Reflection for the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds 2024

So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

Welcome! We are already a few days into the forty-day celebration of Christmas. As Charles Dickens wrote, and I paraphrase, I hope we are all keeping it well. Better than any man ever has.

Today we celebrate another of those special Solemnities established by the people of the Church. 

It was at the First Special Synod of the Church in 1906 that the people set aside two special days, the Solemnity of Brotherly Love, and this day, the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds.

In 1914, at the Third General Synod, the people would set aside the other special days we honor, the Solemnity of the Institution of the Church and the Solemnity of the Christian Family.

Let’s place ourselves in the environment of those days. 

In 1906 the Church had been organized for only nine years and was facing significant resistance and persecution. In the face of those struggles what did the people of the Church focus on? What did they do? The placed their focus and emphasis on, and called each other to work at and live, love and humility.

Those people saw the story of the Good Samaritan and the action of the shepherds who were called upon to visit the infant Jesus as their model.

This was no mistake, rather it was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which brought about this conviction to love and humility.

The 1906 Synod speaks of us as being drawn to the Church and to the Lord’s table as the true source of life. We are called to draw close just as those shepherds were called to draw close to the long-awaited Messiah in a stable. We are called to partake of the Bread of Life, and we need those who will bring it to us. They are called to act as those first shepherds – hearing, going in haste, believing and declaring. 

Throughout subsequent Synods the needs of the Church for humble shepherds, priests who take after the Lord’s love and humility was regularly discussed. How do we train and support them? There is desperate need for that. Thus, we take up a special collection today and pray for that very purpose, to train priests who are humble and loving – not lords and rulers – not princes – but servant shepherds.

If there is cause for hope it is this – many are stepping up to serve, to enter those three years of training needed. They are sacrificing much and will be called upon to sacrifice still more. They willingly are laying their lives on the line in absolute self-sacrifice and effacement to stand in the breech ushering us to meet the newborn King. Let us love and support them.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Nativity 2024

 The people who walked in darkness
        have seen a great light;
 upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
        a light has shone.
 You have brought them abundant joy
        and great rejoicing

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I have been out-of-sorts. This hasn’t been a temporary thing, but has been ongoing, that feeling of unease, not knowing where one is or where one is going. I’ve missed things, feel as if I’ve been wandering without direction.

I suppose it is a lot of things. Like all of us, we have those things that press on us. They can be health worries, worries about loved ones, concerns over the everlasting bureaucracy that seems to place roadblocks in the way of getting anything accomplished.

I am usually self-assured, and even when I do not reduce my plans to writing, I am on top of it. I haven’t been. By now I should have watched every classic Christmas movie (Miracle on 34th Street, The Bishop’s Wife, White Christmas, Scrooge (with Alistair Sim), It’s A Wonderful Life, and so on). I have only seen a couple. Take for example this past Sunday – how could Father forget to light the Advent wreath candles? There was other stuff I missed too.

Feeling out of sorts brings about its own fears, trepidation, wonder about what else one may be forgetting.

Then this experience.

On Monday I did all my last-minute running around. I kind of like that hustle and bustle of the last day or two before Christmas. I felt finally a bit of peace, I had a plan, and it was getting done.

First, I had to stop back at Pathways. One resident’s family presented me with a lovely gift, which I left behind in another room (talk about being out-of-sorts) where I had given communion. The staff were kind in retrieving it for me and that was settled. Then off to Euro Deli for all the wonderful Polish goodies needed for our Vigil / Wigilia Supper and things for our parish Repast tonight and tomorrow. I had two bags filled up and other stuff.

I also forgot – Fr. Out-of-Sorts – to order white roses for the baby Jesus, so I stopped at Randolph’s and thankfully they accommodated me.

Armed with the rose arrangement and the goodies, I stopped at church. I put the bags in the foyer, checked the mail, a set the roses in place. Having done that, I reset the carillon to play Christmas hymns throughout the season. And then…

I heard the door and rustling downstairs.

Hmmm….

Guess who I encountered?

It was one of our food pantry customers. He was filling his bags with the things from my bags. The stuff for my family Vigil Dinner, the goodies for our Repast.

This man was all the things that would put us off. He is disheveled, has all sorts of health issues, due to strokes he cannot speak very clearly. He is the perfect representation of pain and want. He is what most avoid. He is what many would react negatively toward if they found him going through their stuff.

My disheveled, out-of-sorts self was facing this disheveled man, and my eyes were finally opened. There was Christ. I was encountering Jesus. I was encountering the Jesus of poverty born in a stable among the livestock, laid in a manger on a cold night. No pillow for His head. Poorer still shepherds as His attendants. Are white roses and decorations enough for Him?

My heart broke for this image of Christ before me and my eyes were opened to setting things in order – not to worry so much about putting things in order, but to allow Jesus to order and sort my life.

This is what we are all called to do, at whatever age we are, to allow this Infant in the manger to order and sort our lives. We are called to see Him in rich and poor eyes, amid plenty and want, always keeping before us the One who asks only love, and in response to give all our love.

 The people who walked in darkness
        have seen a great light

Bible Study for the Last Days of Advent and the Start of the Christmas Season 2024

This week’s memory verse: Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. — Colossians 4:5

  • 12/22 – Psalm 90:12
  • 12/23 – 2 Peter 3:8
  • 12/24 – Proverbs 16:9
  • 12/25 – Psalm 31:15
  • 12/26 – Proverbs 16:3
  • 12/27 – 2 Corinthians 6:2
  • 12/28 – Ephesians 5:16

Pray the Week: Lord Jesus, keep before me constant awareness of Your immanence. As I celebrate Your birth in time may I also recognize Your coming return. Help me to be prepared through patient preparation.  Amen.

Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Advent 2024

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

We have arrived at the last of the four Sundays of Advent, and we continue to contemplate Advent and all its implications in these last few days.

As mentioned over the past three weeks, Advent has several shades of meaning. It can mean beginning, revelation, expectation, dawning, and a start. Throughout this season we are led through the various ways we will prepare for and encounter Jesus in this new Church year.

In the first week of Advent, we focused on our preparation for Jesus’ return. In the second week we focused on our personal preparation for needed changes in our lives. Last week we focused on proactive preparation for the Kingdom through our efforts at evangelizing the gospel message of freedom, forgiveness, and new life both verbally and by the signals we send through the way we live out our daily lives. We are to invite others by the way we live differently and are different.

Today, we hear of Mary’s journey to see her cousin Elizabeth and Elizabeth and her unborn baby’s reaction to the visit. Both are filled with the Holy Spirit and in action and by words they leap for joy.

Mary, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s husband Zachariah were well aware of the long-awaited promise of the Messiah and now – here He is.

This awareness and its meaning are expressed by both Mary and Zachariah in the Canticles they proclaim, the Magnificat and Benedictus.

If you are unfamiliar with these, take a chance in these last few days of Advent to look them up. We clergy know them quite well since they are prayed daily in the Liturgy of the Hours.

This daily recitation keeps the immanence of Jesus’ return before us. This is our last of the four ways to prepare for Jesus’ return, keeping His immanence ever before us.

Take the prayer “Patient Trust” by the great philosopher and theologian Teilhard de Chardin to heart: Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new… Give our Lord the benefit of believing that His hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete while we await Him.

Bible Study for the 3rd Week of Advent 2024

This week’s memory verse: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. — Colossians 3:2

  • 12/15 – Matthew 6:33
  • 12/16 – Luke 10:39
  • 12/17 – Psalm 90:12
  • 12/18 – Mark 3:35
  • 12/19 – Exodus 20:3
  • 12/20 – 2 Corinthians 4:16
  • 12/21 – 1 Timothy 4:8

Pray the Week: Lord Jesus, grant me a spirit of proactive preparation for Your return. Assist me in witnessing to Your Kingdom life in both word and action, by example. Help me to be focused and resolute. Amen.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Advent 2024

The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?”

We have arrived at the third of the four Sundays of Advent, and we continue to contemplate Advent and all its implications.

As mentioned over the past two weeks, Advent has several shades of meaning. It can mean beginning, revelation, expectation, dawning, and a start. Throughout this season we are led through the various ways we will prepare for and encounter Jesus in this new Church year.

In the first week of Advent, we focused on our preparation for Jesus’ return. Last week we focused on our personal preparation for needed changes in our lives through repentance, penance, and reform.

Today, the people who have been hearing John call for change and preparation ask him what they are to do.

John lists some key areas pf personal reform, but it is not for the sake of reform itself, but in preparation for the Kingdom of God. John preached good news to the people. It was the good news of the gospel message that would come from Jesus.

Preparation is about being proactive. We are to take the steps necessary for the revelation of the Kingdom life to people who do not know it. 

Think about what John was asking of his inquirers: share in your clothing and food, stop stealing, stop extorting and accusing. People never saw such a thing. Everyone had their expectations of how people would be, how selfish they would be, but now something had changed, and people were changed.

We are not to get distracted in our proactive preparation for the Kingdom. The people around John, having heard his message, and charged with what they were to do, got quickly lost. They sat around, engaging in speculation – kind of like wondering what the drones are – and John quickly calls them back by pointing to the reality of the Messiah.

What we are to do is take account of these three calls for preparation: to be ready for Jesus’ return in glory, to have undertaken personal reform in our lives, and to be those who are being proactive in showing forth the Kingdom.

What are we to do? Let people know by evangelizing the gospel message of freedom, forgiveness, and new life. Make efforts both verbally and by the signals we send through the way we live out our daily lives of what it means to be in the Kingdom. Let others encounter the unexpected from us because we live differently and are different from those in the kingdom of the world. And, finally, remain focused on what is truly important 

The Celebration of Christmas in Schenectady 2024 – 2025

Join us this Christmas Season and celebrate the continuing birth of Jesus in our lives.

All services are at the parish at 1040 Pearl Street in Schenectady.

  • December 25: Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas), Shepherd’s Holy Mass / Pasterka at Midnight and Holy Mass of the Day at 10am.
  • December 26: Feast – St. Stephen the Martyr. Holy Mass at Noon.
  • December 27: St. John, Apostle & Evangelist. Holy Mass at Noon with Blessing of Wine (bring a bottle or two to be blessed).
  • December 29: Sunday – Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds. Holy Mass at 10am and Noon.
  • January 1: Solemnity of the Circumcision. Happy 2025! Holy Mass at Noon.
  • January 2: Solemnity of the Holy Name of Jesus. Parish Feast. Holy Mass at Noon.
  • January 5: Sunday – Solemnity – Holy Family. Holy Mass at 10am and Noon.
  • January 6: Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord. Holy Mass at Noon includes blessing of chalk, charcoal, and incense.
  • January 12: Sunday – Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. Holy Mass at 10am and Noon.

Bible Study for the 2nd Week of Advent 2024

This week’s memory verse: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. — 2 Peter 3:18

  • 12/8 – Hebrews 5:12-14
  • 12/9 – Hebrews 6:1
  • 12/10 – Philippians 1:6
  • 12/11 – Romans 5:2
  • 12/12 – 1 Timothy 4:15
  • 12/13 – Colossians 1:10
  • 12/14 – Psalm 119:105

Pray the Week: Lord Jesus, grant me a spirit of active preparation for Your return. Assist me in taking account of where I am along Your path. Fill me with the grace needed to reform areas lacking and to grow into You. Amen.

December 2024 Newsletter – Prepare to Give Him Our All

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

In so many ways we are in a time of preparation. There were preparations for Halloween, All Saints and All Souls Days, Thanksgiving, and we now prepare for Advent, the Nativity of the Lord, the New Year, and Epiphany. It truly is a wonder we get it all done. On top of that are our weekly preparations, work, normal shopping, cleaning, and cooking as well as the good works we do with our Food Pantry partnership and our CarePortal work that serves families in crisis. With all that understood, it comes down to approach. I have learned through many a lesson in the pitfalls of forgetfulness that a well documented list of to-dos helps. I like making shopping lists, or taking the ones sent me (can you pick up some milk on your way home) and then deleting the items as I accomplish them. Gives one a certain sense of satisfaction. On top of all the preparing and accomplishing we tend to be influenced by expectation. I know that too – remembering the search for Cabbage Patch dolls and Teddy Ruxpin – and that was when there was no online shopping outlets.

I am not going to deride the preparations, the work involved, or even the expectations around us. The work is typically done with love and concern, a way to make our loved ones’ days brighter, an effort to ease their burdens in life. The expectations are really a call from the heart – a desire to be seen and acknowledged – to be loved.

Jesus did the same and asks the same. Let us be careful to ensure He is on our lists and let us make every effort not to cross Him off the list. Let us be careful so that when Christmas arrives we are not surprised, shocked, or whispering to ourselves – that went so fast. Our efforts done out of love for Him need to reflect all He has done and continues to do for us. From His incarnation to His death it was all for us. Let our lives then be all for Him and His gospel way. Prepare, He is near.

 Welcome to our December 2024 Newsletter. It is indeed a time of preparation as we begin a new Church Year on December 1st with the First Sunday of Advent. The Opłatki (Christmas Wafers) and Advent Wreath are prepared. As the new liturgical year begins we look forward to all our Advent activities and our entry into the Christmas season.

Join us for Rorate Holy Masses by candlelight on Wednesday mornings at 7:30am. We have an American Goulash sale on Sunday, December 8th starting at 11:30am. Get your pre-orders by clicking here. We hold our annual Vigil / Wigilia Dinner on Sunday, December 15th after 10am Holy Mass. We hold our Greening of the Church on Sunday, December 22nd. Fr. Jim celebrates his 10th anniversary of his ordination to the Holy Priesthood on December 6th.

We continue in our charitable works with our food and clothing collections. Join in to support our music director and the Thursday Musical Club as they perform Night Divine at the First Reformed Church of Schenectady on Saturday, December 7th at 2pm. Get a Memory Cross for the parish Christmas Tress in memory of a departed loved one. There are still Christmas Vigil tickets available. If all 100 sell the prize will be $2,500. You can also get advance tickets for the Valentine’s Raffle supporting our parish youth – put one in a card to someone.

Please remember annual dues and Epiphany home blessings. …and, see what else Fr. Jim is up to.

All this and more in our December 2024 Newsletter.