Dear Parishioners,
The greatest king of Israel, a law abiding Pharisee, and a well-known sinful woman come together this week to teach us about sin, humility, and forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13; Galatians 2:16, 19-21; Luke 7:36 - 8:3). We see the great King David revealed to be a murderer and an adulterer. He who was so powerful and blessed by God succumbed to temptation, sinned, and then sinned even more severely. However, when his evil deeds came to light, he humbly repented and discovered, to his great relief, that God had forgiven him.
The Pharisee’s sin was slight in comparison to David’s. He omitted the usual hospitality of having his guest’s feed washed and judged Jesus not to be a prophet. Furthermore, in his pride, the first of the capital sins, he judged the woman. Only God judges. When we judge, we put ourselves in the place of God.
We don’t know for sure what the woman’s sin was, but we can make a good guess. She knew what she had done and humbled herself in repentance for her sins, and showed her love for God by washing, drying, and perfuming our Lord’s feet. Of the king, the Pharisee, and the woman, she outshines the other two, for humility, the mother of all virtues, is the first step to the greatest – LOVE.
- Father Carl
Rev. Stephen Hook is Pastor of the Pastorate of the Visitation which includes the Catholic Churches of Pasadena, Maryland: St. Jane Frances de Chantal (Riviera Beach) and Our Lady of the Chesapeake (Lakeshore). He is assisted by Associate Pastor Rev. Kevin Farmer, Deacon Howard Klohr, Deacon Phil Snyder, and Deacon Rick Clemens. To learn more about our pastorate, please visit www.catholicpasadena.org.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
God Does Not Abandon You
Dear Parishioners,
So many of the things that populate our daily schedules are routine. We rise in the morning, have breakfast, bathe, dress, go to our job, perhaps volunteer or meet a friend for lunch. In moments of leisure, we may read a book, watch a baseball game, play a few hands of bridge, or turn up soil in our gardens. Errands get notched here and there in the day’s schedule like going to the dry cleaners, grocery store, gas station… and attend church? You know the drill… things to do, people to see, day after day. Nothing much here that would be considered life and death issues.
But there are days that none of us welcome. Days when we learn of a friend’s sudden passing, the news of a neighbor’s loss of work, the awareness that health has suddenly taken a turn for the worse, or that a child has lost his or her way.
Our scripture stories today tell us that God does not abandon us in those moments of darkness (Luke 7:11-17). In fact, the stories tell us quite the opposite… when darkness shows up and hope seems to move out, God moves in, because God has never moved out! God is with us, reminding us, as Paul wrote the Romans long ago, “neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When our resources are totally gone, God’s resources are just beginning.
- Deacon Robert
So many of the things that populate our daily schedules are routine. We rise in the morning, have breakfast, bathe, dress, go to our job, perhaps volunteer or meet a friend for lunch. In moments of leisure, we may read a book, watch a baseball game, play a few hands of bridge, or turn up soil in our gardens. Errands get notched here and there in the day’s schedule like going to the dry cleaners, grocery store, gas station… and attend church? You know the drill… things to do, people to see, day after day. Nothing much here that would be considered life and death issues.
But there are days that none of us welcome. Days when we learn of a friend’s sudden passing, the news of a neighbor’s loss of work, the awareness that health has suddenly taken a turn for the worse, or that a child has lost his or her way.
Our scripture stories today tell us that God does not abandon us in those moments of darkness (Luke 7:11-17). In fact, the stories tell us quite the opposite… when darkness shows up and hope seems to move out, God moves in, because God has never moved out! God is with us, reminding us, as Paul wrote the Romans long ago, “neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When our resources are totally gone, God’s resources are just beginning.
- Deacon Robert
Friday, May 31, 2013
Solemnity of Corpus Christi (“The Body of Christ”)
Dear Parishioners,
Our current celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ), was started in the 1270s. It was originally set on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Why Thursday? Because it was on Holy Thursday that Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. However, after the Second Vatican Council, some Bishops’ Conferences around the world transferred the feast to the following Sunday, and the United States was one of them. Still some countries maintain the feast on Thursday and have wonderful processions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Thomas Aquinas composed many of the hymns for this feast: Adoro Te Devote, Pange Lingua, and Humbly We Adore You. While it is a wonderful tradition to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, it is more important to receive Him at Mass. After all, Jesus tells us, “I am the living bread come down from heaven…, if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:51-52). That’s the best reason to celebrate this feast and the Eucharist as we give thanks and praise to God.
- Fr. Carl
Our current celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ), was started in the 1270s. It was originally set on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Why Thursday? Because it was on Holy Thursday that Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. However, after the Second Vatican Council, some Bishops’ Conferences around the world transferred the feast to the following Sunday, and the United States was one of them. Still some countries maintain the feast on Thursday and have wonderful processions in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Thomas Aquinas composed many of the hymns for this feast: Adoro Te Devote, Pange Lingua, and Humbly We Adore You. While it is a wonderful tradition to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, it is more important to receive Him at Mass. After all, Jesus tells us, “I am the living bread come down from heaven…, if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:51-52). That’s the best reason to celebrate this feast and the Eucharist as we give thanks and praise to God.
- Fr. Carl
Friday, May 24, 2013
The Most Holy Trinity
Dear Parishioners,
God reveals himself to us in a Trinity, as a gracious Father, giving Son, and guiding Holy Spirit. Jesus is a perfect revelation of God, the presence of God in human form. Jesus became for us the interpreter of who God is, just as the Holy Spirit now interprets for us ways we are to follow Jesus in our day.
The Spirit not only reveals the full nature of Jesus to us, but the Spirit becomes our Advocate saying to others that we belong to God. Today, the Spirit vouches for us, claims us as belonging to Christ, and helps us define who we are as followers of Christ.
- Deacon Robert
God reveals himself to us in a Trinity, as a gracious Father, giving Son, and guiding Holy Spirit. Jesus is a perfect revelation of God, the presence of God in human form. Jesus became for us the interpreter of who God is, just as the Holy Spirit now interprets for us ways we are to follow Jesus in our day.
The Spirit not only reveals the full nature of Jesus to us, but the Spirit becomes our Advocate saying to others that we belong to God. Today, the Spirit vouches for us, claims us as belonging to Christ, and helps us define who we are as followers of Christ.
- Deacon Robert
“Faith is a gift, it is the Father who
gifts it. We must continue on this path. But
if we travel this path, it is always with our
own baggage – because we are all sinners
and we all always have things that are wrong.
But the Lord will forgive us if we ask for
forgiveness, and so we should always press
onwards, without being discouraged.”
- Pope Francis
Friday, May 17, 2013
Understanding God's Message
Dear Parishioners,
It’s a shame our first reading is not the story of the tower of Babel. As you might remember, in the book of Genesis, the people all spoke the same language using the same words. However, their pride and arrogance led them to build a tower reaching up to the sky so as to be equal to God. Perhaps they intended to go up and talk to God about the world situation and how he could have done a better job. Who knows? Anyhow, according to the story, God gave them different languages to confuse them and prevent them from understanding one another, and thus thwarted their plan. God humbled them in their pride as he does with all of us when we exalt ourselves.
Today in the first reading (Acts 2:1-11), we see a reversal of Babel as the Holy Spirit unifies the people, enabling each one to hear and understand the apostles in their native languages even as the apostles speak only Aramaic (the language of Jesus). That’s one of the roles of the Holy Spirit – to unify us and help us to understand God’s message. Of course, we have to do our part. We have to be open.
Let us humbly pray that the Holy Spirit will unite us to our families, our parish, the Church, and the Holy Trinity. Amen.
- Father Carl
It’s a shame our first reading is not the story of the tower of Babel. As you might remember, in the book of Genesis, the people all spoke the same language using the same words. However, their pride and arrogance led them to build a tower reaching up to the sky so as to be equal to God. Perhaps they intended to go up and talk to God about the world situation and how he could have done a better job. Who knows? Anyhow, according to the story, God gave them different languages to confuse them and prevent them from understanding one another, and thus thwarted their plan. God humbled them in their pride as he does with all of us when we exalt ourselves.
Today in the first reading (Acts 2:1-11), we see a reversal of Babel as the Holy Spirit unifies the people, enabling each one to hear and understand the apostles in their native languages even as the apostles speak only Aramaic (the language of Jesus). That’s one of the roles of the Holy Spirit – to unify us and help us to understand God’s message. Of course, we have to do our part. We have to be open.
Let us humbly pray that the Holy Spirit will unite us to our families, our parish, the Church, and the Holy Trinity. Amen.
- Father Carl
Friday, May 10, 2013
We Are Witnesses
Dear Parishioners,
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he taught his disciples to be witnesses to his life and his love to everyone they met beginning in Jerusalem and then to the far reaches of earth (Luke 24:46-53). The risen Lord’s teaching has been passed on to us to this very day. We are witnesses who have a simple story to tell; we are all created in God’s image, marred by sin, broken by life’s struggles, but lavishly loved and freely forgiven. We are witnesses that in Jesus Christ, God visited planet earth as a human being to show us the only way another person can experience God’s love is through another human being who loves as Jesus taught us to love.
- Deacon Robert
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he taught his disciples to be witnesses to his life and his love to everyone they met beginning in Jerusalem and then to the far reaches of earth (Luke 24:46-53). The risen Lord’s teaching has been passed on to us to this very day. We are witnesses who have a simple story to tell; we are all created in God’s image, marred by sin, broken by life’s struggles, but lavishly loved and freely forgiven. We are witnesses that in Jesus Christ, God visited planet earth as a human being to show us the only way another person can experience God’s love is through another human being who loves as Jesus taught us to love.
- Deacon Robert
Friday, May 3, 2013
Peace in the Church
Dear Parishioners,
Last Sunday afternoon I attended the Italian Buffet put on by our Youth Group. It was fantastic! I had some of the best Italian food ever thanks to our chefs, Dave Horvath and John Sullivan. Our Youth Group, led by Claire Horvath, served and waited on tables in a most professional manner. Many others told me as well, how good the food and service were. I can’t wait for the next buffet.
Very often people have an idea that, in the early days of the Church, all was bliss and peace. We see in today’s first reading, that was not the case (Acts 15:1-2, 22-29). There was a controversy in Antioch that was sent to the apostles in Jerusalem to be settled. The case was decided and Antioch was informed by letter of the decision. The same is true today. When a controversy cannot be settled on the local level, it is sent to Rome for settlement. Thank goodness we have such a system in place so that justice may prevail, and peace restored to the community.
Finally, as we get ready to celebrate Mother’s Day next week, let us not forget Our Blessed Mother – this is her month. Wouldn’t it be nice to give her the gift of a daily rosary? I suspect she will give us something in return.
- Fr. Carl
Last Sunday afternoon I attended the Italian Buffet put on by our Youth Group. It was fantastic! I had some of the best Italian food ever thanks to our chefs, Dave Horvath and John Sullivan. Our Youth Group, led by Claire Horvath, served and waited on tables in a most professional manner. Many others told me as well, how good the food and service were. I can’t wait for the next buffet.
Very often people have an idea that, in the early days of the Church, all was bliss and peace. We see in today’s first reading, that was not the case (Acts 15:1-2, 22-29). There was a controversy in Antioch that was sent to the apostles in Jerusalem to be settled. The case was decided and Antioch was informed by letter of the decision. The same is true today. When a controversy cannot be settled on the local level, it is sent to Rome for settlement. Thank goodness we have such a system in place so that justice may prevail, and peace restored to the community.
Finally, as we get ready to celebrate Mother’s Day next week, let us not forget Our Blessed Mother – this is her month. Wouldn’t it be nice to give her the gift of a daily rosary? I suspect she will give us something in return.
- Fr. Carl
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