newsletter. Spring and Summer events are upon us. May means Mary and our devotedness to the Mother of Jesus in both private and collective prayer. We will hold our annual Memorial Day Holy Mass at the parish cemetery (weather permitting). We also have some great volunteer opportunities through which we actually live out the Greatest Commandment. BTW – can you help us get our funeral candlesticks refinished?  

We look forward to seeing you.

Check out all that and more in our May 2023 Newsletter.

April 2023 Newsletter – In All Things New Life

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one

The short excerpt above is from John 17:22, part of the Last Supper narrative between Jesus and His disciples, near the end of it. Whereas in the other three gospels Jesus actually eats a passover meal before He dies, in John’s gospel He doesn’t. The Last Supper is actually eaten before the beginning of Passover. So, the sequence of events leading up to the actual crucifixion are very different in John’s gospel. John’s gospel account records Jesus’ extended teaching (see John 13– 17). Although John does not retell Jesus giving the bread and the cup and instituting the New Covenant in His blood, the symbols and words used in the Lord’s Supper are abundant in John’s Gospel. While Jesus does not mention the new covenant in His blood in John, He does give the new commandment centered in that covenant (John 13:34), “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Jesus’ teaching in this narrative are instructive to us as we move through our lives. As on Palm Sunday for Jesus, we experience times of glory and triumph. As on Maundy Thursday evening, we experience times of fellowship and bonding. As on that night and Good Friday we experience times of great sorrow and seeming defeat. Because Jesus fully understood and experienced our human condition, our joys, fellowship, pain and sadness, He wanted us to know what we have in Him.

Easter reminds us of the glory Jesus’ Father gave Him which He has now given us. This not just for the sake of having God’s glory, but so we may be one in that glory.

Easter reminds us of our new life in Jesus. It reminds us as our status as family to God and each other. We have an opportunity each day to live in this new life, so we see even our sufferings and trials in a much different way. They are not permanent. God’s love and life and our fellowship in Him overcomes even death forever. Happy Easter!

Welcome to our April 2023 Newsletter. We begin April in Holy Week and arrive quivckly at the Easter Season, reveling in the joy of Jesus’ resurrection which is also the promise of our resurrection. 

Join us throughout Holy Week and walk with Jesus through His passion, death, and burial so to arrive at His resurrection. One set of events cannot be understood without the other.

Our newsletter contains our full calendar of events, reminders of upcoming events, including the ever popular Basket Social on April 30th.

We look forward to seeing you.

Check out all that and more in our April 2023 Newsletter.

Holy Week and Easter Schedule 2023

The following is our Holy Week and Easter schedule:

  • April 2: Palm Sunday; Traditional Liturgy of the Palms and Holy Mass at 10am. Second Holy Mass at noon.
  • April 3: Holy Monday. Holy Mass at Noon.
  • April 5: Spy Wednesday: Holy Mass at Noon. Private Confessions until 2pm.
  • April 6: Maundy Thursday: Solemn Holy Mass with Reception of Oils, Procession, Reposition, and Striiping of the Altar at 7pm. Church open until 9pm for Private Adoration.
  • April 7: Good Friday: Church Opens at Noon. Last Words at 1pm. Bitter Lamentations/Gorzkie Zale at 2pm. Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified and Opening of the Tomb at 3pm.
  • April 8: Holy Saturday: Liturgy of New Fire, Renewal of Baptismal Vows, and Blessing of Baskets at 10am. Church open until 3pm for basket blessings and private devotion.
  • April 9: Solemnity of the Resurrection (Easter): Traditional Resurrection Liturgy, Procession, and Solemn High Holy Mass at 8am. Second Holy Mass at 10am.

For more information, call the parish at 518-372-1992 or visit our Facebook page.

February 2023 Newsletter – Prepare, Grow, and Build Like Noah

By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. 

The text above is from Hebrews 11:7, wherein the writer is reminding people who knew the Hebrew Scriptures, of Noah’s faithfulness to God’s instruction and the fact that by being faithful he became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 

This year, the Pre-Lenten season begins right on the first Sunday in February, and by the time this two-and-a-half week season passes on we are in Lent. It will go by quickly. This year, let us liken ourselves to Noah. We all know the account found in Genesis Chapter 5 – 9.

Scripture says that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation and that he walked with God. While this was true of Noah, and because of Noah was also true in his family, the rest of the world was corrupt, violent, and filled with continuous evil (sound familiar?). The question to ask – Am I faithful like Noah, and how will my faithfulness affect this age? Noah certainly did not know what to do with the corruption of his time. While he acted properly, was righteous and blameless, he made no impact on those around him. God had to intervene to change the situation. For us, we live in the light of God’s greatest intervention. Not the flood, but the sending of His Son Jesus. That means we now know what to do and we have the power to do it (no flood needed).

Jesus showed us the way to go. He  gave us the gospel that is life. He enjoined on us the Beatitudes as a way of life along with all the other instruction from the Sermon on the Mount. If we do as Jesus taught, we will deeply impact our time, culture, and the people around us. As with the early Christians, people will be amazed and enter the kingdom. Like Noah, let us use this time to prepare, to grow in faithfulness, to build a way of life consistent with the gospel. Where we have succeeded, let us build further.  Where we have fallen short, let us prepare to fix it now, and fix it this Lent.

Welcome to our February 2023 Newsletter. With the start of February we enter the Pre-Lenten Season of Septuagesima. We engage in preparation for our Lenten journey because by the end of February we will be in Lent. This month and next we engage in the ministry of administration with our annual parish and financial meetings. Our Valentine’s Raffle is underway. SouperBowl Sunday is February 12th – let us give generously to feed those in need locally. We also celebrate Scout Sunday, review the great scholarships we have available, and list some fantastic Youth events/opportunities upcoming. There is a pizza/game night around the corner and the Basket Social is not that far away.

Check out all that and more in our February 2023 Newsletter.

January 2023 Newsletter – Treasure and Gift

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Imagine if you will, an asteroid falls to earth. Upon investigation scientists discover a new element, one unknown throughout history. There is just so much of the element and it is removed and and taken to a lab. The element is found to have a beautiful appearance, an infinite number of valuable uses, and in-and-of-itself is rare. Everyone has heard of the element via the news and social networks and that news causes it to further increase in value. Everyone would love to have it in their possession. With all this going on, people are talking about the new element all-the-time, they are doing all they can to pursue it, and there is no work or sacrifice people would not expend to have it in their possession.

Jesus tells us as recorded in Matthew 6:21 that where a person’s treasure is, so is their heart there.

Eight days ago we recalled the precious gift that came down from heaven, like our imaginary asteroid element one-of-a-kind, filled with light/luminous, rare, and infinitely present and perfect in all situations. That gift is Jesus, God with us, ever present.

Now one thing about our journey through the liturgical year, following in the footsteps of Jesus and the key moments and teachings given to us is how we live because of them. We could consider our experience of Jesus disconnected and one-off, of no more value than perhaps a few hours on a Sunday and a few occasional holidays, but if we see the truth of the treasure we have, its preciousness, we do all we can and even more to fully possess Him. If we do indeed see the value of Jesus and we make His value central in our lives, we will talk about Him all-the-time. We will pursue Him in our reading of Scripture and in times of dedicated prayer. We will count no work or sacrifice too much if we dedicate them to carrying out Jesus’ commands. If Jesus is our treasure then our hearts will be focused on Him alone. Let our continuing celebration of the forty days of Christmas cause us to reflect on the gift we have received and how we treasure it.

Welcome to our January 2023 Newsletter and the ongoing celebration of the Christmas season (all forty days of Christmas which started Christmas Day). As you can imagine, there is tons going on. 

We start by taking a look at all the good we are doing within our community, whether direct assistance to families, empowering the women among us, gathering clothing and food which continues in the SouperBowl of Caring – Let’s Tackle Hunger. There are several events going on including Christmas season gatherings and our hosting of prayer for Christian Unity on Saturday, January 21st at 5pm. It is time to recognize those who have been awarded music scholarships in the past and encourage all to apply for a scholarship. There are plenty of thanks to go around and a schedule of most of this year’s big events.

All that and more in our January 2023 Newsletter.