From the desk of Fr. Peter

Peace to you!

Beatitude, understood properly as a term, means the state of complete blessedness or happiness.  The beatific vision is to be in the full possession of the only truly perfect good, which is God.  There are 8 supernatural actions that the Lord enumerates in the Sermon on the Mount, the last of which is indicated twice to emphasize its excellence.  Simply stated, the beatitudes are the crowning achievements in the Christian life on earth.  They are acts of virtue (moral excellence) that have been perfected to the highest possible degree by the person who has become habitually docile to the Holy Spirit.  It almost goes without saying that while humility, meekness, desire for justice, chastity, compassion, mercy, charity, working for peace no matter the cost are acts of virtue, they also manifest the real presence of special, God given gifts in the person.  A beatific or happy life is the result of using these supernatural gifts in a manner guided by the Holy Spirit.  All of us desire fulfillment and happiness at the deepest level within.  As Christians, we regard Jesus as the revealer and teacher of truth.  Jesus teaches us the truth about the human person and about God.  Through the beatitudes, he reveals that the way to true happiness consists in a life of virtue in communion with God in the Holy Spirit.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t have to struggle with sin while we are in the world, but it does mean that we can experience the blessedness of the kingdom!  May God guide you into the way of peace! +++ Fr. Peter

May the grace of Christ raise you up!

The readings offer a complexity of themes that generally flow toward the coming of God’s manifold grace and power to enlighten and lead people into a relationship of peace with God.  Jesus is depicted as stepping into the prophetic vocation where John left off, however with a nuance.  With Jesus, the kingdom is AT HAND; it is not coming in the near future as John would say.   At almost the very start of his public ministry, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, James and John to follow him in a special way.  They are called to be his disciples and for some mysterious reason, they leave everything they have to follow him.  In reflecting on my own vocation and the mystery of the call that I received, I have to say that it is indeed a mystery.  I had a great job and was doing well, making plans to build a house, settle down and get married then suddenly, everything changed.  I left it all behind, family, friends, pets, personal income, plus some hopes and dreams.  Having said all of that, I can say with St. Paul that it has been at a cost but nothing compared to the great gain of the gift of God’s call to follow the Lord!  It has been a great adventure worth much more than anything I’ve left behind!

This weekend I invite you to consider your financial commitment to support your parish and the ministries that happen through life in the parish.  In this effort, we express our discipleship and the willingness we have to make a sacrifice for the future of the Church.  Being good stewards of the gifts and resources we receive from God is good discipleship.  I encourage everyone to consider what they are able to give.  We ALL have something to give and we all have a need to give!  Our way to success and our future joy does not consist of the same people giving more; rather, it consists in more people giving!  God’s continued blessings to you all! +++ Fr. Peter

Peace and Grace to you!

This weekend John the Baptist  publicly testifies that Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  John also says of Jesus “he is the Son of God” and he baptizes with the Holy Spirit!

The reading from Isaiah reminds us that we evangelize and demonstrate our discipleship through servant leadership.

The Catholic Church has repeatedly stated that everyone, by their baptism and Confirmation, shares in the mission of Christ—to proclaim the good news to all people!  Every Catholic is an evangelist and disciple of Jesus, therefore the continuing study and understanding of the faith is necessary so that we always have a reason to explain the cause of our joy.  The ability to explain the faith is not the special prerogative of priests and theologians.  It is the grace of revelation and conversion given by God.  Jesus did not give the mission solely to the religious and ordained so that they could fulfill the obligation for everyone else; all must work at it.  It is important to remember that upon our baptism we are anointed priest, prophet and king.  For living out the priestly office, all of us should be engaged in daily prayer and some kind of ministry and activity because life in the Spirit requires it.  The greatest gift of ministry is not what we give to others but what happens in the exchange: they also give to us.  In these encounters we experience concretely the divine blessing of the Church and the communion we have in the life of Jesus.  All of us experience transformation, conversion, liberation and a deep sense of peace knowing that God is present and active at all times.  As our journey continues, we realize that we are one on whom the Spirit has come upon and remained.  God bless you always! +++ Fr. Peter

May the Light of All Nations give you radiant hope!

The Feast of the Epiphany is special to all of us who were never born Jewish because the promised Messiah came as the fulfillment of God’s love and mercy toward all people.  St. Paul assures the Ephesians that they too, non-Jewish people, are coheirs equal in dignity as members of the one body sharing in the one promise of Christ through the Gospel.  As I write this I have to admit that because I was born and raised Catholic, I really can’t imagine what it would be like to never have the Light of Christ; i.e., to never have known about Jesus or heard his teaching.  However, I do recognize the increasing importance of our faith in my own life’s journey.  Perhaps, like the story shows, the light of Christ increases with age and wisdom!

For many, the light of faith does not appear until later in life and once recognized, they follow it to discover God’s tender mercy, love and salvation.  I just read one such story.  Brother Joseph Dutton was born in 1843 and became a Union soldier in the Civil War while yet a teenager.  Most of his military career involved caring for the sick and burying the dead.  Joseph did fall in love and married but was divorced less than a year later.  For Joseph, the trauma of war and divorce took their toll and the darkness swallowed him as he turned to alcohol for the next ten years.  Eventually someone gave him a Bible and as he studied it, he recognized that he was wasting his life.  He decided to change.  In 1883, on his 40^th birthday he was baptized Catholic and a short time later entered a Trappist monastery.  Joseph left the monastery and after reading an article about Fr. Damien’s work with the lepers of Kalaupapa he boarded a ship and sailed to Molokai.  Br. Joseph cared for Fr. Damien and the lepers until he himself died in 1931 (not from leprosy).  The point is Br. Joseph found Christ the true light and followed him.  In doing this, he became a light to those who knew him.  If people today are to find their way through the spiritual darkness of our world to the infant lying in the manger, it will be through the faith and example of God’s people, who busy themselves with living out the Gospel and bear Christ’s light!  The Wise Men followed a star, Jesus has made each of us more than a star; we are vessels of his very own light and as we follow Christ the true light, we show and share it with others!

May Christ’s light be manifest through you! +++ Fr. Peter

May the light and joy of Christmas and the New Year fill your hearts and minds!

This weekend we celebrate the solemnity: Holy Mary, Mother of God.  We also honor the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and recognize the monumental role of the family in salvation history.  It is only through the context of family that God entered our nature and it is through the same context of family that we know Mary as Mother of God.  Jesus and Mary could not have survived without Joseph to protect them and provide for them.

God chose the family as the place where salvation begins!  The family is the first building block of society.  God’s plan through nature shows that no child is conceived outside of a relationship between a man and a woman.  This is the first fundamental relationship that images the love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  This natural cell of social life is where the husband and wife are called to give themselves to each other in love and to give themselves in love to the mystery of the gift life, the family.  It is in the family home that we all first learn about God, about authority, stability, freedom, responsibility, respect, justice and honor.  In the family we learn moral values and how to interact with each other in ways that do not cause hurt or harm.  It is in the family that boys learn how to become men and girls learn how to become women and that they are different than each other—they are not the same.  The family teaches that men and women each have a special role to play and all need to give and receive the dignity and respect that God intended they have in their special roles.  Family life is where we learn how to participate in society, which is the family of man stretching across the globe.

Today, our family of faith, the Church, needs holy families.  As depicted in the scripture stories today, holy families regularly practice the faith with the community.  Without them the Church won’t be holy; it will be weak and there will be a lack of vocations.  Without holy families and vocations, society will drift away from God.  Staying close to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph will always give you joy and peace! +++ Fr. Peter

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Christmas season has officially begun!  For a lot of people, Christmas season seems to have begun much sooner.  I noticed this year that decorations, advertisements and Christmas theme items began to appear the day after Halloween instead of the day after Thanksgiving.  I guess there are a couple of different ways to view that but it seems to me that our world longs for the Christmas season because we long for more of Jesus in our lives.  Although we may complain about commercialism and a loss of the sense of the sacred in our society, to believers it is truly Christmas that we prepare to celebrate!  I have a special attraction to Advent and to Christmas so I don’t mind the extra hype.  To me, it all serves to extend the reminder of Christ’s special presence among us and God’s incomparable gift of redemption and forgiveness bringing peace, reconciliation, joy and salvation to the whole world: That is truly worth some hype and celebration!

In one of the traditional popular songs, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” it mentions that a special gift was received on each day of the Christmas season, which continues to the Baptism of the Lord.  The song reminds me that one way of making Christmas Season special may be to space out our opening of gifts and gift giving through the season.  As you know, the song mentions that the gifts received came from “my true love.”  We offer tokens of love and esteem to each other in the form of presents and this is important because the love we have for each other flows from and points to God who is the source of love within us.  We also know that our most true and lasting gifts are God’s love and mercy!  The Christmas season is interspersed with special feasts: Saint Steven, The Holy Innocents and The Holy Family.  Each of these feast days offers a particular window from which to view the mystery of Christ and his mission to save us.  Let us ponder with Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and kings the gift of Christ our true love! Christmas Blessings of peace and joy to you all! +++ Fr. Peter

May Christ, the Light who is near, fill you with hope!

The readings from the fourth Sunday of Advent draw us to focus on the theme of trust.  In the first reading, Ahaz doesn’t trust the prophet Isaiah when he is invited to ask God for a sign; Ahaz is afraid that it would be a sin.  In the face of king Ahaz’s distrust, which is accounted as wearying to God, the prophet reveals that God wants to give a sign to show that he will always help his people.  In the Gospel account, we begin after Mary trusted the message of the angel that God would favor her and make her part of his plan.  Now her trust must be stronger because she has returned from Elizabeth’s house to an extremely difficult situation back home in Nazareth: Mary was obviously pregnant and Joseph, along with everyone else, was wondering what happened.  Joseph had to choose whether or not to trust Mary’s explanation.  At first, he simply doesn’t want any harm to come to Mary, but as a just man, Joseph turned to God to help him decide.  In answer to Joseph’s trust, God revealed to him the truth about Mary and charged him to name the child Jesus and Joseph did as the angel had commanded him.  In their journey to Bethlehem in the cold of winter and beyond, Mary and Joseph learned to trust in God and each other.

The examples that we are given today show us that people of our faith tradition grow in holiness through trust in God.  It doesn’t happen automatically but only in the face of challenges and often times when there is no other place to go do people learn to use their faith and trust in God.  Something stands clear through today’s readings: God is doing everything he can to convince us that he wants to help us.  Even if we’re like Ahaz and constantly afraid, God doesn’t get tired of demonstrating that he loves us.  As we approach the celebration of our Savior’s birth let’s try to be more open and trust in God.  Let’s try to accept the challenge to confront those things that burden us and separate us from the joy of God’s kingdom.  Let us live holier lives by saying “yes” to the gift that has been given to us by the One who gives new life: let us try to do God’s will lovingly and graciously.  God bless you all! +++ Fr. Peter

May the nearness of the savior fill you with joy!

In Mary and Joseph’s time, there were many different ideas of what things would be like when the Messiah would come.  It is probable that Jesus didn’t fulfill the expectations that many people had of the Messiah.  For one thing, the Kingdom that Jesus came to establish was not of this world; it wasn’t focused on power and domination, it wasn’t centered on money and luxury, it wasn’t a display of wealth and finery.  However, his kingdom did become evident in the fields, hillsides and little towns around Galilee.  Many of the people did not recognize the Messiah when he came.  John the Baptist, his herald, even had to ask.  I think it would be good for all of us to be as direct as John and ask ourselves the same question “will I recognize him when he comes?”  “What will the signs be that he is truly the one?”  Jesus’ response to John’s question indicates the fulfillment of the prophet’s words – the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, the mute sing, the ransomed are filled with joy and gladness.  The king was clad in a carpenter’s clothes with worn sandals.  The riches of the Prince of Peace were not in stocks and bonds and safe in a treasury.  They were freely deposited in the hearts and minds of those who came to believe in him.

This Sunday is referred to as Gaudete Sunday, which means “Rejoice.”  We are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus has ransomed us from sin and death and many of us experience being freed from our sins through our communal penance service.  We know and believe that Jesus reaches out to us and it is our joy when we reach out to others.  Jesus entered our world of hate to give us the power to build a world of love. We believe that Jesus understands us, even when we don’t understand ourselves.  We believe that God is always with us, even when we aren’t always with God.  God is our Father because he has treated us as his children in Christ and for this, we do have reason to rejoice!  After all, each one of us is considered greater than John the Baptist!  Share the joy of Christ’s presence in your life with others! +++ Fr. Peter

May the light of Christ bring you peace!

At the time that John the Baptist was on the scene, religious observance was often strict adherence to laws and customs.  For some, being holy was an ostentatious display swollen with pride and arrogance which reduced the practice of religion to just another form of politics.  In John however, there was no arrogance or pride, no attempt to impose his personal agenda or promote himself as the focus of attention.  John’s only interest was to fulfill the task that God had given him: to prepare the people to meet Christ, the Savior.  John’s baptism was one of repentance, which means turning the heart to God.  In this, John was reminding the people, especially the leadership of Israel, that there must be a real and tangible connection between their religious rituals and their convictions.  Their beliefs and faith experience of God should be a matter of heart reflected in the actions of their daily lives.   In this context, baptism was an opportunity to re-establish the harmony and connection between one’s thoughts, words and actions.

Today’s Gospel account of John’s call to repentance reminds us of our own need to turn to God again and again.  It also reminds us that Christian baptism goes further and deeper than just repentance.  As Christians we are plunged into the life, death and resurrection of the Lord.  We have become a new creation in Christ, we are members of his body the Church and called to be the eyes, the voice, the hands of Christ to the world.  For us Christians, there is not supposed to be a dichotomy, proclaiming one thing and living in a manner that does not reflect those values.  Obviously being a Christian is a lifelong journey that involves challenges, trials, achievements and failures, laughter and tears.  But we believe that our efforts of conversion to grow in holiness will bring us grace for wholeness and salvation.  Today, we are invited once again to turn to God with our hearts, to invite Christ’s saving power into our lives to overcome for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  As we do this, others come to recognize what we know: that in Christ, God has come to dwell in our world to save!

May all blessings be yours! +++ Fr. Peter

May the hope of Christ’s light fill your hearts and minds!

The readings and the Advent season focus on the coming of Christ into the world.  Our ancestors awaited a Messiah with great longing and hope.  They looked for the coming of a Messiah who would free them from the forces of oppression, corruption, fear, injustice, poverty, hunger and hardship.  For them, he would be a great, wise and just ruler who would establish peace.  Their hope was based upon promises of the past, the stresses of the present and an enduring faith that in the future God, seeing the longing of their hearts, would fulfill the promises that had been made.  We have the same hopes today!  But what did they do in the meantime?  They lived just like we do now –with a day-to-day routine but they watched for God’s activity and signs of his arrival!

Today, it seems like our lives are busy 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Constant activity with irregular hours can cause problems of fatigue, anxiety, depression, insomnia and stress.  Even those who have regular schedules frequently get over-extended with activities.  Where are such people going to find a space of peace and rest to be refreshed from weariness so they can seek and find God?

For many, Advent is the busiest time of the year.  There is always something to plan, cards to send, gifts to buy, parties to attend, visiting family, friends and neighbors.  For some, it is the most painful time of year due to loss of loved ones, broken relationships, empty promises, and disappointments.  Where do they find a remedy?

In Advent, the Church invites all of us to make a personal interior shift so that we can experience the coming of Christ and his peace that we all long for.  I know that the activities of the season are important, in fact, even lifesaving because we do experience Christ’s love through each other.  But it’s also easy to get off track and forget what is most important.  We need to feel freedom from shame, guilt, fear, doubt, sadness, loneliness and longing or any other burdens we may have.  Turning to God with our hearts is the key!  The parish Reconciliation Service provides deliverance from burdens!  Jesus comes to free us; not to judge or condemn us!  Try to set aside some personal time with Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Invite them into your home with a prayer and candles.  Spend time with them in prayer each day and make them feel appreciated and honored as your guests.  If you take the time to truly watch, you will see that God is present and actively coming into your life!  God bless you all! +++ Fr. Peter