Recent rains cause some damage
…but in the midst of the rain, growth and beauty too.
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Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – “A” – June 29, 2014
Today’s Gospel is one of the best-known, most quoted and hope-filled passages of scripture. When Jesus told His listeners that they could come to Him, it was a time when He himself had little time to spare, encountering not only those who loved Him, but also those who could not cope with His message and sought ways of silencing Him. Jesus was busy, but not too busy to welcome those who were sick and troubled, those regarded as important or considered unimportant, young people and old people. To Him, everybody is of value and worth accompanying. Jesus told the crowd that if they were to shoulder His yoke, they would find it “easy:” it would fit their shoulders. He did not mean His followers would have a trouble-free life. Jesus himself experienced opposition that would lead to the cross. He promised, however, that, with His support, nobody need find his or her burden too big to carry. That is why today’s Gospel has given comfort to so many people. We know we are not alone – and makes the difference. With Jesus alongside, we are never alone.
Parenthood is not easy, but it carries its unique joys. There is a sense of fulfilment and happiness when a child comes looking for consolation and reassurance. Even whe life seems to be filled with one problem after another, most parents do not wish away their children: they are there for their sons and daughters through thick and thin, giving countless small signs of love. “Great” parents are not those who achieve landmarks in society, but are those who, in simplicity and humility, take one step at a time, accompanying a child from her or his earliest days and through all of the bumps and scrapes along the way. Jesus did not boast of being God or of His relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He was not stuffed with false pride, looking for a red carpet wherever He went. A parent does not need to boast of his or her talents and achievements to a child: children already know their own limited capabilities even while acting as though they ruled the world. Jesus was the perfect parent in His attitude towards others, but is there not also something beautiful that we can learn from our mums and dads? What can I learn, from my parents or those of others, about the reality of God’s love?
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13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – “A” – June 29, 2014
St. Peter and St. Paul were very different types of people. They didn’t always agree. Yet they shared a common purpose and it is the Spirit of the living Christ that guided them to the final summit of witness, their martyrdom in Rome. They indured imprisonment, torture and death for the sake of Christ they believed in. Finding the middle ground between these two virtues, humility and courage, is not easy, but the virtue of hope makes a unity of the two, just as the power of the Holy Spirit would bind these two remarkable servants together for all eternity. Between the leaf blowing in the wind, and the oak which does not bend but is blown over, we are called to be like supple trees, swaying in the wind of the Holy Spirit but always rooted in truth.
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Corpus Christi Solemnity Observed in Plymouth Seniorate
The Plymouth Seniorate of the Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church held a joint Corpus Christi service on the Solemnity, Thursday, June 19th at 7 PM in Ss. Peter & Paul church in McAdoo, PA.
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Bleenie Sale – Every Two Weeks through October
St. John’s first “bleenie” (potato pancake) sale was held on Friday, June 13th. The sales will continue until the end of October 2014 (every two weeks). Thank you to all who came out for some great bleenies! Enjoy!
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Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi – “A” – June 22, 2014
We are all, wherever we live and whatever we believe, united in this need of God’s providence; our hunger and thirst, and turning to the earth to satisfy them, is an experience of human solidarity. Today’s feast take us further still. Jesus knows not only the everyday human needs of hunger and thirst, and how they can affect us, but He recognizes, too, that something similar can go on for us in our relationship with God. If missing food and drink makes us unable to live at our best, then missing God attacks our person on a profound level. Jesus not only recognizes this constant human hunger, but responds to it by opening His own Body and life to us, as the way into the heart of God. By receiving Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we receive a food that transforms us into what it is itself – Christ’s own life, lived in joy and love at the Father’s heart.
Going to Holy Mass can all too easily become part of our routine, or an additional thing to fit into a busy schedule. Today’s feast invites us to stop for a while and reflect more deeply on this great mystery of the Eucharist, and renew our living faith in it. To be invited to Mass is to be invited to share Christ’s life of love with the Father; it is an invitation, too, to recognize that here we find ourselves one with God’s people, as St. Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians. Responding to this invitation has implications: about how well we prepare to celebrate the Eucharist; about whether we could fruitfully receive the sacrament more often; about how we live as witnesses to being “one body” in Christ. Above all, it challenges us to think how we can, ourselves, live “eucharistically”. Perhaps there will be moments in the coming week where each of us can be bread for others, broken and shared as Christ is himself.
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Solemnity of the Holy Trinity – “A” – June 15, 2014
Not so very many years ago a senior priest in Scotland believed he should preach one very difficult and theologically complex sermon each year, for the good of the congregation. He invariably chose Trinity Sunday for this, Unfortunately, his plan didn’t work very well, as his congregation never understood what he was talking about at any time!
There is a famous story about St. Augustine – although there is no record that Augustine himself actually told it, and it is only known from the 13th century. The story goes that Augustine was sitting on a beach, trying to grasp the mystery of the Trinity, when he saw a small boy with a seashell collecting water from the sea and pouring it into a holy in the sand, returning to the sea for more water, and so on. Distracted by this, St. Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?” The child answered, “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” “That is impossible; the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made,” said St. Augustine. The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity into your tine little brain.”
The complexities of the theology of the Trinity will always be beyond the human mind, because we gather today to celebrate the Most Holy Trinity – not to understand it. Our entire liturgy is wrapped up in the Trinity – our prayer is addressed to God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, both of whom live and reign in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God, three persons.
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Solemnity of Pentecost – “A” – June 8, 2014
After the crucufixion, the disciples of Jesus were afraid and many ran away. They struggled to believe in the resurrection and the promises that had been opened up, the promise that the risen Christ was present to them now and they would share in the hope of eternal life, for ever and ever. They would know unending joy in the presence of God if they followed their Master to the end, even to the cross. When Jesus appeared to them, having been raised from the dead, He always offered them two gifts – the gift of peace and the gift of forgiveness and mercy. He strengthened them with the words, “Do not be afraid.” The offer of God’s mercy which leads to new life is celebrated at Pentecost as we celebrate the birthday of the Church. With sins forgiven, we are restored into new relationship with the Father and with one another. God gives the members of the Church the gifts of the Spirit and grants many gifts so that each person is called to use his or her gifts to build up the Church and serve others in need. Each of us has a particular call and, in the words of John Henry Newman, a “definitive service” for the Lord.
We are sent out on this feast as missionaries of Christ. We are sent to share our hope with others. We are sent out from Holy Mass into our families, our workplaces, our schools to share the hope of our faith with others. There are times when it is right to speak loudly about our faith, even if we are opposed or ridiculed for the sake of truth. At other times we do this through love when actions speak louder than words. Can I share my hope with another person? If not, then pray to the Holy Spirit for the gift of courage. Do I have to make a difficult decision? Ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of wisdom. Am I caring for a sick member of the family and feeling that life is impossible? Ask from the Holy Spirit the gift of understanding and patience. The Holy Spirit is our “delightful guest,” in the words of today’s Sequence, and touches our hearts to give us comfort.
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VII Sunday of Easter – “A” – June 1, 2014
The setting of today’s Gospel is the Last Supper, Earlier, Jesus had predicted that He would be betrayed; Judas had gone out, ultimately to betray Him, and “night had fallen.” Now the “hour has come,” and Jesus prays what is often known as His “priestly prayer.” He prays that the Father may glorify Him and that He may glorify the Father. The “hour of glorification” is that of His crucufixion, death and resurrection, by which He brings about the salvation of the world. Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, having by His own life on earth revealed the meaning of eternal life and the love of the Father, prays that the Father will glorify Him in His disciples, that is, the Church; it is a prayer that foretells the gift of the Spirit.
Jesus’ prediction that one of His disciples would betray Him is the subject of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper. The artist captures the vibrancy of the disciples’ emotions and reactions so wonderfully that he seems to present in reality the drama of the scene, though it is the product of his imagination. The upper room appears as an extension of the Dominican refectory in Milan where the painting is located. Originally, the tapestries in the picture would have reproduced 15th century Italian embroidery, painted in exquisite deatil. Another master painter, Veronese, transforms the Last Suppe into a sumptous Venetian banquet where, gathered with Jesus and the disciples, are a jester with a parrot, dwarfs and dogs. In both of these paintings, though, we do not see the Last Supper as it really was – each artist in different ways brings the past into his own time. Sometimes people are said to “live in the past,” which can mean that they have not adjusted to present-day life or cannot free themselves from unhappy memories. Just remembering the past is different, for remembering it helps us to live in and for the present. The people of Israel remembered the dark times when they had been beyond the help of any human power, yet help had come from God. In particular, they remembered the Exodus, their passage from slavery to freedom, and they brought their remembrance into the present with the Passover. At the Last Supper Christ instituted the Eucharist, a new Passover but more than just a remembrance. No artist could portray the reality of the bread and wine transformed into the body and blood of Christ; but we experience that reality today.
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VI Sunday of Easter – “A” – May 25, 2014
It’s the night of the Last Supper. Jesus’ heart is filled with fear and foreboding: in just a few hours’ time He will face that most gruesome of fates – death by crucifixion. And yet His thoughts are centered not on himself but on His disciples, “my friends,” He calls them. He knows how devastating His death will be for them. And so He reassures them with the promise, “I will not leave you orphans,” and says, “I shall ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever.” The Greek word for advocate is rich in meaning – a comforter, a consoler, a counsellor. Jesus has been all these to His friends, and now He assures them that someone will continue His work. This special helper, joint gift of Father and Son, is of course the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love and truth; the Spirit who, as love, is at the heart of the Church. Today’s other readings give us glimpses of the Holy Spirit in action. In the first reading the Spirit enables Philip to proclaim, to announce fearlessly, the good news of Christ to the people in Samaria. And then, through the coming of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation, the newly baptized are strengthened in their faith and their desire to share it with others. The second reading suggests that gentleness accompanies the gift of joy.
The need of the Holy Spirit has not dimnished with the passing of the decades. The word “Advocate,” used of the Holy Spirit seldom gatecrashes: the Spirit normally waits to be called in, waits to be invited. Of course, the Holy Spirit has been with us since baptism; and so what we are really praying for is that we may open our hearts and respond ever more generously to our divine guest. In that way we shall be renewed both as individuals and as Church.
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