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.

Call For Papers – 23rd Scholars’ Conference

The Commission On History And Archives of the Polish National Catholic Church is pleased to announce the 23rd Scholars’ Conference to be held April 18-19, 2024, in historic Scranton, Pennsylvania. A virtual opportunity will also be available.

Academic scholars, representing the social sciences, are invited to submit proposals for individual papers related/devoted to the Polish National Catholic Church, its associations, its outreaches, and various independent movements that preceded or are contemporaneous with the Church and related subjects. Selected papers will be presented and subsequently published in the PNCC Studies Journal. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2024.  

Additionally, we are pleased to offer an alternative to formal paper presentations with the addition of poster presentations. Details on submission are listed below. Graduate student presenters will be eligible for a $500 stipend/scholarship and free meals.

Register today by Email to the Prime Bishop’s secretary or by calling or 570.346.9131.

Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to hearing from you.

Bible Study for the Last Week in Ordinary Time 2023

This week’s memory verse: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 6:33
  • 11/26 – 1 Corinthians 4:20
  • 11/27 – Psalm 145:13
  • 11/28 – Hebrews 12:28
  • 11/29 – Luke 12:32
  • 11/30 – John 18:36
  • 12/1 – 2 Corinthians 5:17
  • 12/2 – Luke 17:20-21

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, I praise, glorify, and worship You alone. You have my fealty and my life. Grant that all I do may be according to Your will and may magnify Your Holy Name. Amen.

Reflection for the Solemnity of Christ the King 2023

“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was…’” 

Welcome as we conclude this year’s Ordinary Sundays with this great Solemnity dedicated – as all things are – to Jesus Christ our King.

In some churches this Solemnity is dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Kind of funny when one thinks about it, how we as His people add on levels of detail to Jesus’ Kingship, trying to make Him as big as He really is by adding more and more adjectives.

The real point is that we can never define Jesus’ Kingship well enough, nor should we try, but rather spend our time as we have throughout this Ordinary Time focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus the King by our very lives.

Jesus, our King, and only true ruler taught us to live His Father’s way of generosity. He has told us that we will be held accountable for living up to doing things His Father’s way. He calls us again and again to turn, repent, and get back on track.

We hear Ezekiel telling us about God’s help in getting us back to where we need to be: As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered. I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind the injured, and heal the sick. 

Picture that, God among His scattered and wandering people. Immediately He sets to work in saving us. Well, that is what Jesus did.

Having been saved and reminded to stay awake, prepared for our Master’s return, with access to the many graces the Holy Spirit provides as He seeks, brings back, binds, and heals us, Jesus tells us what His return in judgment will be like.

In each instance He will judge how great our generosity has been. Welcoming, feeding, providing drink, clothing, visiting – all that stuff we do right here is our parish, but more important than that is the reason we do all those things. If it is just for points or to earn credits for heaven, we would be wrong. Rather, in each instance Jesus’ words must ring true – we are doing it for Him. We must see Him in each act of goodness and be Him to those we help. This must ring true – whatever you did you did for Me.

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.

Bible Study for the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time 2023

This week’s memory verse: As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace

1 Peter 4:10
  • 11/19 – Romans 12:6-8
  • 11/20 – James 1:17
  • 11/21 – Exodus 35:10
  • 11/22 – Proverbs 25:14
  • 11/23 – Jeremiah 1:4-8
  • 11/24 – Ephesians 2:10
  • 11/25 – Romans 8:28

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Thank You for the gifts You have given me. Grant that I may employ them to carry out Your will. Give me the insight to see what grace accomplishes. Amen.

Reflection for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

“A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one– to each according to his ability.”

Welcome as we continue our journey of study and re-commit ourselves to the work of following, witnessing to, and sharing Jesus.

Jesus taught us to live His Father’s way and calls us to accept responsibility for godly generosity and our own follow through.

For the past two, and again this Sunday, we have shifted our focus from God’s generosity to how well we live up to God’s way of doing things. We are asked to stop and think and figure out any gaps that exist between God’s way and our way. Where we have lost sight, we are called to recommit.

Last Sunday we concluded by recommitting to staying awake, preparing for our Master’s return with responsibility, and fully accepting the accountability we have before God.

We see this theme again today. The servants were given stewardship over the master’s treasure. They were to act responsibly with it and were to cause it to grow.

If it is not too obvious – we are the stewards of our Heavenly Father’s treasure – His kingdom in which we dwell. We are to set to work and our obligation for which we will be held accountable is its growth.

I want to look a little deeper at the servant who failed, who ended up outside and cut-off.

Jesus’ parable tells us that each was given “according to his ability.” Now perhaps this servant wasn’t the brightest bulb. Perhaps he was not the most astute at his job. The master did not give him much. Yet his master gave him a share.

We could fall back on that as an excuse. I don’t have the knowledge, skills, or abilities. I don’t really understand this job of kingdom building. I am not good with words. But God thinks you are.

I’ll throw this one out – Pygmalion in Management. It is a concept based on the Ancient Greek story of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved. The expectation he had of the statue brought it to life. So it is with teachers and bosses. Those under their care tend to live up to their expectations.

God expects us to live up to His expectations of us. After all, He finds us worthy of the blood of His Son.

Bible Study for the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time 2023

This week’s memory verse: Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

John 14:23
  • 11/12 – 1 John 1:6
  • 11/13 – Titus 3:10
  • 11/14 – Ezekiel 18:30
  • 11/15 – Hosea 12:6
  • 11/16 – Luke 9:62
  • 11/17 – Matthew 7:21-23
  • 11/18 – James 1:25

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, Grant that I may be fully engaged, concordant with Your gospel way. Provide me the grace to stay awake and live my obligations toward You and all. Amen.

Reflection for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

“Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Welcome as we continue our journey of study and re-commit ourselves to the work of following, witnessing to, and sharing Jesus.

What have we been focused on for so many weeks? It is simply this, living God’s great generosity. Jesus taught us to live this way and calls us to accept responsibility for generosity and follow through.

Last Sunday the message shifted to reflection; how well we are living up to Jesus’ call. We were asked to stop and think and figure out the gaps. Where have we lost sight of our responsibility?

It is an important reflection to undertake especially as we approach the end of the Church year and face up to consequences, Jesus’ return.

Jesus’s parable today is about those consequences. Fail to live the gospel life, think things are just good enough, neglect the practice of persistent generosity, reject the notion of turning, what the Greek’s called metanoia, a deep inner affect wherein one is spiritually converted, and we find ourselves locked out.

Today’s words of accountability are hard to hear for many in the world where the way always seems easy, broad, and well paved. For many, the notions of preparation, responsibility, and consequences no longer bear any significance. 

Don’t study or do well on your tests, pass anyway. Neglect kindness and generosity and replace it with cruelty, bullying, and meanness and you’re a hero. Hate and you have a huge following. Exploit your body and God’s way of love and you have fans. This and so many other ways the world closes one off from any accountability.

Consider this, groups, and organizations as diverse as CAP, Scouting, 4H, FFA, and organizations like our YMSofR and ANS, as well as Church itself all have trouble attracting members because members have to agree to accountability. One must accept responsibility for doing something.

God paints a vision for us. Accept wisdom – meaning understanding and acceptance of what God wants and be blessed. Wisdom tells us that there will be accountability for the way we live. The psalmist tells us that hungering for God’s way brings great favor.

Let us then be wise and stay awake, preparing with responsibility and accepting God’s way to accountability.

November 2023 Newsletter – Everlasting Comfort

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort

In our Sunday Holy Mass for November 5th we heard a beautiful psalm (Ps. 131:2) in which King David quiets and stills himself with God. David likens the experience to a babe in its mother’s arms. There is David with his soul at peace and rest.

As we know, November is the Month of All Souls. Contemplating death and the seeming unknown is cause for no small amount of distress in our lives. Yet, the phrases of comfort and care found throughout scripture, especially in the work of Jesus, eliminates the unknown. Jesus told us what would happen and that gives comfort, assurance, and dispels distress. I look to the example of Dismas, the ‘good thief.’ He certainly did not live the best life. Yet, his faith led Jesus to proclaim: “today you will be with Me in paradise.”That is a confidence booster. The raising of the widow’s son, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus adds to that confidence. The joy the disciples experienced on Easter and afterward puts a fine point on the fulfilled promises of God – we have forever life in Jesus in paradise.

As the weather gets colder I have been contemplating old comfortable slippers and sweaters. Those things that wrap around us and make us feel safe and well cared for. So our faith in Jesus. When we contemplate His love and care for us, His holding us in the palm of His hand, and His eternal promise of life we too should feel like David – quiet and still. We should feel God’s warmth that removes all cold. We should proclaim With St. Paul: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us. Paul then says that as we are comforted by God, so must we comfort, reassure, and wrap others in that same care. Paul says God comforts us so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.

Let us in our endeavors, our charity, and in all things both experience and share the comfort God provides. Let us show the reality of God’s care that drives out the cold.

November is here and we approach the end of the current Church year and ready for Advent. This month is dedicated to remeberance of and prayers for our dearly departed loved ones. 

On December 3rd at 4pm we will host our Prime Bishop for the blessing of our new organ and then enjoy an organ concert coupled with a fundraiser for our sister parish, Blessed Virgin Mary, to assist in their recovery from the arson fire which damaged their facilities and church.

Our winter clothing drive is underway as is the collection of foodstuffs for those in our local community. Please remember our Christmas Vigil Raffle – time is growing short. Check out our Thanksgiving prayer and the thanks we offer for for all the good around us.

Interested in pet pics with St. Nick? Online Cathechism class? Need a place to go for Thanksgiving? Check that and more out in our November 2023 Newsletter.