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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

Calendar of Saints, Christian Witness, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Saints and Martyrs, , , ,

Stoning of St. Stephen and small ‘t’ tradition

A great story from the Sunday Dispatch below. We honored this tradition at home when I was young. My grandmother (Busha – a Polish term of endearment for grandma) used to wake us up by throwing a few nuts at us. This story brought back those memories. In these small ‘t’ traditions we do a certain kind of catechesis that is experiental.

From the Sunday Dispatch: Stoning of St. Stephen honored in Duryea by throwing walnuts at priest

DURYEA — St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church, Duryea, continued the celebration of the sacred holiday season on Friday night with a mass commemorating the feast of St. Stephen, deacon and first martyr of the church. The service included the throwing of walnuts at celebrant Father Carmen G. Bolock.

“Although this week has certainly focused on the birth of Christ,” said Bolock, “it is fitting that we should also focus on the suffering and service that define the life of Christians.”

St. Mary's Polish National Catholic Church pastor, the Rev. Carmen Bolock, gives his homily Friday night. -- Bill Tarutis for the Sunday Dispatch
St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church pastor, the Rev. Carmen Bolock, gives his homily Friday night. — Bill Tarutis for the Sunday Dispatch
Amidst beautiful Christmas décor that included carefully lighted trees, poinsettias, and of course, a nativity scene, Bolock reminded those gathered to stand firm in their faith.

He said just as St. Stephen looked up to see Jesus as he was being put to death by stoning, Christians must also “look up” when their faith is being challenged or others avoid them because of their beliefs.

He said just as Jesus prayed for those who persecuted Him, so Stephen also asked God to forgive those who stoned him.

The service also included holiday hymns including “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and “God is Born.”

Bolock said celebration of patron saints’ days throughout the holiday season emphasized the continuing spirituality of faith.

Church members continued their week of commemoration, remembering the feast of St. John the Evangelist on Saturday and the Solemnity of Humble Shepherds on Sunday.

“St. John was the only apostle to die of natural causes,” said Bolock, “even though those who opposed the Gospel tried to kill him by execution and poisoning.”

Bolock said the throwing of walnuts at the priest was both an opportunity to strengthen faith of those attending and to keep a time honored Eastern European tradition alive.

And, although that tradition is certainly a sacred one, Bolock also remembers one such service when he was “beaned” in the head.

“I found out later it was the organist,” he said laughing.

PNCC,

Ś+P Very Rev. Edward Meus

238Very Rev. śp. Edward Meus, age 72 of Portage; formerly of Merrillville, IN, passed away Wednesday, December 24, 2014.

He is survived by his wife Eva of 48 years; three children: Steven Meus, Donna (Jack) Pavlik, Christine Waugh; four grandchildren: Kayla and Megan Bowman, Abigail and Zachary Meus; brother Very Rev. Henry (Sophie) Meus; sister Sophie (late Joseph) Kulba; and many nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by parents Adam and Mary Meus; brother Dr. Joseph Meus; sisters: Julia Meus and Irene Williams.

Father Meus Was a senior priest of The Polish National Catholic Church for 50 years having served Divine Providence Polish National Catholic Church in Merrillville, IN for 41 years and currently at Our Savior Polish National Catholic Church in New Chicago, IN until his time of passing. He had also taught at Ivy Tech for many years. He was a graduate of Chicago Teachers College and Savonarola Theological Seminary.

Family and friends may call at Pruzin Brothers Funeral Service (6360 Broadway, Merrillville) on Tuesday from 2-8 P.M. with a prayer service at 7 P.M. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, December 31, 2014 at 10:15 A.M. from Pruzin Brothers Chapel and 11 A.M. from Our Savior Polish National Catholic Church (3547 Michigan St., New Chicago, IN) with the Rt. Rev. Stanley Bilinski officiating. At rest Calvary Cemetery. Memorials are preferred to Polish National Catholic Priest Pension Fund.

Family and friends may share an online condolence or memory at Pruzin Brothers Funeral Service.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, , ,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds 2014

Come to Me

Getting even
busier.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands afar off; say, `He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’

Today we celebrate a special day within our Holy Church. Uniquely, we celebrate this Solemnity in honor of the humble shepherds that God chose to first hear word of His Son’s coming among us. He chose these simple shepherds, who were generally outcasts from society, to not just hear of His Son’s birth, but then to go forth and proclaim it to all: And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child.

In these days after the celebration of the Solemnity of the Nativity we may be tempted to relax a bit. The hustle-bustle seems to have died down a bit, yet if we look at our Church’s calendar we will notice that we are just getting started. That’s what happened to the shepherds. Their mission was just starting that night in Bethlehem. They recognized the preciousness and joy of the Lord’s birth and then got busy.

Getting busy means that we too recognize the meaning and import of the tremendous joy that is the coming of the Lord. This requires two things, two kinds of busyness.

We must keep this solemn season before our eyes and in our hearts. Jesus’ coming was not a one-time event. His coming as man marks only a beginning. He constantly stands before our doors, always knocking, asking that we allow Him to enter our homes and our lives. We have to get busy in answering the door. We need to open ourselves to Him and carry out His will for us. We have to recognize that His coming again remains immanent. We have to get busy in making His presence known to those who are not hearing the knock, who do not recognize it.

We must also respond in a special way, particularly the men among us. We encourage them to get busy in answering Jesus’ special call, for He needs those men to go out, as those humble shepherds did. Jesus is knocking and they are being called to make known the saying which had been told them concerning this child.

Our Holy Church is so blessed for we are not a Church at rest. Right here, in our community, we are busy working diligently at making the Lord’s coming known. We have among us those humble shepherds who have responded with joy to the Lord’s call to be busy about the work of the Lord as bishops, priests, and deacons. Let us give thanks for God’s tremendous blessings to our community and our Holy Church, for all who commit their lives to being busy about the Lord’s work.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, ,

Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Advent and Confirmation

romans_1_16

Called to make the
Good News known

Brothers and sisters: To him who can strengthen you, according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus Christ has given us His Gospel – that is the Good News necessary for us to recognize the truth of salvation. This Good News tells us two things: God desires a relationship with us, that He wants to be more than just part of our lives, but in total union with us throughout our lives; and that He loves us so much that He was willing and did sacrifice Himself to make that love and unity real forever. Truly, He came to both preach the Good News and deliver its promise.

As Claudia, Justyne, and Adam complete the sacrament of Baptism-Confirmation with their reception of Confirmation today, they acknowledge and accept as adults what St. Paul tells us: Our redemption and salvation brought about by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, are without controversy. They are true facts that they fully accept and believe in. Claudia, Justyne, and Adam take up the challenge to proclaim this Good News in an adult way. They stand before us in potential and will clearly state: Yes, this is what I want to do. I know that Jesus did this for me, for my family in the faith, and I want to invite all I meet and know to also accept this Good News.

Their potential must now come to realization. They are like bread dough. The Holy Spirit and our family in the faith have filled them with the yeast of the Good News. This has been and remains the yeast of knowing, loving and serving the Lord and each other. But if this dough remains unbaked it will spoil. The baking will come through their witness to Jesus Christ in His Holy Church and in the community. They will face trials (the baking) – for the world either ignores or hates the Good News. The Good News gets in the way of self-centered lives. It requires submission and obedience. We cannot go our own way, we must be obedient and go the way God intends in order to share in the Good News. We must become one in the great family of faith, not just in our minds and homes, but also in Church and on the street.

God’s mystery has been made known to us. This is not just the word of prophets and preachers, but the very Word of God come among us. Today Claudia, Justyne, and Adam are anointed to make the Good News known to all they meet. Christ is salvation to all who believe. Come share in Him.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, , ,

Revived By Grace: Revival, Renewal & Restoration

10391445_833664746691798_1176176903936145504_nThe fifteenth National Mission & Evangelism Workshop of the Polish National Catholic Church themed “Revived By Grace: Revival, Renewal & Restoration” will take place at St. Martin & St. Rose Parish, San Antonio, Texas from Friday, February 27th – Sunday, March 1st, 2015.

Beginning on Friday, Februay 27, 2015, the PNCC will present the Fourteenth National Mission and Evangelism Workshop. The Workshop will be held in San Antonio at St. Martin & St. Rose Parish.

Over the past fifteen years the National Commission on Mission and Evangelism has presented to the faithful and clergy of the Church an opportunity to explore one of many faith-driven aspects of the Church on a National level, as well as experiencing the Church on a local Parish level.

Our goal for each Mission Workshop has been that the Faithful come away with a burning desire to bring faith-driven work of the Workshop back to their parishes, and be a light to that local Community of Faith, the Parish, and the communities in which they live.

This year’s Mission Workshop will be held in San Antonio, Texas. The hotel is located next to the Alamo and other historical sites, the River Walk, and the River Center Mall, St. Martin & St. Rose is about four miles from the hotel.
Arrangements have been made with the hotel for extra days to be added to our workshop days. Consider spending a couple additional days either before or after the workshop for some R & R.

Please click on the links below for Workshop resources:

Workshop Pamphlet which includes the tentative schedule, names, phone numbers and email addresses you may need.

Workshop registration form and Hotel reservation form. The Registration Committee requests that you call the hotel directly for reservations. When making reservations please use the hotel code: “Polish National Catholic Church.” The cutoff date for obtaining the guaranteed room rate of $109 plus tax ($16.75) is February 15, 2015.

Please fill out the registration form and send it along with a check for the Workshop Registration Fee of $75.00 per person. Please make the check payable to: St. Martin & St. Rose Parish.

Deadline for registering for the Workshop is February 15, 2015. For registrations post-marked after February 15, 2015, the registration fee is $95.00.

We pray that you will consider joining us for the Fifteenth National Mission & Evangelism Workshop of the PNCC, and we look forward to your attendance.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Rev. Raymond Drada, Workshop & Commission Chairman Parish Phone: (586) 978-1125 or Very Rev. Gus Sicard, Pastor Phone: (210) 924-1043

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, , ,

Thoughts on my Ordination to the Holy Priesthood

Overwhelmed by love – from preparing for my ordination to the Holy Priesthood, to the actual liturgy on the Commemoration of St. Nicholas, to my first Holy Mass offered on Sunday, December 7th, the Second Sunday of Advent for the people of my parish, living and deceased, and for my dearly departed parents. The love of the Lord has been poured out on me through the family of faith in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church, our many friends, and of course my family. This love is overwhelmingly powerful and life changing. I am so thankful for all of you who are a gift to me, a gift from God. I remember in a special way the many blessings I have received through our Church, its congregations, its priests and deacons, and most particularly the love and support of our Prime Bishop Anthony who has guided, supported, and cared for me since he was a priest and my Bishop ordinary, Bishop Bernard who reminds me of the many ways Christ is at work in our Church and in me, and of holy memory, Bishop Casimir Grotnik who loved me as a son. I am overwhelmed by this tremendous love and my heart desires only to love and serve God and His body – our family of faith. Thank you and bless you all.

Thank you to Fr. Robert for the following pictures. Pictures from my first Holy Mass will follow once they are available.

By the way – any interesting ideas on a new name for this website? Let me know.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, , ,

Personal news

To all my faithful on-line readers and friends,

I invite you to pray for me as I prepare to enter the next chapter of my ministry in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. On Saturday, December 6th, the Commemoration of St. Nicholas, His Grace, the Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Mikovsky will ordain me to the order of presbyter in our Church. I will celebrate my first Solemn Holy Mass on Sunday, December 7th, the Second Sunday of Advent. Attached below is more detailed information and my invitation to all of you. You have supported me, prayed for me, challenged me, and worked with me over these last nine years. You have helped me to grow in faith and in my commitment to the work Jesus has called me to do.

Ordination Invitation - Holy Priesthood

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, , , , ,

Reflection for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time and Heritage Sunday

rendertocaesar

What is it we
worship?

Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

Today our Holy Church calls us to recall and honor the heritage of our members and of all people. It is a celebration of who we are as people — the gifts God has given us. More importantly, the Church calls us to properly order what is most important in our lives.

Whether our ancestors came to this country as immigrants, as indentured servants or involuntarily as slaves – we are called to honor their heritage and innate human dignity. We are to remember the struggles they faced and the battles they fought to grasp the freedom, honor, and dignity they and we are all entitled to. Where we come from is important because it is a part of who we are. Each culture and heritage enriches our common life and we share in each other’s heritage as members of God’s family.

The early Church recognized the gifts the faithful brought to the Church. Most importantly, it recognized that in Jesus Christ we all have equal membership in the one family of faith regardless of background. Heritage is a gift to be shared in the one family of faith. Thus, St. Paul reminded the Church at Galatia: There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

While we honor each person’s heritage, we must remember that in Jesus we are equal members in His family and that we are called to properly order what we worship.

What does that mean? It means that while we honor heritage and the gifts of each nation we must not make heritage or nation an object of worship.

Jesus is reminding the Pharisees of this proper ordering. Our first and foremost obligation is to give to God what is God’s. When we let anything interfere with the proper ordering of our relationship with Him – politics, national affinity, or heritage – when we quibble over this or that being most important, we lose touch with that which must come first in our lives.

Jesus’ response to His questioners offers us a guide to properly ordering our worship. The Roman coin – Caesar’s – referred to him as a god. Jesus reminded them (and us) that we cannot give worship to both God and Caesar. We have to choose our focus of worship and properly order our priorities. We should chose only God as the sole focus of our devotion and worship. By placing Him first we clearly proclaim that He alone is our God.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, ,

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Christian Family 2014

2263

God bless our
family.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

In the time of advance technology and information, our families are almost continually confronted by bad influences and polluting information. One of the worst influences is that of so called atheists who claim there is no God, and who reject the salvation He offered to mankind in His Son, Jesus.

An atheist might say that God is nothing more than a mythical figure, made up in our imaginations to allay our fears and insecurities.

In a way they are correct. If we, as Christians, were to understand God as a mythical figure, a distant and powerful being that acts only as an occasional wish-giver, we would be without faith and understanding. We would be worshiping and following a false and fake god. Our God is very much different.

Our God is relational, and our understanding of Him is relational. This is His ultimate reality – the binding together of all of us in relationship to Him and each other.

God’s very character starts in relationship – the inter-relatedness and unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From that source relationship, He created us as a people desiring relationship – with Him and with each other. In coming to save us, Jesus did not just show up. He was born into family – into relationship, and throughout His life on earth He continued to build relationship.

In rejecting God, people reject the true source of relationship and the understanding that relationships, especially within family are truly blessed, are very good.

As the Creator and Builder, God set forth the family as the first and finest example of relationship. Within the Christian family we learn to love, honor, and respect others and to go on to further build relationship. It is there that our desire for relationship with God is nurtured. It is in the context of family that we become heirs to Jesus’ promises. We are brought into the family of faith, and we receive the promise of everlasting life in relationship with God and each other. In the nurture of family we learn to become like our God Who is defined in relationship.

Within the Christian family, at home and in our Church, we find God’s blessing and true life. We find how connected we are to God and to everyone who is in Him. We are blessed.

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