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Year: 2007

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Homilies,

The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

—For this command that I enjoin on you today
is not too mysterious and remote for you.—

Do you think that God is mysterious? Do you believe that He is far off?

I imagine that in the midst of our busy schedules we don’t find a lot of time to sit quietly and ponder the mysteries of God. After all, we have to shop, work, drive, mow, clean, call bingo, serve on committees, visit friends, care for children, consider our illnesses, or ponder death.

This quote from scripture is taken from Moses’ final words to Israel, right before he anointed Joshua and turned his authority over to him. Moses would not cross into the Promised Land.

Israel had spent forty tough years in the desert. It wasn’t about to get any easier, they had to fight their way into the land, through Jericho first.

So Moses recounts the entire law of the Lord; the blessings that will come from keeping the law and the curses that will come from disobeying it.

In closing Moses says in effect, ‘It’s easy folks.’

Following God and finding God is easy.

In the first stanza from today’s psalm we hear David crying out to the Lord:

I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness:
in your great mercy turn toward me.

The psalm may very well have been David’s cry in his time of persecution, the period in which he was driven out of Jerusalem by his son Absalom. David was exhausted, alienated from family and community, and falsely accused.

Consider David’s thoughts as he fled Jerusalem and as he encountered Shimei:

When King David came to Bahu’rim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shim’e-i, the son of Gera; and as he came he cursed continually.
And he threw stones at David, and at all the servants of King David; and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.
And Shim’e-i said as he cursed, “Begone, begone, you man of blood, you worthless fellow!

In times of trouble we cry out to the Lord. We seek His assistance, His miracles, His healing.

Do you think that He does not answer?

Brothers and sisters,

He answers! He sends what we need, often much more than we need. For His love is abundant.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is like that.

The faithful Israelite traveled between Jerusalem and Jericho and tragedy befell him.

Do you think he prayed while laying along the side of the road? Did he call out to God as people passed him by? Did he implore the Lord for help? How did God help?

God sent a Samaritan. The Israelite didn’t see God helping, he saw a Samaritan.

St. Paul tells us:

For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible

God created everything and God uses His creation to help us in our every need, for St. Paul goes on to say:

He is the head of the body, the church.

If He is the head of His body, and we are all mystically bound to, and members of His body, we can be sure that God uses His body to carry out His work, His assistance, His healing, and His friendship. We can be sure that each person we relate to bears the image of Jesus Christ to us.

When we shop, our fellow shoppers and the checkout attendant are Christ. When we work, our co-workers and customers are Christ. When we drive, others on and along the road are Christ. When we mow, the neighbor we waive to is Christ. When we clean, our family is Christ. When we call bingo, the players are Christ. When we serve on committees, our fellow committee members, and those we serve are Christ. When we visit friends or care for children, they are Christ. When we consider our illnesses or ponder our deaths, Christ is with us, because He and His body are present to us.

Moses said, ‘It is easy folks,’ and it is. We see and we find Christ in every person we meet. Whatever our opinion of them, from the store clerk to our spouse, Christ is in them, making Himself real and present to us.

Ponder the words of Jesus:

Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?—

The lawyer answered:

—The one who treated him with mercy.—

And Jesus said

—Go and do likewise.—

God is not mysterious, nor is He far off. We see Him every day.

From this moment onward, go and do likewise. See God in every person you encounter. Treat each person with the consideration and love you reserve for God, because He is right in front of your eyes.

Poland - Polish - Polonia

On Eagles Wings Event

“Why are your children not here with you? Who will remember you, if they are not here, to learn what you have accomplished? Who will remember, if not they? What will happen to your legacy, if they forget?” — Colonel W. Perchal of the Royal Regiment of Canada, addressing Polish-Canadian World War Two veterans

A past correspondent, Mr. Henry Sokolowski, a member of the Board of Directors of the Polish Combatants Association, Branch #20 in Toronto, Canada announces a gathering of the generations to pay tribute to the Polish survivors and victims of World War Two.

These events are meant to connect the children and grandchildren of Polish World War Two survivors with their parent’s and grandparent’s memories and experiences. Part of the project is the documentation of these experiences.

This English-language, family oriented event will feature is Polish WW2 survivors themselves, as well as Polish WW2 experts who will help identify family documents, photos, and medals.

The event, On Eagles Wings will be held in Toronto on October 21, 2007. You can also refer to the Soviet Invasion of Poland During WW2 site for more information.

Christian Witness, Current Events, PNCC,

Who is Catholic

Bishop Hodur, the founder and first Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church saidAn address given in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1902 as compiled in Bishop Francis Hodur, Sermon Outlines and Occasional Speeches 1899 – 1922, (c) 1999 Theodore L. Zawistowski, Polish National Catholic Church, Central Diocese

When a person travels across the wide world he notices pratically everywhere, especially in large cities, splendid churches erected to the glory of Jesus Christ. Some are in the Greek style or basilicas, others are Gothic or Baroque.

These churches claim that they believe in God and Jesus Christ, that Christ the Lord is their master and Savior, but nevertheless they hate each other…

Are all of these priests, all these votaries, truly worshipers of the same God, adherents and disciples of the same Master, Jesus Christ?

If Christ should find Himself once again on earth, He would deny those who have hatred, who turn away from a brother only because he folds his hands differently in prayer or prays from a different book.

When Christ gathered His disciples before the bloody Passion, He said to them these memorable words: A new commandment I give you, that you love one another …. By this will all men know you are My disciples, if you have love [for] one another.

Already the prophet Malachi called: Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? And St. John in the thought of Christ says, that God is love and whosoever loves his brother, humanity, is a child of God, and anyone who says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.

It is necessary to love not only those who are of the same political, social, religious conviction. We have proof in the parable of Christ about the Samaritan, a person hated by Jews, but who brings help to his neighbor attacked by robbers.

And today?

Today it is not love that characterizes the various Churches and the people of the various Churches, but hatred and contempt…

In Bishop Hodur’s words I see both a condemnation of our weakness and our sinfulness, and at the same time a call to rise above that weakness.

Many are condemning the Roman Church’s recent proclamation (really just a restatement of what it has always believed), that it is the one, true Church, all others beginning either defective or not Churches at allSee: Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church.

The condemnation is uncalled for. Condemnation cannot affect change, and even greater charity is called for. The Roman Church can declare what it pleases without affecting one hair upon anyone else’s head.

Imagine (hehe…) I condemn them, they condemn me, we condemn those over there. Then we bring John Lennon’s silly song to reality.

What we must do is continue to witness the fact that Christ lives in His Church in the manner the Spirit provides for. We must witness our faith, not in documents and pronouncements, but in a life lived in accordance with the teachings of Christ.

We do that by dialog, we do it by immense charity, we do it by lives lived in, for, and with Jesus.

May it ever be so.
May the Lord have mercy on us, for we are weak.
Lord send forth Your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.

Current Events, Media

Humorous headlines

From the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany’s newspaper The Evangelist:

On the Motu: Overture to Schismatics: Pope expands use of Latin liturgy

In a long awaited overture to disaffected and even schismatic Catholic traditionalists…

They are exploring “how to implement” the document. I can’t imagine that it will be implemented all that much as there can’t be all that many schismatics running around the Albany diocese.

Also notice the common MSM error repeated in the headline.

On the clarification of subsist: Vatican congregation asserts Catholic Church is true church

Besides the typo on “true Church” it all doesn’t matter that much, because, you see, it’s only a Congregation making an assertion.

…and a caption beneath pictures of young people at a leadership institute:

Teen Catholics gathered recently at Pyramid Life Center in Paradox for the Christian Leadership Institute…

It would appear that the Pyramid Center is a Roman Catholic institution, at least based on their programming. I seem to recall Catholic centers and institutions being named after saints, our Lady, or the Lord. Now, paradoxically, it appears that young Catholic leaders are trained at the Pyramid.

Oh great all seeing eye, make us like unto you…

Calendar of Saints, PNCC

July 10

john_dukla.jpgDetail from the St. John of Dukla window in St. Casimir’s R.C. Church in Buffalo. This was my home parish, the place where I learned to proclaim the readings, serve at the altar, and revel in the glorification of God. This parish is in the Byzantine style, and is modeled on the Hagia Sofia. For a full on interior view check our K. Josker’s PBase site. While there check out all the photos. Sad to say, many of these churches are closed or will close in the coming months.

St. John of Dukla, Priest, (1484)
Saints Rufina and Secunda, Virgins and Martyrs, (257)
Saints Antony and Theodosius Pechersky, Abbots, (1073 and 1074)

Everything Else

Pope Approves Pig Latin Mass

A decidedly off-color story from Postcards (not for the impressionable or the anathema throwers). I laughed till it hurt, especially:

Pursuant to the pope’s decree, however, priests will no longer have to get permission from their bishops in order to say the mass in Pig Latin. What’s more, any folksongs sung at mass must be translated into Pig Latin, and any wishing of peace to one’s fellow mass goers must be rendered in Pig Latin also.

Not surprisingly many progressive Catholics greeted the pope’s decree with dismay.

—’Owinblay in the Indway,’— just doesn’t convey the same message as ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’— said Father Bud, director of the Neumann Center at Millersville University in Pennsylvania.

What’s more, Jewish leaders complained that the inclusion of an Oodgay Idayfray prayer for the conversion of the Jews was —a slap in the face to Israel— and could lead to —serious military consequences— if it isn’t removed at once…

Probably more shades of truth here than in many MSM stories.

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