DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE HOLY FATHER
We, the undersigned, declare our full solidarity with the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and his teachings.
We strongly object to the irresponsible attacks in the media on the person of the Holy Father in the context of his pilgrimage to Africa. His words of truth have become a pretext for further attempts to undermine the teachings of the Catholic Church, and especially the Encyclical “Humanae Vitae”.
We wish to express our great gratitude to the Holy Father for his uncompromising proclamation of the Truth, which the modern world needs so much.
Confirm your solidarity with the Holy Father on the page YES! for Benedict
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
St. Peter’s Parish Mission
Humanity is lost without the Gospel
(inspired by the teaching of St. Paul and the life and work of Fr. F. Jordan) of the world living in misery because of the lack of knowledge of God. Fr. Francis Jordan – Founder of the Society of the Divine Saviour.
1 day - Saturday – Sunday
The value of the Gospel
Where are we now?
How did we get there?
Diagnosis and expectations, the fundamental hostility between the World and Christ
2 day – Monday
Justification through Faith in Jesus Christ
Where are we going?
From darkness into Light
3 day – Tuesday
Justification and the Christian life
How do we get there?
Faith in Christ à Love of Christ à obedience to Christ
Salvation – man’s way and God’s way, wrong idea of self salvation
4 day – Wednesday
Duties of Christians
How do we win eternal life?
New life in Christ
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Lenten Mission
March 21 – 25, 2009
Theme: CONVERSION IS AN ONGOING LIFE PROCESS
The talks will be given by Jim Marland
Saturday, March 21st, and Sunday, March 22nd
during all Masses:
Who Said You Could Speak?
The Teaching Authority of the Catholic Church
Sunday, March 22nd 7:00 PM – in the parish hall
Our Greatest Need is to Say “I’m Sorry”.
Monday, March 23rd Mass at 6:30 PM
mission to follow – in the parish hall
Our Greatest Longing is to Hear “I Forgive You”.
Tuesday, March 24th Mass at 6:30PM
mission to follow – in the parish hall
A Discussion: What About Community?
Wednesday, March 25th
9:15 AM at St. Matthew School
12:45 PM at St. Dominic School
Wednesday, March 25th,
6:30 PM - Penitential Service for all parishioners at St. Matthew Church
Saturday, March 14, 2009
March 15, 2009 - III Sunday of Lent - B
Ex 20:1-17 or 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17; 1 Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25
Few days ago I got a letter from one of these corporations sending different type of advertisements, bulletins and booklets. In the letter I read:
“There is no doubt you feel the increasing encroachment of godlessness in every aspect of public life: godlessness in governments; godlessness in economics; godlessness in the universities; godlessness in the courts; godlessness in the sciences; godlessness in the news media; and even godlessness in once-Catholic families.
It is a godlessness that quickly turns into a tangible hostility to religion.
This godlessness has come about due to a loss of belief in the one true Catholic Faith. Central tenets of the faith have been undermined, ridiculed and denied, perhaps as never before in history.
The average Catholic, immersed in the worldwide media of television, radio and the internet, is constantly bombarded with direct or indirect assaults on his Faith.
And how can one live a good moral life if one’s Faith has been decimated? The collapse of the Faith is the cause of the unprecedented rise in immorality of our time.”
At first I was rather astonished and ready to rebuke this kind of negativistic vision of the world. It cannot be so bad. We have still some good examples of faith and morality. We cannot see all in such a black and dark colours, such a negativistic way.
But a day or so later, I read today’s readings and I did a simple verification and comparison of the readings with the contemporary reality.
In the first reading we have the Ten Commandments, the law of God, about what one of the philosophers said, that there is no possibility of denying the ultimate value of this law.
1. You shall not have other gods besides me.
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honour your father and your mother,
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
9. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or anything else that belongs to him.
And yet if I verify these instructions with our contemporary life...?
How many people live their lives worshipping money, comfort, extravagance, pleasure, success, satisfaction, wealth? Where in all this is God the Father?
How often even among Catholics especially politicians the name of the Lord is taken only for the political and unfair ways and purposes?
How many people keep the day of rest holy?
“Honour your father and your mother” and I thought about the persistent agenda on euthanasia?
“You shall not kill” and I thought about the pro-choice lows and abortion ...
“You shall not commit adultery” – and immediately click out the pornographic industry ...
And we can continue with this comparision ... and it will be no end. All commandments are constantly neglected, denied, rejected and contradicted in the name of human rights, in the name of human dignity, human freedom, in the name of civil liberties ...
And then I read the Gospel, where I see Jesus Christ in rage and how the “zeal for the house of God is consuming Him” and I realised that most probably He will react in the same way seeing what is going on with His Church, the Temple of God today. How often this Temple of God became only the marketplace of the personal opinions, private convictions, individualistic statements, the place of business and commerce where no more God and His worship is present but ME and MY personality, the worship of myself?
“godlessness in governments; godlessness in economics; godlessness in the universities; godlessness in the courts; godlessness in the sciences; godlessness in the news media; and even (I will dare to say) godlessness in once-Catholic Church. Central tenets of the faith have been undermined, ridiculed and denied, perhaps as never before in history.”
Should we fell in desperation and anxiety, hopelessness and despair? Should we be depressive and sad?
Is it really so bad?
And then I read the short passage from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, our second reading today:
“Brothers and sisters:
when Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom
we proclaim Christ crucified,"
Yes also in the contemporary world some a searching for miracles and signs, others for human wisdom, but we proclaim Jesus Christ crucified.
He is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
“Jesus Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God” and He will certainly take care of His Temple, and will cleanse His Church.
As long as we believe Jesus Christ crucified we don’t need to be afraid, hopeless and depressive.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
March, 8 2009 - II Sunday in Lent
In the Creed at the end of the Liturgy of the Word we firmly profess:
“I believe in God the Father almighty ...
I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord ...
I believe in the Holy Spirit ...
I believe in the Holy Catholic Church ...”
But the question is:
“Believing in God, do I believe God, do I trust Him?”
“Believing in Jesus Christ, do I believe and trust Jesus Christ?”
“Believing in the Holy Spirit, do I believe and trust Holy Spirit?”
“Believing in the Catholic Church, do I believe and trust this Holy Church?”
Do I really believe that God will never defile or disappoint me? Do I believe that Jesus Christ is always present in His Church and that this Church is guiding me to the eternal life?
All three readings today are just about these questions.
Abraham asked by God to sacrifice to God his only son says readily and unhesitatingly “YES”. And because of his trust he is reworded:
“since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing — all this because you obeyed my command.”
St Paul in his letter to the Romans reminds us strongly:
“If God is for us, who can be against us? Who will condemn us? Who will separate us from the love of God?” If only we believe Him and trust Him ....
I can be against myself, I can condemn myself, I can separate myself from the love of God if I don’t believe and if I don’t trust Him!
And finally in today’s Gospel the Father confirms and authorizes the messianic mission of Jesus Christ:
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Do I really listen to Jesus Christ? He is the One who founded and create the Church. If Jesus Christ is really the Son of God, why do I not believe Him, why do I not trust Him?
He is the One who said:
“On this rock of Peter I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Mt 16,18). Why do I not believe Church, why do I not trust Church?
God did all to authenticate and certify Himself. God did all by sending His only Son to save us and to show us His love. The only one thing I have to do is to believe Him, to trust Him like Abraham even against the common sense, against my human pride and very often against arrogance.
Fr. Kazimierz Kubat SDS
Saturday, February 28, 2009
March 01, 2009 - First Sunday in Lent
Let the Power of Christ Beat Temptation
Gn 9:8-15; 1 Pt 3:18-22; Mk 1:12-15
The First Sunday of Lent always presents the story of the temptation of the Lord. Usually on this Sunday we hear about three different temptations the Lord endured:
- turn rocks into bread
- demand that your Father work a miracle to save you
- and trade His love for all the power of the world.
We don’t come upon these this year because they are in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark. Mark just states that Jesus went into the desert for 40 days, was confronted with temptations, beat off the devil and then began his mission. And what is interesting, the very first sentence of Christ in the Gospel is not: “Love each other”, but “Repent and believe the Good News”.
Temptations are always there and are difficult to overcome. The day we feel that we are no longer subject to temptation; we really should take our pulse because we will probably be dead.
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One of these temptations we endure is the temptation to make Gospel and the God’s commandments gentler, milder, and more comfortable. This is the temptation of changing the stones and rocks into bred. I will be the disciple of Christ, I will follow Him but He has to adjust and be more human more understandable, and more realistic. He is the Son of God and He has to admit that I am weak and not perfect and He has to accept me as I am.
“We used to speak a lot about ‘meeting people where they are at,’ which is fine. But we forget that “Christ does that, but he calls us to break from sin and to live a new Life in Him.” We forget that He finally refused to change the rocks into bred, that He refused to make His own life milder and gentler. We forget that He accepting the person doesn’t accept the sins and perversion. We forget that He said also: “whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” (Mt 10, 38-39).
Temptations are difficult to overcome. It is so easy for us to say to others, “Just say no,” but it is difficult when we are the ones who are tempted. The complex aspect of temptations is that they all contain an element of attractiveness, an element of good. All of God’s creation contains beauty. We human beings pervert that beauty and turn something that is good into bad. For example, the human body is beautiful; pornography is a perversion of the beauty. Another, example, there are wonderful medications to help people who suffer from anxiety attacks, depression, etc. The same medications are used by addicts to destroy their lives and the lives of those around them.
All sin is attractive; if it weren’t attractive we wouldn’t be tempted by it. When someone says, “If you feel good, do it,” what they are saying is that sin is acceptable as long as you are getting selfish pleasure from it. That is the way of the world. That is not the way of Jesus. Nor can it be our way.
2 this is the second temptation, to feel good. And if I don’t feel good it means that God has to change for me the commandments, the Gospel, the Church, the whole moral law, because I feel not good, because I am offended. God has to make for me the miracles to make me feel good, to satisfy my needs, my desires, my requests and my pleasure. And if not, I will not follow Him. He has to save me even if I refuse to follow His commandments and His law. This is what the contemporary world tries to tell us. This is what the devil tries to tell us: “throw yourself down into your pleasures, into your satisfaction, into your direct and immediate gratification. For it is written: 'God will command his angels and with their hands they will support you, and save you, because God loves you.”
Jesus is the conqueror of sin. But the battle was not a simple task. Jesus was tempted to save His own life and to give up and not go along with the Father’s plan. But His love for the Father and His love for us were more powerful than anything the devil or the world could muster up.
He beat off temptation, and then told us: “entrust your pain, your temptation and even your sin to me. I have conquered and will continue to conquer evil.” But don’t tell me that I have to follow your orders and accept your sins and perversities, your laws and your ways life, because accepting it will be a disaster for you. I am your Creator and I really know what is good for you and what is not. And believe me that not all that makes you feel good; is good for you, as well as not all that makes you feel bad is bad for you.
When we choose Christ, the devil really doesn’t stand a chance. In the
3 And finally the last, the third temptation, temptation of being politically correct. The Satan constantly tries to persuade us: “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” Only be politically correct, only don’t protest, don’t say no, be permissive, accept the freedom of doing wrong, don’t show your disapproval,
God refuses to give up on us, even when evil makes inroads into our lives. “See I have set my bow in the skies as a sign that I will never destroy my people.” That was the promise made to seal the covenant with Noah after the flood. The bow, by the way, is the rainbow. For people of faith, the rainbow is not just a beautiful natural occurrence. It is a sign of our hope in God. When we are overwhelmed with our own human weakness, our own continual sinfulness, the rainbow reminds us: God refuses to give up on us. We can’t give up on ourselves. Look at the rainbow. God is the Compassionate, the Merciful One.
The 40 days of Lent are really about loving Jesus but not about loving our vices and sins, not about permissive acceptance of evil. We spend this time looking for ways to grow in our love for our Saviour, Who is our Creator and Redeemer. We fight off temptation with Him. We give Him our sins in confession. We unite ourselves to Him through the Eucharist and all forms of prayer. We do everything possible to allow His grace into our lives. And we recognize, as the praise and worship song goes, “His grace is enough for us.”
On this First Sunday of Lent we pray that for the courage to live Christocentric lives, lives which are Christ centered. With Him in the center of our lives, nothing that the world throws at us will defeat us. He is the conqueror of temptation. He is the Victor over sin.
In the desert we can place ourselves in God’s hands relying trustfully upon him. When we are tested we remember those hidden Angels who are not so far away. When we experience these trials we unite ourselves with Christ and ask him to endure the Temptation with us.
We then recognise that all these sufferings and difficulties we must endure are part and parcel of the life of a Christian and we know that they are only a sign of the victory that is to come.
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