Our annual congregational meeting will be held this Sunday, February 1, 2015. Please commit to being present for this event. Only through your involvement and indication of interest will we remain strong. The Lord and His family, the Holy Church, need your input, interest, and work. A copy of our annual report may be obtained by clicking here…
Annual Meeting – February 1, 2015 Read More »
Christ would remind us, “No matter what your past may resemble, your future is spotless. And the saints are saints precisely because they kept trying.” Modern culture dismisses sin. But the Nazarene does not buy into that message. A New Testament concordance contains a dozen columns on the subject of sin and only eight on love. God would remind us that He gave Moses Ten Commandments and not Ten Suggestions. He never said, “Keep My commandments unless of course you have a headache.” The good news brings hope. The good news offers everyone peace. Virtue and evil are constantly fighting for the upper hand in each of us. Morally we are split personalities, moral schizophrenics. St. Paul identifies with our human condition in the famous words, “The good I would do that I do not. The evil I would not do that I do.” If we surrender ourselves to the Christ, those Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personalities in us can at last become one worthwhile entity.
St. Paul advises: “Let the shoes on your feet be the good news of peace.” If we take his recommendation, our feet will become unbound. We need not fear where they will take us. We will walk over pebbles and feel no pain. Abraham Lincoln was asked what he thought of a sermon. He replied it was good but had one defect. The preacher didn’t ask us to be great. One cannot say that of Jesus in today’s Gospel. We ask the mystic, “How does one get to heaven?” She answers, “The same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice! Practice! Practice!” Go for the golden apple. The aphorism is correct. While it’s risky to go out on a limb, that’s where the apple is.
III Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B” – January 25, 2015 Read More »
St. John’s version of the calling of the disciples is concerned with how we grow in faith and so become disciples. As in today’s first reading, about the calling of Samuel, it is a process. John the Baptist passes on two of his disciples to Jesus, repeating his declaration from the time of Jesus’ baptism that this is the “lam of God”, the one who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus is not just a teacher. He confirms this by His recognition of who Simon is, where he has come from and who he will be. In St. John’s Gospel, faith is at times expressed as a coming to Jesus, and seeing in depth is compared with being blind or missing the point. This is how we too grow in faith. If we come to Jesus and spend time with Him, we too may go beyond thinking of Him as our teacher and come to see Him as the Messiah and more.
To discover our true calling and how to be a disciple we are called to follow the same pattern described in St. John’s account. We bring ourselves, with whatever our particular strengths and weaknesses may be. We can know that we are invited to come to Jesus himself and spend time with Him. This may be time spent in prayer, in learning about Him, in just giving time to being with Him. We may not be the rock Jesus calls Simon Peter to be, but we will have a significant role to play. If we find it difficult to believe God has this special interest in us, we can also help each other discover our callings.
II Sunday in Ordinary Time – “B” – January 18, 2015 Read More »
At the Jordan, Jesus hears the words of His Father affirming and confirming Him is His true identity as beloved Son of God. This powerful affirmation brings to Jesus all the calm confidence of a person who knows who He is. Jesus is able to go out and begin His public life and work. He is fitted for that task by the voice of His Father and the gift of the Spirit. That voice and that Spirit are given to all Christian people. We are baptized people, and gifts have been given to us. As Isaiah’s says, “I have made of you a witness to the peoples, a leader and a master of the nations.” Such is our vocation. We may not remember the day of our baptism, if we were mere babes in arms, but that does not matter: we are baptized and confirmed people, and God has bestowed favor upon us. Today is the day to respond to the favor you have received, God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in you. You are not just a face in the crowd. You are a child of the living God and God’s favor rests on you.
Lord’s Baptism – “B” – January 11, 2014 Read More »
Simeon and Anna only recognized the Holy Family because God was active in the situation. Simeon needed courage to warn Mary that her joy also heralded pain. Joseph would be presented with a responsibility he had never anticipated.
According to tradition, Joseph died before Jesus began His adult ministry, so he was no longer around to support Mary when she was most in need of his quiet strength and fidelity. Family life may not be a bed of roses. Every family will have problems to face. Every family will know troubles and sorrows. Sometimes break apart because the problems become too many, or the challenges of living together become too great. There can be an unbreakable bond, a unique friendship and an unflinching strength that carries a family through good times and bad. Every family has moments of great joy as well as times that are difficult, when it is only the love between them that gives them the courage they need as they face things they had never expected and would never have wanted. Mary and Joseph gave Jesus the foundation that prepared Him for Calvary – and also for Easter Sunday. May their example and their prayers bring our families courage in the bad times, and joy in the good.
Holy Family – “B” – January 4, 2014 Read More »