5th Sunday of Easter – C

I give you a new  Commandment, --that you love one another as I have loved you.
Today's  gospel again boils down to the topic of love.
Jesus reminds us today that His love is the hallmark of a Christian.  He gives us a new  Commandment  which itself is the pattern of love.

But is this something new? No not really.  We have not heard one sermon about this,  because we have life experiences in this matter.
Now, when we look again at these words we find that our love is to be the pattern of Christ's love. Love one another as I have loved you.

So we can ask what's new?

Surely the people before Christ had  love. They gave their lives for others, dedicated their lives.   

Not only Christ taught us to love our fellow man.

We also know how to love today. We love those who are related to us by blood and friendship. We love those who are friendly to us, who  have reached out  their hands to us in moments  when we needed them. We do not need to learn about love from  the Gospel. But usually our love is conditional, often sentimental like  the movies.

The news  of this Commandment is that Christ died  out of love for all.

The enemies and the friends.

For those who have  lived and for those who have just begun their lives. Jesus loves  every person unconditionally. Our love is conditional and, unfortunately, often sentimental.
With this  Commandment, thanks to the unfathomable love of Christ for us, His death  gave us the seed of a new love.

So we have a duty to love every human being. Of course, it will never be an emotional  love  as with loved ones but to love others is to wish them the things  we expect from life. Love of neighbor, is primarily a desire for their good, an ordinary human kindness, respect, honesty to  our fellow man.

We need to know that this new and unconditional love, will cost us a lot.  It will now hurt and often not  be understood by others. But through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 

We read in the Acts of the Apostles...

Let us love each other, our first task, the hallmark of our Christianity. With love we do the simplest daily activities. 

Remember that the we are called to love.

Fr. Tom

4th Sunday of Easter

My sheep listen to  My voice, and I know them. They follow  Me and I give them eternal life.

The readings today show us what it means that Jesus is our shepherd, but they also reveal the truth of what it means to be a sheep and how to look like a man for whom Jesus is the guide.

First of all, people who decide to follow the Shepherd and obey His voice  must know that they may be crticized, ridiculed, judged and even persecuted. But it is precisely in this way in which we aim for our goal of salvation.  

Following Christ is not and never will be easy,  as it has enumerable obstacles.

We live in a country in which there is religious tolerance. But we know that nowadays there is a persecution of Christians in 70 countries of the world.  In the twentieth century, every day about 1,250 Christians were killed about 460 thousand per year. So persecution has not ended. The world is  struggling with God and His followers all the time.

Despite this, Jesus has not changed his Gospel and  He further reaffirms its words with who ever follows Him and listens  to His voice will change his life dramatically.

Can I say that today the Lord is my  Shepherd and I shall not want?
Is it true he is able to give me what I need to live in the twenty-first century?
Surely you can go to Christ by selectively choosing what you want to hear.  No, I am not able to face the world  that tries at all costs to create a false image of faith and the commandments for selfish benefits. Where sin and evil ceases to be merely human weakness.

Many times we hear that surely the church should  move forward and  be progressive on a  number of moral issues. That the church  should be more open to man today because  we  cannot live the same radical commandments  as in the time of Christ.

Yet, God clearly says that we have only  to listen to His voice and we will go a long way towards eternity. 

Unfortunately, we cannot trust only our instincts and rely on our experiences because we need a solid foundation upon which to live.

Yes, some say that God is merciful and always ready to forgive.
But  what about the man who with a life time of premeditation selects only those commandments that are comfortable, easy to follow, that do not require sacrifices does he deserve the mercy of God?

The problem is that by selecting our own way we can never meet God who is ready to forgive  us.

And where do we stand?

On the side of Jesus, or the hypocrisy of the world.?
On the side of life or death?
Who do we listen to more?

Jesus, who demands a lot from us, which might discourage us down the road? Or maybe the promises  of those who require little from us.

Following Christ we must always choose the path of man. An uphill path where there will be an elevator or escalators which gives us the world. This way we only need to move on with our Shepherd.
Let us give  Jesus the permission to show us how to  surrender to Him, for then, He will show us the way to  eternal life.

 – Fr. Tom

III Easter Sunday - C

Simon, son of John, do you love me? You know everything, you know that I love YOU - Peter responded.

Certainly, if Jesus asked today - Do you love me? Our answer would be the same: Lord you know everything you know I love you.

And there is a lot of truth in that.

Our presence here in the church is a public profession of our love for God. Our prayer, our fraternal help for another person and to trust our attempts, also confirms this.

Why does God, from time to time, ask us to love Him?

Not like Peter three times, but through whole of our live?

Is once not enough?

It appears that not.

We are people who often fall in love. We fall in love with another person, fall in love with our talents, fall in love with whatever we have. Normally, we would not change our lives but for a loved one we sacrifice everything. Time, skills, money. Silently counting on this love, to be returned to us as a reciprocated love. 

When our love is not understood by another and not reciprocated, we pull back. Very often we give up too early, because we see that it was not love but infatuation. Then we fall into gloom, and despair and ask ourselves - why does the other person not see our love?

A similar situation may occur in our relationship with God.

Many of us can confirm our love and devotion to God. Especially in the solemn moments of our lives: when we receive the sacraments, in the solemn moments of the liturgy of the church.

How strong is our love and faith at Christmas and Easter?

How strong we feel when we have faith that God hears our prayers and they impact our life as we want them to?   When we are not missing anything, when we are happy because our children are our friends, we call out ..."God loves us".

But the situations in our life do not look so colorful when we start to doubt whether in fact we are  loved very much by beloved Father. 

Are we sure He sees our efforts?

St. Peter affirmed his love for Jesus and for this love he was paid by death.

Well we know that love very often requires sacrifices. We can only say after years if it was a great and lasting love. Only when we decide to commit to someone can we see the everyday reality of life to be able to overcome the problems and to be able to say I love you, I love you now, I love you still and I will not stop loving you.

Our God is asking from time to time for our love for Him. He wants to eliminate our temporary fascination with love. While waiting for our answer, He wants to be treated exactly the same as those which we love.

People with whom we live and for whom we are able to devote our lives. Do not expect flowers, gifts, and other examples of love from God, for when we begin to live with Him, as in our common everyday life we affirm our words..."Lord you know that I love You."

Fr. Thomas

Annunciation 2013

 When the angel came to Mary, she certainly felt in  her heart great anxiety.  An  unknown creature talking to her about things that she never would have expected. Her answer and consent to the plan of God had to be a big puzzle and had to be questionable.

We can only imagine what Mary felt, and thought. But on the other hand, how great must have been the faith of this woman, completely resigned to their plans, to keep the promise made to somebody who loves you. Somebody who is thinking humanly, shattered her life and erected a very difficult job to do.

How great had to be her humility because from that moment  nothing mattered to her but  a human  desire to fulfill God's plan.

How great must have been  this love since the threshold of her adult life  reigned  from the beautiful flesh of human love and spiritual love,  she devoted  herself to  her God. These are the effects of total entrustment to God of life.
When today we are faced with the mystery of the Annunciation we want  to settle accounts with our attachment to God's plans.

How many times have we promised entire confidence and to give our life to Him?  But, as a result it turns out that we can not do that. It looks a little as if, that life goes its own path and our own faith also .Often we think that God is not able to guarantee our everyday existence.

Is it possible today  that a man can give himself completely to God? Seems not.
We have too much to lose.

When we look at the life stories of people who have said yes to God, we see they left everything and started a new life.
Can we afford such a gesture?

You do not have to wait long for an answer because the heart tells us -  I am  afraid. We can not endlessly promise God something we can not do or what we are not yet ready to do.  Looking at Mary I admire her and I think that not many of us would have survived,  and I ask that she help us during our lives to prepare for such a gesture. It helps us to evaluate  ourself and see how far we are from God and His plans for us.
And FIAT let her quiet  holiness  slowly but surely prepare  our souls so that  when the day  comes,  we will want to return to God, to do his will and sing "God I come to do Your will"

Fr.  Tom

Divine Mercy Sunday 2103

Over the last 9 days, the church has been preparing for todays feast....Divine Mercy Sunday, established by Pope John Paul 2nd.

This Sunday we open our hearts to the healing action of the love of God. None of us can say that,.. "I do not need Mercy."

Very often we learn in the media about disasters, and their victims. However, as it turns out, the more information we get the more we become immune. Yes, we can afford gestures of solidarity, and as a gesture of Mercy, we say we can afford to help the victims materially. But, what good is all this if we have a closed heart? It probably has nothing to do with the Mercy that God offers us. For Mercy, which God wants to teach us, is opening up to the man in need, the spiritually blind, the depressed, and those seeking only love.
This opening will also help us find each other, and, as Francis, our Holy Father said at the beginning of his Pontificate,.... to believe that God will never tire of forgiveness. The problem is that it must parallel our asking Him for forgiveness. We are able to become people of Mercy but only with God's help.

We understand God's Mercy only.... when our lives of charity will be visible. We will be merciful only.... if it is a Mercy for us, asked by the whole world. We do not doubt the fact that we can be merciful. Sister Faustina wrote: The biggest sinner can become a saint, because of the greatness in the power of God's grace. It depends on us not to resist the action of God.

Pope Francis said: "Only someone who has experienced Mercy , who has suffered a tender caress of Mercy is happy before God."

Today, let us hear the following words which Sister Faustina once heard: "Try to see to it that everybody after meeting with us, can go away happy. Spread the "smell" of happiness around you, even if they can only touch your robes. Remember well these words, which at this moment I am speaking to you."

Perhaps many of us lack the strength for our everyday life. The problems are getting heavier. Maybe we cannot cope with the problems. Maybe we should stop to think about God as a loving Father. Maybe we do not believe in His help and forgiveness. This day is just for you....Time to trust in Jesus...Time to believe in the impossible. This, together with St. Thomas we say: "My Lord and My God."

Sisters and brothers, believe in the words spoken to Sister Faustina: "I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, especially for poor sinners. Believe in the incredible power of these beautiful words: "Jesus, I Trust in You."

Jesus, we trust that our community will be a true family in which we will learn that Mercy. A Mercy we will experience and share.

Fr. Tom

Easter Sunday 2013 – Fr. Tom

Here we have Easter. How different is the feast of the prior four months.
Difficult feast.

Difficult for us to imagine the fact of the Resurrection.

Today, we do not have a creche with the little sweet baby Jesus......
We do not have the beautiful face of Mary.
We do not have a happy Joseph.

It is not a great happiness like a man's birthday
Surely though it is closer to us and more human.

It is an empty tomb that scared the apostles and we are looking around for everything and understand nothing.
Today, we look in the empty tomb... in one way we must be happy because, the church tells us about this truth. But in another way when we broaden the great mystery it overwhelms us and we are afraid.

Today, we ask the question:
Why are we afraid?
Why is it difficult for us to believe in the reality of the empty tomb?

Probably because, if we believe we would change our life completely.
We would have a belief that death can be defeated and that satan would be beat.
Christ lives in each moment and He can physically meet with us.

We would be like Mary Magdalene, not to be ashamed,.... to have tears of penance and tears of happiness.
We would be like John, never ask but live in truth.

We would be like Peter,never to deny his Master and this friendship would be sealed like a martyrs death.
We would have belief that I is not just my body threatened today in an economic crisis...but, first of all that I am spirit who was created for the Resurrection.
We would stop complaining and start to rejoice.
We wouild have an anticipation and count the days to our death, because it is the one way to meet Jesus.

Don't be afraid, don't be sad, don't be depressed, don't complain because the Resurrected Christ wants to come into our life and He wants our empty tomb.

Fr. Tom

Easter Vigil - RCIA

A year ago, Holy Father Benedict XVI said at Holy Thursday Mass.

"…as Christ told Peter, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat," today "we are once more painfully aware that Satan has been permitted to sift the disciples before the whole world."

—POPE BENEDICT XVI, Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 21st, 2011

Where do you and I stand in this sifting? Are we among the weeds or the wheat?
"We too find excuses when being his disciples starts becoming too costly, too dangerous."

It's very uplifting to be with Christ in the moments of glory, it's wonderful to be with Him in the time of exaltation …

If Judas, Peter, and the Apostles fled the Lord in His hour of sorrow … what will I do when the time of sorrow approach?

It's wonderful the liturgy of Easter Vigil … in few minutes time 18 person will receive the Sacrament of Baptism; two will be accepted to the full unity with the Catholic Church, 22 will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation and 17 will receive the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time.

What a wonderful achievement? What a time of glory and joyful exaltation …

But my dear brothers and sisters … will you be with Christ when all this will be over and when comes the normal, difficult daily life?

Or "you will find excuses when being his disciples starts becoming too costly, too dangerous, to boring to demanding."

I will quote you only one sentence of Jesus which is repeated three times in the Gospel:

"You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 10,22)



The way to the Resurrection goes through Calvary. We have to be aware of this truth.



I wish you all Happy Easter

Good Friday – Fr. Thomas

Your cross Christ is brought to the end. The prelude to Your passion is finished.

Yet, in only one moment of excruciating pain of pounding in the nails .... in human minds everything is finished.

Yet, only with eyes full of love, He looks to the eyes of His mother and lamenting, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me." It seems that everything is finished.

Man raised his hands toward God in anger and the world grasped a dark night.

Hanging on the cross from the start of His public activity.

Hanging on the wood, He, who healed, comforted, and redeemed from misfortune.

This is a paradox of God being punished for goodness…

From this day humans were not worried about fighting with God.

Even today when we stand under the cross, we still hear offensive mockery and laughing of people convinced that God should die. That God should be cancel out of human life.  That God is a crook and liar. He can't give us happiness.

When man dies this world is finished.

And everybody will be in this situation when we say hello to his or her earthly life.

At this moment, the world for us has been robbed from us.

But, when God died the world moved forward quickly … proving to us that it does not make sense to worry about this.

Jesus felt cheated and betrayed. But, we must remember that the strong shouting: "My God, My God why have you forsaken me", flows out from His human nature.

We do not always know how to deal with suffering.

Every cross scares us, and when we are scared we want to be reunited with God.

We want God to find a solution for our sadness.

Usually, we want our calling out to Him, for Him to listen to us in our way, as if we have our own solution to the problem. 

The way of the cross and suffering is also the way God chooses to listen to us. 

We hear about this in Hebrews, “Jesus offered up prayers of submission”.

This day we must ask the question.

Why is man scared and why am I scared?

Maybe when we have anxiety about our everyday life we forget that we can hurt God.

Maybe we are more scared about tomorrow than about living in sin.

Maybe the most important things for us are: health, family, career,  rather than Who in reality loves us.

Am I aware that God does not abandon me, but very often I leave Him?

That God did not die, but that I am dead in my relationship with Him?

On the day of the death of God we go to Jesus Christ and we ask Him to show us a sense of our life and our death.

 

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Readings: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12; Hebrews 4: 14-16, 5:7-9; John18:1 - 19:42

I read somewhere a very challenging statement saying: “What will kill Christianity, what will kill the Catholic Church is not the atheism, not the enemies of Christ but the lukewarm attitude of believers, the indifference of Catholics.” And it is true. Nothing is able to kill my faith but my own lukewarm indifference.

Jesus is alone ….

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."

He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them, "My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me."

He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer … When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, "So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again … Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open.

He left them and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again.

Then he returned to his disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners.”              (Matthew 26; 36-45)

And in today’s Gospel:

“Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala and the youngest of his disciples John.”                                (John 19; 25)

I was thinking about this yesterday evening, while seating in the adoration room after the Holy Thursday Mass. From among the whole parish only two couples and four women find the time to spend few minutes in adoration yesterday evening …

I am very sorry, to say this but, does it mean that all others were sleeping? Jesus is constantly asking the same question: “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?”

Today during the day nobody came even for the shortest adoration …

And I am consoling myself with the statements: “I am not bed. I am actually a good person.” Does it mean that I don’t need the passion, the death and the resurrection of Christ? Does it mean that I don’t need these few minutes of adoration on the Holy Thursday?

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Sorrow and pain, suffering and anguish can lead us into one of four lands:

- The barren land in which we try to escape from it and when we cannot we are overwhelmed,

- The broken land in which we are not able to deal with it and we sink under it,

- The bitter land in which we resent it, where we are offended by it,

or

- The better land in which we bear it and become a blessing to others.

This is what Jesus did with all our sorrows and sufferings on the Cross.

I heard once the words which moved me. It was during a painful ceremony of funeral:

"These difficult days for you and your family may become a time of great graces if you unite your suffering to those of Christ crucified. All too often we forget that it was not when Our Lord was preaching and teaching, and multiplying the bread that He saved the world. It was, rather, when He was seemingly helpless and abandoned on the Cross. There, in the midst of unspeakable anguish and pain, suffering and sorrows Christ wrought redemption for us. By joining your anxiety and pain to His, you will help countless others open their hearts to His grace and love."

Pope John Paul II in his remarkable book “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” wrote:

"There is no Christian holiness; there is no Christianity at all without devotion to the Passion, without the Cross of Jesus Christ."?

Saint Paul in the letter to the Galatians says:

“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal 6,14)

We will be more then pleased or even delighted with a religion giving us only the good feelings and positive emotions, with a religion similar to a talisman or religion amulet. But unhappily or rather happily the symbol of Christ’ religion is not a four leaf clover or a horseshoe.

The symbol of our religion is THE CROSS of Jesus Christ.

And maybe one thing more: It is not about our feelings, or emotions.

It is about our salvation, and for our salvation our feelings are rather irrelevant.

If Jesus Christ stresses constantly His feelings and His moods He will never accept the cross, the passion and the death.

Holy Thursday – Last Supper Mass – the Day of the Eucharist and the Day of Priests.

Last Supper – the institution of two Sacraments: the HOLY EUCHARIST – the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ and the PRIESTHOOD, the Sacrament in service of the Eucharist.

Two Sacraments …. two mysteries of faith.

How can a piece of bread contain God, the Creator of the Universe?

How can to the ordinary man be granted such a power, to transform the bread into the Body of Christ? And yet … this is exactly what Jesus did during the Last Supper.

Lk 22:19 – “Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

What is the primary purpose and task of a priest? What is his ultimate vocation? The answer we can find in the life and mission of Christ. So what was the primary reason of the incarnation of the second Person if the Holy Trinity?

- Was it the healing of the sick?

- Was it the feeding of the hungry?

- Was it the social justice work?

- Or was it maybe the making His disciples feel good?

I think it was none of the above!'!!

He, the High Priest was the Priest for two reasons, which finally come to the only one:

- the GLORY OF GOD and the SALVATION OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD!

John 4:34 – “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work.”

John 17:3 – “And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

John 18:37 – “Jesus answering Pilate said, 'It is you who say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.”

Mt 28:19 – “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

So Glory of God and sanctification of the members of Christ's Church.

2Tim 4:1 nn – “Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living  and the dead, I charge you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom, proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement -- but do all with patience and with care to instruct.”

It will be a betrayal to anything else. Like searching popularity, luxury, easy life, career etc.

The Founder of my Society of the Divine Saviour left us the Salvatorians the words of our vocation: “As long as there is one person in the world who doesn’t know and love Jesus Christ you cannot rest. Preach Jesus Christ with all means dictated by the love of God and love of your brothers and sisters.”

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Parish in communistic Russia, since 1918 no priest for almost 90 years …

Church turned or transformed in to kolkhoz’s storage facility …

After three generations of prayers they got a priest …

·         Lord Jesus Christ, the only One and Eternal Priest,

we thank You for sending us Your priest;

Your servant whom You chose and appointed to be among us.

He is the minister of Your mysteries,

and the pastor for our community.

We ask You to give him faithfulness and perseverance in Your holy service

and to give us a living faith in knowing that You sent him to us

and instituted him as our pastor and spiritual guide.

Help us to understand that his first and primary obligation

is to help us to become saints.

This is the ultimate reason that You sent him to our community.

·         Give him a spirit of wisdom and good council.

Give him the strength of fatherly love.

Give him the courage to tell us the truth,

You're the Truth and we have to know the TRUTH, to be free,

Give him the courage and perseverance to teach us the ultimate TRUTH

and not to compromise Your Good News for the sake of popularity.

And give us the gift of acceptance, respect and caring,

so that we can attentively listen to his word and trust that

he is preaching Your Good News,

even if it seems sometimes awkward and challenging,

Even if our ears are itching ...

·         You chose him from among us and for us,

a man who sometimes falls down because of his own weaknesses,

but also who has to deal with our weaknesses and sins.

Give us both patience and mutual understanding.

Give him health and patience in his difficult work and responsibilities.

·         May he be for us a good Pastor,

May he be for us a good and truthful Teacher,

May he be for us a strong and courageous Prophet,

who guides us to Heaven,

where You our Eternal Pastor are waiting for us;

in the Kingdom of Your Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God for ever and ever. Amen.