Friday, April 8, 2011

Be the person God created you to be

Dear Parishioners,

Our Lord’s raising of Lazarus from death (John 11:1-45) shows us, like no other miracle Jesus performed, that God is the giver of life. On our spiritual journey through Lent, we are wise to remember that the journey we make is one that doesn’t end on that lonely hill of Calvary but at the garden’s empty tomb. We receive ashes on our forehead on a Wednesday to remind us of our mortality, only to wake up on a Sunday, transformed by God’s triumph of life over death.

It’s the answer to the age old question we face: “If we die will we live again?” Let’s make these last days of Lent days full of good choices and life-changing decisions. Be the person God created you to be. Let God’s life-giving Spirit so bless your life that all things are new for you through Christ Jesus our Lord.

- Deacon Robert


“A HOUSE founded on the Cross will
fear neither wind, nor rain, nor storm.”
- The Saint Cure D’Ars

Friday, April 1, 2011

Use it or lose it!

Dear Parishioners,

I’ve heard that people deprived of one sense often develop keener abilities in their other senses. For example, those who are deaf learn to read lips and how to feel the beat of music. Beethoven for example, wrote some of his best music after he lost his sense of hearing. In today’s gospel (John 9:1-41), the man born blind develops the gift of insight that allows him to see who Jesus really is. He develops the gift of faith in Jesus as the Son of Man. On the other hand, the Pharisees who had sight and faith in the Torah (the law of God), were satisfied with themselves and saw no need to further their sense of faith. Their spiritual blindness cost them a marvelous opportunity to develop a deeper relationship with God.

Lent is a season in which we are reminded that our sense of faith requires further development. The saying “use it or lose it” sums up our reason to fast, pray, and give alms to the poor. These penitential practices, carried out in humility, will give us greater insight into our human limitations as well as the greatness and mercy of God.

- Fr. Carl

Friday, March 25, 2011

The Samaritan Woman and The Sacrament of Reconciliation

Dear Parishioners,

Today’s Gospel (John 4:5-42) gives us a glimpse into God’s unconditional mercy, love and forgiveness. When Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well, he brings up her past, but he doesn’t bring it up to condemn her or make her feel guilty. She had been married five times and was now living with yet another man, this time out of wedlock. She was the village sinner… an outcast. The woman, like all of us, was thirsting for understanding and acceptance. Jesus offers her the cleansing water of the truth of her life experience. There is no harsh, judgmental condemnation.

What a beautiful image of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This woman comes to Jesus not even knowing how burdened, thirsty and alone she is, but leaves excited and fulfilled. She knows her sins are forgiven and her guilt removed. She doesn’t keep this good news to herself. She goes back to her village and tells everyone of her experience.

This is what the Sacrament of Reconciliation is all about. It’s coming to Jesus and letting him set us free. It’s about letting Jesus gently probe us and bring our sins into the light so they can be washed away. It’s about experiencing a mercy that goes far beyond our expectation and being so transformed by it that we want to share it with everyone around us.

We all have a need for the grace of Reconciliation. We all have a need to meet Jesus and his limitless mercy. So no matter how serious your sin, whether it be adultery, abortion or simply turning away from God, know that Jesus is waiting for you by the well, ready to give you living water.

- Deacon Robert

Friday, March 18, 2011

It's time for March Madness!

Dear Parishioners,

“March Madness” has begun, and basketball fans all around the country will spend countless hours at the games or watching them on television. I watched many of those games in the past and was always impressed with the teams of UCLA’s John Wooden. His teams won an amazing ten championships in a twelve year span, a record that will never be tied or broken. But more important than his victories were the life lessons and advice he imparted to his players. As we begin our Lenten journey, I would like to share some of his lessons and give them a Catholic perspective.

“Failure is not fatal. Failure to change might be.” Lent is a time for us to acknowledge our failure to love God and neighbor. We acknowledge our sins and try to make up for them by disciplining our minds and bodies through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This will certainly help us succeed in our relationships with God and neighbor, and prevent us from failing to inherit heaven.

“I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live.” During Lent, we meet God’s saving plan and are reminded of our final destiny. While few of us have the talent to consider basketball our destiny, still other things such as materialism, consumerism, work, power, and even leisure can obscure the ultimate – God and the kingdom of heaven. Lent helps us refocus.

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is what people think you are.” Lent is that special time during which we reflect on our character and see the flaws which need correction. The sacrament of Penance is the best beginning to eliminate those faults. This season is a stark reminder that God is not impressed by our reputation and will judge us by our character.

Finally, “Adversity is the state in which man easily becomes acquainted with himself being especially free of admirers then.” Nobody can avoid adversity in life – not even Jesus or Mary. Therefore, we need to prepare for it as best we can. Lent gives us the time to build up our spiritual energy to withstand whatever difficulties come our way. Hopefully we will face them as courageously as did our Lord, our Blessed Mother, and all the saints.

Our Lenten penances may not help us to win a national basketball championship, but they can help us win the kingdom of God.

- Fr. Carl

Friday, March 11, 2011

A Message from our Deacon

Dear Parishioners,

New Year’s Eve with many well intentioned resolutions is long gone and mostly forgotten. But Lent provides us with another opportunity to look at where we are in life and make some necessary changes. A simple way is to make time to pray. Find that private space, that quiet time, where you can be alone with your thoughts and alone with God. It can be when you go for a walk, when you are working on a hobby or perhaps when you turn the television and the lights off just before going to bed. Make the time for yourself, it isn’t being selfish, it’s simply about making room in your life to nurture your relationship with God.


- Deacon Robert

"We must take great care never to do
anything before having said our
Morning Prayers… The Devil once
declared… that if he could have the
first moment of the day, he was sure
of all the rest."
- The Saint Cure D’Ars

Friday, March 4, 2011

Marriage

Dear Parishioners,

In view of all the discussion on marriage, I thought it opportune to reprint what our American bishops recently wrote:

US Bishops Decry Rejection of Marriage Defense

WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 24, 2011 – The U.S. bishops are denouncing President Barak Obama’s instruction to the nation’s justice department to cease its defense of marriage.

On Wednesday the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement from its Office of General Counsel noting, “Today, the president has instructed the Department of Justice to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act.”

“Marriage has been understood for millennia and across cultures as the union of one man and one woman,” the statement affirmed.

It noted that the act, “a federal law reiterating that definition of marriage,” was “passed by a Republican congress and signed by a Democratic president just fifteen years ago.”

“The principal basis for today’s decision is that the president considers the law a form of impermissible sexual orientation discrimination,” the general counsel noted.

It asserted, “This decision represents as abdication of the responsibility of the executive branch to carry out its constitutional obligation to ensure that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed.”


The statement asserted, “It is also a grave affront to the millions of Americans who both reject unjust discrimination and affirm the unique and inestimable value of marriage as between one man and one woman.”

“Support for actual marriage is not bigotry, but instead an eminently reasonable, common judgment affirming the foundational institution of civil society,” it added.

The statement concluded, “Any suggestion by the government that such a judgment represents ‘discrimination’ is a serious threat to the religious liberty of marriage supporters nationwide.”

- Fr. Carl

Friday, February 25, 2011

Don't sweat the small stuff

Dear Parishioners,

When I was a young Navy Chaplain serving with the Marines at Camp Lejeune, a gruff, older priest who served a number of tours with the Marines, gave me some good advice. He said, “Just remember two things. First, don’t sweat the small stuff… Second, it’s all small stuff.” How often do we worry and worry about some problem or difficulty looming on the horizon only to discover afterwards that it wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought. Mark Twain once said, “I’ve had thousands of worries in my life, but just a few real problems.” In the gospel (Matthew 6:24-34), Jesus tells us not to worry so much. He’s with us, wants what is best for us, and will look out for our welfare. As long as we are with Him, everything will turn out just fine in the end, because heaven is the end. All the problems and difficulties, no matter how serious or worrisome, are just “small stuff” in comparison to the end.

- Fr. Carl