Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Category: Homilies

You are Here :
Homilies, PNCC, , ,

Reflection for Septuagesima and Music Scholarship Sunday

040ede0e

How can I know you’re happy?
I’m singing to God.

Make a joyful shout to God all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; make His praise glorious – Psalm 66:1,2.

Our Holy Church places a right emphasis on the place of music in worship. In the ancient Church, the Bishop as minister of the Eucharist sung the words of the Eucharistic prayer, raising people’s minds to the beauty and glory of God.

Our worship transcends time. Heaven will always resound with worship. When we complete our life on earth, we will have eternal careers as worshippers praising Him around His throne.

Our days in the community of faith – the Church – are to be spent in preparation for this eternal career through worship.

Jesus said: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.”

Therefore, we encourage each other to worship and take this opportunity to stress the importance of worship through song. We further encourage study by our youth and adults through scholarships so that their talents might add to our worship.

Worship through music provides the body of Christ in the Church, and here in our parish, with an opportunity to engage in heartfelt and meaningful praise of the Triune God. The style of our worship songs varies, but through each we offer to God our praise and adoration in singing, choral music, ensembles, and special presentations.

Worshipping through song glorifies God, edifies the body, prepares our hearts for hearing the Word preached, and is our response to teaching. St. Paul told the people of Colossae, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

It is the Church’s goal that worship in song be a vital part of each believer’s life, allowing God to mold our attitudes and actions as we give voice to the “new song” He has placed in our hearts (Psalm 96:1).

The ministry of music plays a very important role in our worship. It expresses our joy in a special way and is a unique and vital aspect of our worship.

Our heavenly Father expects absolutely everything we do to be an act of worship. The purpose of worship in music is to bring Him glory by rehearsing His character through song. What better way to show Him, and each other, the joy we have in Christ.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for the Second Sunday In Ordinary Time

Shirt Wording Cutout

Are we going over?
Yes, yes we are.

Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

Anne Rice, writing about the life of Jesus, describes Cana as follows: “It’s a winter of no rain, endless dust, and talk of trouble in Judea. All who know and love Jesus find themselves waiting for some sign of the path he will eventually take. After his baptism, he is at last ready to confront his destiny. At the wedding at Cana, he takes water and transforms it into wine. Thus, he’s recognized as the anointed one and called by God the Father to begin a ministry that will transform an unsuspecting world.”

We have been following Jesus’ path from His birth, the visit of the shepherds, His circumcision, the visit of the Magi, and His baptism. After His baptism, John pointed out that Jesus was the One everyone expected, the Messiah. He told his followers to follow Jesus. Disciples began to flock to Jesus because some had heard the Father’s voice from heaven and had seen the Spirit descend on Him. Others followed based on John’s word. What a great build-up.

We are at Cana today. We know something amazing is going to happen. This period of build-up has to be fulfilled. We can sense it. It is like being at the top of a rollercoaster, knowing what’s coming next. Yet we are fearful. We might even wonder if we will be stuck without ever going over. Suddenly, we are rushing headlong filled with the thrill of the moment, feeling exhilarated. No fear, only joy.

The disciples were now rushing headlong. They experienced the power of God at work in Jesus. God was among them, what an amazing rush.

Church and the life of faith is more than pretending we were there or sitting on the edge. Each week we live with Jesus by our presence in the community of faith, entered by baptism.

Just as Jesus intervened to help the newly married couple He continues to intervene in our lives. In our weekly worship and Holy Communion we don’t just remember His great deeds, we don’t just retell an interesting story, we become a real and living part of that story. We are there with Him in the very same way His disciples were. We have the same pledge.

We could sit at the top of the rollercoaster with anticipation or fear. Like Ryder, who joins with us in taking that plunge off the edge into the life of faith today, we live a powerful and exhilarating life by going over. Fear is destroyed by joy. Adventure is here. We are transformed and we transform others. We are in the present with Jesus, over the edge, alive.

Christian Witness, Homilies, , , , ,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord

Baptism

Why should I join?
What does it mean?

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

It wouldn’t be unusual to wonder about baptism, what it means. We might also wonder why Jesus was baptized.

For us, baptism is membership in the body of Jesus, the Church – we are made part of Jesus by descending into the water, as He descended into death. With this membership we are promised that we, like Jesus, will rise again.

For us, baptism is washing. We are washed of sin. In baptism we recognize that we fall short of the glory of God. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” We know that we are sinful, no one is perfect and without failings. In baptism we acknowledge our sinfulness and our reliance on God, who through Jesus’ sacrifice washes us of our sinfulness, brings us forgiveness, and welcomes us back – always, no matter what.

For us, baptism is proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God, true God and true man. We proclaim the triune nature of God, Jesus’ sacrificial death, resurrection, and ascension. In baptism we proclaim the Creed – stating definitively what we believe by faith. At Jesus’ baptism the heavens were opened. The Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. The Father’s voice is heard: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” This is God revealed, as He is, plain and simple, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Jesus’ baptism pointed to all these things. At Jesus’ baptism John publicly recognized and declared that Jesus was the One who was awaited, the Messiah, the One who would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Jesus’ baptism also showed that He identified with sinners. His baptism symbolized sinners’ baptism into His righteousness. In addition, Jesus baptism showed His approval of John’s baptism, bearing witness to it, that it was from heaven and approved by God. Later, after His resurrection, He would tell His followers that by baptizing the many they would be made His disciples. In Jesus’ baptism the reality of God was revealed in testimony direct from heaven.

All the glorious truth of the mercy of God found in Jesus Christ is on display at His baptism. We join ourselves to that glory and truth in our baptism.

In the dynamics of baptism we join ourselves to all the truth of Jesus. We proclaim that God has freed us by His grace and our acceptance of that grace. We declare with all the faith that we have – we are members of His body, and that He is our Lord and God. We are His members – and it means this: That we receive His mercy and glory.

Christian Witness, Homilies, ,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Epiphany

IMG_7238-image-extracted-small1-1024x643

Does God play…
hide and seek?

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”

Have you ever stopped for directions? The typical joke is that a man will drive around for hours, trying to find a destination, while a woman would immediately stop and ask for directions.

From our reading of the scripture we see that the Wise Men/Kings/Astrologers/Magi did stop and ask directions. They received directions, an answer in response to their search for The Answer, and made their way to Bethlehem.

It seems inconsistent doesn’t it? The Wise Men were following a star. Besides being men, why would they stop for directions if they had the star to guide them?

The lesson here is that something greater was happening. We need to unfold the map, and get our directions by reading between the lines a little.

Certainly, the gospel account is true. The Astrologers saw a sign in the skies and intuited that something wonderful had happened. That intuition isn’t just some human trait, but God’s grace at work in them, asking them to take action. They chose to believe and act on that grace. They decided to believe and follow a light – a star.

The star they followed wasn’t just something in the sky; it was the light glowing in their hearts that drove them onward toward God. That light drove them toward Jesus, the reality of God’s promise to all people.

The Wise Men received a great blessing – from outside of God’s chosen people, God called these men. With the power of His love – that is, His grace – He called Gentile leaders to come to His Son. These representatives of all nations responded. They headed toward Jesus (stopping for directions along the way).

God doesn’t play hide-and-seek. His grace is for all people in the same way as was given to the Magi. The light of His star exists in all hearts as a little flicker, an ember. If we choose to act on that grace and head toward Jesus, that ember will be fanned into a great flame, greater than any star.

When touched by the spark of grace we must not brush it off or put it out. Rather we stop and ask directions. We start in our faith community, our local church. From there, we set out and find Him as fully as we are able. Finding Him we also become His messengers (like the Magi – who as travelers were also bearers of news). With a great light in us we go out and proclaim the Good News. God is not hiding – we only need to fan His many embers into great stars revealing Jesus to all.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, ,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds

Slide1

He called,
they and I answered.

“I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says the LORD.”

There are several very good reasons for our Church to have established this special Solemnity, that of the Humble Shepherds.

Our initial thoughts go to the remembrance of those men, who kept watch over their flocks by night, to whom the angel first appeared to announce the good news of the Lord’s birth.

Since God deigned to provide first news of His birth to these men, the Holy Church should rightly honor them and their witness to His coming. The community of the Church, each of us, should also take after their example by listening, responding, and taking action.

Next, our thoughts should go to those men around us that God continues to speak to and through. They work among us as leaders. They draw us to the goodness of the Lord. These are the shepherds among us; they are the bishops, priests, and deacons of our Holy Church.

What does it mean to be such a shepherd?

Like the shepherds on that hillside, today’s shepherds must listen. Listening is difficult, especially if the one speaking to you doesn’t use the phone, Facebook, E-mail, texting, or smoke signals. His word comes in very subtle ways, and they seem easy to set aside and ignore. Yet, if we dare to listen, we will hear Him speaking to us, setting forth a vital mission and challenge that we need to take on.

Like those shepherds, today’s responded and went. They left everything they thought they might be behind. They went to be what He wants them to be. Whether drafted, or going voluntarily (even reluctantly sometimes), they still chose to respond. They didn’t sit on the hillside wondering, “What if?” They didn’t miss the chance.

Also like the shepherds that went that night, they took something away with them, the experience of meeting the Lord who challenges us, who supports us, who is our best friend and confidant. They met Him and were changed in that meeting. They then took what they learned, and with the Lord’s help went out on mission, to build the Church, to gather co-workers, and to build family and community.

They lead because they have heard and seen abundantly. They tell others, many of who and astonished and do not accept their word. Those that do hear, who may also be astonished at first, but who then follow by listening, responding and taking action themselves are God’s witnesses in the world.

Homilies

Christmas Reflection

17702

Beloved:
The grace of God has appeared, saving all

Here we stand, at the manger, at the answer.

We have been inundated by the negatives of the world, particularly over the last several weeks, even in the last 24 hours, but here we stand, before the answer.

In this decrepit, shoddy stable, the answer came to us. The answer came with a one way ticket. The answer, this little baby, came with a one way ticket and brought a new dawn.

The one way ticket is for God intervening, providing us with the way from darkness and sin to light and life. He came to save – Jesus – the name that means God saves. God has come to save His people that are you and me, all of us.

The one way ticket is for God who promised He would come to save, not just temporarily, or for a short time, but forever. He came to stay with us, and in us, as the answer.

This saving work, this answer continues among us. He is here, in this small parish, on a small street. He is in our big and welcoming hearts – the heart of Jesus which we reflect. He is in our community. He is in the many blessings we have received, and the struggles and work we face together. He is in the beauty of our children and the wisdom of our elders. The answer is in Him and His promises – that are for us – here and now.

The answer is among us. God is among us, with us, here to stay. Thank you Lord Jesus, thank you for this holy night. Amen.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC,

Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

17707

Because He said it…
believe it!

“Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

The Annunciation – that moment where the angel Gabriel told Mary that God had chosen her. The dialog goes on and we hear Mary say yes to God. She says yes to the impossible.

Months before that Zechari’ah was serving in the temple when the Gabriel appeared to him and told him that his elderly wife Elizabeth would have a baby. Zechari’ah didn’t believe that the impossible could happen, even with an angel telling him (a seemingly impossible event in and of itself). Because of this disbelief Zechari’ah was left without speech.

Today, we hear of the confluence of these events. Mary travels to see Elizabeth, to serve her in her pregnancy. As Mary arrives, and sounds her greeting, the seemingly impossible happens. John, still in his mother’s womb leaps for joy. John leapt for joy not just because of the sound of Mary’s voice. He leapt because of the presence of God in her womb. How could this be possible?

Throughout salvation history the impossible has happened. A small tribal people became God’s people. They were saved in miraculous ways. In the fullness of time God came to us through them, and offered Himself for our redemption and salvation. He died and rose from the dead, and from there His word spread throughout the world at the hands of fishermen, tent makers, tax collectors, and others. That word went out and was accepted by new groups of people and nations who all became God’s chosen people.

Consider too that the time of the impossible has not ended. The saints and martyrs – and all who hold and profess our common Christian faith have accomplished the impossible. In the history of our Holy Church, a small group of people worked together, and democratically, to organize a new society of faith, a new Church to carry out the seemingly impossible. Now its work is spreading around the globe.

As with Mary’s example, we must be prepared to believe that there are no barriers in God. With Him, nothing is impossible and conversely, the impossible is nothing to us. God’s grace is powerful and can accomplish everything. We must take up and accept that grace, agreeing to be His allies and His workers in carrying out the impossible.

Walter Cronkite used to say: “And that’s the way it is.” Let us be joyous as Elizabeth and the pre-born John were, that God continues to speak to us, to call us, to accomplish the impossible through us. That is the way it is with God. Because He says it, believe it! We are blessed who believe.

Christian Witness, Homilies, , ,

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent

11613

Why!

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Today we listen to words of joy, encouragement, gladness, and exultation. We hear of God’s provision for His people. We are reassured that we share in love because God is among us. We also share in the wonderful gift of forgiveness and renewal. We follow John the Baptist’s admonition to repent before the coming of the Lord.

The events of this week in Newtown turn the message of rejoicing on its head. How can we rejoice? How can we be glad and exult? Faced with these words we turn to God with hearts and minds full of questions, maybe questions tinged with anger.

Philosophers and theologians have explanations for all this, but what good are explanations when our hearts are filled with sadness and grief? Can explanations help when our hearts are downcast and our minds fearful? What has happened? God, couldn’t you have intervened!?!

Then we consider our confession and repentance. We look at our sins, and we think, my sins are so small, so insignificant, so trifling. Why should I feel guilt and remorse for my small sins, to have to repent, when there is such serious evil and so much sickness in the world?

In a few days, the next ugly thing will happen. Some person, claiming to be Christian, will burst out with blame for one group or another, and say that God is purposefully punishing us.

We, who follow Jesus can be reassured that God’s peace surpasses our human understanding. Christ came to live among us, not just to appear and go back. He did not come to punish, but to bring healing and renewal. He is not just an antidote to evil, someone we can conjure up in hard and sad times, but the light that destroys evil.

In our confession and repentance we bear witness and re-align ourselves with right and truth. We stay on the right track and call the world to do the same. Renewed, we set out to be God’s light, bearing Christ with us. We bring love where there is little, joy where there is none, comfort where there is despair. Healing to the sick.

God has not left us abandoned and alone. He is intervening every day through us. This Sunday let our hearts take comfort and overcome. Stand up and rejoice in the face of despair and sadness because in the midst of horrible tragedy we will bear the light of Christ to the world – a light that no darkness can overcome.

Christian Witness, Homilies, , , , ,

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent

I can’t believe it!
I guess you didn’t not see it…

A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

If we read the caption above, we note the double negative: “didn’t not.” Writing this, my word-processing program kept pointing to my error.

Word-processing programs are a wonderful invention for someone like me who has terrible spelling skills. Either a red or green underline shows up. Red if the word appears to be misspelled, green if the grammar is incorrect.

Let’s think of John the Baptist as God’s word-processor. He went out to proclaim a wonderful gift, that people could renew their lives if they would only repent, make straight their ways. Salvation was theirs if they would take the steps to correct themselves.

Like my word-processing program, John pointed out serious errors, especially of the so-called “leaders” of the day. He put really big red underlines under all sinfulness.

His call to repentance was just like that of the word-processor. The error is obvious, its been pointed out. But now what? We have to recognize that red underline; we have to see it. Then, we have to take action to fix it. We have to correct the spelling and grammar of our lives, bringing them into alignment with God’s way.

Whenever we hear John’s cry “Prepare the way… make straight the paths… fill-in the valleys… make low the mountains and hills…make the winding roads straight… the rough ways smooth” we also begin to think like construction workers. We laugh, get me a bulldozer and a big crew and we can do it. Construction takes engineering, study, process, and hard work. John wasn’t talking about construction! He was shouting about the engineering, study, process, and hard work we have to do to make our lives right before God.

Let us be dedicated to making our lives straight, smooth, and level; getting rid of the red underlines, living lives based on God’s desires for us. Doing so, we have the guarantee of finding peace, renewal, and seeing His salvation.

The Jewish people were carried away to captivity and spent generations there. When they were freed they didn’t see it coming. We already know Jesus is returning. We do not need to foresee the moment for we know we must prepare. Prepare His way and be ready to rejoice. Stand ready to share in peace and great joy at His Salvation. Come Lord Jesus!

Homilies, PNCC,

Conception of the B.V.M. and the Feast of Divine Love

When our church was young, Bp. Hodur and the Church’s Holy Synod transformed the so called Feast of the “Immaculate Conception” of Blessed Virgin Mary to the Feast of Divine Love.

The entire construct of the so called immaculate conception was based on a legalistic understanding of “original sin.” If everyone is born in a sinful state, in original sin, inherited from their parents through the sexual act of procreation, then there has to be a specially created individual – Mary – who was preserved from original sin. Some have even extended Mary’s uniqueness and separateness from the rest of humanity by arguing that Jesus’ birth was a bloodless, painless event where the infant simply floated out of the Blessed Virgin’s womb.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote against the innovation that Mary’s birth was unlike that of others. He argued that this contradicted the very purpose of Jesus’ Incarnation, which was that He received our human nature through Mary. If her nature is unique, then Jesus’ connection with the rest of humanity is severed. (ST 27 2r).

We have not dogmatized this belief, nor do we recognize it. This is not an article of Divine revelation. As Polish National Catholics we believe that Mary was preserved from sin, and remained sinless and pure from the time of her birth. But, we do not need to construct a special status for Mary because her birth and our birth are all without sin. We do not countenance the idea of original sin in such a legalistic way. We do not accept accept that humans are sinful in their birth.

Instead, we teach that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. We profess that creation is not evil, but that it is an expression of Divine Love. Evil is certainly real, and present in the world, the result of humanity’s fall. We all fall into sin, but it is our responsibility for failing to act according to goodness of our creation.

Creation is good says Genesis, and human creation is very good. Rather than speak of the unique status of Mary, the Feast of Divine Love speaks about the goodness of creation in general as an expression of a good Creator.

The Feast of Divine Love encapsulates so much of what is positive about our Church, its focus on love and human potential. To the 1928 Synod our organizer declared: “Everything else [besides God] is transitory, but this divine element [of love] is immortal.” God never abandons His love toward us even though we do fall into the sinfulness that exists in the world.

Our Church sees Divine Love in God’s sharing of wisdom and free will. The Divine Love of creation is that we are made “very good” (Genesis 1:31) in the image and likeness of God. When we fall into sin, we know that we can always turn to God. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to us to redeem us from our fall into sinfulness; from our unfortunate propensity to reject God’s Divine Love.

All Right Reserved © 2005 - 2023