Seton Nuggets

In 2006, the late former President Jimmy Carter took a historic trip to the Middle East. He did what most people would want former Presidents to do. He visited the customary people in the Israeli government, the US Ambassador, and polling places where Palestinians were holding elections. But President Carter had something much different in mind. He wanted to deliver humanitarian aid, draw attention to the plight of refugees, and visit believers in Bethlehem. The Israeli government warned him that they could not guarantee security and would not provide additional support for his mission. Despite the lack of security, Carter went anyway without a large security detail and demonstrated Christian love. He mourned with people who were suffering and demonstrated a different kind of global leadership than the world had experienced from most former Presidents. Instead of political pomp and circumstance, the former president became an ambassador for human suffering. 

This weekend, another leader takes a journey, this time without the comforts and security of earthly powers. The people want him to embrace political power, but instead he resists it.  Luke says the crowds are ready to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem like a conquering Roman general. When generals would return home from war, the crowds offered them a parade. It celebrated their military success, and sometimes the person who took on a divine status. 

To a certain extent, the crowds are correct—just not in the way Jesus intended. Jesus is winning the battle, but the crowds mistake Jesus for who he is and how he would respond to praise. For Jesus, this Palm Sunday ride is not a victory parade; he viewed it as a funeral procession. The crowds spread their cloaks; Jesus is focused on the crucifixion. The crowds are shouting Hosanna, waving Palm branches, and spreading their cloaks for a royal entry as if the Messiah had come to start a military coup. They prayed for God to save them the way they wanted. At the end of the parade, Jesus dismounts and weeps over the very city that welcomed him.

He enters the city that David brought into the empire and Jesus weeps over the city and the impending circumstances. This is not a conquest with tanks, guns, bombs, bribery, or ballots. This is the ultimate act of God’s conquest. Just as he did for Abraham in the book of Genesis, and for the Israelites in Egypt out of bondage, he calls us away from our reproach to start anew. This is a conquest of love. Jesus rides a donkey into the heart of religious and political evil, into the people’s plots and schemes. He gives his life for us; but instead of bringing vengeance, he brings a sacrifice as a new high priest sent to save the world and demonstrate how to live. 

Then Jesus sets an example for us to follow, and demonstrate sacrificial love to God.. In the middle of a dinner party at a Pharisee’s home, a woman who brought an expensive perfume, poured it on his feet and then she wiped his feet with her hair. He commends her work because she has anointed his feet, taken care of him, and served as an example. He forgives her sins even before he gets to the cross because she “loved much.” By contrast, the Pharisees, who do not show this level of hospitality, are left to decide who Jesus is. 

His encounter with the woman with the alabaster jar prepares us for the cross. Her generosity evokes a response from us of similar passion, weeping, crying, and giving our lives to him. We see ourselves differently as Jesus rides into Jerusalem to conquer us with love. 

Palm Sunday causes us to think again about the ways we have a mistaken view of Jesus. Did we expect him to be or do something for us that he was never going to do in the first place? Think about the time you prayed and did not get what you wanted from God: the prayer request that was not answered the way you hoped. Why was it no? Why did it not go your way? Did we want something for ourselves that God did not want for us? Or did we want the wrong thing? The crowds wanted Jesus to do one thing, but he wanted so much more—he wanted their hearts for eternity.

Jesus goes willingly to offer his life for us so that we might be called his children. In his moment of greatest agony, women will run from the cross beating their breasts in grief and tearing their clothes. Their grief will become his grief because of what he has done for us. He wants us to be so overcome with remorse over our actions and guilt, that we would be drawn lovingly to his side. 

So today, Jesus draws us in. He invites us to get the donkey for him because he has need of it. He knows we will make mistakes along the way. Nevertheless, he uses everything we have done to draw us closer to him, to cheer, to weep, and to love. He is here on a true humanitarian mission, to save humans. Would you simply offer something that the woman with the expensive perfume did? Would you offer him your life and listen to him say to you, “Your sins are forgiven.” 

Deacon Sal Lema

It is often said that you can find every part of human experience in the Bible. This Sunday’s gospel includes adultery and captures our interest. There are many fascinating aspects to this gospel. First there is the malevolence and naivety of the scribes and Pharisees, who are trying to trick Jesus into saying something for which they can convict him. They have no interest in justice. If they had, they would also have arrested the man involved, as required by Mosaic law. Jesus turns the table on the scribes and Pharisees, and they walk away defeated and humiliated.

There is the intrigue about what Jesus was writing in the sand. Some speculate he was avoiding looking at a naked woman caught in the act of adultery. Others say he may have been listing the sins committed by the scribes and Pharisees. Perhaps that is why they walked away, ashamed of their sins and unable to seek forgiveness.

The real theme of this gospel is God’s mercy. Jesus tells the woman that he does not condemn her for her transgressions. She is forgiven and told go and sin no more. The man with whom she committed the sin seems to have gotten off easy, but he must forever live with his guilt. The woman has been set free.

This is a lesson for us and the sacrament of reconciliation. Confessing our sinfulness and being forgiven by Jesus, in the person of the priest, sets us free. We can go forth with the grace to change our lives.

Lent is the perfect time to experience this powerful sacrament and the freedom and grace it offers. This Friday our parish will offer the sacrament of reconciliation from 4 to 6 pm with several priests. Don’t miss this opportunity. God is waiting. He is like the loving father who welcomes home the prodigal son. God loves and forgives everyone.


God Bless You

Deacon Marty

The Parable of the Forgiving Father/Prodigal Son is probably the Gospel that most have heard or remember hearing yet not fully accepted from God’s children, because of the level of mercy it expresses. I would have to say it is one of my favorite Gospels because it speaks of the most loving response from what a father should have for any child out of his household. When I read and pray through it, it is also very challenging to me as a father. It challenges me to a level of unconditional love, that I hope I’m not tested on, that this father in the parable lived. 

We need to understand that during this time and culture that it was the eldest son who would inherit the most after the father has died. For the youngest to go to his father and ask for his inheritance upfront, was telling his father that he wished his dad was dead now. That inheritance was worth more to him than the value of having a father or family. We all know that our kids can say and do something out of impulse, and they don’t realize the level of pain it can inflict on us as parents. On the other hand, we might have done something to our parents too that we regret because we didn’t really think it through. 

What we hear is that the father (God), is spending his time waiting for his son to come back. That our Father, is always waiting for his prodigal sons and daughters to come back. So much so, when he recognizes them from far off, he goes to meet them. The father does everything that I would struggle to do. The father runs out to embrace him, give him a ring and a robe that tells him and those around that he is accepted, loved, included, desired, and forgiven. I would have been tempted not to make it that easy for my children. I would want to know if they truly understood the pain and disappointment that our family experienced. I would want to know if they truly understood how their actions impacted the family. 

All I can say, is that I’m so thankful for God’s mercy and forgiveness. I’m glad that God shows us that love truly concurs all obstacles and gives us a way back. My prayer is that we can all take the example that the Father gives in this parable, and offer love and mercy to all our relationships so that true healing can take place. 

God bless you!

When two people meet for the first time they can soon become overwhelmed by the real difference between them. The difference of sex, age, personality, background, religion, nationality etc. can all contribute to making the encounter short, sharp and hopeless. The two people might be unable to face each other honestly because the barriers between them seem insurmountable. Nothing will happen unless one of them takes the initiative to overcome the difference between them. And nothing will become of that initiative unless the other person is intrigued into responding.

A man and a woman meet at a well beyond the edge of town. They are strangers - not only because they have never met before but because they should never be meeting at all. He is a Jew who is travelling through foreign territory; she is a Samaritan who is on home ground. Their peoples have been estranged from each other for centuries, and that ancient hostility has been kept alive by each generation. According to their own traditions they should remain strangers to each other. But will this man and this woman allow that estrangement to dictate their attitudes to each other? Will they rise above the mutual hostility of their own traditions and face each other honestly?

Of course this is not just any man; for that matter the Samaritan is not just any woman. In writing the story John is anxious to tell his readers who Jesus is: that he is the Messiah and the savior of all peoples. But first he shows us Jesus as the weary and thirsty traveler who wants to make inroads into people’s lives. No matter who they are. It is Jesus who makes the first move expressing his need for a drink from her. Thirst knows no boundaries! 

The woman is taken aback that a Jew, no matter how thirsty, would bother to ask a Samaritan for a drink. Jesus expects her to be a Good Samaritan and his expectation confuses her. He then intrigues her by suggesting that if she knew his real identity she would ask him for living water. The fact that he has no bucket worries her, but the water Jesus has to give turns into a spring inside people. Thinking that Jesus has a cure for thirst the woman calls him “sir” and now imagines she can avoid trekking to wells in the middle of nowhere.

But Jesus is not talking about making the water authorities redundant. He now focuses on the woman’s track record with men. She has a thirst for meeting Mr. Right, but the thirst has not been satisfied after five husbands. And she is living with another man. Clearly this woman is familiar with disappointment in love; clearly she is still hoping to meet the right man who can fulfill her deepest needs. Now she is facing the man who is not just another man.

She knows that. She now calls Jesus “prophet”. He is a man who knows who she is and yet does not leave her in the heap of pain.  He doesn’t call her names; He doesn’t reprimand her; He merely states how things are. But she moves the conversation on to discuss the proper place to worship God. Jesus is talking about her sex life and she wants to have a seminar on liturgy!  When people get too close to where we live, we all want to take a helicopter out of the conversation and move it to a painless, abstract level.

Jesus follows her cue and talks about the liturgy. But he is not too concerned about the proper address to worship God; He is more concerned that the worship of God be done in spirit and in truth. Jesus leads the conversation back to where it was. The truth. How can you worship God if you don’t face the truth about yourself? What kind of cosmetic worship are we talking about that is not linked to who people are and how they are?

So Jesus tells the woman who he is. Jesus is reluctant to admit to his own people that he is the Christ; but he tells this outsider who he is. And in telling her who he is, he gives himself away to her. He gives her the living water- so she can go home without her buckets and jars and face her own people. She leaves him to handle his bewildered disciples while she runs off to tell the town about the man who revealed her to herself.

She does not keep her experience a secret. She turns her experience of Jesus into a message for others. Jesus has freed her to carry his message to others. Because of her the whole town come to meet Jesus. Many believe in Jesus because of her story; many more come to believe in him when they meet him for themselves.

She is a summary of how people come to understand Jesus:  first as a Jew; then as a prophet; then as the Messiah; then as the savior of the world. She is one of the first witnesses of John’s Gospel who leads others to Jesus. Her past does not hinder her from being the messenger of Good News. She has a story to tell. At long last she has met the right man. This is what Lent helps to achieve. In the coming weeks, may we meet the right man in our lives and tell how our encounter of him has helped to change us.  May we, like the Samaritan woman also have a story to tell! 

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

One of the ancient images we still use to describe life is the “journey” that we all make from the womb to the tomb. The image of the journey speaks of a passage through time and places; it includes the people we have met, the kind of time we have had, and the successes and failures we have experienced on the way. Although many people aspire to the same goals in life, everyone’s journey is different in its own details. We all have to make our own journey; It is life's task that no one can do for us.

With most of the journeys we make in life we know our destination and how to get there. If we are unsure, we just check the map. But our life journey is not easy. This is because life is not only a journey, it is a search:  we all have to discover for ourselves the paths that will lead us to what we seek. Some of the roads we take lead us to dead ends, and unless we want to pitch our tent in a dead end we move on. We learn that it is important to keep going. As Robert Louis Stevenson observed: “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labor.”

In the course of their lives many people change direction and explore unfamiliar paths. In today’s first reading we hear how something happens to Abram that dramatically changes the course of his life. He is invited to leave the world of the familiar, his country and his father’s house, and find to security in the promise of God. He cannot see either the land or the family he has been promised. Yet he begins this journey without maps. Living as a nomad he has no land, and with his wife Sarai barren he has no children. But he travels hopefully in the belief that one day his journey will lead to the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Throughout his journey Abram experienced setbacks and trials; but he travels on rooted in the conviction that God’s purposes are being furthered. This same conviction works in the heart of another man who changed direction in his life: Paul. As we hear from the second reading Paul is persuaded that the hardships which come from following the Gospel do indeed serve the purposes of God. Something happened to Paul which altered the whole course of his life and even though many people were suspicious of the new direction he was following, Paul himself maintained this course until his death. In his death itself God’s plan was furthered.

To know that suffering and death can further God’s plan is not easy to appreciate. Especially when that death is your own. This is something which Jesus has to face. Remember too that Jesus has changed direction in his life - a change that confused family and neighbors when he left Nazareth to take up the work of the wandering prophet. The more Jesus shares his understanding of the reality of God and the Kingdom, the more determined are the religious authorities to be rid of him.

As his ministry develops Jesus becomes increasingly aware that to carry out his Father’s mission will bring him face to face with a violent death. Before he tells us the story of the transfiguration Matthew tells us how “Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and the chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and raised on the third day.” Matthew tells us that Jesus understands his journey to death as one which furthers the plan of God.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus did not face the knowledge of his violent death alone. That kind of knowledge can paralyze someone. What the story of the transfiguration tells us is that Jesus is enabled to make that journey to Jerusalem in the declared love of the Father. The direction in which Jesus has to follow will cost Him His life. In the story of the transfiguration Matthew shows us that Jesus is not just the one who is to suffer but that He is the beloved Son of God. These two go together. The suffering and the glory are evident in the one person of Jesus. In the transfiguration the name of Jesus is called in love:  He is named and owned by the Father, and we are all directed to listen to Him.

In our own journeys we can face difficult decisions most surely in the knowledge that we are loved and supported. When we hear our name called in love we can face our road to Jerusalem. The power of that love funds us to face the future, just as its absence makes the future a loveless landscape. In the death of Christ, God demonstrated the extremes of his love. It is that love that we celebrate here. It helps us to travel hopefully. It enables us to keep on striving until we can rest at last in the Love that knows our name best.

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

The Devil made me do it! I wonder how many of us say that when we visit the confessional. How many of us confess to being tempted. It is difficult to remember that temptation in itself is not a sin. God allows us to be tempted so that we can discover the boundaries of our strengths and weaknesses. For example, go window shopping someday to the stores that sell all your favorite things: clothing, sports equipment, tools, phones, maybe even drool over a new car. Window shopping will show you the limits of your strengths! Buy it even though you can’t afford it? Tempting, isn’t it? During Lent, you choose to give up and give to. Give up a favorite item, sweets, that evening cocktail or beer, surfing the internet, even social media and instead give to St. Vincent de Paul, or money for a new well for a community in Nigeria, warm clothing you no longer wear to a shelter. 

We admit our temptations, but we also like to blame others for them. ”Bobby made me do it… She forced me to say that…” We have used lines like this to do what we want to do for generations. But that would have been a lie. Most lies are like that. They are temptations gone bad. Until we do it, it’s only a thought. But when we act and then place the blame on others, the temptation turns into a lie. The devil is a tricky guy. He uses the most dangerous form of a lie to trick us. The most dangerous lie doesn’t sound like a lie at all. The most dangerous lie sounds like the truth. 

Can you think of a lie that sounds like the truth? How about, “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her!”  or “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him!”  Those are the words that a husband or wife might use to justify cheating on their spouse. But of course, what she or he doesn’t know, does hurt! It changes the spouse’s heart. It begins to erode the marriage. The tiny whole in the dike widens until the floodwaters engulf them. That’s what makes it dangerous! 

Or how about, “Everyone’s doing it!” The implication is that “everyone” can’t be wrong. It must be all right if “everyone” is doing it. As parents, I’m sure you hear that one, don’t you! “Mom, “everyone is going,” I’ve got to go! I can’t be the only one to stay home! It will ruin my life!” 

But of course, “Everyone” is not going! “Everyone” might be one or two kids. And even if “Everyone” is going, that doesn’t make it right! “Everyone’s doing it!” That sounds like the truth. That’s what makes it dangerous. 

The devil doesn’t trip us by tempting us to commit a great sin for a great reward. He trips us up by tempting us to take a first small step. Like Adam being offered a bite of an apple.
Operating on a much lower level of resistance, I personally would often take that first step for a pint of Hagan-Dass Vanilla ice cream and a half of a ripe cantaloupe. I know the result is as pure, sweet, and selfish a form of evil as there is. Super-fatted ice cream is nobody’s friend and eating a whole pint at one sitting (my preferred method) is just raising the white flag to gluttony and high cholesterol. I add the fruit as a lie to myself that it’s really good for me. It defies the basic premise of human stewardship: that we are to be guardians of the lives in our care, starting with our own.

We know that Satan is pretty clever. To him the safest road to hell is a gradual one. An experienced devil would not try to have you commit a murder on his first try at you, but just a small lie. Just a pint of ice cream, what they don’t know won’t hurt, everybody’s doing it, just one bite of the first fruits, without milestones, without signposts.

Our Gospel reading today talks about the temptation of Jesus. Satan tempted Jesus with three innocent temptations. He didn’t try to tempt Jesus to do something terrible. He tempted Jesus to make small comprises for good reasons. He tempted Jesus to take a small step into the edge of the quicksand – and he pictured rewards on the other side. He didn’t promise Jesus money or fame. He promised Jesus a more effective ministry if he would just take that first step.

The gospel says that Jesus fasted for forty days without food or water. The phrase, forty days does not have the same precision that we attach to it. View it like our phrase, “a couple of weeks,” which might mean fourteen days—or twelve—or sixteen. Its function is to connect Jesus with Moses, who fasted for forty days; Elijah, who fasted for forty days, and the Israelites, who wandered for forty years in the wilderness. 

Whatever the actual length of Jesus’ fast, this was an opportune time for the devil to tempt him. “If you are the son of God, command these stones to become bread.” Here Jesus, this is a chance for you to prove yourself. What a way to kick off your ministry, with a spectacular miracle! Nobody will miss a few rocks. The community will be amazed. You will get something to eat, and you can feed the people at the same time. 

Three times Satan challenged Jesus and each time Jesus answered thru scripture, starting with three small words, “It is written…It is written…It is written… Jesus used his knowledge of the scriptures to spoil the devils most tempting tricks. 

And we can do the same. We can challenge Satan and all his slyness, but we need to be prepared before the temptation comes. By being prepared, by having knowledge of the scriptures, we can fight off any temptation. We grow in spirituality through the scriptures; we hear more clearly the difference between the truth, and a lie. 

So, don’t wait until the temptations come to start getting ready. No cook waits until the middle of their preparations to discover that an ingredient they need is missing. No paramedic waits to learn CPR until he or she needs it. As Christ’s disciples we need to prepare ourselves and our family now! We prepare by engaging in our annual practice of Lent. I say practice rather than season because Lent is a dynamic item on the church calendar. Liturgically speaking, Lent is a verb, and a communal one: we Lent together as Catholics. That is, we fast, observe abstinence, give alms, examine our consciences, attend services of recollection, receive the sacrament of reconciliation, and give our discipleship a good shaking. Perhaps we will make a commitment to attend Friday Stations, daily Mass or to increase our time in prayer or even take on spiritual reading. All that we do is intended to wake us up to the fact that all year long we are tempted and take the bait, now it is our time to prepare so we can back away from this poisonous serpent. 

After Jesus has successfully resisted the third temptation, Luke tells us; “Then the devil left (Jesus) him for a time. That’s the good news! Each time we resist temptation, God makes it easier for us to resist the next temptation. Finally, the devil gives up—at least for a while. And then God blesses our support.

We are assured time and again that nothing can keep us from the love of God. So, the next time temptation comes your way, remember the difference between a temptation and giving in. Remember that one bite in the Garden of Eden, be strong… be filled with Gods word… and prepare yourself to receive the blessing of angels.

We Lent Together,
Deacon Sal

The scriptures today tell us of the importance of speech. In the first reading, the prophet Sirach says “…one’s speech discloses the bent of one’s mind.”

The ability to communicate complex ideas, feelings, and emotions is a uniquely human trait. Words have power. It has been said we can change the world by changing our words. We can harm or heal, help or hinder, encourage or humiliate. How carefully do we choose our words?

The internet seems to be a forum where words are sometimes carelessly spoken. Things are said virtually that would never be said face-to-face. Speak cautiously. Your words will be in the digital record forever and in the heart of your recipient for a lifetime.

The relationships we have with one another are initiated, developed, shaped, nurtured and sometimes sabotaged by our words. No matter how careful we are, there are times when the wrong word is spoken. When that happens to us, it is powerful to request or offer a “do over”. Try asking, “Can I try that again?” or “Is that really what you wanted to say?”

In our gospel we are told, “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” St. Mother Teresa said, “If you think well of others, you will also speak well of others and to others. From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. If your heart is full of love, you will speak of love. We have just finished the month of February, which is often called the month of love, because of Valentine’s Day. Why shouldn’t every month be a month of love?

Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. I’m sure all of us have been deliberating about what to do during Lent to draw closer to the God. Giving up things is great and can be spiritually beneficial. Doing positive things can be enriching as well. What if we all worked at more effective and loving communication, what we say and how we say it.

Often people tell me how much they appreciate the warm greeting given by our hospitality ministers here at St. Elizabeth Seton. My day is brightened by your words as you leave Mass. Why not continue that with the clerk at the store and others we meet throughout the day. Quoting St. Mother Teresa again, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

Blessings, Deacon Marty

God truly uses all things to conform us to the image of his son. And vacations are no different. Good vacations remind us that the world is full of God’s glory. 

Often, we are caught up in our usual daily grind and when this happens, we miss the glory that is all around us. It is so easy to want to get to our desks, jump to our computers,  get our tasks done and we forget to ponder how the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Good vacations give us a new place, a new context to see this reality.
 
I had a good vacation with my family and friends in Nigeria. It is time to return to my other family in Sun City. I am well rested. I am rejuvenated and confident to return to St. Elizabeth with a renewed energy to continue to serve you. I am grateful for the opportunity and I am even more grateful to every one of you. I felt your prayers and I felt your love. 

As you read my column, I will be airborne to arrive  after the 11am Mass. Pray that while the wings of men keep us in the skies, the wings of angels will bring me and other travelers safely home. 

I have a big favor to ask of everyone of you, my parishioners. I NEED YOUR HELP! 
Bishop Julius Yakubu Kundi is my Bishop back in Nigeria.  He is not just my Bishop, but a high school classmate as well as my cohort in formation at the Major Seminary (by the way, Bishop Julius has graciously extended my period of stay and ministry in the diocese of Phoenix for a number of years to be determined by him and Bishop Dolan and I am grateful).

One of the questions I get to be asked frequently is: what part of Nigeria do you come from? Kafanchan diocese is situated in the Southern Senatorial District of Kaduna State, Northern Nigeria. The dominant religion in Northern Nigeria is Islam. Christianity constitutes about 30% (or less) of the population in the North.

Aside the discrimination we suffer arising from deliberate government policies aimed at suppressing, subjugating and dominating us, Christians are constantly subjected to vicious attacks resulting very often in loss of lives, limbs and property. Boko Haram (a terror group that forbids Western Education) and Fulani militiamen are responsible for the mindless violence against our people and they get away with this impunity without consequences.

These details provide a context to my request: It is that my Bishop is running a diocese in a difficult environment and he needs all the help he can get from us. 

At the recently concluded General Assembly that took place in Kafanchan, the Bishop, Priests, Religious and  the Laity resolved to prioritize the building of a Diocesan Secretariat,  where he, alongside his helpers will run and coordinate the affairs of the diocese. The new Secretariat will be the face and center of gravity, symbolizing faith, strength, resilience and determination.  The old Secretariat currently in use is not only dilapidated but has become a danger to human life. 

My appeal to you, therefore my dear Parishioners is to support me and my Bishop to achieve this objective. This project is capital intensive and is estimated to cost $365,000. We are grateful to the  Church in Need and Archdiocese of Collogne, Germany, that has offered the diocese of Kafanchan $220,000. The balance of the funding will be taken as local contribution from donations by the diocese of Kafanchan and support from proceeds of  appeals.


This appeal has the blessing of Bishop Dolan and he has in fact permitted that the home bishops of priests on mission to the diocese of Phoenix be assisted once a year in the parishes they serve. We are grateful to Bishop Dolan for this kind consideration and generosity of spirit. 

Proceeds raised will be channeled towards this need and I know Bishop Julius will be eternally grateful to you for reaching out to the diocese of Kafanchan. May I therefore appeal to all you to help us achieve this project so dear to us. Together, we can do it in the weekend of March 1/2. Should you need further clarification regarding how you may assist, please feel free to contact me or any of the staff at the parish office. 

Let me end my appeal with a quotation by Albert Pike: “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal”.

Thank you for all you do for God and humanity. May God bless and keep you in his love. 
I will see you soon! 

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

I have thoroughly enjoyed myself in the four and half weeks gone by. My time at home has been refreshing, but also revealing. 

I have maintained a busy schedule: traveling to see priest friends and some bishops who have shaped my life growing up as a priest. I continue to be grateful to them for their mentorship and positive influence in my life. I have also been able to visit some of my uncles and aunties and relations who, for old age or out of respect, I  have had to go meet them where they are. Such moments of reunion provoke afresh, deep sentiments of gratitude for the people the good Lord has put in my life. 

As I move around, I am confronted with a monster. A monster that continues to take away the dignity of our people: poverty! The hunger, squalor, homelessness and deprivation draw our attention to a vast category of folks Jesus speaks about today. In offering hope to the poor, Jesus equally challenges us that we have a duty to be responsible to our poor.
 
Jesus invites us to a practical way of life. Empathy is good, but we must convert our empathies to action. One of the areas dear to my heart is helping the poor in communities to access clean, safe drinking water. So far, through the generosity of my friends in America, we have been able to provide five (5) solar powered wells to meet this very important need in different communities. I had the singular honor of commissioning one of those wells last weekend in a community that had existed many years without safe drinking water. I was moved to tears when a member of the community told me that before now, they competed with cows for water and most times, these animals leave their droppings in the very spot where their source of water is located. Gifting them this well meant the whole world to them and by this gesture, we have been able to cut by half, diseases and deaths that come with contaminated water. Needless to say that this community is 100% protestant, but hey, humanity first. Who knows, our modest effort and love could be a powerful tool of evangelization. 

Back to the theme of my reflection this weekend. In the sermon on the mount,  Jesus tells the poor and the hungry, the mournful and the reviled, that the Kingdom of God is for them. They have the first invitations to enter the Kingdom; they are God's preferred people.

Jesus later speaks of the Kingdom in terms of a magnificent banquet where the guest list is composed of a human panorama of rejects. The banquet in the kingdom is for the forgotten people, the ones most precious in the eyes of God.

In the upside - down Kingdom of Jesus, which has more affinity with the world of the fairy tale than the world of conventional wisdom, it is the eldest son, the one who has everything going for him, the one who Inherits the earth’s bounty, who is rich and highly regarded, who ends up with empty hands. It is the youngest son, the one who is the summary of weakness, the one with the least going for him, who is forced to rely on any help that comes his way, who eventually inherits the Kingdom.

In the gospel and the fairy tale, it is the reject the forgotten one, the despised one, who eventually finds rest – like poor Lazarus who, after a lifetime of being ignored, ends up in the bosom of Abraham to live happily ever after.

In his sermon Jesus does not give a blanket support to poverty, weeping, hunger and hurt: these are not desirable states to be sought after, and only a masochist would argue otherwise. As Archbishop Helder Camera commented: “Saints may be found in slums, but we cannot retain slums in order to make them the breeding ground of Saints.” 

Destitute poverty is not a condition to be sought after, it is a condition to be avoided; it deprives human beings of their basic dignity. That said, it still remains true that Jesus’ preference for the poor has a social basis. This is where you and I come in. 

The best commentary on Jesus’ sermon is Jesus’ own life. Jesus did not live His life as if He was blessed by God; He lived out His life in the constant awareness that God did indeed bless Him. In the course of that life he experienced poverty; not only the poverty of deprivation, but the poverty of standing alone against the crowds, the poverty of total reliance on His Father. He experienced hunger, not just the hunger that can be answered by bread, but the hunger that can only be satisfied by doing what is right. He had reason to weep and mourn not only at the loss of a dear friend but at the lost opportunities of his own people. He was no  stranger to being held up as a clown for the amusement of all; He knew the experience of rejection, betrayal, and abandonment.

All this was experienced by Jesus in the cause of His mission; It wasn’t adopted as some precious theological posture. It was the outcome of a life dedicated to God.

The beatitudes are not prescriptions for becoming poor or hungry or mournful or afflicted. They are addressed to those who are already involved in committing themselves to the Kingdom, and they give instances of what happens when the Kingdom arrives in this broken world. They speak of a variety of experiences that people go through as a result of getting involved in God’s way of doing things. So, there is the promise that God can handle the poverty, the hunger, the tears, the rejection.

The promise is that God handles all these things, lifting his people out of them. That is the Good News. God is not committed to keeping His people at the level of being hurt and wounded - if that were true the beatitude would read, “Blessed are you who weep, for you shall weep even more.” The vision of the of the God of the beatitudes is the vision of a generous God, one who reverses the tragedy. “Blessed are you who weep” is the tragedy; “for you shall laugh” is the comedy. And it is the comedy, not the tragedy which is the promise. 

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

The Bible tells us there are two responses to an encounter with Jesus. Some like Paul, experience a dramatic conversion. But more than likely, you relate to the second kind of response: a relationship that develops over time. The first time you heard about Jesus might have been through your parents or through a friend. You took your time, asked questions, and discovered that Jesus was calling you all along. In the Gospel of Luke, Peter has that experience. The place where he says yes to Jesus is where he works every day. 

Chapter five of Luke’s gospel is not the first time Peter encounters Jesus. He saw Jesus’ wonder-working power earlier when Jesus raised Peter’s mother-in-law back to life. In this gospel, Jesus talks to Peter again. He borrows Peter’s boat as a preaching platform. Peter overhears the message. Jesus’ invitation is “let’s go to work together.” It is not “Come follow me,” or “Walk the walk;” it’s “May I meet you at your office?”

That does not seem very holy, but the Bible describes work as a calling place. Peter follows Jesus' direction and realizes he is more than an average teacher-preacher. His response is one of the many steps we take between hearing the invitation to follow and deciding to go. It is a phrase used 118 times in the bible but rarely discussed. He shudders in fear at the presence of the Lord. Peter does so at work. 

When are you most attuned to God’s presence? The office might be the last place you would expect to discover God. But he does walk across your path in a conversation in the breakroom with a coworker, a student struggling to turn in a test, a patient at their bedside, or a birthday party for a retiring supervisor. You realize that you are standing on holy ground. Despite the strains of today’s virtual offices, this is a place where God can meet you. 

This experience happened in worship for another follower of God. A priest named Isaiah was enduring a national political crisis. King Uzziah, who had led Judah through economic revival, had died. In what is an earthquake scene while worshiping, Isaiah has an epiphany. He trembles in God’s presence, crying out, “I am ruined.” Like Peter, he is overwhelmed and in awe of everything he sees: angels surrounding the throne and smoke filling the temple.

This moment becomes a calling place. He hears God’s voice saying, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?” and Isaiah replies, “Here I am, send me.” Paul, not unlike Isaiah and Peter, receives what the Lord passes onto Peter and him, and he realizes he is “the least of the apostles,” unworthy even to be called one. 
 
What is it that Peter, Isaiah, and Paul shared? They look upward, inward, and outward when encountering God's presence. In a moment of crisis, they look upward to God for direction, and he changes their life direction.

Then they allowed God to help them look inward. They understood their sinfulness. Peter confesses, “Depart from me, I am a sinful man!” Isaiah declares his personal wrongs and corporate sins. He says, “I have unclean lips and live among people who do the same thing.” God doesn’t call perfect people, only imperfect ones. The only ones who disqualify themselves from service in God’s mission are those who think their sins make them special or unique. We have done wrong and need the same God who visited Isaiah, Peter, and Paul. They realize that they are called to serve people just like them. 

That prepares them to look outward. They were no better or worse than the people around them. God was not calling them to be field experts but fellow servants learning and working together to go wherever God sent them. 

This same experience happens today with believers in workplaces across America. Let me share one example. Tom worked for a large retailer in the Northwest. The company had entered bankruptcy over a year ago. Tom knew that the process was complex. They would not survive long. Rumors of a buyout were circulating, and the company called Tom to offer him a handsome severance package. 

But Tom also supervised a group of coworkers. He knew if he took the severance package many others would be laid off without compensation. But if he stayed, perhaps he could ensure that their jobs would be preserved for the future. Tom would need to forgo immediate personal gain for his coworkers. Tom recognized his calling in that moment, stayed on, and allowed the coworkers to keep their jobs for the future. 

Tom’s decision did not make him employee of the year. However, it reflected something that Isaiah, Paul, and Peter experienced. Each one had seen the “King, the Lord of Hosts” and found their calling. Out of their confession, they had an epiphany of a living God who wanted to use them not just despite their flaws but because of their flaws. The only people that God uses are imperfect ones. And God uses our imperfections to draw others to him. 

That’s exactly what happens to Peter, Paul, and Isaiah. They do as Psalm 138 requests. After bowing down, “On the day I cried out, you answered me and granted strength to my spirit.” For Isaiah, the fear of the Lord becomes a platform to accept his invitation—"Here I am, send me.” For Peter, Jesus does not view this confession as an opportunity for condemnation; he sees it as a step toward an invitation. “Do not be afraid; you will be catching people.” For Paul, he is entrusted with a gift that he passes onto others. What qualifies him to be an apostle is the grace of God that is alive and well in him.

So, what prevents you from saying yes to God’s call in your workplace? Is it possible that the place we shudder to think about might be where he wants you to fish for people? You are qualified because you have shuddered in awe, confessed your sin, and seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. He has met you in your boat today and sends you now to be his servant. 

In service,
Deacon Sal

Sunday, February 2, is Groundhog Day in the United States. There is a tradition in which a groundhog in western Pennsylvania predicts the end of winter based upon whether or not he sees his own shadow. If he does there will be six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, then spring will come soon.

Groundhog Day has its origins in astronomy. In the Northern Hemisphere, Groundhog Day is the halfway from the winter solstice in December to the spring equinox in March. This prediction is much less important to us in Arizona than to those living in northern states.

Sunday, February 2, is also the feast of THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD. This feast is significant to Catholics wherever they live. Like Groundhog Day, the feast involves a prediction, but it is made on a much sounder basis.

Simeon, a principal character in the gospel is described as a “righteous and devout” man. He was “awaiting the consolation of Israel.” Which means he was hoping for and expecting the Messiah. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before seeing Christ the Lord.

When Mary and Joseph present Jesus at the temple, Simeon recognizes that his time has come and he professes the epic words that are part of the Liturgy of the Hours Night Prayer that religious and clergy pray daily,  “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation..” Simeon is proclaiming that his life has been fulfilled by meeting Jesus.

Can we make the same statement? Are our lives fulfilled by meeting Jesus? He is all around us in the people we meet, in the scriptures we read, and especially in the Eucharist we receive. If we truly meet and embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we have been fulfilled and we are ready for whatever life has in store for us. We are ready even for the end of our lives.

Simeon was filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesies, “..this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel..” and that Mary will suffer with her son. Simeon was prompted by the Holy Spirit. Are we open to that same Holy Spirit in our lives?

The groundhog’s prediction is based upon whether he is standing in the light of the sun. The prediction for our lives is based upon whether we are standing in the light of the SON, Jesus the Son of God. Look for that light in your life and fear no earthly prediction.

Yours in Christ,

Deacon Marty Pogioli

The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and it feels even better to come back. 15 months since my last visit home, it felt really great to touch base with my kith and kin again. I arrived Abuja, Nigeria on the 9th to the warm embrace of my friends in Abuja, the Nation’s capital. Naturally, I was excited to meet some of them that I haven’t seen in ages. My friend prepared a room for me in his house and made sure I was well taken care of. There was too much to eat and drink and of course, many friends and family to see. 

But I had jetlag to deal with. I desired to be out and about with my friends, but my body wasn’t cooperating. When it is my sleep time in Sun City, my body sends signals. I fought it fairly well but gave in most of the time. After almost a week, I felt sufficiently ready to make the trip to my hometown. 

And to Kafanchan, the headquarters of our Local Government, where the diocese is also headquartered I went.  I had a sumptuous dinner on Friday 18th  with my Bishop, the  Most Reverend Julius Kundi and thereafter returned to where I have accommodation. The next day Saturday, I had almost 20 priests that came to welcome me and to socialize. Alongside the priests were about 78 friends and family that also came around to say welcome and to also pray along and socialize with me until about 11pm before they departed. It was all merry! 

Five other friends stayed back to keep me company. Together, we drove to where I was born and raised. The little town is called Godogodo. In Godogodo, I prayed the mass with my family, friends and parishioners from my hometown. I saw their joy. I was grateful to see how elated they were having their “illustrious” priest son visit again. 

Not to blow my own trumpet, but it suffices to state that the Church in my village was constructed by me, thanks to the generosity and kind support of my friends. I felt really good returning to the community and praying the mass in a decent Church. My village Church is called Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church Godogodo. It was great to be able to return to the community that birthed,  nurtured and gave me identity. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus returns to Nazareth where he has been brought up, the place which gives him the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. 

We know that Jesus left home to go and see John the Baptist, and we know that his whole lifestyle changed after his time with John. Jesus didn’t stay in the wilderness to live a hermit's life with John: he received a prophetic anointing in his baptism to announce the new age of the kingdom of God. So he became a traveling preacher. 

By the time Jesus returns to his hometown his reputation has arrived before him: when he goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath as he usually did, this time he is invited to preach. He chooses a passage from Isaiah which gives a beautiful summary of the program of his new mission: to announce good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and to proclaim a year of favor- which was a time when all debts were canceled and all property returned to the rightful owners. (Cf Lev 25:8-55) 

Jesus points to himself as the fulfilment of ancient prophecy: today the text becomes true in the hearing of his own townspeople. At first their reaction is approval of his words, but then they remind themselves of his identity and say  “this is Joseph’s son, surely.” The neighbors don’t allow Jesus’ wisdom to interfere with their memories of him. When he presents himself to them for the first time as the prophetic preacher they remind themselves of his address and pedigree. They won’t allow Jesus to grow up so they lock him into the past and into a former identity. 

Perhaps the neighbors have vested interest in focusing on who Jesus was to them, rather than who he is now. It’s much easier having a carpenter around the house than a prophet. It is much easier talking about broken chairs than broken lives. The neighbors want to keep Jesus at the level they can handle him at, they want to keep him reasonably harmless. After all, he’s only a carpenter! 

Jesus reminds them that no prophet is accepted in his own homeland, and as if to prove him right, the local crowd become so enraged they try to throw him off a cliff. But Jesus escapes, and it is no surprise that he never returns home again. 

We all need a place to belong to and people we can call our own. Usually we call that “home” where you are accepted in love for who you are, but also encouraged to become the person you could be. Perhaps the last people to accept our changes are those who live with us. They are so used to the old ways they can’t believe in real change. 

Jesus had to leave home to become the person his Father wanted him to be. He couldn’t rely on his own folks to foster his new life and new mission. So, he established a community, a body of people, who would recognize as St. Paul says their need for each other. That’s us! 

We are home for each other, pledged to support the growing life of the Spirit in each of us. In this gathering here in St Elizabeth Seton, everyone should feel welcome, and everyone should have the freedom to grow. I am glad I have 2 homes, one in Africa, and the other in America. 

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

Air travel can be fun. But it can also be scary. I began my journey home January 8 with my first flight from Phoenix to Houston. Midway between Phoenix and Houston we had frightening turbulence, the kind I have never experienced. It felt like bumps or jolts leading to feelings of unease or anxiety among all passengers. There were those who were crying and there  were those who were praying and calling upon the name of Jesus. (Not forgetting alao those who brought out their phones and were video recording as the plane was tossed up and down). 

I had begun to recite the rosary, the glorious mystery, the moment the plane took off.  Then  prayed the divine mercy prayer afterwards.  Then the turbulence started. While I was terrified, I had absolute trust and faith in Jesus and I was sure Mary the Mother of Jesus was there to intercede for me and others aboard. After nearly 27 minutes of tension, the turbulence was over and we enjoyed a few minutes of smooth flight until we landed Houston. Thankfully, the flight across the Atlantic and subsequently to Nigeria were without any problems. 

With the Christmas season over, we return to ordinary time. And Jesus begins his public ministry today with his  first miracle in Cana of Galilea. His Mother is invited as a special guest. At the festival of a Jewish wedding in Cana  Jesus reveals his glory through his first great sign. It’s an unusual wedding – for there are two bridegrooms! There is the bridegroom just married, and there is Jesus who is the real bridegroom. He is an invited guest at the wedding, but Jesus is the long-awaited bride groom of Israel. Jesus will transform this private Jewish wedding into a great sign to show that the time has come when God will take his people to himself in a new way. Jesus has come as a bridegroom to claim his bride, Israel.

During the wedding feast the wine runs out and Mary expects Jesus to do something about it.  Jesus’s negative answer to Mary underlines the point that he cannot be bound by family relationships, but only by his Father's will. Mary’s final words, “Do whatever he tells you,” recognizes the supreme authority of Jesus and what he must do himself.

There are six, large stone jars used to provide water for the Jewish ritual of cleansing. Jesus tells the servants to fill these to the brim, and after they do this they discover that the water has been changed into wine. All 120 gallons of it! When the steward tastes it, he compliments the bridegroom for keeping the best wine until last – but he is complimenting the wrong bridegroom!   Jesus is the one who has supplied choice wine in abundance and in doing so has revealed his glory. When the disciples see what has happened they believe in Jesus.

The story gives us a marvelous image of the loving relationship we have with God through Jesus. Jesus has come to claim us as God’s own, and he is generous in the gifts he brings. There is nothing mean about Jesus in the story:  not a thimbleful of plonk, but gallons of the choice stuff! Luke has the same point in his gospel: “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them?” (5:34).  It is not the time of fast but the time of feast. And the feast is generous: “Out of his fullness have we all received” (Jn 1:16).

Of course the ultimate generosity of Jesus is shown when he dies for the love he has – when the bridegroom lays down his life for his bride. Jesus gives his whole self in love. He gives us his body and blood  in this Eucharist – so that we can be united with him and with our father. So, let us rejoice today that we know the name of the bridegroom and that he knows our name in love. Above all, let us rejoice that we have a loving Mother who constantly comes through for us. She will continue to intercede for us as she did for the couple at the wedding feast. 

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

In 2021, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan changed successors to the throne. We might have missed it. Remember we were in a global pandemic? But very quietly, King Abdullah made a change. He removed Crown Prince Hamzah, his nephew, as the heir to the throne and named his son Abdullah 2 as the Crown Prince, setting off a series of ripple effects that are felt today. This process might seem strange for people about to inaugurate a President next week. However, in most Middle Eastern countries, royal families continue traditions that date back centuries. When multiple heirs could vie for a throne, the reigning monarch chooses a crown prince so that people will know publicly who will take the reins of power when the king dies. That succession plan isn’t always smooth, or even successful, especially if the king is a fraud. 

For instance, in the Gospel of Luke, two fake kings are on the throne. Herod Antipas served at the pleasure of the Romans. He was no more “king” or “monarch” than a county commissioner today. His Father, Herod the Great, referred to himself as “King” Herod, but the people mocked him for the title. And Caesar Augustus? We know his “reign” was only temporary. 

Luke has already unmasked this charade with an angelic announcement to the shepherds. “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ—the Messiah, the King—the Lord.” What the shepherds, Mary, and Joseph have heard privately, the people need to see and hear publicly. God has anointed a successor to his throne. 

Luke presents the story of Jesus’ baptism as a divine anointing ceremony of the one the angels proclaimed a “Savior who is Christ, the Lord.” Instead of inviting people to the steps of the Jerusalem temple, or the Roman Colosseum, Luke stages the anointing on the banks of the river. Much like the birth, Jesus is in a quiet, faraway place, on the Jordan River, out of the view of the priests, Caesar, and Herod. There his relative John anoints the Messiah through baptism. 

Baptism identifies Jesus publicly so the crowds can align with him, experience God’s favor, and share his blessings. At the Jordan River, he submits humbly to John’s ceremony so that others may know whom to trust. They follow his lead. He’s baptized, and then they are, too. John pours water over him like Samuel did for David and Elisha did for Jehu. Then he anoints other people who have agreed to repent of their sins and trust this man. Then, together, they pray. While they’re praying, they have an epiphany. God confirms Jesus and their choices to follow him with a heavenly flyover—the Holy Spirit’s presence in the bodily form of a dove and a verbal blessing from the heavens.  

Today, like the believers long ago, we stand in those same waters. Don’t worry if you might have missed it when you were baptized. Or if you’ve been distracted by the previous year's events, that’s what epiphany is for. Let me remind you of a simple truth: you have been baptized with Jesus as one of the anointed followers of the King. We sing in Psalm 29; God is the divine King and has anointed you for this work. 

Baptism, prayer, and God’s response begin a pattern in the book of Acts that continues today. This pattern demonstrates how God intends to work in the world. People repent from their sins. Jesus empowers his followers through baptism, and they communicate to the Messiah in prayer. In response, God reveals signs and wonders of his work in the world, publicly confirming to others that they are carrying out his mission.  

That same source, Jesus himself, empowers you today. Through his baptism, he authorizes you to receive a similar anointing. You are agents of spiritual blessing, heavenly confirmation, and love to others. You already have access to this power through the same process- baptism, repentance, and prayer. Your baptism has anointed you for this Christ-empowered and authorized ministry. You don’t need to jump through another hoop or seek another degree. Jesus confirms that ministry today through unusual appearances, signs, and wonders that you are in fellowship with him. 

What will be the signs for you? It may not be birds, a voice, or a vision. But God will be there.  We don’t need to conjure the process. Just trust it. Repent from your sins, remain in prayer, and look for the wonders of God’s work around you. He is our King and blesses you today: “May the Lord grant strength to his people. May the Lord bless his people with peace”. 

Happy Epiphany, 
Deacon Sal

For better or worse, I provide the Seton nuggets article on the first Sunday of the month, so I get to wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR. 

My article last month was on the first Sunday of Advent, and I talked about how the secular world began celebrating Christmas in September. I call that Christmas creep. Now the secular world is moving on to Valentine’s Day, and we have one more week of Christmas carols and celebration. Their loss and our gain.

This is the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord. The image presented in the Gospel is Jesus, Mary and Joseph being visited by the Magi bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They had come to meet the newborn king of the Jews. Understandably, this was troubling to Herod, the reigning King of the Jews. This set off a confrontation that would culminate in the passion, death and resurrection of Christ thirty-three years later. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Epiphany means manifestation. Other manifestations of Christ which we celebrate are the birth of Christ (Christmas), the Baptism of the Lord (next Sunday) and the first miracle (changing water into wine) at the wedding feast in Cana. Whichever of the manifestations of Christ we choose to focus upon, we are presented with the person of Jesus the Christ, true God and true Man. This year is a Jubilee Year, and we will focus on “Jesus Christ, our hope.”

Pope Francis began our Jubilee Year by opening the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve. The Holy Door represents our journey to salvation. It signifies moving from this life to eternal life. The door to eternal life was opened to us by Jesus Christ. He is our hope and our salvation. Pope Francis was following the tradition begun in the year 1300 by Pope Boniface VIII. The last Jubilee year was in 2016, and the focus was Mercy.

The concept of a Jubilee Year comes from our Jewish roots. In chapter 25 of the Book of Leviticus the idea of a special year was prescribed by Moses. In that year, fields were left uncultivated, debts were forgiven, and slaves were liberated. It was clearly a big deal. Our Jubilee Year is also a big deal. During this coming year we will be encouraged to strengthen our faith and our relationship with God. Look for the opportunities that will be presented.

So, let’s enjoy this last week of Christmas and begin this exciting journey together. May this Jubilee Year be filled with hope, which was the theme of our first Advent candle.

Blessings,
Deacon Marty

When children grow up they have a way of branching out on their own. They want to be more than inheritors of a tradition; they want to make their own mark. They want to exercise not only the dog but their own initiative. Sometimes parents can feel utterly bewildered and hurt by the direction their children take in life: they cannot fathom why Williams, who has more than distinguished himself in biology at the university, now wants to spend his time serving the Lord and His Church. But all parents have to learn that their children are not born to be miniature reflections of themselves. Children are other people.

Later in his life when Jesus begins to formulate his own values and preach his own vision, he comes into open conflict with his own religious tradition. So the formula goes: “You have heard it said to you….. but I say to you.” Many Pharisees are deeply shocked to see Jesus breaking the law and encouraging his disciples to do the same. Why doesn’t Jesus simply remain within the confines of his own religious tradition?

Jesus’s neighbors refused to believe that Jesus is anything more than the son of a local Carpenter. Even Jesus’ relatives come to believe that he is out of his mind when he brings home the kind of people that others are happy to leave on the junk heap. The relatives are frankly embarrassed and want to take charge of him. But Jesus takes his charge from somewhere else.

The adult Jesus has to face a conflict between two loyalties: loyalty to his Jewish family versus loyalty to his Father. Jesus was pulled in two directions – the way his family wants him to go, and the way his Father wants him to go.

That conflict is foreshadowed in today’s gospel when the young Jesus of twelve years old is seen to opt for his Father’s business, rather than go the way of his family. When that option is explained to Mary and Joseph, Luke tells us that they do not understand what he is talking about. But that conflict will emerge only later in the ministry: here it is foreshadowed, and Luke softens the scene when he says that Jesus lives under the authority of Mary and Joseph and grows in wisdom and stature.

At the center of Jesus’ family life and at the center of his ministry is one irreplaceable person: God his Father. That relationship is for Jesus the most important of his life: ultimately, it is what gives him his direction and support and will sustain him in his passion and death. When Jesus comes to describe his own family in the gospel it is not a relationship of blood but a relationship of fidelity to the word of God: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Herein, lies our inclusion into the larger family of Joseph, Jesus and Mary. By virtue of our baptism, all of us, and our families have been incorporated into the Holy Family. Thus, the water of baptism is surely thicker than blood ties. This is what makes us brothers and sisters in the larger household of God.  

We are all asked, like Jesus, to center our lives on the word of God. Whether we live alone or in a family, whether we have busloads of relatives or none, we can all be members of Jesus’ new family. This is what we celebrate today, the Holy Family. But there is only one qualification: “Hearing the word of God and doing it”. 
Because Jesus extended his family, today’s feast really belongs to all of us. So, take a good look around at our families and ask a sincere question: “How are we doing?”

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

Believing a promise is an act of trust in the person who makes it; It is to live in expectation, holding fast to someone’s word. And when promises are fulfilled, there is a deepening of the original trust. However, if people have a distinctly wobbly track-record on keeping their word, we tend to be cautious about their sparkling new promises. We may file them under “Long shots” and forget them: none of us wants to conspire in our own disappointment. Or when things look uncertain, we may send accusing reminders, “But you promised”. 

Of course, in all this we know that we cannot retire completely from giving and receiving promises. Life itself comes to us as a promise, and trust has to be exercised in the midst of the real frailty within and around us. So, when it comes to God’s promises we feel hopeful that at least he will deliver. 

In today’s first reading the prophet Micah announces the great promise of God: that the small tribe which settled in the insignificant town of Bethlehem will one day produce the ruler of Israel. But between that promise and its fulfillment there is a long interim period of destruction, suffering and exile. When your country is overrun and you are dumped in a strange land, when your songs are unsung and your musical instruments are in storage, it's difficult to hold on to a promise, even when that is the promise of God. But it’s precisely that promise that gives substance to the hope of the people, and gives direction to their lives. At the end of the exile the remnant who still believe returned to rebuild their lives in the hope that God will indeed keep his promises.

At the beginning of Luke’s Gospel we are introduced to an aged married couple who stay alive on that hope - Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. They represent the hope that did not die, and they see it fulfilled in their son, John, who is to prepare for the one from Bethlehem. And it is the fulfilled hope of that old couple which is given to Mary as a sign: “Know this too, your kinswoman  Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived her son…... For nothing is impossible with God.”

Mary hurries to see this sign of hope fulfilled. In the meeting of the old Elizabeth and the young Mary the Old Testament meets the New Testament, the ancient promise meets its fulfillment in two mothers - Elizabeth, the mother of the last great prophet who will go before the Lord, and Mary, the mother of the Lord himself. It is a time of good news, of great blessing; it is a time for womb shaking rejoicing. The old promises are new events, and now is the time of their long-awaited fulfillment. It’s a great time!

It Is through Mary that God is seen to keep the promise announced through the prophet Micah so long ago. The promise of God will take flesh in her and be formed in the person of Jesus. In today’s Gospel Mary is blessed for believing “that the promises made her by the Lord would be fulfilled”. In Mary we can see that God doesn’t just make promises, but keeps them. In Mary we can see someone who allows the promise of God to shape her whole life - not in a passive way, but because she says “yes” to the promise happening in her. 

The promise has a name: Jesus. He will fulfill all that has gone before and give new meaning to all that will happen after him. He stands at the very center of time – B.C/A.D. And he is the one who stands at the very center of our lives.

At Christmas we celebrate the great event that Jesus is the kept promise of God. He comes to us again as gift of the father and invites us to have the confidence to make a few promises ourselves. As Christians, we are a people of promises, and God holds fast to the words of promise we have made him. 

As Advent closes, we thank God for keeping his word to us, and we ask him to help us keep our word to him and each other. As WH Auden wrote:  “Words are for those with promises to keep”.

God is good, all the time.
Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

The picture of John the Baptist as a man who moves with deep joy is not one you hear about very often. John is usually portrayed as a lonesome figure, with a weird wardrobe and weirder diet, who rants and raves at anyone with ears. But John was a magnetic character who intrigued people to seek him out and follow him. People don’t journey into the wilderness just to get insulted; people don’t become disciples for the wardrobe and diet. In John’s person, people could catch something of God’s way. 

Which is why people ask him: “What must we do, then?” And John’s answer is to challenge people’s generosity and sense of fairness so that others may have reason to rejoice. Give bread to the hungry and clothes to those who have none. When the tax collectors ask what to do, John tells them to keep to the going rate without over-taxing people in order to cream off the extra arithmetic for themselves. People are   burdened enough. Be just. To the soldiers who accompany the tax collectors to protect them and some muscle to their requests, John tells these heavies not to use their position as a weapon for their own reward. Be content with your pay and stop stealing from the poor and the weak. They extort from others, making them poorer; John extorts them to be happy in doing what is just. 

It’s the third Sunday of Advent already. Just one more week and it will be Christmas. Like the crowd asking John, we may also be asking, “What should we do then?” Listen to the voice saying: become a better Catholic, be a loving husband/wife, be a kind neighbor, be compassionate and generous to the needy. Above all, be a lover of God. If we can do this, we have had a good and fruitful advent.   

John makes such deep impression on people that word goes around that he might be the Christ. Again, that expectancy is a measure of John’s effect on people. John doesn’t claim to know who the messiah is. All he knows is that he is not. That role is for someone else, someone greater and more powerful than John. 

John the Baptist and St. Paul both share a radical sense of God’s nearness. Both were executed. The joy of God’s closeness was a power that carried them through tough times of horror, so neither had to deny the difficulty of their experience. Both men faced an opposition determined to destroy them. Both had a belief to encourage them beyond the reality of imprisonment and execution. 

We carry burdens that sometimes overwhelm us. I have had to have a quick chat with people who swing by our property and all they ever need is a quiet place to think through tough situations they may be passing through. They sit in Church or adoration chapel just ruminating over their lives and from whence their help is coming from. Truth is, we are all hurting and struggling to hold on. We all need a power that carries us through difficult times. A power that prods us on when we face the reality of our weakness and limitation. 

To believe in the abiding presence of a God who cares gives us a deep sense of joy in the midst of our stops and starts. That presence always challenges our generosity and calls us on our sense of justice. It keeps us on our toes. It enables us to continue living even when the calendar is crowded with dreary Monday.  
God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

In 2023, airlines earned a combined $6.8 billion—not on tickets, but on your checked bags. Just hauling your stuff from one destination to another costs a lot. When you weigh your luggage, the expense of traveling with it is enough to ask, “What can I live without for a few days? Probably most of it… but what’s needed?”

The Christian life is full of priority moments. We weigh what we carry in life’s luggage on the scale of God’s priorities. Is what we’ve packed worth the time, energy, money, and devotion? 

For example, in the book of Philippians, Paul sends a message from the “comforts” of a jail cell. Stripped of possessions and most of his friends, he knows what’s essential. He wants the same for the little colony of believers. So, he prays for them to realize what he’s discovered late in life. “And for this, I pray that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and full insight to enable you to discover what is really important, so that on the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless.” 

Like Paul, John had witnessed his fair share of Roman rulers, Jewish festivals, and high priests. He had spent enough time with the prophet Isaiah to know that God’s word rarely broke through a meeting of the “powers that be.” They were too focused on preservation rather than transformation. Like Paul, John recognized this was a time to withdraw and renew. He summoned the people to join him in the Jordan River region away from the temple crowds. He invited the people to think more like the Israelites in the desert and less like revelers at the Governor’s Ball. While everyone else was focused on which high priest could keep the peace, John proclaimed a Prince of Peace who planned to straighten the crooked paths, smooth level places, and reopen God’s highway of forgiveness.  

John had a simple practice and message: a baptism and a belief system, something for the body and the mind. The baptism was a public cleansing for the body to demonstrate outwardly what was happening inwardly. The belief was an intentional decision to place this Messiah as the guiding center of one’s life. 

Like the people in John’s Day, Advent invites us to the wilderness, away from the noise. Here we reflect on our habits and priorities. We ask the question “What is wrong with the world?” And we answer, “I am.” This honesty releases the burden of fulfilling last year's expectations. We accept responsibility for our choices and accept John’s good news. God is here to guide us to be cleansed, washed, renewed, and ready to repent. 

Repentance is a change of mind that completely trusts Jesus. It is the lifelong process of making Jesus the filter for every decision. Repentance and discipleship go hand in hand—we continually learn to trust Jesus. Ironically, this decision unsettles things even more; it initially sets a struggle in motion. The more you live with Jesus and trust him with your life, the more he redirects your ambitions and goals. Trust and repentance help us determine what is best. We don’t prioritize our goals and then trust in Jesus. We turn away from the siren calls of the season, and we turn to Jesus to allow him to set our priorities. Trust heals the past, keeps the future open to new possibilities, and prepares us for future tests of faith when we continue to weigh our priorities.

For example, ten years ago, 1,200 Christians in Mosul, Iraq, faced a test of priorities. They, too, were forced out into the wilderness by ISIS. They were given three choices: to convert to Islam, to be killed, or to flee. Most of them fled and were robbed on the way out. With no luggage to carry, they became refugees with only the clothes on their backs and their faith to guide them. Most have not returned. Most of us will not face the kind of choice that the Christians of Mosul or John or Paul faced. But their examples are a testimony to all of us to weigh what really matters. The best time to repent is before adversity sets in. When we do, God continues that good work in you, promising to complete that work on the day of Christ Jesus and fill our lives with the fruit of righteousness. For that, my friends, is worth the wait.   

Deacon Sal

A couple months ago, when we were still experiencing triple digit temperatures, I was in a store and heard what seemed to be Christmas music.  Rounding the corner, I came upon two clerks stocking the shelves with Christmas items. Indeed it was Christmas carols that I was hearing.

I did a double take and thought, what month is this?  I have crossed the international date line and gained one day in a matter of seconds.  But I had never before crossed the street and moved forward three months.

Such is our secular world.  We rush from one season to the next, never pausing long enough to really appreciate the season. The Church invites us to do that in this Advent season.  While the world outside is singing Christmas carols and saying rush, rush, rush, the Church is singing advent hymns like "Maranantha" and “O Come Emmanuel" and telling us to wait and prepare.

Let's pause and recognize that there is something new happening in our lives.  This is a new Church year. The gospel of Mark has given way to the gospel of Luke. This is also a new season. In our Church, the hopeful color of green has given way to the urgent color of purple.  But this is not a season of penance as purple indicates during lent.  This is Advent a season of preparation for the coming of the Lord.

How is the Lord coming? He is coming as the Christ Child at Christmas. We are also reminded that He will come again one day. In the Gospel, Jesus warns us not to let “that day catch you by surprise like a trap.”

But to those who follow Christ, there should be no fear. The candle we lit this First Sunday of Advent symbolizes HOPE. Our focus is on the second reading, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.”  Let us pray that the world embraces this message of love.


More importantly, may we be given the grace to demonstrate Christ’s love in a special way during this holy season. There are countless ways to do that. How about making a phone call to someone you’ve neglected for a while. What about visiting a shut-in and maybe even bringing them something you bake. Or bring a meal and share it with them. Many in our parish bring the greatest meal of all, the Eucharist, to shut-ins. Why not volunteer to do that or something else to share God’s love. The bulletin is full of suggestions.

If you have little ones around, encourage them to do something kind and then put a piece of straw in the manger for each act. It will be wonderful on Christmas eve to see the manger full of straw representing loving acts of kindness.

And of course, we can always make an extra donation to our favorite charity. I know that St. Vincent de Paul is always in need, especially this time of the year.

May you “abound in love” this blessed Advent.
Deacon Marty

A kindergarten teacher nun said to the class of 5-year-olds, "I will give $5 to the one who can tell me the most famous man that ever lived." An Irish boy raised his hand and said, "It was St. Patrick. “The teacher said, "Sorry Sean, that is not correct." Then an American kid raised his hand and said, "It was Abraham Lincoln." The teacher replied, "I am sorry, William, that is not right either. “Finally, a Jewish boy raised his hand and said, "It was Jesus Christ." The teacher said, "That is correct Marvin, you earn the $5." As the teacher was giving Marvin the money, she said, "You know Marvin, you, being Jewish, I am very surprised you said Jesus Christ." Marvin replied, "Yeah. In my heart I knew it was Moses, but business is business..."

Today, we celebrate the solemnity of Christ the Universal King. By the solemnity of this feast, we have come to the end of the liturgical calendar and now we have set our gaze towards Advent, and Christmas. 

At the base of every kingship is dominion through brute force and tyranny. However, Jesus’ kingdom is not based on dominion through brute force but dominion through the transformation of the mind. St. Pope John Paul II puts it more succinctly: “How marvelous is this king who renounces all the signs of power, the instruments of dominion, force and arrogance, and wishes to reign only with the power of truth and love, with the power of interior conviction and sheer abandonment.”

The feast of Christ the Universal King was established and proclaimed to reassert the sovereignty of Christ and the Church over all forms of government and to remind us to be loyal and faithful to Christ who by his Incarnation and sacrificial death on the cross has made us children of God and future citizens and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

The Kingdom of God is in the past (in the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth); it is in the present (in the work of the Church and in the efforts of many others to create a world of goodness and justice); it is in the future (reaching its completion in the age to come). The Kingdom of God is a condition. Its symptoms are love, justice, and peace. Jesus Christ is king! We pray today that God may free the entire world to rejoice in His peace, to glory in His justice, to live in His love.” 

Leo Tolstoy tells the story of Martin the Cobbler, a lonely shoemaker who is promised a visit by our Lord that very day. He waited eagerly all day for Jesus to arrive. Those who showed up are a man in need of shoes, a young mother in need of food and shelter, and a child in need of a friend, all of which he cheerfully assists. Martin the cobbler ends the day thinking "Perhaps tomorrow Jesus will come," only to hear a voice reply, "I came to you today, Martin; not once, but three times." 

Jesus appears to us in different guises if we have the eyes to see and the heart to perceive.  Christ our spiritual King and Ruler, rules by Truth and Love. We show our loyalty to Jesus by the quality of our Christian commitment, expressed in our serving others with sacrificial and forgiving love, and by our solidarity with the poor. We honor Christ as the King of the Universe and the King of our hearts by allowing Him to take control of our lives. In the hearts of believers, Jesus reigns as King. The Cross is His throne and the Sermon on the Mount His manifesto. His citizens need obey only one major law: “Love God with all your being, and love others as I have loved you.” A King with a saving and liberating mission, Jesus frees us from all types of bondage, enabling us to live peacefully and happily on earth, and promising us an inheritance, in the eternal life of heaven.

What is this Kingdom of God? What is the Kingdom of Christ the King like? Gerald Darring gives us this great explanation: “The Kingdom of God is a space. It exists in every home where parents and children love each other. It exists in every region and country that cares for its weak and vulnerable. It exists in every organization that reaches out to the needy. The Kingdom of God is a time. It happens whenever someone feeds a hungry person, or shelters a homeless person, or shows care to a neglected person. It happens whenever we overturn an unjust law, or correct an injustice, or avert a war. It happens whenever people join in the struggle to overcome poverty, to eradicate ignorance and disease, and to pass on the faith."

We are all citizens of the Kingdom of God. As citizens of the Kingdom, we are expected to live in accordance with God’s teachings, demonstrating love, compassion, justice, and faithfulness in all aspects of our lives, essentially embodying the character of Christ through actions that reflect values of the kingdom, such as serving others, promoting peace, and obeying God’s commands. May we all ask from Christ, the King, courage allow him to rule our hearts, our homes and our world.

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

I wasn’t lucky to be around my father when he died some fifteen years ago. I was hundreds of miles away when death came knocking at his door. So, I missed the final conversation with him. My mother still lives. I hope when her time comes, I will be lucky to be by her side.

I am always fascinated by the last words of a dying parent to his/her children - the blessings, the admonishments, the advice, the love, the farewell, the parting words. Such moments are usually emotion laden. But it’s always beautiful. This leads me to the next story.

The leader of a certain tribe in Nigeria was dying. For many generations, his people had been encamped at the base of a large mountain. The chief summoned his three sons and said: “I am dying. Before my death, I must choose one of you to succeed me as the head of our tribe. I have the same task for each of you. I want you to climb our holy mountain and bring me back something beautiful. The one whose gift is the most outstanding will be the one who will succeed me.”

The following morning, the sons set out on their search, each taking a different path to the top of the holy mountain. After several days, the three sons returned. The first brought his father a flower which grew near the summit of the mountain. It was extremely rare and beautiful. The second son brought his father a valuable stone, round and colorful, which had been polished by rain and sandy winds. When the third son approached his father, everyone saw that his hands were empty.

The empty-handed son said to his father” “I have brought back nothing to show you father. As I stood on the top of the holy mountain, I saw that on the other side was a beautiful land filled with green pastures. In the middle of these pastures there is a crystal lake. And I have a vision of where our tribe could go for a better life. I was so overwhelmed with what I saw and by what I could see that I could not bring anything back.” And the father replied: “You shall be our tribe’s new leader, for you have brought back the most precious things of all – the gift of vision for a better future.”      

There are many stories of great figures in the bible, who as they see their death approaching, gather their children or followers to give a final testament. Before Jacob died, he called his twelve sons to give an appropriate blessing to each one. The dying Moses encouraged his people to be strong and stand firm, then appointed his successor to lead the twelve tribes. Before King David ended his days, he addressed the officials of Israel and passed authority to his son Solomon. In the same way, Jesus, before he died, gathered his disciples and delivered his final teaching on the future age, instructing them how to live in the midst of political and cosmic upheavals. Part of Jesus’ final testament is what we hear in today’s Gospel.

Jesus’ followers are wondering if the end is near, uncertain how things are going to turn out. Nobody knows the details of the last pages of history but there is a form of writing that imagines the end time: it is called apocalyptic.

The vision of the future doesn’t look very appealing at first reading. The bad news is delivered first of all. Jesus imagines a time of terror and trouble and persecution. People will be betrayed and handed over to the authorities. There will be wars and earthquakes and famines. Jesus says, “these things must happen.” Then there will be cosmic upheavals: “the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven.” After this catalogue of disaster, there is the good news. Jesus looks beyond the time of distress to the final time, when the Son of Man will gather the scattered people of God to himself. Jesus sees beyond suffering and persecution to a future of peace with God.  

After the cosmic fireworks, Jesus imagines a peace offering. This vision of peace is important for the persecuted people. If their hope is not to be exhausted by force of circumstances, they need help to imagine a far side to pain and suffering.

In the meantime, we have to depend on the promise of Jesus: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” No one, not even the Son, knows when all this will take place. The only sure thing we can hold to is the word of Jesus.

We live in an age of uncertainty. The future never looks wholly secure. In a nuclear age, the word of Jesus holds out a vision that takes us beyond our worst imaginings. There is a place beyond the mountains of arms and weapons. The vision doesn’t free us from the duty to strive for peace, but it does free us from the blasphemy of believing that nuclear holocaust will be the last word in human history. there is only final word: JESUS! That word has to be enough for us.    

Once, there were two widows. One lived in ancient Israel during a famine, and another lived in ancient Jerusalem. Both were poor and tried to survive in a time of political and religious corruption. The Bible does not tell us their names, but they are models of generosity. They give even when they have nothing to offer.

Notice the first widow in our reading from 1 Kings. She is a mother trying to raise a son during political and religious corruption. King Ahab is a failure. Many prophets are unfaithful, and the country is experiencing economic collapse due to famine. She assumes she is preparing a last supper for her small family. Suddenly, a man of God named Elijah appears. Something inside her makes her say, “I can trust this man. I’m willing to give everything I have if that’s what it takes.” Elijah instructs her to bake a cake and give him a small portion. He promises that God will provide for this family permanently. And that’s precisely what happened. 

In Mark, another widow appears unnoticed except by Jesus. She, too, gives the last money she owns. Based on Jewish customs, she probably lived near the temple and was likely a beneficiary of the temple’s services. Today, she would be the equivalent of a woman living alone in a private senior adult residence supported by charity. The very people who supported her were also suspect in her day. She, too, lives in a time of political and religious corruption. The Romans were in charge. The High Priest and Sadducees worked through the temple and were in cahoots with the Romans. 

Still, this widow had nothing left over and gave everything she had. Like the Old Testament widow, she places herself at risk. She, too, might die and starve to death. She gave everything, including her life, for the place least deserved it. We do not know how God provided for her, but we assume he did because Jesus uses her, like the widow who served Elijah, as an example. They are role models not for how much they gave (everything) or the amount they gave (very little). They are role models for what they have left over after they gave (nothing) and are now part of a new faith community. 

Compare their motives to our world. Generosity today is often a calculation, like a tax or a tip. “This is how much we can afford to give this year.” Or we think about the bills: “After we pay the bills, this is what we will have left over.” Others might think of generosity as a benefit. “This is what I get from my donation to the parish: beautiful music or facilities. And if we are honest, and most surveys reveal this, we give because it makes us feel better. Something warms our hearts to know that we have contributed to a cause. 

But Jesus counts giving so differently. Jesus measures generosity by what you have left over. What do you do with that money? These widows had nothing left, and they placed themselves in the hands of others—one at the mercy of God’s man, Elijah, and the other in the hands of the temple leaders. They understand that we give even in challenging, corrupt times, and God creates a community. 

Dutch Theologian Fr. Henri Nouwen said this kind of generosity invites us into a grand vision of friendship, nurture, and relationships. The most tangible expression is how we use our resources for others after we have given. When we give, we feel connected to others and discover that the community cares for us. This is exactly what happens to the mother who met Elijah. God provides for her through Elijah as an act of fidelity. A small faith community forms in a famine. 

Today, Jesus invites us to connect to one another through giving. Like the widows, what if you saw your gift today as a way to form bonds with each other through generosity? Your resources touch so many lives in this parish and our larger community. Your gifts through SVdP or Catholic Charities or our many parish support ministries care for widows, orphans, people experiencing poverty, mothers, fathers, and strangers. And if, by chance, your circumstances are like those of these widows, would you trust yourself to God and this parish to care for you? You do not have to go through life alone. We are here for you and want to help you through these days. Because when you’ve given everything you have; that’s when community forms. 

In 2008, during an economic downturn, a church in downtown Detroit faced several economic challenges simultaneously. Offerings were down, facilities costs were up, and their overnight homeless shelter was overcrowded. The church’s officers met to look at the budget, and every meeting ended with a statement. “We’ve got it now, as long as another shoe doesn’t drop.” Then, of course, another shoe would drop. They would meet again, retrench, and reset the budget. “Ok, we’ve got it as long as another shoe doesn’t drop.” The pastor tried to carry them along, but one day, in the office, he was alone and became very afraid. He cried, “God, you brought me here for a reason. You want me to lead these people, but I am scared. God, one more thing, please, no more shoes.” 

Right then, someone knocked on the door. When the church secretary answered, she called the pastor and said, you need to come quickly down to the overnight shelter. The police were standing there and said, “Pastor, we have just raided an illegal factory manufacturing Timberline boots. We have seven hundred pairs of shoes here.” We wonder if you would have someone to give these shoes to. 

When we think we have given everything, a new community begins. And God starts to supply even more resources—and shoes—for us to give to those who need them most.

In Service,                
Deacon Sal

This weekend feels like a time of transition. Most of the rest of the country, Arizona being an exception to this madness, end Daylight Saving Time on Sunday. My wife and I now have only a two hour time difference to negotiate when we FaceTime with our granddaughters in Michigan. When we arrived in Switzerland for our 2 ½ year assignment, I inquired about daylight saving time. My Swiss friends said, “We don’t do that. The cows don’t know the difference.”

Last Friday we celebrated All Saints' Day, the day on which we honor all the saints in our Church, both those we know and those we don’t know.  On Saturday we celebrated All Souls' Day, when we commemorate all the faithful departed. And those of Hispanic origin additionally celebrate el Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead.

The celebration of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day stems from our belief that the Church exists in three different states. There is the Church Triumphant, those who have died and enjoy the beatific vision, seeing God face to face in heaven.

Additionally, there are the faithful departed who are undergoing a purification to prepare themselves for the beatific vision. They are the Church Penitent in purgatory. Finally, there’s us, the living, the Church Militant. We continue our earthly pilgrimage, working out God’s plan of salvation for each of us. 

We are one universal Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church.”

This universal Church is united in prayer. We are called to pray for those undergoing purification, the souls in purgatory. And we ask those already in heaven to intercede for us. And, of course, as fellow pilgrims, we pray for each other. We do that together during Mass, in the prayers of the faithful immediately following the creed.

Listen carefully to the needs expressed in each of those prayers of the faithful. And the final petition gives each of us an opportunity to lift up to God our own personal needs. You may feel that I pause for an inordinate amount of time during this petition. I do that to give each of us an opportunity to think about what is needed in our lives.

Each of us should come to Mass having thought about what we need most at this time on our pilgrimage. Life as a Catholic is not easy. We have personal challenges, and we live in a society that is becoming anti-Christian. 

The hostility and divisiveness in the runup to this election is disheartening. I pray that each of us will prayerfully form our conscience and vote our Catholic values. We are not alone. We are fellow travelers on this pilgrimage. We are a universal Church supporting one another. Please take to heart these words: 

We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject, for both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in finding it. St. Thomas Aquinas

What a blessing to be part of this Church. The Eucharist, our Deposit of Faith, and our beautiful liturgies bring us together in a way nothing else can. They work together to help us to fulfill the two great commandments in this weekend’s gospel from Mark:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, 
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.”

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

May God bless all us pilgrims on our journey together.

I was moved by the simple refrain of a hymn last week, Open My Eyes Lord, as it is significant to the journey we are about to embark.  As we prepare for our Golden Jubilee, I am excited to share that we have scoured the archives and discovered our Golden Jubilee is in 2026, not as previously thought in 2025.  I personally find this exciting as it allows us extra time to plan, engage more of you, and properly celebrate this important milestone.

On November 24, 2024, we will be kicking off our planning process by asking all of you to help us.  We will honor Christ the King Sunday with a call to help us three separate steps, to Bridge, to Build and to Belong.

What we hope to “Bridge” is the past 50 years with the future.  We will honor this process by capturing the spirit of our community as we look back at the historically significant events and renew our commitment as a community of believers.

What we hope to “Build” involves all of you.  On November 24, 2024, you are invited to participate in a simple survey of what meaningful upgrades you would like to see in our worship space. On the same day, we will hold focus groups following each mass in the hall for those who wish to come and discuss their ideas in person.  We hope you take this opportunity to help direct the building process.

I hope you can take this opportunity to “Belong.”  It does not matter if you have been a member of the parish for the past 50 years or for the last 50 days, we want you to serve the community by joining a committee, ministry or focus group. Jesus asks us to “to serve and not to be served.” This is your opportunity to fulfill this call.  As committees get formed, please reflect on your talents and interests.  Do you wish to be on the celebration planning committee, a design committee, a historical archive committee.  The needs are many.  You are invited to be part of this special year of honoring the parish and the past 50 years.

As I close, I am inspired by the lyrics:  

Open our hearts, Lord
Help me to love like you.
Open my heart, Lord
Help me to love.

In Christ’s love,

Dr. Kathy
Kathleen H. Goeppinger, Ph.D.
Leadership Chair, Jubilee Planning Committee

One of the common questions we get from those who care a great deal about us is: “What’s wrong with you today?” This question, from the position of care, provides the opportunity for us to express in language what, if anything, is wrong with us. But there are some people whose suffering is so extreme that they cannot speak. In the course of my ministry back in Nigeria, I have met persons who are victims of attacks by militia that were too traumatized to speak. They have lost loved ones and entire communities sacked. We have seen pictures of people on television whose families have been killed, whose homes have been destroyed, who have been left isolated in their suffering. The recent hurricanes that swept across cities in America and Nigeria left very many people homeless and helpless. We saw images that broke our hearts. We saw people sitting on the ground, head in hands, preoccupied with their own pain, suffering and loss. Their suffering has left them dumb and mute. Before that extreme suffering, we feel helpless, it seems senseless to say anything at all. 

The first stage towards overcoming this type of suffering is to find a language that leads the sufferer out of silence, a language for pain and fear and loss. One of the great teachings of the biblical tradition is that people should express their suffering in lamentation, not repress it in brooding silence. Remaining silent is remaining hopeless, for there is no belief in the possibility of change. Lamentations are cries from the heart, shouts of suffering, groans of anguish, screams for help. They are written on a bed of pain, but they express the hope that things will change, that God will listen. 

Lamentation is therefore not pessimistic. It refuses to remain powerless and passive, so it expresses its longing for change. The prayer of lamentation makes a bridge between silent endurance and change. And that can be seen vividly portrayed in today’s Gospel.

Jesus is leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, probably pilgrims traveling to the city for Passover. When the blind Bartimaeus hears that Jesus is so near, he shouts his prayer of lamentation: “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.” Some of the followers of Jesus show resentment at Bartimaeus’ disturbance, so they tell this one-man-uproar to keep quiet. No permission to scream. No permission to find the language for suffering and pain. They represent the school of thought which is content to leave the afflicted to suffer in silence, no doubt in the belief that this is a religious response to suffering. 

Without the capacity to communicate his suffering, Bartimaeus will continue to inhabit his world of darkness. He knows that if there is going to be change, he must communicate his loss to Jesus. So, he screams his lamentation. The scream from Bartimaeus stops Jesus in his tracks and he orders the crowd to minister to Bartimaeus by calling him over. The unsympathetic crowd suddenly changes its tune: “Courage, get up, He is calling you”, they say. Jesus puts the question to Bartimaeus: “What do you want me to do for you?” When Bartimaeus finds a language for his loss, Jesus heals him and compliments him for a faith that saved him. now saved by faith, he uses his sight to follow Jesus along the road.

The healing in the Gospel takes place as a result of the prayer of lamentation. That prayer expresses the pain and the faith of Bartimaeus. He believed in a God who pays attention. Bartimaeus focused on Jesus, ignoring all other advice and discouragement. He gave his unmixed attention to Jesus. And Jesus returned the compliment. 

If we have been brought up to believe that the religious response to suffering should be silence and passivity, then we will find the prayer of lamentation a subversive act. But the loss of that prayer is the loss of a language for suffering, the loss of a faith that desires to speak honestly to God. When Jesus reaches the end of his road, he will use the prayer of lamentation in Gethsemane. He will lament: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” There, on the ground, he will find a language for his own pain and fear. So, find your own language of pain and fear. Lament when you feel pain. Lament when you lose someone dear. Lament when life gets tough. It’s okay to lament. The Good News is that the Father hears our lamentations. Lamenting is not a useless exercise. It is a prayer that reaches the heart of God. 
God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

Jesus’ kingdom is not about who wears the crown, but he who bears the cross. So, he asks the power brokers: “Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I must be baptized?” They boast that they can. Jesus tells them that they will have a share in his sufferings, but it isn’t for him to assign who sits where in the kingdom. The message is clear: there is no shortcut to God’s favor.

Not surprising, there is trouble when the other ten disciples hear how the two brothers, James and John have tried to set up a junta. So, to avoid more conflict, Jesus reflects on his own image of religious authority. 

The model for religious authority must not be the pagan rulers: they lord it over others and make their authority felt. Jesus’ command to his followers is unambiguous: “This must not happen among you.” Before anything else is said, his followers must not imitate those whose standard of greatness is how much power and control they have over people. That has nothing to do with the gospel. 

Jesus’ image of authority is the one who is servant of all. If there is primacy in his community, it is primacy of service. Jesus’ image of “greatness is service” is not some advertising gimmick. We all know people whose image of service is indistinguishable from fascism, whose insecurity makes them lord it over others, to make sure that their authority is keenly felt. As someone who fled when people wanted him as their king. Jesus is suspicious of people who need to arrange their own enthronement. 

Jesus does himself what he asks others to do: to serve, not to be served, to give freely, not to exact everyone’s worship, to reach out to those in need, not to wait for adoring approval. Christian discipleship is a service industry in which there should no unemployment. There is work for everyone. And as we become more aware of the giftedness of all of God’s people, we see many new ministries arising in the Church. This should continue, until all Christians feel that their service is not only called for, it is actually wanted in the Church. When that happens, we shall be a serving people. Our jubilee is by the corner. 

Read Dr Kathy’s letter and begin to think about opportunities to serve our community as we prepare for our jubilee. Your time for service is now. Let’s do it together! 

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba

“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

German Philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer once said, “Wealth is like seawater; the more we drink, the thirstier we become, and the same is true of fame.” But wealth, fame, and achievement do not prevent us from Jesus’ love. Only once in the Gospel of Mark does the evangelist describe an encounter this way- “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Of course, Jesus loved everyone, but Mark saved this description for one wealthy achiever who needed the gift of wisdom.  

The man we meet in the gospel of Mark is likely not the same “rich young ruler” in a similar passage in the Gospel of Luke. Mark does not tell us his age, and he’s not in charge of anything other than his possessions. He’s a wealthy religious man, faithful to Jewish customs. I imagine him to be about mid-life, probably 30-35 for Jesus’ day, late 40s-50s for us. He has achieved everything he wanted. He has consumed his way through work, followed the laws faithfully… and is still empty. He seeks Jesus to add one thing to his religious “bucket list.” He asks, “What other duty must I perform to receive my kingdom inheritance?” 

Like a physician, Jesus perceives this man’s wealth blocks his spiritual arteries. His possessions prevent him from accessing God’s love. So, instead of solving his problems, he cuts to the heart of the issue. His words are the word of God. As our reading from Hebrews indicates, they are sharp like a scalpel. Jesus wounds to heal. He lances his possessions to open access to God’s love. 

He’s not alone. Psychologists call this problem “the arrival fallacy.” We wrongly assume we will feel fulfilled after accomplishing a big project, graduating with an advanced degree, getting married, having a baby, or obtaining a dream job or promotion. When we arrive, we feel empty, much like this wealthy man. 

Not all of us fit this category, including Peter and the disciples. They, too, are at midlife but have a different achievement problem. The wealthy man achieves and consumes more things; the disciples want to achieve greater sacrifice and a “legacy.” The disciples are in danger of falling into the same prideful trap as the wealthy man. 

Jesus examines the disciples about their scoreboard. They are sacrificial achievers. The disciples have left everything and want credit! We might feel the same impulse to pride ourselves. We take voluntary pay cuts and give more to the church. We say to ourselves, “We saw the needy and helped them. Lord, even when inflation hit us, we lived on less to help others more.” 

Jesus responds to the wealthy and those who sacrifice like a loving parent, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” At some point, everyone stops achieving and accumulating. Sometimes, it happens because of life’s circumstances: a cancer diagnosis or a dramatic car accident. Life puts the breaks on the way we thought it was supposed to go. We become curious about the emptiness and the comparisons, inviting Jesus’ love to teach us.

Then, a breakthrough happens. We surrender our achievements, successes, failures, and heartaches in that moment. We realize life isn’t about accumulating achievements but experiencing Jesus’ love. God grants us wisdom, something more valuable than “countless riches”. Our reading from Wisdom teaches us to value our days and to make the most of our time. We sort through our things, surrender our attachment to them, and love Jesus fully. Jesus invites the wealthy man and the disciples to do the same. Through the eyes of love, Jesus challenges both to surrender—the rich man his possessions and the disciples their pride. In exchange, Jesus offers them the wise life Solomon and Psalm 90 describe. 

We don’t have to wait until a dramatic turn of events to embark on the journey. According to the Psalmist and the Wisdom of Solomon, we must value the days, number them, and receive each day as a gift. A life whose goals are fame, fortune, wealth, and legacy is a life that misses out on the love that God has for us—no matter how much we possess. The cure for achievement is not self-denial. We don’t rid ourselves of things just to become more grateful. We can’t simply take pride in a simpler life, or we will harbor jealousy toward those who have more. Instead, we surrender our attachment to those things. Love releases us from attachment.

Then, we share this wisdom with others. Jesus wanted more than anything else for this wealthy man and the disciples to mentor, teach, disciple, and train others out of all his knowledge. But to do so, they must surrender their need for success and seek Jesus first. 

What does that journey mean for us? Surrender your need to achieve and instead seek Jesus’ love first. Returning to the wealthy religious man, we don’t know what happened to him. A hanging ending needs someone to finish the story, and that’s where you come in. You can complete the story. Jesus looks at you and loves you, too. What can you surrender today?
                            
Deacon Sal

In our first reading from Genesis this Sunday we hear, “The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.” The Catholic Church declares, “God himself is the author of matrimony.”  Marriage is a gift from God. It is a covenant relationship between one man and one woman that requires total self-giving forever. The Sacrament of Marriage is the Church making present what God authored. The significance of marriage was underscored when Jesus chose the wedding feast at Cana to work his first public miracle.

In our Gospel, Jesus describes this covenant relationship of marriage saying, “So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate." Jesus went on to say, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." 
 
My wife Barbara and I celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary this past August. We will be the first to say that marriage, this beautiful gift from God, is challenging. It truly requires the sacramental grace of God. The Church works very hard to prepare couples for the Sacrament of Marriage. The marriage of every Catholic should be performed by Catholic clergy, normally a priest or deacon. If you were married outside the Catholic Church, your marriage may be invalid in the eyes of the Church, and you should see a priest to rectify this. 

Not every marriage survives. When a marriage fails, the Church has a process for examining whether a marriage bond was truly formed at the time of the wedding. This is the annulment process. It is NOT A CATHOLIC DIVORCE. It is an investigation to determine, from a Church standpoint, if a marriage is valid.

We are blessed in the Diocese of Phoenix to have an excellent Tribunal for the annulment process. We are also blessed in our parish to have Nullity Ministers to assist with the process. THERE IS NO FEE FOR THIS PROCESS.

You should apply for an annulment if you are:
• A divorced Catholic who is now remarried outside of the Catholic Church
• A divorced Catholic who would like to remarry
• A divorced non-Catholic, who is now married outside the Catholic Church to a Catholic
• A divorced non-Catholic, who would like to marry a Catholic

Many divorced Catholics who are not remarried mistakenly believe they are prohibited from receiving the Eucharist. If you have any questions about your status, always talk to a priest. If you believe that you should pursue an annulment, contact the parish office. We look forward to working with you and sharing God’s love and grace.

In the Peace of Christ
Deacon Marty Pogioli  

In our 1st reading from Numbers and our Gospel of Mark, we encounter God’s jealous people because some outside the community perform miracles in God’s name. Those who are disciples of Moses and Jesus feel that those performing those works shouldn’t because they aren’t part of the same community. Both Moses and Jesus affirm that God can bestow his Spirit on those he chooses. 

Today we encounter the same thing within our own Roman Catholic Faith. Some of us become jealous or are surprised when we see that our other non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters perform the mighty works of God. Jesus reminds us that what is in our heart is what matters. God works through those who minister using their hearts and faith in God despite what Christian faith they practice. Of course, Jesus desires that we are all share in one faith. 

Jesus tells his followers to beware of the things that can cause us to sin and keep us out of God’s abundant grace and may keep us from being in Heaven with God. It is the heart we need to focus on. It is the eyes of God that he wants us to look with, the hands and feet of God with e wants of to serve. If we allow our eyes to distract us from how God wants us to look at someone or something, we could be putting our salvation at risk. If we use our hands and feet for un-Godly uses, then we are risking our salvation. We are challenged to focus on how we use our hearts and the resources with which we have been gifted. This reminds me of a prayer a spiritual director once told me to use early in my youth. She said that when I pray, ask the Lord to help me see others through God’s eyes. When I work and serve others, ask the Lord to help my hands and feet to be His hands and feet to serve others. I’m not proclaiming to be perfect at it yet, however, I’m still trying to follow God’s will. If we all could make that our goal, think how much better our marriages, families, friendships, communities, and our world would be. Our call and mission are to bring others to know who God is through the works of the Holy Spirit. We can only do this when we get ourselves out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to take control. 


In the Humble Service of the Master

Deacon Jeff Arner

Recall that in last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus spoke of himself through the figure of the Son of Man who had to suffer and be rejected and be put to death. Following that prediction of the passion, Jesus invited those who would follow him to take up their own crosses. In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is now traveling secretly through Galilee, taking time to instruct his disciples about how the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men and be put to death. The ministry in Galilee is now over, the road that leads to Jerusalem beckons. Jesus is seen to be anxious that his disciples understand the meaning of what lies ahead. 

Mark tells us how the disciples respond to this second prediction of the passion: “They did not understand what he said, and they were afraid to ask him.” The disciples cannot comprehend the future of powerlessness that Jesus maps out for himself. They are afraid to ask him, perhaps because their worst suspicions will be confirmed. Perhaps Jesus does mean exactly what he says, perhaps he will face the coming terror without resorting to power tactics. The disciples cannot face that scenario, so they start their own discussion group about power and prestige. 

When the group arrives in Capernaum, Jesus asks them what they have been arguing about on their way. It didn’t take long for their seminar on power to grow into an argument about which of them was the greatest. To the question of Jesus, the disciples respond with the silence of shame. It is in that silence that Jesus takes a little child, sets him in front of them, puts his arms around the child, and challenges his disciples to accept the little one. When they can welcome that little child, they can welcome the real Jesus. 

Let me digress a bit! There is a more profound meaning to the saying of Jesus: “S/he who welcomes/accepts this little child…, welcomes me.” Jesus is challenging us to be open to the gift of children in our families - to accept and love them. In a culture that seeks to promote the culture of death over life, we are reminded that life is a gift and that children are a blessing.  We need to encourage our children and grandchildren to be open to the gift of life. Welcoming children in our homes is welcoming Jesus. 

Jesus compares himself to the little child, the one who cannot resort to power tactics when threatened or maltreated. Jesus’ protection is his Father, his trust is placed in the God who will ensure his protection. When suffering comes, Jesus refuses to abandon his trust in the Father. That trust makes him vulnerable, a little child, but unless the disciples can come to welcome that vulnerability, they will never understand the way of Jesus. 

Jesus offers a permanent challenge to his followers to welcome the powerless, to take to heart the weakest members of the community. He places himself in their company. Special hospitality should be offered to those from whom we can benefit the least. Their vulnerability is something that Jesus not only shares, but values. 

As he takes the road to Jerusalem, his own vulnerability will expose him to those who lie in wait. There will be people keen to explore his gentleness and put his endurance to the test. In drawing his own followers away from looking to power and prestige for models of discipleship, Jesus invites them to a new openness to the Father. No earthly power will save Jesus from death in Jerusalem, only his Father can save him from being left for dead. That is what the Father does. That is how the Father welcomes the trust of the little one. Children and the vulnerable look up to us. We must never let them down. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. 
God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

As a priest and teacher, the first habit I learnt was remembering the names of my students and my parishioners. It’s a difficult art but it evokes a certain feeling in the one whose name is remembered. And we all want to be remembered and called by our name. 

When people we know fail to recognize us, usually we are disappointed. We like people to get our name right, if only for the purpose of correct identification. Perhaps few of us would risk asking our friends, “who do people say that I am?” Hearing reports of what people say about us or how they see us, however politely phrased, can dishearten us. What if none of the answers match our own self-understanding? 

When Jesus asks his disciples “Who do people say that I am?” the guesses all point to someone else, Elijah or John the Baptist or one of the prophets, figures celebrated for pointing forward to the Messiah. In contrast to what others think, Peter speaks on behalf of the disciples who have shared Jesus’ life intimately: he identifies Jesus as the Christ. Jesus is not numbered among those pointing to the Messiah; he is the Messiah.  

In response to Peter’s confession, Jesus swears the disciples to silence, as if he does not wish to be known publicly as the Messiah. The traditional understanding of the title portrayed a spectacular figure who would accomplish victory over Israel’s oppressors by the use of military might, a conqueror who would never be touched by suffering or defeat. This understanding is a world away from Jesus’ understanding of his own role. The secret of his true identity will be revealed in his passion. The cross will uncover the truth of who he really is.  

Jesus speaks about himself through the figure of the Son of Man, who must suffer and be rejected and be put to death. Not only must he suffer but experience comfortless suffering in being rejected. That rejection robs the suffering one of his dignity. He has to face forsakenness. He will not die of natural causes but be put to death. 

When the passion of Jesus gets underway, Peter will deny his master: “I do not know the man.” Only later will Peter fully understand the depth of meaning in what Jesus says: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine….” Jesus compels no one, not even his disciples, to follow him on the road of suffering if they do, if we do, denial of self is the first requisite. That is essential if we are to take our cross upon ourselves and share Christ’s passion in the world. 

The cross of Jesus was for Jesus alone. No one is expected to carry the burden that lay on him alone. Jesus invites us to take up our own crosses, the weight of suffering which comes our way when we follow in his footsteps.  

The Son of Man has gone before us, and in following his way we find our community with God. As Jesus’s true identity was revealed in the story of the Son of Man. In the language of the letter of St. James, that happens when we put our faith to work. Our faith is tested in the real world, and reality comes to us often in the shape of a cross. In taking it up, in accepting its burden, we live up to our true name as followers of Jesus.  

God is good, all the time! 

Fr Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6

Of the four evangelists, John stands out as the one who gives preeminence to the Eucharist. For him, Jesus is the Wisdom of God in the flesh, he embodies it in his person. Jesus is the way who, like Lady Wisdom in our first reading, invites people to come and eat the bread that nourishes them for life. Jesus’ dream is not only to invite people to the banquet of life but to be the banquet of life. Himself! His dream is to give his flesh for the life of the world. Not surprisingly, when he shares this dream with his listeners, they cannot understand how it can be. 

How can Jesus’ dream be reality?  How can he give his flesh as real food and his blood as real drink? Is this just an empty dream? Jesus’ dream to share himself as food for others is no vanity of the night: he acts his dream with open eyes; he makes it possible on the cross in the total giving of self. 

It is helpful to remember that for Jesus, the word ‘body’ meant more than it means to us – it meant the entire person. Also, in Jesus’ day, blood was regarded as the principle of life – when a person lay wounded and bleeding, the loss of blood meant the person often died. When Jesus says, “This is my body, my blood, given for you”, what he is saying is, “This is the totality of my being, all that I am.” This is a great summary of Jesus’ message: a self-giving love that is offered without holding anything back. This is offered as the food of life. 

In the sacrament of the Eucharist, we draw life from the body and blood of Jesus. “Do this in memory of me.” The act that we do in this church today and always is the deed of memory: we not only recall Jesus, but we also consume his memory as the food of life. We are nourished by the real food and real drink: in eating and drinking we have new life in him. We eat the Wisdom of God; it becomes part of our very being. It becomes our resource for leaving folly and living a life of wisdom. 

“Do this in memory of me.”  These words summarize what is expected of us. It has been pointed out that the words of consecration make excellent marriage vows. When husbands and wives struggle to enflesh the words. “My body given for you”, when they struggle to reach out to each other in gentleness, in trust, in love, they are realizing in a special way, “Do this in memory of me.” When we try to leave folly and break out of our selfishness, when we try to be bread broken for others, we realize the words, “Do this in memory of me.” When that is done, the Wisdom of God takes flesh again. 

The challenge for us today is to do the work that God wants us to do. That work is believe in the one whom God has sent, listen to him, follow him, deepen our relationship with him, and then revolution will take place within us and each of us will become like Jesus and we will be filled with the food that gives us everlasting life.

\God is good, all the time!

Fr Williams Abba

“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” _ Galatians 5:6

Life comes with many emotions, ups and downs, highs and lows, exasperation with desperation. Jesus experiences the same. He is angry and sad, takes pity, and has compassion. When he is emotional, his body responds. His stomach churns, he weeps, and he laughs. One response stands out uniquely. We rarely see him behave this way. When he finds people with physical and spiritual deafness, he sighs. When he does, he connects us to the power of prayer in overwhelming situations. 

Jesus often uses miracles for people with physical conditions as teaching devices. They illustrate and reveal spiritual problems in the hearts of non-disabled people. In today’s gospel he travels to the region of the Decapolis, where the people bring him a deaf and mute man. Based on how the Greek text depicts his symptoms, he likely developed this condition over time. The Greek word for “muteness” signals a speech impediment, likely stammering or stuttering. He probably could speak and hear as a younger man but, over time, lost this ability. Struggling to communicate, he uses sign language to hear and can’t spit out his words. 

His physical condition symbolizes a spiritual problem in Jesus’ day and ours. Religious people can gradually become deaf to the world’s needs. Isaiah the prophet warns this would happen— “they are ever hearing but never understanding.” People who are born into religious, God-fearing families are prone to tune out God’s word and are unable to hear, speak, or live God’s way. 

The scripture readings indicate three symptoms: favoritism, lack of listening, and obstructed prayer. One behavior that induces spiritual deafness is favoritism toward the wealthy, influential, and famous. James’s congregation had so focused on treating the rich well that they tuned out the poor. They were more interested in social status and climbing than openness to God’s voice. Another symptom is a lack of listening and understanding one another. Everyone speaks their mind, but no one connects. The third symptom occurs in prayer. The spiritually deaf don’t know what to say. They can’t listen to God or communicate with him.

Have you experienced some of these symptoms? Have you been more focused on networking with the influential? Does your family, office, or team have lots of chatter, but everyone seems to be talking past each other? Are you distracted by all the content you consume and miss the people around you? Do you struggle with prayer? If so, then I have some good news for you. The solution is not a better network, more time with family, or a class on prayer. 

Jesus’ answer is to unstop our ears. Notice what he does. He sighs and signs.  He sighs not out of judgment, despair, or hopelessness but as an act of prayerful mercy. There are only two times Jesus sighs in Mark, both within a few verses of each other.

This sigh is a groan of grief and dismay over this man's condition. Maybe you have groaned similarly while standing over a hospital bed with a sick child. This is the groaning that Paul describes in Romans. Sometimes, we pray in the spirit, groaning too deep for words. 

Then Jesus signs. To communicate with the man, Jesus uses his hands for sign language. Jesus illustrates what God does when we are isolated and shut off. When we feel like we can’t hear God’s voice and have prayed multiple times, God sends us signs of his presence. He unstops our ears by assuring us that he hears us. We look around to see the signs of his work. 

Then Jesus invites us to sigh, groan, and grieve with him over the conditions of our world. We mirror him with appropriate responses to our conditions. We sigh to release CO2 from our lungs. We release what we hold onto inside and grieve over the sin in our lives and our world. We groan in our condition, desiring God to intervene. We become dismayed with our attempts to fix things. We learn to trust in Jesus’ intervention.

By sighing, groaning, and praying with Jesus, the spirit opens our eyes and hearts to hear the gospel. We become like this deaf and mute man able to hear and speak what we struggled to say before. We will repeat what Isaiah the prophet predicted…say to those who are faint-hearted, Be strong! Do not be afraid! Here is your God… the ears of the deaf will no longer be sealed. 

Healing can begin today. The real miracle is that spiritual deafness is not permanent. You can allow Jesus to place his fingers in your ears and on your tongue and, in a bit of sign language, say to you, “Be opened.” 

Hear the gospel again, know the condition of our world, and trust in the one who sighs, grieves, and reopens our ears and mouths. Because one day, we will sigh no more.  

Peace & Joy,
Deacon Sal  

Monday is Labor Day in the United States, a federal holiday that is traditionally regarded as the end of summer. Never mind that our monsoon season ends September 15, and the autumnal equinox arrives September 22.

Labor Day began with 19th century labor movement parades to honor hard-working people and celebrate unions. The Catholic Church has always proclaimed the dignity of work. 

On World Labor Day, May 1, 2013, Pope Francis wrote: 
“Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person.”

The Catholic Bishops have written: 
If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected--the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions, to private property, and to economic  initiative.”

In the very beginning, God tasked man with tending the Garden of Eden. It has always been our role to work the earth. We are challenged to harness creation for the common good. God has given each of us unique gifts and talents to put to work. Whatever our stage in life, work is an essential part of the meaning of life and a way to give glory to God.

As we enjoy this holiday, let us keep in mind the importance of work and workers in God’s plan for salvation. The Mass for Sanctification of Human Labor begins with this prayer:

“O God, who through human labor never ceases to perfect and govern the best work of creation, listen to the supplications of your people, and grant that all men and women may find work that befits their dignity, joins them more closely to one another, and enables them to serve their neighbor.”

We have the story of a military commander who didn’t have to flaunt his military experience to make a different kind of case. Joshua, in our first reading, had lots of military experience. He was a brave field commander in Jewish history. He was loved and respected. At his Expiration Term of Service (ETS), the elders, judges and scribes are called to listen to the last farewell of their distinguished leader. He does not recall his military victories, nor does he ask the people to cherish what he has done for them. Instead, he asks them to choose whom they wish to serve: the God of their ancestors or the false gods of the land they now inhabit. 

It is as if Joshua wants to be remembered not as the great military commander who brought his people to the promised land but as the prophet who brought his people to God again. This inner battle of faith seems to preoccupy him more than his military campaigns ever did. He gives the people the opportunity to close the book on the past or recommit themselves to the God of Israel. 

Joshua is tired. He is old. Death stares him in the face. He has seen too much bloodshed to boast of the beauty of battle. He has seen too many ruined cities and disfigured corpses to sing of the glories of war. The old commander is concerned with the geography of the heart. Joshua knows that all choices have to be renewed, that people don’t stay dedicated to a cause just by continuing to exist. Joshua asks his people to choose, and he declares before them his own choice to serve the Lord. Thus, Joshua wins the last and most important battle of his life when he leads his people to a victory of infidelity. They declare: “we will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

The choice that Joshua offered his people is echoed in our Gospel today. Jesus offers his own followers to choose to stay with him or join the ranks of unbelievers. After hearing Jesus’ teaching on the bread of life, many of the followers express their complete confusion. They find Jesus’ language intolerable. And many of them choose to leave him. Then, like Joshua to the twelve tribes, Jesus turns to the twelve apostles and gives them the choice to close the book on their shared past. But just as the twelve tribes told Joshua that they could not reject the Lord after all he had done for them, so Peter asks Jesus how could they turn to anyone else for the message of eternal life. So, the apostles exercise their freedom of choice by choosing to stay with Jesus. 

Do we not find the same scenario being rehashed today? A huge number of Catholics today refuse to believe that the bread and wine in the hands of the priest after consecration are the body and blood of Christ. The statistics are staggering.

Both Joshua and Jesus respect people’s freedom of choice. They know that past choices can become old and exhausted, that they can die from being abandoned on the scrap heap of life. Past choices have to be kept alive by new commitment, because decisions in faith are never settled once and for all. The apostles do what we must do: keep on choosing Jesus, stay with the one who has the message of eternal life. That is something that must always be outstanding on our agenda today, and for the rest of our lives. 

God is good, all the time!

Fr Williams Abba

“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” _ Galatians 5:6

Aromas, especially those associated with great meals and restaurants, connect your mind to your heart. Think about your favorite cake or pie; how it smells fresh from the oven, or the rolls your grandmother made. When you order from this restaurant or enjoy a family feast, you want to take home some of the leftovers to keep sharing them in the coming days. 

There’s a reason that aromas and love and leftovers go together. Scents activate the spiritual parts of the brain. They take you back to the person who prepared the meal and a place where you were loved. Aromas can do more than give us warm memories of the past. They can change our behavior toward others. 

This week, we come to church for one of those meals in the eucharist. We may not remember the first time we shared it, but we know what it does to us. We know what it smells like to walk into our church. But here’s the mystery of this moment: when we consume the meal, we give off a heavenly fragrance to others. 

In the Gospel of John, Jesus confronts a different reality that has consumed his people. They are consumed by the same spirit of grumbling, bitterness, and malice the Israelites had in the desert. And they’re starting to take that out on him and everyone else. So, instead of reprimanding them, he teaches them the truth about his life, which can change their lives forever. He announces that he is an eternal bread source for them. He uses a powerful statement that we call an “I am statement.” Like a parable, this statement symbolically describes earthly and heavenly realities. Jesus shares two powerful truths. He gives heavenly bread from God, and he is the bread itself. 

Of course, this idea confuses those outside the Christian community, Jewish leaders in the crowd. They ask questions that most people would ask today, trying to make sense of his statement logically- how can a man be a food? 

But Jesus is not explaining this process scientifically. He’s discussing the work he does spiritually. He wants to show them why consuming him makes an eternal difference. Eating with Jesus by consuming this bread is an ongoing part of the believer's life. He feeds us, serves us, and then we eat with him. To eat this bread and drink this wine is to consume Jesus. We continue the life he lived on earth today into everlasting life. Jesus receives his bread from God, and he gives us his bread. We digest this bread because Jesus wants this gift to consume every fiber of our being and for this bread to be dramatically revealed in our relationships with others. This bread can transform our attitudes and behaviors from being self-centered to others-focused. We eat him because he is part of the ongoing work of making us a faith community. Without it, we are doomed to slowly be poisoned by the toxic food of bitterness, grumbling, and resentment. 

Go back for a moment to the aroma of that fantastic meal. Our brains are rewired in that scent. When the meal is served, someone tells the story about who first taught them how to serve the cornbread dressing, knead the dough for grandma’s rolls, grill the hamburgers, or bake the casserole. Every time you enjoy the meal, the person’s memory and their teachings come alive in the family. You breathe deeply, remember the person’s life, and share it with others. The only way to learn the recipe is to eat the meal, watch someone make it, practice it yourself, serve it to others, and enjoy the leftovers. That’s what happens with Jesus. When he serves us the meal, we discuss his amazing work. We create a living memory of him that can be relived every day of our lives. 

He’s also the secret ingredient to this meal—the bread itself. We “taste and see that the Lord is good” and realize we are consuming the body and blood of our Lord. That’s why this is so good for us. To partake in this meal is to share abundantly in eternal life. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. 

When we eat this bread, we replace the old malice and slander toxins with kindness and compassion. We turn our focus away from ourselves and toward others.

Do you know what happens then? Something miraculous happens. We become the secret ingredient. Our actions and habits give off the aroma of Christ to others as if we have been in the same room with him. We end up smelling and acting just like him. 

In other words, we need more baking, less bitterness, more service, less shaming, more God, and less grumbling. You will find that right at the table with the one who supplies the bread, serves the meal, and enters your life. Just as he did for the crowds on the hillside, Jesus is as present in the leftovers you share with others. Our Savior Jesus is life for the world. Amen.

In today’s Gospel from John, we hear Jesus say,

"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

This is the second of five weeks where we depart from the gospel of Mark and read from the gospel of John. These readings from John chapter 6 are known as the “Bread of Life Discourses”.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are quite similar and so are called synoptic gospels. John’s gospel is very different. In it Jesus makes many “I am” statements. In the gospel for this 18th Sunday, Jesus declares himself as the Bread of Life come down from heaven to give life to the world.

In July, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops held their 10th National Eucharistic Congress. At Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, 50,000 people gathered to celebrate the true presence of Jesus, the Bread of Life come down from heaven to give life to the world.

Fr. Abba, in his July 21 bulletin article, talked about this momentous event. If you didn’t read it, go to the parish website (https://www.sescc.org) where you will find an archived copy of the bulletin. It is worth the time to read.

I was not able to attend the Congress, but I watched the televised proceedings. The closing Mass was very moving. Every speaker was inspiring and challenging. Much of the congress is on “YouTube”. If you search “Eucharistic Congress 2024”, you will be able to watch each segment as your time permits.

Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in the series “The Chosen”, which I highly recommend, gave a moving presentation. Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz, who I watch regularly, challenged me, as only they can.

Instead of watching the depressing news and election coverage, try watching these inspiring talks. I think you will gain a renewed appreciation for the Eucharist, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, which is offered to us at every Mass. May God bless you as together we share in this beautiful gift and our shared mission to bring Christ to the world.

Deacon Marty Pogioli