From the desk of Fr. Peter

Peace and Blessings to you!

This weekend the Lord reminds us of the special relationship that we have with him.

In the first reading from the Book of Exodus Moses and the people are camped at the base of a mountain.  Moses ascends the mountain to be in God’s presence and hear God’s message.  This is what it is to set aside a time and place for prayer, or when we go to the chapel to sit with Jesus and pray.  It is a place of petition and quiet.  It is more importantly a place where we can hear God speak to our hearts.  It must be quiet if we are to hear his soft, quiet whisper.  He promises to always respond (Psalm 3:5; Jn 15:7).

In this message through Moses, God wishes to establish the people as his own special people, a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation” provided they always listen to his voice and obey God by living the Covenant that God establishes with them.  The people agree and enter the Covenant because they want God’s love, care and protection to be with them always.  The Gospel scene depicts the reason why Christ came: the people have strayed from the Covenant.  They are troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd.  There’s no way to adequately describe their troubles or what it is like to feel abandoned.  Jesus, for his part, feels sorry for the people and so he equips the Apostles with divine authority and sends them out to show God’s care for them.  At the same time, the works they are doing draws the people back to God.  They cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and manifest God’s care.  Jesus has come to re-establish knowledge of God’s Covenant.  Jesus calls us to listen to him and follow the way of life he taches through the Church in what he says is a “New and Everlasting Covenant.”

There are many today who say they are Catholic but are far from the Church refusing to listen to Church teaching on a plethora of topics.  In recent times it seems to be largely in the areas of sex, sexuality and marriage, the use of contraceptives or the necessity to baptize children and raise them in the practice of the faith.  There are many experiencing troubled lives.  The remedy for the trouble is the same.  For those who are careful to listen and follow the Church, there is a joy-filled connection of life in the Spirit, of truly being a priestly, holy people.  How would you describe yourself?  Blessings to you all! +++ Fr. Peter

Peace to you!

This weekend the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  As the Church teaches us, we know that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life.  Echoes of the desert experience of our ancestors from the Book of Exodus remind us that God is ever-faithful in love and care for his people: it’s a Covenant relationship.  Today, we have a much deeper knowledge and experience of God’s love and care for us in the Eucharist because it is the real and true presence of Christ that far surpasses the Manna of the desert which prefigured the Eucharist.  Jesus established the celebration of the Eucharist as the New and Eternal Covenant.

Many Catholics, when they hear the words “Body and Blood of Christ,” visualize in their minds the consecrated Host and chalice at Mass.  We remember (anamnesis: Greek) when Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood with his disciples and we enter more deeply into the New and Everlasting Covenant in Christ and the whole Christian family each time we celebrate it.  St. Paul reminds of this when he tells us that “we, though many, are one body.”  For us, Christ’s sacrifice and gift of the Eucharist is not only an event at Mass; it is not only the real presence of God hidden in the gifts of bread and wine, it is also a living relationship that each one of us has with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and with each other.  The Eucharist brings us together as the Body of Christ to be the real and true sign of God’s presence in the world.  As we grow in our faith journey, we realize ever more deeply that the Eucharist makes the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist.  This is a living reality that defies definition because it is a divine mystery.  But we are caught up in it, we share in the very life of the Holy Trinity!  Imagine what our Catholic family could be like if we were always consciously aware that each person is a living Host, a tabernacle of the real and true presence of God.  Therese of Lieseux came to realize that she was a small Host given for the world in love.  In one of the hymns that we sing at Mass, the words of a prayer of St. Augustine are quoted: “eating your body, drinking your blood, we become what we receive.”  May we continue to grow in recognition of the love and goodness of God in the Eucharist and, like Therese, that we can live more perfectly the Eucharist in relation with other people.  God’s blessings to you always! +++ Fr. Peter

Peace and grace to you!

This weekend the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity.  It seems fitting that this feast should follow Pentecost because Jesus frequently referred to the Father before and after his death.  Then following his death and resurrection, he promised that the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, would come upon them and remain with the community.  The mighty wind signaled the presence and action of the Spirit among the disciples at Pentecost.  So at this point of revelation, God is understood as three distinct persons but of one divine nature: Father as Origin and Source of All that is; Son as Word of God, Savior and Redeemer; Spirit as the Animator, Indwelling Love and Guiding Light of God’s people, thus comes the Christian knowledge of God as the Holy Trinity.

The Holy Trinity always defies our complete understanding but there are a couple of things that are very clear.  God is completely relational, which is to say that God is an eternal spring of interested and active love!  God is completely in love with each one of us, personally!  Jesus came as a human being to restore the relationship between human beings and God.  Jesus expressed himself as God by being entirely loving and merciful during his life and ministry.  He showed us this love by healing us, embracing suffering and death to expiate us from sin.  Now we have the presence of the Holy Spirit nourishing us with the Word and the Eucharist, guiding us in right faith and inspiring us to continue the work of Jesus in the world.  We have been anointed by the Holy Spirit to act in God’s name in the world because we share in his divine life—what an amazing gift!  One of the greatest things to contemplate is that you and I and all the baptized receive the Holy Spirit inside of us, working within us!  We are sharers in the divine life of the Trinity!

This week the disciples receive a commission to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  This great commission is yours and mine and we do it when we put our faith in action and trust Jesus’ words “behold, I am with you always!”  May God bless you all! +++ Fr. Peter

May God the Holy Spirit glow within you!

This weekend we celebrate Pentecost which is also the birthday of the Church when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and disciples of Jesus uniting them in one, Spirit, one faith and one Lord.

When we speak about spirit on a personal level, we are usually referring to something about matters of interest or passion in life.  We notice people who are filled with a kind of spirit: a team spirit, a school spirit, a work spirit, and a family spirit.  People of spirit are fired with a special passion, love and energy for particular things.  You can hear it in their voice, see it in their eyes and on their face and it shows in the way they spend their time and money.  Their whole heart is into it.  They get excited about it and they are obviously more animated and energized while they are engaged in what they love.

Understanding spirit at a personal level helps us to better grasp why God gave us the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  The presence of the Holy Spirit makes people on fire for Jesus and the Gospel!  The Holy Spirit builds, unifies, animates and sanctifies the Church.  The Holy Spirit is Truth, guiding us in the truth of God!  The Holy Spirit is the breath of God speaking and inspiring action in the members of Christ’s body, the Church.  The Holy Spirit is the gift of enlightenment and sure sign that we are God’s people: God’s adopted sons and daughters.  The gift of  fiery faith that we have from the Spirit is not like the flame of a match that can be blown out by the wind or drowned by water. No, the gift of God the Holy Spirit dwelling within us is an eternal, unquenchable, loving fire that drives us into action and ministries.  The Holy Spirit within us loves to be shared and expressed with other people in prayer and good works.  Its fruits are purity, gentleness, kindness, generosity, joy, peace, hospitality, healing, forgiveness and unity.  The Holy Spirit equips the Church in its mission by filling the members with gifts and inspiring them to action for building up God’s Kingdom.  I hope that all of us will open ourselves more fully to the Holy Spirit this year.  Let us ask the Holy Spirit to ignite us with God’s pure love and passion for life and goodness and share this joy with others! +++ Fr Peter

Peace to all at St. Edward!

The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord that we celebrate this weekend completes a full circle of faith for us.  When the Son of God became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, the beginning of the restoration of humanity foretold by the prophets had begun.  We recognize by faith the marriage of human nature with divine nature, the union of mankind with God in the person of Jesus who is fully God AND fully human.  We know that Jesus’ mission was to reconcile mankind with God.  We recognize the love and intimacy in the way God chose to do this—by becoming human.  Because he loves us, God chose to become one with us.  A more astonishing statement is to say that God chose to lift humanity up to share in his own divine life!  The Ascension makes this wondrous assertion in a spectacular way.  God was not satisfied that we should know Jesus as the one who suffered and died to take away our sins: Our Redeemer, Our Rescuer, Our Savior.  This was not enough!  Jesus raised his human body from the tomb of death and showed himself to the disciples as being alive!  He reveals the resurrection to life.  Now Jesus takes his human body to heaven where it is enthroned at the “right hand of the Father”!

Just sit back and contemplate this event.  Let the shock of God’s exaltation of human nature sink in to your heart and mind!  Jesus raised human status from condemnation, to justification! Then more than being justified — above the choirs of angels, cherubim and seraphim, and archangels to enthronement at God’s right hand—above all and one with God!   I hope that everyone can feel a new confidence in the love that God is extending to each person.    Once this invitation is understood and accepted, no one will doubt or stand looking up into the sky.  We will work together diligently to make disciples of all nations, bringing them to the waters of regeneration in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  This is an amazing rebirth and joy!  It is time to pray for the outpouring of the Spirit that we may be builders of the great and eternal kingdom!  God bless you all! +++ Fr. Peter

Peace and Grace to all!

Through the readings and Gospel this weekend we are reminded of the continued and varied action of the Holy Spirit in the early Church after the Resurrection.  Knowing that the same pattern is taking place today, this builds within us an increasing anticipation for the celebration of Pentecost, which is drawing near.  Throughout the Easter Season the surprise manifestations of the Risen Lord and the action of the Holy Spirit in and through the Apostles, disciples and the whole Church community have lifted up our minds and hearts to renewed awareness of Immanuel (God is with us!).  What wonders God is still working among us!  The primary activity of the Spirit is inspiring and moving the disciples of Jesus to proclaim his resurrection from the dead!  In many instances those who hear the message are immediately delivered from sickness and spiritual oppression by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his followers that he would send the Advocate to remain with them.  The Holy Spirit is obviously still present and active among us!  The Spirit continually comes to restore, to strengthen, to confirm, to console and encourage.  The Spirit also brings an enlightenment of truth within each person.  This gift of enlightenment is that by which we discern spirits to see whether they are from God, who is light; or darkness, which is evil.  We walk in awareness of the forces within ourselves and we are watchful of the manifestations around us.  “By their fruits, you shall know them.” Our mission is to proclaim the message in the ways we can in our day to day lives.  This is how the message goes out to the whole world.  May we always be ready to welcome, console and encourage those who come into our midst seeking God: this is our mission in the world and how we manifest God’s presence.

God bless you always! +++ Fr. Peter

May the joy of Easter lift your heart and mind!

Last weekend was Good Shepherd Sunday and we reflected upon the intimate relationship that existed between the sheep and the shepherd during Jesus’ day in Palestine.  We realized once again the need and dependence that the sheep had on the shepherd for food, protection and well-being.  When we think of Jesus as the shepherd, we tend to visualize him as a shepherd that is always benevolent and attentive to his flock—and rightly so.  This weekend we are given another paradigm that points to a much deeper and fuller intimacy between ourselves and God.  It is much more human in its terms of relationship.  This weekend, in his farewell discourse to his disciples, Jesus speaks in terms of betrothal and the promise of a coming marriage.  Once again, he uses the practices of the Jewish culture of his day to open our hearts and minds that we may attempt to grasp the beauty and power of God’s love for us.  The key to entering into this invitation to intimacy is faith and trust.

As I reflect on the positioning of this set of readings in the context of the Easter Season, I am reminded of my own pilgrimage and the way the calendar of the Church leads us in a cyclical fashion through particular stages toward union with God.  At Easter one of my favorite phrases among the prefaces states  ”the joy of the resurrection renews the whole world.”   When I reflect on this phrase while living in the Easter Season, it seems that we are on the very threshold of eternal life!  But now in these readings we return to a context of farewell.   Jesus is preparing us for the departure of the Easter Season of grace, but we are not to worry or be sorrowful.  Rather, we are to focus in faith and make the daily effort to be ready for the moment he returns to gather each one us personally and intimately to himself.  May God’s promise of love sustain you in everlasting hope! +++ Fr. Peter

May the joy of the Risen Christ fill your hearts!

This weekend is not only Good Shepherd Sunday, it is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations!

All who have become members of the Body of Christ have an inherent desire to seek God in prayer.  Prayer should have a place of priority in a Christian’s life.  A Christian should pray every day at least 3 times a day: in the morning, at mid- day and at night.  Just like the meals that health professionals recommend, prayer is a kind of food that every soul must have for the nourishment of the spiritual life which ensures joy and peace through an intimate relationship with God.  The body cannot live without eating or breathing, the soul languishes without prayer!  Mothers have a special role in family life.  Like Our Blessed Mother Mary, mothers show their children the way to Jesus and how to pray to God from the heart.  Fathers have an extremely important role in the family as spiritual leaders.  They give strength and firmness by modeling prayer and the Christian virtues.  One important mode of prayer is listening to God with the ear of the heart.  Mothers and fathers need to pray together and teach their children how to listen to God and be guided by him.

We believe that each one of us is singularly and uniquely gifted by God and because of that, God has a special plan and vocation for every individual and a way for them to use their gifts and talents for the benefit of others.  This activity is directed toward the building up of God’s kingdom.  Some of us are called to serve God in special ways through marriage vows, vows of religious profession, live singly or be ordained for service.  Rising from vocations, there is also ministry.  Many of the members of the community of St. Edward are active in ministries of caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, proclaiming the Word or serving Communion, Hospitality and various other efforts that make a difference in people’s lives.  These are all good and important activities but there are more ways to be active!  If you feel like doing something radical, try completely committing your life forever to Christ and follow the way he leads you!  Many men and women in the Catholic tradition have responded to God’s call and have made the total commitment to sacrifice their lives in service to the Christian community and the needs of the human race.  In their vows of poverty, simplicity, chastity and obedience, they have put on Christ in a powerful and wonderful way!  Some are called to be priests, some are members of religious communities, some are deacons, some live and work quietly among us as consecrated virgins while others are called to marriage.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd of souls, are you willing to follow where ever he leads you?  Say “Yes” today and every day!  Mother Mary did!

God bless you all! +++ Fr. Peter

Peace and grace to you all!

This weekend we hear the story “on the road to Emmaus.”  I love this story because it is so human and I think it always has something to teach us no matter how many times we hear it!  That’s one of the great things about the Word, it truly is ALIVE!  One key theme that rises to the surface for us is remembering.  I often hear people say that the most important things we can do in life is cherish our memories.  I know that memories are especially important to us and the people we love.  Family traditions are repeated each year and the memories of past deeds and events at gatherings are recalled bringing laughter and joy.  Today’s Gospel has something similar to a family gathering but far more powerful because it establishes the concrete, central underpinnings of our faith!

At first the disciples don’t recognize Jesus while they speak and listen to him.  As they move along together we get a sense that a companionship is forming.  When the stranger appeared to be going on, they extended hospitality and invited him to stay.  The pinnacle moment occurs during the breaking of the bread when the disciples recognize Jesus.  And in a flash, he mysteriously vanishes!  They connect feeling the flame alive in their hearts at Jesus’ words and the moment of recognition.  Then they realize a truth that we still hold on to today.  Jesus is alive and present with us!  The reason they didn’t recognize Jesus on the way was because they didn’t remember him the way he wanted to be remembered.  Jesus wanted them to remember his great love for them in the “New and Everlasting Covenant” of the Eucharist.  I just love this story because it brings us all home to why we come to celebrate the Eucharist.  We don’t come together to remember his suffering and death alone, he doesn’t want us to be overwhelmed by that.  We come together most of all to remember the love that he still pours out into our hearts!  It is love and mercy that brings us to Jesus and more deeply to each other.

How do you want people to remember you?  Jesus invites us all to be drawn into one memory with him, by sharing ourselves in goodness and love!  May God enrich other lives through you! +++ Fr. Peter

Happy Easter!  May the Divine Mercy raise you up in hope and courage!

Mercy Sunday is a special day for those around the world who have made the effort to pray the Divine Mercy Novena beginning Good Friday and culminating the second Sunday of Easter.  The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was given to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska on Good Friday in 1935 by Jesus who wanted her to pray it as a Novena (9 days) with special intentions for each of the nine days it was prayed.   St. Faustina relates in her Diary that Jesus made several promises to grant many special graces to those who would pray the Novena.  This Sunday many of the faithful will begin to realize the graces and gifts that Jesus promised to those who would pray the Chaplet.  Those who were included in the intentions will receive life changing graces in their lives as well!  I am very happy that we include praying the Chaplet in our parishes, especially at St. Edward where it is prayed before all Masses.  Jesus also made promises to those who would display an image of the Divine Mercy which is prominently displayed in our Churches at St. Thomas, St. Bernard and St. Edward.  The rays streaming from the heart of Jesus in the image have symbolic meaning: red is for the blood of Jesus which is the life of souls and the pale color is for water and Baptism which justifies souls (diary par. 299).  The whole image is symbolic of charity, divine love and forgiveness referred to as the “Fountain of Mercy.”

May God bless you always! +++ Fr. Peter