Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Lent 2024

Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Welcome on this Second Sunday in Lent. We continue in our theme for this Lent – struggle. 

We will consider the stories of those who have struggled to the point of giving up on God and faith in Him. We see in these stories moments where people may have given up for a time, and who, in the end, were fortified because of their struggle. We may not see these people ever overcoming their struggles, but still committed to overcoming. 

Through these stories we will realize that our struggles are evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves in us and because of that we struggle against the things that separate us from Christ. We are not abandoned.

Let us consider our readings and gospel. 

Imagine the struggle of Abraham as he journeys to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his only son as God had asked him. Abraham’s faith is sorely tested. Each step of the journey a torture and a consideration of the ultimate loss. Imagine Isaac’s bewilderment as the realization of what is to happen sinks in. Yet they are there. They are there in a supreme act of trust. In the end, their faith is reaffirmed and rewarded – but the process of getting there impossible struggle.

Imagine the struggle of those three disciples on Mount Tabor with Jesus. They are given a glorious vision of Jesus, the Son of God. It is meant to strengthen their faith amid the impossible struggle coming up in Jesus’ arrest, torture, death, and burial. As they descend the mountain the specter of death is before them, and they live in confusion from that day forward. After Jesus’ arrest and death, they forgot the lesson of the Transfiguration including God’s voice: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” All but John went into hiding and would not stay with Jesus.

St. Paul reminds us of the power of our God amidst our struggles. He tells us what he knew by experience, by the salvation he received on the road to Damascus. If God is for us, who can be against us?

God carried out what He stopped Abraham from doing. He did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all. God gave His all for us and in that we have reassurance amidst our struggles. We can proclaim with Paul that God will give us everything else along with Jesus. Because of that we are free and secure even in our struggles.

Reflection for the 1st Sunday in Lent 2024

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan.

Welcome on this First Sunday in Lent. As many of you heard on Ash Wednesday, our theme for this Lent is struggle. 

This Lent we will consider the stories of those who have struggled to the point of giving up on God and faith in Him. We will see in these stories moments where people may have given up for a time, and who, in the end, were fortified because of their struggle. We may not see these people ever overcoming their struggles, but still committed to overcoming. 

Through these stories we will realize that our struggles are evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves in us and because of that we struggle against the things that separate us from Christ. We are not abandoned.

We hear of Jesus’ desert journey today. He fasts and is constantly tempted – the temptations did not just come at the end. The fast and journey were a struggle for Jesus, He did not just glide through it. He was spiritually and physically hungry and tired each day of the journey, beset by the same temptations we face in struggle – you’ll never make it, you’re not strong enough, give up. That is how we know He gets us, understands what we face, and why He gives us, through the Holy Spirit, the grace of perseverance.

I have printed and left for you the poem Ithaka by Constantine Cavafy. Please take it home and read it. Use it as an opportunity for prayer.

I first encountered this poem when it was read at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ funeral by her longtime companion, Maurice Tempelsman.

Ithaka describes the journey of Odysseus, and in turn each of journeys, to our homeland. For us that homeland is heaven.

In the poem we encounter a prolonged journey. Along the way the good things in our life are increased if we keep our eye on the goal, face the struggles head on, refuse to focus on the negative, refuse to hurry, and relish each day necessary to get there. Along the way we encounter the unknown – making new discoveries about ourselves.

Each of us has their struggles on the road to our Ithaka and in Lent. In the poem’s epigram we hear: “Keep Ithaka always in your mind. / Arriving there what you’re destined for.” Let us hear that as “Keep heaven always in your mind. / Arriving there what we are destined for.”

In the end, as the poem speaks, we will understand what the struggle and journey has meant. 

Ithaka
C. P. Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Reflection for Ash Wednesday 2024

Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Prawdą, Pracą, Walką – the motto of our Holy Church. It stands for Truth, Work, and Struggle – and by these we shall succeed or be victorious.

In our Epistle St. Paul writes to the Corinthians and calls them to conform themselves to the gifts they have received from Jesus’ sacrifice: namely justification and becoming God’s new creation in but apart from the world. Paul doesn’t stop there. He provides concrete instructions on how to accomplish this conformity. It is done through becoming God’s righteousness in real and lived ways, by living for others, not themselves, and by being reconciled where there is division.

Calls are time dependent and Paul notes that now is “an acceptable time.” God is bestowing favor and salvation at this very moment, as He is this very moment for us. Paul is saying – do it now. 

Lent has begun and we must start living our justification by being God’s new creation in but apart from the world. We are to be righteous, living for others, and reconciling ourselves with all we are in conflict with.

Brothers and sisters, we know that our Church’s motto is a call to all things that will lead us to establishing the Kingdom of God on earth at which time we will have the ultimate success or victory. It is a call to use our Church life as the guide to our personal success in living as God asks us to live. Of course, Lent is a perfect opportunity to realign ourselves to God’s way of life.

If we take the motto apart, we see that a couple of the statements in the motto are straight forward. Truth – we can all get onboard with God’s truth, rejecting the world’s version of things.  Work – we all know work is required to conform to God’s way, and especially in Lent where we pledge to do the work necessary – fasting, prayer, devotion, and charity. Then we get to struggle. That is a far harder concept and seems daunting.

What is it about struggle? If we look at its synonyms we can easily see that it is the taking of the much harder road: To fight, grapple, engage in conflict, compete, contend, contest, vie, fight, battle, clash, wrangle – and most perfectly in our case to strive, try hard, endeavor, make every effort, spare no effort, exert oneself, do all one can, and do one’s utmost.

Those definitions and synonyms are key to understanding our journey along God’s way. We have a call, we know the time is now, and if we are perfectly honest, we recognize it will be a struggle.

This is the part that is most difficult for us as Christians, the struggle to live in conformity to God’s will for us. The struggle to accept God’s love for us in a simple act of faith and confession. We have this great, all powerful, awesome God Who only desires our love, yet we struggle to give it fully. We want unity with God, to be His righteousness, to live for others, and to be symbols of reconciliation to all, yet we fail to do it. We try and try and try and come up short. We think this over and over and wonder if we should give up. We often get exhausted in the struggle.

In struggling we reach a point where we consider giving up.

This Lent we will consider the stories of those who have struggled to the point of giving up – most especially giving up on God and faith in Him.

In those stories we encounter difficult struggles, some who perhaps gave up for a time, and in the end were fortified because of their struggle. What you may notice is I did not mention whether they overcame their struggles.

In the end what we will find is the realization that the struggle itself is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves in us and because of that we struggle against the things that separate us from Christ. We will find that the struggle itself and our not giving up is evidence of the Lord’s work in our lives.

As we walk with Christ through Lent, and reflect on the struggles He faced, we will recall Jesus’ promise that those who followed him would face constant struggle (ref. John 15:19 and John 16:33). As we face our struggles now and, in the future, let us acknowledge that the struggle itself leads to ultimate success and victory and resolve to keep pressing on with faith and hope.

Reflection for Quinquagesima Sunday 2024

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

In this third week of Pre-Lent, Quinquagesima, we consider the power of overwhelming love.

I remember my Kindergarten girlfriend, Donna, my 8th grade girlfriend Lori, and perhaps a few others before finally meeting and falling in love with Renee.

We may all recall that special person we were attracted to and perhaps fell in love with. If we really consider the difference between the girlfriends and boyfriends we may have had and perhaps the person we finally entered relationship with, we will note differences in the depth and breadth of our love. That is important to remember since we see today God calling out in love to His people, seeking response.

God says He will give His beloved people everything. He pledges Himself to them. Not only that, but those who are His people will respond in love. What a beautiful vision of mutual love – deep love that knows no limit, where no sacrifice is too great – even to the sacrifice of Jesus for all of us.

I will betroth you to me forever: I will betroth you to me with justice and with judgment, with loyalty and with compassion; I will betroth you to me with fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.

Some may say: If I only had that kind of love in my life! Let us not forget that we already have that love it in Jesus.

Paul reminds the Church in Corinth that the relationship of love within the Christian Church is a letter, written on our hearts. The Holy Spirit writes God’s love within us – within our entirety. That love written in us is to be known and read by everyone.

Our relationship with God, in the best way, is the model for our relationship with each other. God’s model allows us to love not with mere infatuation or passion, not only on occasion, but with the totality of our being all the time.

The covenant relationship Jesus came to establish with us is one of total love. It is a call to mutuality. He tells us that something new is among us – new wine that will not work in old systems of relationship. Our way of life is not like anything of old. He tells the Pharisees to see things with new eyes, with new hearts open to love.

As we prepare to enter Lent, let us focus on the grandeur of God’s love and offer Him our entire selves in love.

Reflection for Sexagesima Sunday 2024

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us was not “Yes and no,” but in him is “Yes.” For however many are the promises of God, in him is the “Yes.” Therefore also through him is the “Amen,” to the glory of God through us.

In this second week of Pre-Lent, Sexagesima, we are presented with a view into the wonderful assurance of God.

In our gospel we see Jesus confronted by the hushed criticism of the Scribes. They were speaking to each other in whispers criticizing what Jesus was doing. They called His power and authority into question: “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” – something that would later be part of their pretexts for His arrest and crucifixion.

Jesus confronts their whispering and conniving by showing that He had power to forgive sin by curing the incurable.

That kind of grumbling also occurred in the early Church. Paul had planned to visit Corinth, but then had changed his travel plans. Luckily in changing his itinerary he didn’t have to deal with trains and planes. What he did have to deal with though was grumbling among the Corinthians. They started to think he was fickle, couldn’t make up his mind, and that led them to question all he taught about Jesus.

It seems silly, doesn’t it? Even so, Paul confronts the grumbling, and their resulting lack of confidence head on. Paul does this in a remarkable way, not by laying out some record of all the great things he had done, the accomplishments he had on his Apostle resume, but rather by going to the source of all assurance and confidence – Jesus.

He declares the absolute yes that is in Jesus. That is the yes of God Who does not vacillate or change in His declaration to us or in His promises. In Christ is also the Amen – which beside meaning ‘so be it’ also means ‘steady’ and ‘trustworthy.’ 

As we continue in our Pre-Lenten journey of preparation let us be assured of the yes and amen that is in Christ Jesus who welcomes the contrite, grants grace for needed change, and who has the power to forgive. Again, let us resolve to meet Ash Wednesday and the Great Lent head-on going to the source of all assurance and confidence – Jesus – Who is ready and able to cure what we think incurable in us.

Reflection for the 3rd Ordinary Sunday 2024

God has overlooked the time of ignorance, but now He demands that all people everywhere repent. 

Today we hear the account of the start of Jesus’ public ministry from St. Mark. We heard the account from St. John last week.

As you may recall, we did a bit of a riff on the age-old group dance, the Hokey-Pokey, wherein we were urged to put our whole selves in and to not just leave them there, but to get to work announcing God’s Kingdom. To be active in calling others for the Lord.

Our active engagement follows the model which we heard in the gospel: Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus, as he consistently does, wastes no time. His mission was urgent and His time limited. So is ours. We have much to do for God.

In our readings and gospel, we see people responding exactly that way. They drop everything to do as God asks. The people of Nineveh repent. Paul urges the Corinthians to focus on Kingdom tasks and not to be distracted by anything else. The people Jesus calls respond by leaving the worldly behind to focus on the work of the Kingdom, to be “fishers of men.”

In each of these cases there is an urgency that the people get. In the aha moment they are saying: ‘I get it, I must do this now. No time to delay. Nothing else is important.’

I would like to focus a bit on our Alleluia verse because it wraps this all up very well. 

The verse comes from Acts 17:30. Paul is in Athens, not one of his most successful missionary journeys. Yet on a hill near the Acropolis which was a public meeting place he calls people to Jesus and speaks of Jesus’ promised resurrection. He speaks of God’s demand on them.

Paul, like always, is being bold and the people, like those nowadays, want nothing to do with a God Who has demands. In fact, we can practically hear them whispering – who is this God to demand anything of me! Even among those who were kind of receptive their response speaks volumes: “We should like to hear you on this some other time.”

God does overlook the past, but once we are converted, have come to faith in Jesus, He places a demand on us, to announce the kingdom and bring people to repentance and salvation. ‘I get it, I must do this now. No time to delay. Nothing else is important.’

Reflection for the 2nd Ordinary Sunday 2024

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Today we see Jesus beginning His public ministry with a call to those who might follow Him. They look: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus responds: “Come, and you will see.”

We know these men were following Jesus. He knew it too and He cuts right to the point: “What are you looking for?”

This was more than a simple question as the English rendering posits it. In Greek these phrases about looking and coming to see are happening in the present and the action is being carried out.

It is important to know this because Jesus’ call to us is happening in the present and our response is to carry out all His call entails. More simply, Jesus’ call is now, and our response is to act now.

Further, “What are you looking for?” does not just mean what are you browsing around for. It means: what do you search for with desire?

While some might consider Jesus’ call to Andrew, John, and Peter to represent a call to formal ministry, and indeed that is there, that is not all it was nor the end of the story. We recognize Jesus’ constant call to all who follow Him. Over and over, we hear Jesus calling all of us to follow Him, to be His learners (i.e., disciples), and to do His Kingdom proclaiming work. 

We are to follow Him and do His gospel work actively, i.e., now and with a complete desire within us.

First Corinthians has Paul putting a very fine point on all of this. Our bodies are not our own, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and are for the Lord.

If you’ve ever done the Hokey-Pokey this is the part where Paul echoing Jesus says, ‘put your whole-self in’ and what is not in the song ‘and don’t jump out.’ We are called to put our whole selves in and to not just leave them there, but to get to work. Be in and present, active for the Lord.

Last week we focused on a word which bridges all seasons of the Church year. It is the word ‘announce,’ in Biblical Greek ἀπαγγέλλω (apangellō). That word, found more in scripture after the resurrection, is what we are called to do. To tell, declare, report, and bring word of all Jesus taught and did. Let us do it actively engaged and with our hearts aligned with Jesus’ desire for the salvation of all. 

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord 2024

And a voice came from the heavens, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”

Today we begin a transition into two short Ordinary Time weeks. After that we will notice a stark change as we enter the Pre-Lenten season. 

In this transition the moments of Jesus’ Nativity get closed out (excepting February 2nd – the Solemnity of the Presentation, forty days after Jesus’ birth) and His public ministry is begun.

If there is a word to bridge these times, and one that is self-contained in each season of the Church year, it is the word ‘announcement.’

Consider the times we have encountered and will encounter ‘announcement.’

The angels announce the Messiah’s birth. The humble shepherds announce what they have seen and heard. The Maji announce the coming of the Messiah to King Herod and all of Jerusalem hears of it. John the Baptist had been announcing the coming of “One mightier than I.” The decent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father from heaven announce Jesus as the Son of God.

Setting forth after His baptism Jesus will call His disciples, turn water into wine, and most importantly announce the immanence of the Kingdom – a charge equally given to every disciple: The Kingdom of heaven is at hand (note in Mark’s gospel account only four verses after His baptism).

Jesus emphasizes the work of announcement. It is the work we each must take up. It is a work that can be carried out in various ways, we don’t all need to be broadcasters using words – it may also be done in acts. It is anything we do that opens the kingdom to others.

Our work as announcers must also be evident in the attitudes we carry. That was the lesson Peter experienced before going to the house of Cornelius. Before going there – to the house of a Gentile Roman Centurion – considered unclean, God showed Peter that his attitudes had to change, that announcing the Kingdom was for those God intended, not only those Peter considered worthy by his own judgment.

With open hearts let us then be those announcers, broadcasters, proclaimers, trumpeters God asks us to be. The more we announce the Kingdom the more people will accept Jesus. 

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.

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.