May 2015

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity – May 31, 2015

From the Pastor /

In our readings is a message that takes us to the heart of why, as Christians, we do everything “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” These words tell us about God’s abiding love for us, God’s presence with us, and the mission that God calls us to. The risen Jesus, taking leave of His disciples at His ascension, not only says, “I am going to prepare a place for you;” but also, as Matthew records, instructs His followers to go out and make disciples.

It is all too easy on Trinity Sunday to content ourselves with naming the Trinity as “mystery” and then go about our business as normal. The Trinity tells us who we are, as baptized people; it opens us the riches of prayer and intimate life with God; it assures us of God’s closeness to us as we go out to do God’s work in the world. In practice, then, simply to begin each day “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” is to enter, day by day, more deeply into this mystery of love. From such prayer we can find small but powerful ways of living the mission of the Trinity in our lives. Let’s find moments in the coming week where, like God who is Trinity, we can go out to others in love, knowing God is with us in all things.

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Solemnity of Pentecost – May 24, 2015

From the Pastor /

The readings for today’s Solemnity of Pentecost, each in their own way, describe the effect of God’s Holy Spirit in terms of speaking a language of understanding a culture. The apostles are transformed from being huddled in the upper room in fear of their lives into people who are filled with joy and courage as they rush out to share the good news of the resurrection of Jesus. They speak foreign languages, they are given the gift of speech. All people understood the Gospel message, each in their own language. In the Gospel, Jesus describes the Spirit as the one who speaks the truth – acting as a witness to the truth about Jesus. Throughout John’s Gospel, the truth about Jesus is quite simply that Jesus is the Son of God. With the Spirit speaking through them, the apostles can translate God’s love so that all people can hear and accept it.

Champollion worked for years to be able to decipher the hieroglyphs of the Rosetta Stone. No one can learn a language in an instant. In the same way, the Spirit leads the followers of Christ into the complete truth – a gradual process in our personal lives and as community of faith. How do we know if we are speaking the language of God’s love? St. Paul gives a vivid description of those who speak the language of the Spirit and those who don’t. Indecency, sexual irresponsibility, envy, drunkenness, bad temper – these are sure signs that a person has not learn the language of God. But when God’s Spirit lives in us, then what we are able to express comes from that core of our being – a language that is as beautiful as it is clear, because it comes from God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness. Since the Spirit has taught us how to speak, let our lives speak the language of God, the language of love.

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Seventh Sunday of Easter – May 17, 2015

From the Pastor /

The first reading, from Acts, shows the Holy Spirit operating in the apostolic Church. Jesus has already appointed the Twelve as leaders of a visible, structured organism. The Twelve have authority to teach and sanctify by presiding at the sacraments and preaching. Since the earliest times of Christianity there has always been a certain suspicion of structures and hierarchy in the Church. Any group needs a structure, and the Lord provided us with the apostolic succession, the priesthood, the sacraments, to structure His own mystical body. He wants it to be a visible, tangible presence on earth.

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Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2015

From the Pastor /

Today, in the first reading, we hear one of the most important teachings that we will ever learn, and that St. Peter needed to learn. God doesn’t have favorites. Everyone who does what is right is acceptable to God. There are no barriers, no dividing lines that separate us from one another. Not race, not color, not creed. In Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord tells us that not even enemies are to be treated differently. Love your enemies, He tells us, and do good to those who treat you badly. This teaching can be seen in practice on every page of the Gospels, where Jesus is confronted by His opponents. He treats them all with fairness, openness and honesty. This fair dealing with difficult people is love in action. At the Last Supper Jesus gives us the commandment to “love one another, as I have loved you.” For love is not a feeling. It is a response to God’s loving us first, and a grace of Christ to love others. The love of God for us inspires us to love others and to make no exceptions.

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Fifth Sunday of Easter – May 3, 2015

From the Pastor, PNCC /

The Church is essential to our faith. We cannot say, as some do, that we want Jesus but not the Church. In the Creed we affirm our belief in Jesus Christ and also in “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” The institutional Church is a key part of our faith, but there is always the danger of just going through the motions and dying on the vine. How can we produce the fruit that will show that Christ’s Church is alive and well? We do not need to be mystics like some of the great saints, but to make sure our practice of the faith, whether it is going to Mass or saying our prayers, is firmly based on a close personal relationship with Jesus. We don’t at first have to do anything but rather to be at peace in His presence, to allow Him to dwell in us. Then we can share a deep communion with Him as we receive His body and blood in the Eucharist. If we change the image from sap, we could say that His real presence in His blood gives us new life. If we do have this close relationship of the branch to the “true vine,” then it will produce good fruits especially in the way we love God and one another.

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