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Reflection for the Solemnity of the Institution of the Polish National Catholic Church – 2015

regeneration

And they will be
amazed.

Then the righteous man will stand with great confidence in the presence of those who have afflicted him, and those who make light of his labors. When they see him, they will be shaken with dreadful fear, and they will be amazed at his unexpected salvation. They will speak to one another in repentance, and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say, “This is the man whom we once held in derision and made a byword of reproach — we fools! We thought that his life was madness and that his end was without honor. Why has he been numbered among the sons of God? And why is his lot among the saints?

The Scripture above from the Book of Wisdom obviously points to Jesus, a man mocked and spurned by His people, thought to be just another mad prophet, and eventually killed in the most horrible of ways even though innocent. He emerges victorious in the end and is recognized to be what He always was, the Holy One of God, the only Son of God, God made man Who now sits at the Father’s right hand.

Beyond this obvious reference to the life of Jesus we should be able to see in ourselves the same experience. As Jesus was mocked and derided by the leaders of the time, so too are we. As Jesus was thought mad, so too are we. As Jesus was mocked, so too are we. As people said: ‘how can this be possible’ of Jesus, so too they say it of us. Yet, in the end, we know we, like Jesus, will emerge victorious.

Is emerging victorious a foregone conclusion for us?

Victory is solely dependent on our likeness to Jesus. The prerequisite for our victory is the same as that exhibited in the earthly life of Jesus Christ. It is by our faith that we will be victorious. That is both the starting point and the reality that must underpin all we do. In approaching our work, joys, struggles, and interactions – in both our interior life and social interactions – we must define ourselves by our life in Jesus.

A life fully lived in faith and likened to Him will result in others being amazed by us. That faith life makes us changed people with the potential of being amazing. That is what regeneration in Jesus is. Because of essential change we become a confusing lot of people in the face of the world. We get up early, worship by faith, work hard, and have a totally different attitude than that of the majority of people. We believe that we can change individual hearts and the wider world. We think that by all this effort will make God’s kingdom a reality. We may face derision, be assessed fools, and might be mocked. Yet we know that by living regenerated lives we will be numbered among the saints and victorious. Be ready to be amazing.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent 2015

faith and worry

Sometimes the test
is almost impossible.

God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” he replied. Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”

Over recent weeks it seems that the number of troubles among those I know have increased greatly. These aren’t little problems, but those deep, life-shattering types of troubles that some may never experience. How life-shattering it must have been for Abraham, to face having to sacrifice his son.

A preacher was delivering a sermon before a large congregation. He pointed out that believers aren’t exempt from trouble. In fact, some Christians are surrounded by trouble — trouble to the right, trouble to the left, trouble in front, and trouble behind. At this, a man stood up and shouted, ‘Glory to God, it’s always open at the top!’

God’s test of Abraham’s faith was exactly about that. We can imagine that in walking to Mount Moriah, with his son carrying the wood that he would be sacrificed on, Abraham was in tears. His heart was breaking, the knife at his side weighed heavy, and his soul was crying out to God. He climbed the hills where Jerusalem would later stand, where the sacrificial fires of the Temple would be built, the place where Jesus would take up the wood of the cross (as Isaac carried the wood for his sacrifice). He was surrounded on every side, front and back, and could not help but look up.

What happened when Abraham and Isaac arrived at God’s designated site of sacrifice? …the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God.” The response to Abraham’s troubles came from on high, from the top, from heaven.

Here’s the real test. Can we trust God enough to look up when those life-shattering troubles come? Can we place our reliance on Him? St. James noted: Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Troubles will either break us down, seem impossible, and cause us to look down or they will teach us to persevere and look up to heaven. The promise is that our perseverance, our looking up, will be rewarded and that we will lack for nothing particularly in eternity. We should repeat with the Psalmist: From whence does my help come? and answer: My help comes from the LORD.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for Quinquagesima Sunday 2015

wineskin

Time to get a new
shirt.

And Jesus said to them, “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.”

At the marriage in Cana the old wine ran out. The old wine was made with human effort, over a period of many years – but it could not meet the need – it ran out. This is a parable of life under the old way of doing things. The old wine runs out; no longer satisfies or is sufficient. The Lord has come to give us new wine, new life. He stands ready to fill us with His new wine.

Jesus came bringing a very powerful message. He promised us spiritual gifts that go beyond everyday life experience. He offers us freedom from sin and a law that drew heavy penalties for sin – chiefly the penalty of death. Instead He tells us that He has paid the price once and for all. He promises us immortality, a future life liberated from death, sickness, disease, poverty, and isolation. He lets us know that no matter, there is a future for each of us. He gave more than a bunch of promises; instead He made co-heirs and true children of God, His brothers and sisters. We have power that goes beyond this world. This is His new wine.

This powerful message does not work on those beholden to the old ways. In fact it causes them to burst in anger and retribution (old wineskins). Old wineskins are hard and unyielding.

We must be those new wineskins, ready to receive the Lord’s new wine. We must be people of His new way.

In the same way, Jesus draws the parallel to patching a garment. You cannot sew unshrunken cloth to a torn old garment; it will only make the tear worse. Jesus wants to clothe us with an entirely new garment of salvation, our baptismal robes. People beholden to old ways don’t want to change their old shrunken and torn ways for new ones. We, on the other hand, have to be ready to receive Jesus’ new ways – His garment.

As we come to the close of our Pre-Lenten season we have to ask ourselves whether we are ready to enter into the Great Lent ahead. It is not just being ready to give up chocolate, or meat, or acting angry toward a rude driver, but ready to be new wineskins – flexible and open to receiving Jesus’ new wine – His message. Will we allow ourselves to be filled, changed, and molded by Him? Are we ready to put on new clothes? With commitment to following Jesus and living His way we will hold Him and wear Him into life everlasting.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2015

7612_Disciple

Following the call to
discipleship.

The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’S bidding.

The call to discipleship is not a one-time event. If it were, most of us would likely miss it the first few times. Thankfully our God is constant in His call and He understands our stubbornness, the fact that we need to be reminded and called over and over.

Jonah is one example of God’s persistence. Jonah was a prophet of Israel, and for the most part he got to deliver happy messages. Then God’s call came: “Arise, go to Nin’eveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.”

This was a tough call. Jonah wouldn’t be delivering a happy message to his people, but would have to go to a foreign city, among non-believers, to deliver a very hard message. As we know: Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

Jonah literally went in the opposite direction.

Last week we heard John telling His disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” So, The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.

Today those same disciples are back to fishing. What happened in between? Perhaps they were scared by John’s arrest. Their prior discipleship ended in their leader going to a horrible prison. We could speculate as to the reasons that they went back to fishing, to being non-disciples. But, here comes Jesus, calling again saying: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Jesus didn’t give up on them. He called again and they abandoned their nets and followed him.

There will be times in our life where faithfulness, where our discipleship wanes. There are times when we will go back to our old nets, our former ways. When we do Jesus will come again and say once again: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

It is up to us to hear and follow. Will we again leave our nets, our old ways and follow Him? Will we announce His message (even if its uncomfortable and against what the world tells us is ‘right’)?

When we are called, let us leave fear behind and get busy as true disciples. Jesus calls us for a reason. Like Jonah, we can make a real difference by helping people to repent and believe. Like Jesus’ first disciples, we can make His name known everywhere we go.

Christian Witness, Homilies, , ,

Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2015

tunein

Do they hear
His voice?

At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet. The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth. So he said to Samuel, “Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”

A little background for today’s Old Testament reading: Eli is the high priest of Shiloh, the second-to-last Israelite judge. He held the highest and most responsible position among the people of God.

While high priest and judge, he fails with his children. His sons are abusive and wicked. Eli knows what’s going on, but does not properly correct his sons. He is supposed to be govern over Israel but cannot properly govern his family. As a result God judges Eli and his family. Eli and his family were supposed to be an example to the people of God much in the same way we are called to be examples to the world. It is good to reflect on Eli’s failings and his lack of proper judgment, to measure how well we carry out God’s will and what kind of example we set.

Samuel is the son of Hannah. She prayed that God would give her a child and pledged that she would offer her child back to God. Her prayer was answered. Samuel is brought back and he is dedicated to the Lord and to be trained by Eli.

What’s interesting is that for all the training Eli was to impart to Samuel, at the time of God’s call Samuel was not familiar with the LORD. Did Eli fail to teach Samuel about the Lord, to help him hear the Lord’s voice? Did he fail as an example and witness to God’s presence for Samuel too?

The child Samuel remained true to Heaven and God came that night to call him as His witness. God went right past Eli to charge Samuel as a faith witness to His reality.

We have an important charge and choice. We are charged to witness to the Lord, to follow His word as the truth, and to judge rightly. We are to make the Lord’s truth known through our words and actions, the way we live our lives. Will we choose to witness faithfully to the Lord, will we say with confidence that we have heard the Lord’s voice and take His word seriously? Will we let others know about the Lord so He doesn’t have to pass us by in order to relate to those who do not know Him? In short, will we be an Eli or a John the Baptist. John understood Eli’s failure. John heard God’s voice and pointed Him out to everyone: as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” People will not hear or see unless we remain true, witness, and like John and true disciples we make Him known to the world. They must hear from us.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord 2015

154309802

But when is the
first Sunday?

I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

The Church’s calendar is a rather complicated endeavor. You have to be really good at math to properly assemble it, and understand various historical nuances.

In our parish, the calendar may seem a little odd. We continue to honor the Christmas season right through February 2nd, the Solemnity of the Presentation. Our Christmas decorations remain, yet the vestments we use will change to green next week. It will be the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Wait, ummmm, what happened to the First Sunday in Ordinary Time?

Technically, Ordinary Time is observed in two periods: The first period beginning on the day after the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord (which we celebrate today) and ending on the day before Ash Wednesday; and The second period beginning on the Monday after Pentecost (the conclusion of the Easter Season) and continuing until the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent.

That may be the right answer, but it really does not answer our question: When/where is the First Sunday in Ordinary Time?

We could see today’s Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord as replacing or offsetting the First Sunday in Ordinary Time or we could look at it another way. The Baptism of the Lord is a start, a beginning, a first thing we must live every day.

On this day God reveals that Jesus is indeed His Son, the Messiah. The identity of God is made know: On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Our lives are filled with ordinariness. But, it all depends on how we interpret our ordinary experiences. If we simply ignore our ordinary every day experiences or see them has having no importance, we are missing something very important. Our ordinariness is not meaningless. Every moment, our every beginning, is to be seen and experienced in Jesus.

Jesus came to show us that what is ordinary – what is us – is so very important to Him. He shows us that our ordinariness is graced and we can accomplish all through and in Him. He has taken us by the hand. Every Sunday and every ordinary moment is of first importance lived in Him.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for the Feast of the Holy Family 2015

Icon-of-the-Holy-Family-of-Nazareth-Photograph

Bless and protect
our family.

Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body.

How very important is St. Paul’s discourse with the people of Colossae in Asia Minor. The primary subject of the section of his letter we read today is how to live the ideal Christian life.

As Jesus had told us: [we] are not of the world, even as [He is] not of the world. But we must live here; we must work to transform the world, conforming it to Jesus’ way of life so that His kingdom may be made real among us. That is the job we accept in our baptism. As such we must strive to be living examples. We must work toward the perfection of life Jesus modeled for His disciples – that’s us.

The Church at Colossae was not without troubles. Paul had spent two years planting and building the Church in Asia Minor. Starting in Ephesus he branched out and as Acts tells us: “all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.” Of course, Paul wasn’t solely responsible, for the initial hearers of the word became proclaimers of the Word.

From prison, Paul had heard that the Colossians, who had at one time been strong in their faith, were now vulnerable to deception about the faith. He wrote to refute each of the errors the Colossians were tempted to embrace and which were dividing them. The letter, however, takes readers far beyond theology. Paul cared deeply that all of his readers (including us) understand the context of their lives within God’s Story, and what that looks like in their relationships. We can imagine the disputes that were taking place, the confusion, and people stepping forward as ‘thought leaders.’ Others saying, ‘Forget it, I’m quitting.’ Paul was calling them back to right faith and right action – that they be one body, one family. They were not to quit, even if offended, but to forgive, to become better, and to be living examples of life in the family of Christ.

He puts a fine point on this by saying: And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Whatever we do when we enter the doors of the Church, and when we leave is to be done in the name of Jesus. Very appropriate to us, the family of Christ blessed and protected at Holy Name of Jesus!

Christian Witness, PNCC, , , ,

Ś+P Donald F. Mushalko, Ph.D.

From Trib Total Media: Polish culture, music backbones of man’s life

nekrolog1

Ś.P. Donald Mushalko devoted his life to music and to keeping Polish culture alive in the Pittsburgh region.

The outgoing and friendly former music professor at the University of Pittsburgh traveled extensively and had friends across the country and throughout Europe, said his sister, Jean Jasiewicz of McKeesport.

“Our grandparents emigrated from Poland, (and) they lived with us,” Jasiewicz said. “We learned the language as a second language as children. … It was just instilled in us from childhood.”

Donald F. Mushalko died Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014, at Briarcliff Pavilion in North Huntingdon from heart problems. He was 84.

Mr. Mushalko graduated from what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology with a degree in music education and violin. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, where he taught for 40 years and served as president of the Polish Room, one of the school’s 30 Nationality Rooms, all decorated in the tradition of specific nations.

He was involved with several Polish music, cultural and heritage groups in the region and was a devout member of Holy Family Polish National Catholic Church of Mc-Keesport, serving as choir director, an organist and, at times, a singer.

He was a devoted caretaker to his wife after she had a stroke, taking her out for activities and to banquets, said his niece, Joanne Dorazio of White Oak.

“She had a better social life than I did,” Dorazio said of her aunt. “It was good that he kept her active. … He didn’t just sit there with her.”

Dorazio said her uncle had a traditional Polish dinner on Christmas Eve with his family and spent Christmas at her house with his wife’s family.

“He was bound and determined (to make it through Christmas this year),” Dorazio said. “He enjoyed himself. It was a nice send-off for him, I think.”

He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen C. Korch Mushalko, and a sister, Alice M. Mushalko. In addition to Jasiewicz and Dorazio, Mr. Mushalko is survived by his brothers, George A. Mushalko and Edwin Mushalko, and wife, Arlene; and many nieces and nephews.

Friends will be received from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, December 31st and from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. January 2nd in the Jaycox-Jaworski Funeral Home, 2703 O’Neil Blvd., McKeesport. A blessing service will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, January 3rd followed by a 10 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial in Holy Family Polish National Catholic Church. Interment will follow in Holy Family Cemetery, North Versailles.

Memorial contributions may be made to Holy Family Polish National Catholic Church, 1921 Eden Park Blvd., McKeesport, PA 15132.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord, and may the Perpetual Light shine upon him.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, , ,

Solemnity of the Circumcision 2015

First reading: Genesis 17:9-14
Psalm: Ps. 19:8-11
Epistle: Galatians 5:3-6
Verse Philippians 3:3
Gospel: Luke 2:21

circumcisionpainting

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Today we observe the Solemnity of the Circumcision. In accordance with Mosaic law, Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth. As we read in Genesis: An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you.

Eight days is often called, within the context of the Church, an Octave.

The Church calls us to observe the eight days following Christmas as an “Octave” or eight consecutive holy days. These days allow us the time needed to contemplate the mystery of Jesus’ coming as man in a special way.

The eight days between the Solemnity of the Nativity and the Circumcision are as much a celebration of Christmas as Christmas day itself. In the Church’s wisdom, She knows that we cannot possibly celebrate the unfathomable mystery of Jesus’ birth in just one day. These eight days of contemplation help us to prepare and conform ourselves to a life where we continually observe the Christmas feast. We train to make it a constant in our lives.

Each of our Octave days are to be filled with praise, reflection, and profound contemplation of the richness we have as Christians – a richness that starts in Jesus’ birth. By observing these eight days, this Octave, we can re-order and better practice our observance of Christmas as a continuum. It helps us to move further away from the worldly practice of celebrating Christmas in one chaotic morning, throwing it all out the day after. We move away from observing and being slaves to a commercial calendar to the calendar that reveals God’s love.

The practice of observing a celebration for eight days is as ancient as the Old Testament. The Hebrew people observed many of their feasts for a period of eight days. The “Feast of Tabernacles” and the “Dedication of the Temple” are two of the more notable. Later, in the Christian era, the Church continued the tradition by celebrating very special feasts for the same length of days. Today we celebrate several feasts with Octaves: Christmas, the Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi.  The Church offers these eight days periods in order to allow us ample time to contemplate the richness of these mysteries. 

These observances take us away from being overly simplistic in celebrating the greatest and most profound Holy Days – days that mark God’s most powerful interventions in human history. It helps us to see, in a deeper way, how powerful God’s saving work is. It helps us to more fully integrate these great and powerful truths into our own lives.

The powerful truth we celebrate in a particular way today, on this eighth day of Christmas, is the Lord’s circumcision. On this occasion we are given a profound lesson concerning Jesus’ humanity. On this day our Savior first shed His precious blood. The Cross, and suffering that was to come, overshadowed the Lord Jesus even while He lay in a crib by swaddling cloths. The knife which cut the Lord’s flesh on that day foreshadows the centurion’s spear which would pierce His side, releasing the saving flood of blood and water. In that blood and water we have been made new – we have been regenerated into His image.

The Spirit-blade of baptism’s waters and our communion in the blood of Christ marks the soul and body of each and every Christian with the “Seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” We become children of the new Covenant, and rather than circumcise our flesh, we circumcise our hearts.

Consider that Jesus first came in a world that did not have television, computers, sports, cell phones, fast food, automobiles, careers and newspapers. Yet our ancestors too were distracted by daily life. They needed time to take stock of God’s great work, to circumcise their hearts anew. How much more do we need the time to enter more deeply into God’s mysteries, to circumcise our hearts in these hectic days. How much more do we need to be reminded to take time off from work, visit family, feast, attend Holy Mass more regularly, praise God, care for the poor, do charitable works, and most of all be humbled by all God has done for us.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , ,

Thank You Lord for the Year Past and Bless Us in the Year Ahead

We give Thee our most humble and hearty thanks O God, for blessings without number which we have received from Three in 2014, for all Thy goodness and loving kindness, for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. And, we beseech Thee, give us that due sense of all Thy mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful for all things, and that we show forth Thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to Thy service and by walking before Thee in holiness and righteousness all our days. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

All_Things_New_sm

Lord, we pray for all mankind in 2015, that we may brought to know, love and serve Thee. We pray for Thy Holy Church throughout all the world and especially for our own part of the Church, for our Bishops, Priests, Deacons and People.

We pray for the employed, that they may work as unto Thee and not unto men. We pray for the unemployed, that they may find work and be saved from despondency. Be Thou their strength in adversity.

We pray that the sick be healed, the hungry fed, the mourners comforted, the poor succored and the afflicted in mind and body be firmly held in Thy deep peace, that peace which passeth all understanding.

Bless our friends and enemies and grant us all the spirit of penitence, that we may be forgiven through the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ or Savior, who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

We wish you every blessing in the year ahead.

Fr. Jim & family

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