Saturday 5th Week of Easter

 

Out of this world. Jn. 15:18-21

NASA has sent numerous spacecraft out into space to see what is out there.

We as Christians are like spiritual spacecraft.

We do not belong to this world. Jn. 15:19

We are sent by Jesus out of this world and it’s ways

To explore deeper spiritual realities.

Realities this world can never know.

God Bless

Friday 5th Week of Easter

 

Love One Another Jn. 15:12-17

The night before Jesus died,

He asked His disciples for one thing.

That they love one another. Jn. 15:12

He did not ask for all their money or possessions.

He did not ask them to become missionaries half way across the world.

He did not even ask them to die as He was going to die.

Just that they love one another.

Yet at times it seems the most difficult thing in the world to do.

Why is it so hard to love one another?

God Bless

Thursday 5th Week of Easter

 

Remaining in Love. Jn. 15:9-11

God is Love.

But if we want to remain in the Love of God.

We must keep God’s commandments

For this is how we show God that we love Him.

Jesus set us the example of love.

By not doing His own Will

but the Will of His Heavenly Father. Mt. 26:39

At first it may seem a hardship and sacrifice to do God’s will instead of ours,

But those who do will find their joy complete! Jn. 15:11

God Bless

Wednesday 5th Week of Easter

 

I am the Vine! Jn. 15:4-5

If any of you are wine drinkers

Then you know two things.

For there to be good wine,

You need the best vines

And someone who knows how to care for them.

Then they will bear abundant fruit.

The Father is the vine grower.

Christ is the Vine.

And we are the branches.

The Father may trim us sometimes;

Ask us to cut back certain things.

But As long as we remain on the vine of Christ

We will bear much fruit.

God Bless

Tuesday 5th Week of Easter

 

Get Back in the Ring Acts 14: 19-28

Paul was almost stoned to death in Antioch for preaching the Gospel.

He left Antioch for awhile and after he had recovered,

He returned to Antioch and continued to preach the. Gospel.

Paul was knocked down but not out.

He got back into the ring

And fought for what he believed

And did not let stones or anything else frighten him.

We too must never give up.

Nothing can frighten us.

For Christ is with us.

Whom not even death and the grave could keep down.

God Bless

Monday 5th Week of Easter

Philip and James, Apostles

A disciple is one who learns

And an Apostle is one who is sent.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Apostles,

Philip and James,

Whom Jesus sent out to preach the Gospel.

But first they had to learn.

Philip had to learn that

“Whoever sees Jesus sees the Father.”

Jesus is the perfect reflection,

The perfect image and likeness of the Father

Who is in Heaven and who no one had ever seen.

And this is why Jesus is

The Way to the Father,

The Truth of the Father

And the Eternal Life of the Father.

And once Philip learned this,

He was able to be an Apostle,

Whom Jesus sent out into the world,

To be the perfect reflection,

The perfect Image and likeness of Jesus,

To others.

God Bless

5th Sunday of Easter

 

I Believe in One Lord Jesus Christ pt. 3

The great debate among early Christians

How could Jesus be both God AND Man?

That is like saying,

How can something be both hot and cold at the same time.

God is Immortal;

Infinite and Eternal.

All knowing and all powerful.

Who has no beginning and no end.

Did not Jesus have a beginning

born of a woman in a stable?

And the son of a carpenter Who grew up in Nazareth.

Did He not eat and sleep just like every one else.

And cry and bleed and die,

And have an end,

Just like everyone else?

The question therefore was not how could Jesus be human,

That was obvious.

Rather the real question was ,

How could Jesus be God?

The Fathers of the Church at the Council of Nicea,

Began therefore by describing how.

Jesus is Lord and God!

While We are made;

The Son of God was begotten NOT made.

Consubstantial with the Father.

Now there’s a big word.

Which means “from the same substance.”

Our substance comes from our parents

So We are human from human.

Bone from bone

And flesh from flesh.

The Son of God however receives His substance from the Father,

So He is God from God;

Light from Light;

True God from True God.

And therefore is Divine.

And this Divine Son of God came down from Heaven

And became Human.

So that we might become Divine.

At Communion, We receive not only the Flesh and Blood of Christ,

But also His Soul and Divinity!

So that through The Eucharist,

We who are human can also like Jesus, be Divine!

The Feast of St. Joseph the Worker

 

St. Joseph the Worker

How many of us complain about work?

Mondays are the worst day of the week!

Some of our complaints may be valid as work can be excessive, unproductive, and physically and mentally difficult.

But without work, leisure would be laziness.

Leisure finds its joy and value only as a compliment to work.

For those who do not work, leisure time only turns into lazy time.

With no real joy.

Work therefore is an important part of our lives.

An important part as it is a source

of emotional, physical and intellectual growth.

It stretches us when we do not want to be stretched

And challenges us when we do not want to be challenged.

But it is precisely because of this that we can be productive and bear some of our greatest fruit.

For those times when work begins to become a burden.

For those times when Monday morning is dreaded,

Turn to St. Joseph the Worker.

Seek his intercession and strength.

Not just in challenging and stressful times but every Monday morning every worker should say a prayer to St. Joseph the Worker.

It does not have to be memorized or recited.

Actually it should come from the heart,

where one pours out to St. Joseph the Worker, t

he personal concerns that one will face at the beginning of the work week.

Place all of the concerns and work related issues in his hands, confident that he understands and will assist you in all of your needs.

Let St. Joseph be a Co-Worker with you!

God Bless

Friday 4th Week of Easter

 

The Way, The Truth and the Life. Jn. 14:5-6

Everyone nowadays is trying to tell everyone else

What to think.

And what they should be doing.

Rather than listen to what everyone else is saying,

We should listen first to what Jesus is saying,

For He is the Way that we should follow.

The Truth that we should be listening to

And the Life that makes our life worth living.

And what everyone else is saying

should be measured and Judged by what Jesus says.

Who is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life.

Now and forever, for ages unending!

God Bless

Thursday 4th Week of Easter

 

Our Jewish Heritage

In the Acts of the Apostles,

Paul preached in the synagogue

About how the Jews,

Were led through the desert,

To the land of Canaan.

And through the prophet Samuel

David was anointed King,

And how John the Baptist

Came to proclaim the new King of Israel

Through water and repentance.

This is our heritage too,

As Christians We are spiritually grafted from the Tree of Israel

For Pope Pius XI said,

We are all Spiritual Semites.

God Bless

Wednesday 4th Week of Easter

 

Figuring Jesus out. Jn. 12:44-50

When Jesus walked the earth,

People were trying to figure out Who He was.

A prophet maybe;

A blasphemer possible:

A preacher most likely;

And they are still trying to figure out who Jesus is

Even today!

Jesus answered their questions

By telling them He was sent by God.

But not only sent by God,

But He speaks for God

And does what God commands Him to do.

Therefore, anyone who accepts Him

Accepts God and has Eternal Life;

And anyone who does not,

Rejects God and has condemned himself.

God Bless

Tuesday 4th Week of Easter

 

Hearing God’s Voice Jn. 10:22-30

A cat or a dog are very familiar with their owners voice.

As soon as they hear it,

Tails wag, cats purr,

For they know who loves them and feeds them.

They will not however do that for strangers.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd,

And His sheep hear His voice.

And they know Him and follow Him.

We are His sheep.

And hopefully we know Him and follow Him

And respond to His voice,

For if a cat and dog respond to their owners voice,

How much more should we respond to the voice of the Good shepherd,

Who feeds us with His Body and Blood.

God Bless

Monday 4th Week of Easter

 

Kosher Christians Acts 11:1-18

Jesus, Mary and Joseph were Jewish.

The 12 Apostles were Jewish.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus were Jewish.

In fact all of the first Christians were Jewish.

So they kept all of the Jewish customs

From the Sabbath to eating only Kosher foods.

So why don’t we do what they all did.

Because St. Peter had a vision one night

Whereby a large sheet sheet was lowered down from the sky

And every kind of animal,

Kosher (clean) and non-Kosher(unclean)

Were in it and Peter was told to eat.

For God has made it all clean.

Ever since then Christians were no longer limited by what they ate,

For all good things come from God.

God Bless

4th Sunday of Easter

 

Nicene Creed Part 1

I believe in God!

Just by saying that,

One can be accused of rejecting science and reason.

One can also be accused of believing in superstition and fairy tales.

As Atheists, Secularists and Humanists all reject the notion of God

And their numbers are growing.

So just saying I believe in God,

Makes us different and sets us apart.

Centuries ago people believed in a pantheon of gods from Zeus to Mars to Athena.

Even today some believe in many gods such as the Hindus

While others believe in an unknown cosmic ocean as the Buddhists do.

But we believe in only One God.

And this One God we believe in is

Not a god who is distant;

Higher than the Heavens.

But one who is a Father to us all.

Who is so personal and intimate,

That we call God, Father, Abba, Daddy!

And this One God Who is our Father We believe to be Almighty

This means we believe in a God Who can do all Things.

And while He can do all things.

He gets to choose what He wants to do.

Not what we tell Him to do.

Since the One God that we believe in is a Father to us all,

We know that what He chooses is always what is best.

Even though we may not always understand it.

And this God made Heaven and Earth.

Everything we see from the mountains to the valleys,

To the oceans and the stars.

Whether through Evolution or the snap of His finger.

Everything came into being by God.

And continues to create every person

Every star, every plant and animal

Comes into being through God’s handiwork

And we and everything in creation

Are merely instruments that God uses

To create.

Each one of us is an Adam and Eve in our day

Instruments of God creating here and now.

But not only what is visible,

But also what is invisible!

Before Microscopes we could not see atoms.

Before telescopes we could not see distant galaxies.

There is so much we cannot see,

That God has created.

Including angels and archangels.

Worlds and beings beyond us.

Go outside and and look at the sky and stars.

Look at an ant hill; and the green fields.

Watch a bird soar and a spider weave a web.

And then look at your own face in the mirror,

And wonder at the Almighty God

Who created everything,

That we can see,

And even more that we cannot.

And Who yet is so close that we call Him

Father!

God Bless

Saturday 3rd Week of Easter

 

Hard Sayings. Jn. 6:60-69

Everyone likes to think of Jesus as Loving and Forgiving;

And so He is.

But He also says somethings that are difficult to hear.

Such as “Take up your cross, Turn the other cheek, Deny yourself, Die to yourself.

He also says things that can be hard to believe.

That He can give us His Flesh to eat,

By turning bread into His Body.

Because of this many people walk away.

But where will they go?

Only Jesus has the words of Eternal Life!

God Bless

Friday 3rd Week of Easter

 

Persecution.

Saul went around persecuting Christians,

Until Jesus appeared to him and asked him.

“Why are you persecuting Me?”

In persecuting Christians,

Saul was in fact persecuting Jesus.

For Jesus lived and moved and had His being in them.

When we criticize or condemn or gossip about another people,

We too are criticizing, condemning or gossiping about Jesus,

Just as Saul did.

God Bless

Thursday 3rd Week of Easter

 

Bread that Becomes Flesh! Jn. 6:44-51

There is life and then there is Eternal Life.

Life is good but Eternal Life is better!

But how does one get Eternal Life?

By eating the Bread of Life.

But no ordinary bread,

Only the Bread that Jesus gives.

For the Bread that Jesus gives,

Is His very Flesh. Jn. 6:51

And whoever eats it,

Will not die but live forever!

And this Bread cannot be bought in a store,

But can only be found at Mass.

and it costs nothing.

But is given freely

And was paid for

When Christ gave His life on the cross,

For the life of the world. Jn 6:51

God Bless

Wednesday 3rd Week of Easter

 

The Advantages of Persecution Acts 8:1-8

Christians have always been a persecuted lot from the Roman Empire to the French Revolution to the persecutions in Japan and Asia.

Rather than defeat the Church,

These persecutions only strengthened her,

Like an athlete in training.

In the early Church,

When the persecutions began,

It caused Christians to scatter throughout Judea and Samaria,

Like seeds blown by the wind.

Only to take root and bear fruit.

So do not fear persecution or hardship.

For God will always bring good out it

God Bless

Tuesday 3rd. Week of Easter

 

Do Not Hold This Against Them. Acts 8:1

As Stephen was being stoned to death he prayed,

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

This prayer echoes the prayer of Jesus from the cross,

Who prayed,

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

When we are persecuted, misunderstood or people gossip about us,

How do we respond?

Do we become angry or resentful?

Jesus and St. Stephen have set the example for us to follow.

“Do not hold their sin against them,

For they know not what they do?”

God Bless

Monday 3rd Week of Easter

 

Eternal Things Jn. 6:22-29

Many people get up and go to work for the bacon, the mortgage

The car, the vacation and many other things.

Then they go to bed and get up and do it all over again,

For things that break rust or become obsolete.

Jesus however tells us to work for the food that endures for eternal life.

While we live in this world we must work to make life in this world possible,

But we must not lose sight of the world that is to come,

And put in the work to ensure Eternal Life.

God Bless

Homily from Divine Mercy Sunday

At the beginning of Mass,

We say “Lord have Mercy”

In the Gloria we ask for Mercy.

In the Eucharistic Prayer we ask that God have mercy on us.

Just before Communion we ask “Lamb of God have Mercy on us!”

Throughout the Mass we continually ask for God’s Mercy.

upon ourselves, on others and on the whole world.

Why?

Because there is so little of it in the world nowadays.

Everyone is arguing, blaming, accusing each other

and pointing out each other’s faults.

Nothing escapes social media or the prying eyes and ears of those around us.

Its not safe out there in the world.

Stones are flying everywhere!

Is mercy something that we share only with those who deserve it

and something we withhold from those who do not?

Mercy is precisely something that is given to the guilty.

That is the beauty of Mercy.

It is a free and undeserving gift,

Given to one who IS guilty.

None of us “deserve” Mercy,

But God gives it to us nonetheless

Out of the goodness of His Heart.

It was the Pharisees who showed no mercy.

They were always judging people and condemning them.

Never missing an opportunity to point out the fault or mistake or sin of another.

Because their own hearts were made of stone,

They always had a stone ready to throw at others,

Whom they thought were wrong.

Jesus however always showed mercy. Lk. 6:36

Especially the undeserving.

From the woman caught in adultery to the thief on the cross next to him.

When Jesus was misunderstood,

Lied about, judged, mocked and crucified,

What did He say,

“Father Forgive them for they know not what they do?

Because to err is human, To Forgive is Divine!!!

God Bless

Saturday 2nd Week of Easter

 

Walk on Water

Sometimes we may feel as if we are floating on the sea of life;

Adrift!

Not sure where we are going

Or where we will end up.

It is at those times

That Jesus comes to us

Walking on the water.

Like the disciples,

At first we may be surprised even afraid

because we have been floating for so long it seems

And then suddenly He comes out of nowhere.

Walking on the water towards us.

But do not be afraid

For Jesus calms the wind and the waves

And is the rock to which we cling.

God Bless

Friday 2nd Week of Easter

 

God will always win out. Acts 5:34-42

The Apostles were put on trial and eventually set free

because if they were speaking only on their behalf,

Their message would eventually fade away.

But if they were speaking on behalf of God,

Nothing that men could do,

Could ever silence or stop it.

So when you hear men talking,

Do not be disturbed by what they say.

For If what they say is from themselves,

And not from God,

Their words will eventually fade away,

Like the dew in the noon day sun.

God Bless

Thursday 2nd Week of Easter.

 

Eternal Life. Jn. 3:31-36

What did you find in your Easter basket?

Many will say nothing,

Because they had no Easter basket.

But they are wrong.

Jesus hid an Easter basket for each one of us in the garden where He was buried.

And anyone who goes in search of it

As did Mary Magdalene

Will find Eternal Life.

For that basket is our own heart,

And anyone who believes in Jesus

Has the gift of eternal life in their heart.

God Bless

Wednesday 2nd Week of Easter

 

Open wide the prison door! Acts. 5:17-26

The Apostles were put in prison,

But the prison could not hold hold them,

As an angel of the Lord came and set them free,

To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.

Sometimes we may find ourselves in prison.

Not in a prison made of bars,

But of our own making.

A prison of fear;

Or hurt or regret or anger or prejudice.

Or self doubt or whatever.

And we need to call upon the Lord,

To send His angel,

To throw open wide those prison doors

And set us free.

So that we too can proclaim how good God is,

And what Jesus has done for us.

God Bless

Tuesday 2nd Week of Easter

 

The early Christian community was of one heart and mind.

No one claimed anything of their own.

And if someone was in need, another would go and sell his property in order to help that person.

Have we progressed or regressed in our Faith since the early days of the Church?

Are we too of one heart and mind?

Not always.

What keeps us from being so?

How can the Church of St. Patrick’s Be Of one heart and mind?

How can We be of one heart and mind with the Church in Wenona, or Toluca or Lostant?

Through Love.

Just as Jesus has loved us, so we must love one another.

Take some time, therefore to reflect on how Jesus has loved you,

And then do the same to one another.

God Bless

Monday of the 2nd Week of Easter

 

Entering the Kingdom of Heaven Jn. 3:1-8

Jesus said there is more to entering the Kingdom of God than just being a good Person.

Jesus said that if one wants to enter the Kingdom of God

One must be born of water and the Holy Spirit!

Because it is precisely the Holy Spirit Who comes to us through the water,

that we receive the grace and ability,

To do good things and live a good life.

It is through the Holy Spirit,

That Jesus lives and moves and has His Being in us.

And apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. Jn. 15:5

God Bless

Second Sunday of Easter

 

Hold on to the Creed

It is difficult to know what to believe nowadays.

Everyone has an opinion

But whose opinion is true?

We have our opinion and someone else has a different opinion

So how do we know which one is true?

This is what makes the Nicene Creed so important.

It is a clear statement of what we believe is true.

Something that we can hang our hat on

And which has endured the test of time and persecution.

So for the next 7 Sundays of the Easter Season,

We are going to delve into the Creed

So that we can better understand what we believe and why.

The Nicene Creed was written at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD in what is now Turkey.

It had been almost 300 yrs since Jesus had ascended into Heaven

And during that time there were many different opinions about Him and His message.

So the bishops of the Church got together to clear up all those different opinions

and agree on the Truth of what the Church believed and taught continuously, since the Apostles.

Because when one examines the creed closely,

We see it is more than just something we recite at Mass,

It makes a difference in one’s daily life.

For what we believe impacts what we do.

If you believe it’s going to rain,

You take an umbrella.

If you believe you were going to get a pop quiz in school,

You study

If you believe in your marriage

You’ll make it work.

If you believe in God,

Then you are never alone or ever defeated.

What we believe does make a difference in our life.

What we believe influences what we do.

Do we Believe Jesus is the center of our life,

Or someone we visit only on Sundays

Or someone we call upon when we need something.

What we believe about God and Jesus

Influences what we do.

On a day to day basis.

And what we do on a day to day basis

Will make a difference not only in this life,

But in the next.