Weekly Reflections

There is an ancient story that you may have heard. Saint Augustine was walking along a sandy beach meditating on the Holy Trinity. He kept saying over and over to himself, “How can God be both three and one? How can God be both three and one?” Suddenly, he was distracted from his meditation by the sight of a small child with a toy bucket, carrying water from the sea to a hole in the beach. Smiling at the child, Augustine asked, “And what are you doing?” The small child said, “I’m emptying the ocean into this hole.’ Augustine thought, “I’m trying to do what the child is doing. I’m trying to pour the infinite God into my finite little mind.’

Later, saints engaged in similar meditation on the Trinity, trying to get some partial glimpse into this central mystery of our faith. For example, Saint Ignatius of Loyola likened the three Persons in one God to three musical notes, united in the harmony of a single sound. Saint Luke does not say so explicitly in his Gospel or his Acts of the Apostles, but he clearly views Sacred Scripture as being Trinitarian in structure. The Old Testament focuses on the Father, who created the world. The Gospel focuses on the Son, who redeemed the world. The Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the apostles focus on the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies the world.

That brings us to ourselves. What might we do to make the Trinity come alive for us in our daily lives?

One way some people try to do this is a prayer exercise they follow each night before going to bed. They do a three-minute replay of their day. During the first minute, they pick out a highpoint of the day, for example, going out of their way to help someone. They speak to the Father about it and give thanks for the grace to do it. During the second minute, they pick out something bad that happened, like ignoring someone to whom they could have spoken a kind word. They speak to Jesus about it and ask him to forgive them and to give them the opportunity to make it up to that person. During the third minute, they look ahead to tomorrow to some critical point, for example, something they ought to do but have been putting off. They speak to the Holy Spirit about it and ask for the courage to deal with it in the day ahead. This exercise combines prayer with a simple examination of conscience.

In a very practical way, therefore, it brings the Holy Trinity into our daily lives.

Let us conclude with reflection: Glory to God the Father, who created the earth, and to God the Son who redeemed the earth, and to God the Holy Spirit who hallowed the earth…. Glory be to thee, Most Holy Trinity, today, tomorrow, and forever. Glory be to thee. Amen.

The Holy Spirit! Finally we come to celebrate this great solemnity honoring the Holy Spirit of God. We complete the great 50 days of Easter. We have celebrated 7 weeks to show that the Spirit is the perfect completion of all that happened to Jesus in His death and resurrection.

My Dear Brothers and sisters to understand the role of the Spirit in our life we have to start with Jesus himself. The Spirit had a big role to play in his life. The Spirit descended on him at his baptism, revealing him as the Father’s beloved Son. At his baptism he also received power from on high for the mission he was about to begin. The Spirit was not just given for a moment; the Spirit remained with him throughout his public ministry.

Jesus said: ‘The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor

What a beautiful mission. Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and power went out from him through his gracious words and compassionate deeds.

It was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. It was the Spirit who opened the minds of his disciples and helped them to understand the meaning of his death. When he was raised up to glory at the right hand of the Father, Jesus poured out the Spirit on those who were to carry on his mission.

The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they began their mission. And we see the great courage and confidence with which they did so.

My Dear Sisters and Brothers

And the same Spirit descends on us at our Baptism and Confirmation. The Spirit is not given for a moment but accompanies us on our journey in the footsteps of Jesus. The Spirit gives us power to participate in the work of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is our strength in times of weakness, our guide in times of doubt, our consoler in times of sadness, our advocate who always pleads our cause. We can’t take even one step without the Spirit.

In The sacrament of confirmation we received gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. Wisdom, understanding, and counsel guide our mind and assist our conscience in knowing right from wrong. Fortitude enables us to do the right thing even when it is difficult or unpopular. Fear of the Lord is really awe and reverence for God.

My Dear Brothers and sisters, if we live in the Spirit, that Spirit brings us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are beautiful things, and make our life joyful.

One of our marks as Catholics is our devotion to the saints. Some of us honor the saint of our baptismal name, and many of us have some other favorite saints like St. Francis, St. Joseph, and St. Patrick. The first reading for today’s Sunday tells the brief story of St. Matthias.

After the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers—there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place–He said, “My brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry. “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: May another take his office.

The disciples prayed, and chose Matthias. Matthias, unlike the twelve apostles, was not chosen directly by Jesus but by the Church. We are like Matthias in that we did not hear the voice of Christ calling us or feel his hand upon our shoulder in a gesture of welcome. Rather in the sacrament of baptism we were chosen by the Church.

St. Peter declared that the choice for a new apostle should fall upon someone who was a witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Apparently Matthias fit that reason. We have no record of what St. Matthias did after his choice. It is left to us to carry on the mission he was given as a witness of the resurrection. We express what we believe in the profession of faith during every Sunday Mass. We say, “He suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day he rose again.” These words of faith influence our actions in such a way that our lives would not make sense if we did not believe in the resurrection. We believe that Christ’s resurrection is the example which will lead to our resurrection, that he will come again to raise us from the dead.

If there is no future for us through our resurrection from the dead, then surely we should “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” And yet we know that death is not the end, that a life lived faithfully with Christ will lead to the fullness of life in our resurrection from the dead on the last day.

During our time on this earth we give a further witness to the resurrection.

The reason Jesus was raised from the dead is that the Father loved him in his humanity. The reason there will be a resurrection for us is that God sees the person of his Son within us. He values every human being as precious, body as well as soul, created as we are in the image and likeness of his Son. That is why the Church is pro-life, that is why we are called to honor and respect every human person. Our Catholic respect for every human person is a powerful witness to our faith in the resurrection, both that of Christ and our own.

In our Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, Christ is present as he has been raised from the dead in his glorified body. When we profess our faith in the real presence, we acknowledge that, to put it bluntly, we do not receive a dead body. The Mass is not a wake service or a funeral. It is a celebration of the great truth of which we are to be witnesses: “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.”

Jesus gives us one of the strongest commandments of His in today’s Gospel. Not an idea but commandment: “love one another as I have loved you.” It sounds pretty easy. Doesn’t it? Everybody wants to be loved, and in our nature is that we seek to love others. So it should be easy to fallow that commandment.

Jesus tells us that: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”.

Our Church, here in the United States, does not ask us to lay down our life for Christ. But, there are spots in the world that Christians are still persecuted. Here we are free, and with this freedom many times we do not follow God’s commandments, the commandments of Jesus. We break these commandments frequently and we say that think little of it because it is common.

A few weeks ago I preached on the third commandment of God and I showed you that by breaking that commandment we commit not only one serious sin but at least five, and the same is with the other nine. The key then is to focus on loving — not on what we shouldn’t do, but on loving because love excludes sin, love gives us what we need to do.

Love one another can mean that we do not gossip. But better it means to say a word of love and support to others.
Love one another means to worship on very regular basis but also to bring others into our community to worship God side-by-side.
Love one another means to support others in their sorrows and their problems.
Love one another means to lift others up in our goodness.
Love one another as God has loved us means that we do know the ten commandments of God in our heart and that we put the command of Jesus, to love, into action.

It is God who chose us, like he chose the Apostles, like He chose Cornelius. We accept God’s choice when we live Christian life full of love and prayers, and free of sin.

May is a special Month dedicated to Mary. Mary is the Mother of God. Mary is the queen of heaven, the Gate of paradise, the health of the sick. Mary is the one who showed us how to obey God and how to love each other. Mary is our mother. We can see the statue of Mary, and we pray to Mary as we celebrate this special day – MOTHERS’ DAY.

We can see that Mary who is the Mother of God, who is also our Mother, lived her life according to the commands that Jesus gave us. Mary showed us how to obey the command which Jesus gave to all of us; to love one another as He loves us. She loved her family, her friends. As our mother she loves all of us. In turn we have to Love Mary as our mother. We have to obey and love our own mothers.

In the world there is no other person as dear as a Mother. No one loved so much and by whom we are loved, no person so willing to grant us benefits and have pity on us. Mother’s love is so patient that it shows us how much our heavenly Mother is patient with us. How God is patient with us.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we start to appreciate our mothers when we are far away. When we cannot jump into a car and see her whenever we would like to. We appreciate our mothers when they are not with us anymore. When we have our mothers next to us we really do not appreciate what they are doing for us. We do not appreciate the dinner, laundry, grocery, cleaning and the list can go on and on. We take all of that for granted.

Today I would like to invite everybody to think what Mary; our heavenly mother does for us… and gives her thanks. I would like you to think what your Mother has done for you… and give thanks to Her.

Flowers and cards are very nice ways to express appreciation, however, as a Church community we can give them even more. We can give them prayer. We know that our heavenly Mother will listen to our prayers. So let us pray through intercession of Mary for our Mothers.

I wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in our congregation. At the same time I want to assure you that as I offer this Mass I am remembering not only my own mom who lives in Poland but all our mothers, whether living or deceased. We remember our moms because we love them, we’re grateful for the life we received through them

I ask you to kneel down and pray with me for all our Mothers.

Let us pray. God our Father, Bless all mothers. Reward them for their sacrifice and their faithfulness to your image. Give them the strength to endure the pain that often accompanies the task of mothering. We thank you for our mothers and for that part of you we have received through them. Finally, we pray that you will never let us forget the stories which remind us how much our mothers and wives have given us. We ask this, by your Holy Spirit, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory be to the Father

And for all the mom’s who have died:

Eternal rest grant into them O Lord…

I am the good shepherd, says the Lord;
I know my sheep, and mine know me.

Today’s gospel gives us a very special picture of ministry. The gospel talks of shepherds. The Latin word for shepherd is “pastor,” who is what we call an ordained minister who is responsible for ministering to a Christian community or parish.

To understand the work and life entailed by the priestly vocation we need to go back to Jesus’ teaching on the good shepherd.

The life of the good shepherd in biblical times was one of personal self-giving and sacrifices. His work was that of watchful care and closeness to the flock.

There were two kinds of shepherds.

There was the hired hand for whom keeping the sheep was just the available job. He moved from flock to flock depending on the conditions of service and he would not risk his life for them. Seeing wolves or thieves coming he would flee for dear life and leave the flock at the mercy of the invaders.

Jesus said that he is not that kind of shepherd.

Then there is the shepherd-owner of the flock who grows up with the flock and stays with the same flock all his life. He knows each and every sheep in the flock individually. He calls each one by name and could tell you the personal story of each one of the sheep, when and where it was born, the problems it has had in life, and its personal characteristics. He attends to the individual needs of each and every one of them. He knows which ones were likely to stray from the flock and he would keep an eye on them when they came to dangerous places. He knows which ones are pregnant and need special food. When attacked by wolves or thieves he would risk his life and fight to defend his sheep.

He is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He laid down his life for the flock, i.e., the church.

In a general way he invites everyone in the church to share in the work of caring for the flock in our own little ways.

But he also calls some people from among us to a life-long commitment to the work of shepherding the flock of God.

If today some young men hear God’s voice calling them to this way of life, they should not harden their hearts.

We are called to do everything to encourage those who are called to follow the footsteps of Jesus the good shepherd. Amen.

As Jesus joins the larger group of the disciples, He again shares a meal. But before He shares the meal, Jesus calls his disciples’ attention to the detail of his physical presence. He is not a ghost! Jesus knows that the disciples must understand that the Risen Jesus is the Jesus who was once with them throughout his ministry. That He is the same Jesus who suffered, died, and now is truly risen!

And we can see that Jesus is doing everything that Humans can comprehend, that he is alive. He walks with them, He eats with them. Through the Apostles, we know that Jesus is risen. Through all the actions of Jesus, through all the testimony of his disciples, we know that Jesus is present amongst us.

Jesus is present in this Tabernacle. Jesus is present during and after the words of consecrations on this Altar. IT IS NOT A Symbol as some suggest. It is true God. Do you believe it? Do you believe that Jesus is present behind the Tabernacle door? Do you believe that you receive True God, our Creator during Communion?

Once upon a time a priest invited a minister from another denomination that did not believe in a true presence of Jesus. The priest just did some renovation in the church and wanted to show that to that minister. So the priest gives a tour inside the church. When they came to the Tabernacle, the priest said: “here is our Lord Jesus Christ in his true presence”. The minister looked at the priest and asked? Father, do you really believe that God is behind this door? The priest answered “of course I do believe that God is there”. Then the minister said: “If you truly believe that there is God, not a symbol, but true God, than you should be on your knees, you should not even talk to me at this time, but with God. “

How true, if we truly believe that Jesus is risen, and is behind that door, that Jesus is present on this altar, than we should give more respect.

And how do we show our respect?

By preparing ourselves for receiving Jesus, by partaking during the Holy mass that Jesus instituted during last Supper. By coming to various devotions like May devotions. To adore Him, to be with Him on our knees. He is here, He invites you and me to be with him, to talk to Him, to listen to Him, to dine with Him.

How do we respond to His invitation? Let’s answer that to Jesus with our participation during every mass and during every devotions that we have in our parish, especially during Friday May devotions.

Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”.

After reading today’s Gospel, we can ask this question: Why do some people have a strong faith and others a weak faith? In a way this is almost like asking, why do some people have strong physical health and others do not?
Consider just two possible reasons.

Some people have poor health because their parents did. They inherited a delicate body. On the other hand, some people have poor health because they don’t take care of themselves.

What is true of physical health is also true of spiritual health.

Some people have a weak faith because their parents had a weak faith. They inherit it, so to speak. If parents are lukewarm in their faith, this usually affects their children. On the other hand, our faith may be weak because we neglect it.

This brings us to a second question. Regardless of the reason for our weak faith, what can we do to strengthen it?

First of all, we need to keep in mind that faith is a gift. Having said this, however, it is up to us to dispose ourselves to receive the gift and increase in faith. Disposing ourselves for the gift of faith or an increase in faith is not unlike keeping physically fit. If we don’t eat well or exercise regularly, our body tends to grow weak or sickly. On the other hand, if we eat intelligently and exercise regularly, our body tends to grow stronger and healthier.

Our faith is somewhat like that too. It responds to nourishment and exercise. For example, when we receive the Eucharist prayerfully and live our lives according to the Gospel, our faith tends to grow stronger. Just as we embark on a program of physical exercise to build up our physical health, so we can embark upon a spiritual program to build up our spiritual health.

Our spiritual program begins with living the Gospel – putting into practice the teachings of Jesus.

Let us close with these words of Albert Schweitzer, the great missionary:

Do you want to believe in Jesus?
Do you really want to believe in him?
Then you must do something for him. In this age of doubt there is no other way.
If for his sake you give someone something to eat, or drink, or wear which Jesus promised to bless as though it were done to him, then you will see that you really did it for him.
Then he will reveal himself to you, as one who is alive.