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IV Sunday of Advent – December 19, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

The last Sunday of this year’s Advent is the first day of celebration. Advent ends. Christmas begins. Four candles are lighted on an Advent wreath. It’s not a decoration, it’s a clock reminding us of how great gift the time is. We live in time. No moment comes back. Every hour is a gift and a task. Each day brings new challenges and new grace. New hardships and new joys. How much do we respect our effort? No doubt a lot. But if the time would not be given to us, it would not be anything. Together with time and its passing, everything is a gift. We can multiply and improve this gift. 

Therefore, when something ends, something also is a beginning. That is why Christians should be happy. What is the biggest gift? The time? No. The biggest gift is the coming of God’s Son in the time and the space of our earthly history. It was announced by the prophets. The biggest gift is that God the Father gave us His only Son, and the Son gave himself. Since that time we start to count passing of years. It is not an important mistake of time – the reference point itself is important: the day on which God said His “yes” and Mary replied “yes”. Soon she went on the road and went with a hurry to Elizabeth, carrying th Mystery yet invisible to eyes. Many people passed the young Miriam carrying Jesus’ already conceived. How many of them felt that this beautiful and smiling girl is not someone ordinary? How many felt the presence of God? 

For sure Elizabeth: Blessed you are among women! – she cried – Blessed fruit of your womb! She guessed by herself? No. This is the third gift of God: the evangelist says that the Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth. I would like to have a heart as sensitive as she, so I wont miss the biggest gift. To not miss the moment when Jesus will stand at my door. I need the gift of the Holy Spirit. Faith is not naivety. On the contrary – the naive is that it seems that everything can be explained and prove. We know that the faith is God’s gift. So you can always multiply it. You can also, unfortunately, turn off this spark of faith, and to lose the gift. While a man lives, while the time of earthly life flows, while we light up further candles on an Advent wreath, while you can free yourself from naivety and self-confidence – there is a hope to ignite the spark of faith. 

The last days of Advent, are for Christians, for me and for you, days of gratitude: to God of Father – for giving us His Son. To God the Son – for the fact that He wanted to be one of us… that He had a mother, a donkey, Bethlehem … and after years – the cross, to actually be one of us to the very end. To God the Holy Spirit – for the fact that with a gift of faith, He allows us to see further than the most courageous human expectations. The days of great gratitude are about to begin …

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III Sunday of Advent – December 12, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

People gathered at the Jordan River were shaken by the words of St. John the Baptist, they also felt the near presence of Jesus. They stood and cried: “What should we do?” St. John said: Love your neighbors with your attitude and word; a man is the greatest value of the world. The world without humans would be nonsense and nothing.

Advent is a time, where we especially have to sensitize our hearts for the needs of a second person. Living in the Church community, we have to think about how we will experience our Christmas time. Are we going to have sad, crying, unhappy and broken faithful? Such sense have words: “If anyone has two dresses … and who has food, let them do so.” Because we are children of one God.

But St. John the Baptist goes deeper. He reminds about the greatness and dignity of man. “Do not bully no one … do not oppress anyone”, that is love your neighbors. In the community, such as the Church, there is a place for all people: and this newborn who will be baptize soon, and the elderly who cannot do anything on his own. For healthy and sick, strong and weak, for everyone! Today in the world, and also in our country, what is weak, fragile, which seemingly does not bring profit is reject, and a faithful person, living in a godly manner and life according to the Jesus’ Gospel feels anxiety, breaking and humiliation.

St. John the Baptist does not demand that people – like him – will go to the desert to live an ascetic life, but calls and encourages us to see another person, and to understand that Christ also comes to the earth for other people.

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II Sunday of Advent – December 5, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

Today’s Gospel evokes the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten the paths for Him, every valley should be filled, each mountain and hunts, the winding roads let them become simple and bumpy with smooth roads. And all people will see God’s salvation.” This meaningful picture of work related to the equalization and preparation of roads shows an extremely artistic way what to do in human life: a complete internal change. Our daily experience tells us that the tasks which we have to do or the effects of professional work every day, you can easily verify, evaluate and reward. However, when we penetrate into the heart of man, we are thinking about this work, which is called “work on yourself“, it turns out that achieving specific effects and their evaluation is not so simple and obvious.

I encourage that the Advent time, especially the confession preparing us for Christmas celebration, did not leave anyone indifferent on calls to prepare the Lord’s ways in our lives. Just as the setting of a new road demands a specific, planned work of many people, so our way to God needs an internal commitment that will not stop on saying of several learned sentences, but through specific resolutions and actions will lead us to authentic improvement.

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I Sunday of Advent – November 28, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

Who prays better – thick or skinny? Absurd question? I think not exactly. Although it cannot be answered, checking the importance of a man, but you can say that overweight and underweight can also be an obstacle on the way to God. You can consider whether spiritual exercises do not like these exercises that affect the body. 

“Watch out for yourself that your hearts are not heavy due to gluttony, drunkenness and temporal worries.” In one sentence, the Gospel gives us a simple, but also very universal: remember that the body and spirit combine with each other. Heart rate, i.e. the lack of a spirit, commitment, reluctance to take anything or simply gradual falling into a laziness very often combine with a lifestyle of human life.

If we wanted to translate this one sentence about the gluttony, drunkenness and worldly concerns to the contemporary language, you would have to realize that the problem becomes extreme. In the US are fast foods, in which for a few dollars you can eat to fall, without any restrictions. On the other hand, the figures of models that do not know what normal nutrition means. In one and the second case, we are losing a man – a spirit who is to revive him.

So – that the human heart would not be heavily “due to temporal worries”, and attention to the external appearance would not sleep the spirit, which turns towards God, you need – simply – keep the moderation: in drinking, eating, watching TV, sitting on a computer and navigating on the internet, reading books…

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XXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 5, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

We can meet more often young people, who – like the deaf man from today’s Gospel – need someone, who will touch their eyes, ears, hearts and mind, and then will say “be open”, with the full force and conviction. They come out from such houses and environments, in which they lose trust in the other. They are living in conviction that they are unnecessary to anyone, they are in a state of resignation. Only, when they see that there is another world and people, who thanks to faith, walk through life with joyful heart, they start to think if their life could be different.

What’s happens to the deaf man, whom Christ restores health, recalls a situation of a man, which after years of life emptiness – suddenly discovers that there is another world and other life, which he knows. His ears start to open, the tongue starts to talk, and – using the words of today’s Gospel – he starts to “speak correctly”.

If the expression “to speak correctly” can be use as a kind of summary of this change within a man, one could say that it affects the essence of human life. As long as we remain in darkness, in the wrong environment, or even in a bad situation, we say and think different than God wants. Only when we may leave and go a little bit behind the current state of affairs, we see that there is another world, where is a completely different life.

Let the Gospel to be read today in our churches leads us in two directions. First of all, let us ask ourselves, if we don’t need a completely new opening on God and the other man. Secondly, let us try to see people, who expect someone who will bring them to Jesus, and they could hear a simple, but firm call “open up”.

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XXII Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 29, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

It is quite easy to participate in various celebrations or religious events. It is also not difficult to stand together with others to manifest our faith or beliefs, especially among crowds. However, public manifestations of faith do not always go together with everyday life. In today’s Gospel, Jesus refers to the words of the prophet Isaiah and says: “This people honor me with lips, but the heart is far from me.” This words remain actual. What’s more, they can touch people who certainly are not religiously indifferent. Going out from the opinion from the Book of Isaiah, Christ begins to explain the matter quite simple, it would seem to be completely obvious to the Pharisees and scholars in the Scripture.

However, as it turns out, it is not – they are surprised. It is also happening similarly in our lives. Sometimes, it is a need for a daily situation or a simple conversation to discover something that should be obvious, and even natural. It is a need for a man who honestly and definitely will tell us “we cannot do it, the faithful man never don’t do it, even when no one sees”.We are quite easy to participate in various celebrations or religious cereals. It is also not difficult to stand on the shoulder with others to manifest our faith or beliefs, especially when they make crowds. However, public manifestations of faith do not always go hand in hand with everyday life. In today’s Gospel, Jesus refers to the words of the Prophet Isaiah and says: “This people honor me with lips, but the heart is far from me.” These words remain valid. What’s more, they can touch people who certainly not in a very direct way They are religiously indifferent. Going from the opinion from the book of Prophet Isaiah, Christ begins to explain the matter quite simple, it would seem that completely obvious to the Pharisees and scholars in writing. However, as it turns out, it is not – they are surprised and give birth to questions. Similarly, it is also happening in our lives. Sometimes the need for a daily situation or a simple conversation to discover something that should be obvious and even natural. The need for a man who honestly, without any throw, but at the same time will definitely tell us “that’s how it does not do it, it does not be a tolerant man – it never happens, even when no one sees “.

May the Gospel of today’s Sunday will be an encouragement for us to build a faith that will unite us with God, and other person, not only through external signs, but above all – through an internal commitment and honesty. Let’s ask God that the worship we give Him with our lips, will be confirmed in the heart, which will cling to Him totally, and will be faithful to Him in every situation.

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Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi – June 6, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

Passover was the great Jewish feast commemorating – and spiritually renewing – the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt, their crossing of the Red Sea and their forty-year journey through the desert, and year after year this was commemorated. Today’s Gospel takes us to Mark’s account of Jesus giving Passover a whole new meaning on the night before he died. 

At this meal, Jesus does two remarkable things which are quite plausible in His own language. He takes bread – an essential ingredient of Passover – and He says, “This is my body.” Then He takes a cup of wine, saying, “This is my blood… which is to be poured out…” We are used to these words, echoed at every Mass, but, to Jesus’ disciples, these were unusual words for Passover. What we might miss, though, is that Jesus’ disciples do not sound surprised in the least. In Aramaic, Jesus’ own language, similar to Hebrew, the verb “to say” is also the verb “to do”. We’ve actually heard this many times from the beginning of the book of Genesis. God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. This continues throughout the creation narrative. When God says, “let there be…” it must happen. So, when Jesus says, “This is my body… This is my blood,” He means it in reality. In Aramaic, there is no such thing as a figure of speech. Oddly, we don’t get any indication of reaction here from His disciples, presumably because they knew exactly how their language worked and that Jesus spoke literally when he said, “This is my body… This is my blood.” We do, however, have a very clear idea of what people think when, in John’s Gospel, Jesus says: “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” Jesus does not mean “I am like living bread.” Clearly, Jesus’ entire audience knows what he is claiming – that he, personally, is living bread. Most cannot accept it; the Twelve, led by Peter, say, “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.” Peter never makes a greater or truer statement. Back to the Last Supper and the Gospel text for today: Jesus, the living bread come down from heaven, is about to equate the surrendering of his own flesh and blood for the life of the world with the bread and wine which he now declares to be his body and blood. His gift is total. And Jesus even gives the bread and wine that is his body and blood to Judas Iscariot, and then, in John’s account of the Last Supper, tells Him to go and do what he has come to do. The Eucharist is the guarantee that God has never, does not and will never hold back God’s love from anyone.

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Solemnity of Pentecost – May 23, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor, PNCC /

The Gospel today is the promise that Jesus makes to send the Holy Spirit, and Pentecost is the fulfilment of that promise. At Pentecost the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and were able to proclaim the truth of Jesus. Jesus also teaches the connection between the gift of the Spirit and the truth. Without the Divine inspiration that comes from God we are unable to fully express the richness of God’s being and love. 

This giving of the Holy Spirit takes place on two levels, the collective and the personal. At the collective level the Spirit is given to the whole Church, starting with the apostles. The Spirit empowered the apostles to speak in many different languages the truth about the love and goodness of God. On an individual level we receive the Spirit at baptism, and we are given the gifts of faith, hope and charity. As St Paul puts it, we become temples of the Holy Spirit. We are empowered to know and love God and to bear witness to the saving truth. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit hovers over the Church to give birth to the mystical body of Christ. At our baptism the Holy Spirit comes to us to empower us. 

We live the life of Pentecost primarily through participating in the sacraments, through a life of prayer and good works. The Holy Spirit gives us what are known as the seven gifts, to empower us to pray, to enter ever deeper into the life of the Trinity. As well as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit there are also the fruits of the Holy Spirit. This, as given in today’s second reading, is a beautiful list of the results of living a life in the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. 

The Holy Spirit dwelling in us does not make us puppets but empowers us to be genuinely free and achieve our potential as children and co-workers of God. There is one very concrete way in which we can bear witness to the truth of Jesus and the Gospel. Guided by the Spirit, we can speak of the things of God, we can speak honestly, speaking the truth in love. This can go from explaining our faith to others, to saying kind and encouraging words to each other, the sort of words that build up, and not those that destroy. So, the Holy Spirit makes us children of God, but also helps us mature in Christ to the fullness of truth; as an ancient hymn puts it, the Holy Spirit is the Father’s promise, “teaching little ones to speak and understand.”

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Resurrection of the Lord – April 4, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

For St. John the evangelist, the story of Jesus ends on the cross. The crucifixion is the lifting up of Jesus in glory: it is His death, resurrection, ascension and giving of the Spirit all summed up in one event. The following episodes are part of the story of the disciples. Our Gospel passage today relates the circumstances surrounding the discovery that Jesus’ tomb is empty. It opens with the three characters – Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and the anonymous disciple whom Jesus loved – literally and symbolically in the dark. At the beginning, they do not understand the reason why Jesus’ body is missing: at the end, Mary and Peter still do not know, but the unnamed disciple comes to believe. Peter may well have a position of authority and his companion defers to him by allowing him to enter first, but the latter has priority of place in Jesus’ love. There are clues in the text that God has been at work. We are told that “the stone had been moved away” and that the cloth which had been over Jesus’ face was “rolled up”: this is a biblical way of expressing divine action. The signs of death – the stone, the cloths – have been deprived of their meaning; the tomb and the cloths are empty. We might contrast this scene with the raising of Lazarus, who is restored to the life he lost; Jesus is now in a different plane of existence altogether. Only John’s model “beloved disciple” realizes this.

An observation that we sometimes hear in relation to the Easter story is that things began to go wrong in the Church when the male disciples failed to listen to the women who reported that Jesus was risen. This comment is based on the other Gospel accounts, in which the women have been confronted either by angels or by the risen Jesus himself. In John’s version, Peter and the other disciple react to Mary Magdalene’s report by running to see the tomb for themselves. Mary, apparently, does not yet believe that Jesus is risen. There is an important underlying message: our belief in the resurrection relies on the testimony of those who experienced the risen Jesus for themselves. It is not enough that the apostles and others accept second-hand evidence: they have to preach the Gospel message from personal conviction. No one saw Jesus rise from the dead: the first preachers are witnesses to the resurrection; they are not witnesses of the resurrection. They have experienced the risen Lord for themselves in those encounters which we refer to as “appearances”. It is on their evidence that our belief in the risen Christ rests.

Today we are invited to renew our baptismal commitment as disciples of Jesus. The character in the fourth Gospel called “the disciple Jesus loved” represents the individual disciple, whoever he or she may be. That person’s understanding of Jesus grows in the course of the story. Our understanding of Jesus and our love for Him should also continue to grow throughout our lives. This is where the idea of struggle comes in. Our faith is not something static: it has to develop and grow, or it will die. From time to time our present ideas will not be enough anymore and we will have to leave them for a deeper understanding.

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I Sunday of Lent – “B” – February 21, 2021

Frackville, From the Pastor /

The word “repent”, which we heard in today’s Gospel, is derived from the Greek word metanoia, which means a change of heart, seeing things differently, a new direction, a fresh beginning. The Gospel writers tell us that it was after John the Baptist had been arrested that Jesus began His mission with the message, “Repent, and believe the Good News.” Jesus prepared for this by spending time in the wilderness, where he was, in Mark’s words, “tempted by Satan”. Our first two readings use images relating to water to convey the idea of a new start. The covenant between God and Noah, made after the great flood, is symbolized by the rainbow, which is itself caused by light refracting through water droplets. Through the water of baptism, referred to by Peter in his letter, we are saved by a pledge “made to God from a good conscience”, not from fear. This is the repentance, the change of direction, which Jesus preached – going forward with joy, knowing that the Lord is with us.

Epic stories of a great flood are found in the mythologies of many ancient peoples, and the writers of the book of Genesis took these narratives into their own context in order to make sense of the world in which they lived. In his first letter, Peter sees the Noah story through a new lens, the lens of Jesus as the beloved Son of God, the central figure of the new covenant. We may be far away in both distance and time from that crowd gathered 2,000 years ago in the dusty streets of Jerusalem, but the message is the same. The Good News came for our time too. So, as we carry the Gospel story with us today, how will we spend our Lenten time in the wilderness, a place where we can really get down to basics? Mark’s account mentions wild beasts, but also that there were angels to look after Jesus. We are never going to be able to escape all danger in this world. We have to face it and find solutions. Like Jesus, we can be assured that we are being looked after and guided to a place of safety. In our prayers, especially in situations that we find difficult and challenging, we can ask for His help and inspiration. We can discuss our problems with each other, and try to find solutions that are helpful and achievable. And we can remember above all that, as was promised through the sign of the rainbow, God is present with us always. As Jesus assures us in the Gospel, “the kingdom of God is close at hand”. If we open our minds and hearts, we will find it.

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