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Recognizing God in His Homilies

From Ben Myers at Faith and Theology: On failing to be a good preacher

I had a good discussion with some students today about preaching. If you’re preparing for ministry, you’ll need to develop some basic homiletical skills and techniques, and you’ll need the kind of critical feedback that can help you to become a better preacher. But you don’t really ever want to become a “good” preacher —“ the kind of trained professional who can deliver flawless, carefully calculated and perfectly executed homilies. To preach is to accept responsibility for the Word of God in the world. It is to put ourselves in an impossible position: we should speak God’s word, but we can’t make this happen. No amount of exegetical mastery or homiletical savviness can ensure that God will speak to the congregation. As Karl Barth famously put it: —As ministers, we ought to speak of God. We are human, however, so we cannot speak of God. We ought therefore to recognise both our obligation and our inability, and by that very recognition give God the glory.—

For me, the paradigmatic experience of preaching is not the good sermon, but the failed sermon: when you’re trying to speak God’s Word, but you’re looking out at a sea of bored, distracted, yawning faces, people furtively glancing at their watches —“ when you yourself, the preacher, are glancing at your watch and wondering when it will all be over. Anyone who has to preach regularly will know this experience. It is an exemplary experience, because it’s here that you encounter the real nature of preaching: the fact that it arises not from the preacher’s fullness, but from an unbearable emptiness; the fact that it is always bound to fail —“ it has to fail —“ unless some miracle occurs, unless God speaks…

Particularly incumbent on us to recognize God’s intervention as ministers of God’s Sacrament of the Word.

Events, PNCC, ,

Cathedral events – block party and flea market

Giant Indoor Flea Market at St. Stanislaus PNCC Center from Friday, August 20th to Sunday, August 22nd. Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m., 530 E. Elm St., Scranton. The market features antiques, collectibles, furniture, toys, jewelry, tools, clothing, household items; and of course, homemade Polish food.

St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral will hold a Block Party, August 27th and 28th from 5-10 p.m., Pittston Avenue and East Elm Street featuring kielbasa, potato pancakes, pierogies, noodles and cabbage, pizza, steak and cheese sandwiches, clams, drinks, games and music. Call 570-961-9231 for more information.

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, , , ,

More on church closings

From the Los Angeles Times: Cleveland’s Catholic Church closures leave ethnic enclaves dispirited
Proud Eastern European communities fight to save what they see as a cultural heritage.

On a back street in urban Cleveland, Hungarian immigrants built St. Emeric Catholic Church, where a dozen stained glass windows recall their history and a mural of their first king, St. Stephen, overlooks the altar.

For more than 100 years, waves of Hungarians swept into Cleveland from the wars and upheavals in Europe, finding work in the area’s steel mills and auto plants. They were part of a tide of Eastern Europeans who became a backbone of the industrial economy here.

But the factories have been closing in recent decades, and now the churches are closing too.

Under orders of Cleveland Bishop Richard Gerard Lennon, St. Emeric parish will be eliminated and the church, along with an adjoining Hungarian Boy Scout center and a cultural school, will be closed.

In one of the largest retrenchments of the Roman Catholic Church in America, Lennon ordered the closure of 50 parishes in his diocese, more than half of them with ethnic congregations —” largely Eastern European.

The final closures are occurring this month, fueling sadness and anger among parishioners.

“I pray every day to keep St. Emeric open,” said Joseph Balint, who immigrated to Cleveland and worked at a naval weapons factory after he fought in the Hungarian revolution. “It is really a sad story, but I believe in miracles.”

The communities are not going down without a fight. They have marched on the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland and petitioned the church courts in Rome. Each Sunday, a group of Poles gathers outside the closed St. Casimir Church on the northeastern side of the city, praying and singing the Polish national anthem.

“These tough men came to this country and built churches for themselves,” said Malgosia Feckanin, who left Poland during the Cold War and prays outside St. Casimir. “Now this man, Richard Lennon, wants to take them away. It reminds me so much of communism.”

So far, Lennon has not backed off. On many Sundays, he personally says a final Mass at the churches scheduled for closure, though he is sometimes unwelcome.

Plainclothes Cleveland police sit in the pews and uniformed officers have a heavy presence outside. Protest signs refer to the diocese as “Lennongrad.”

“I am not without sensitivity,” a beleaguered Lennon told a congregation being closed in Akron this year. Howls of laughter erupted from the pews.

The problems in Cleveland are affecting much of the industrial Midwest, where ethnic enclaves have been hit hard during the long industrial decline. Dioceses in Scranton, Pa., Buffalo, N.Y., and Detroit have gone through similar shrinkages but without the public clash that has occurred in Cleveland.

Robert Tayek, a diocese spokesman, said Lennon was being blamed unfairly for a process that began before he arrived. Lennon took over on May 15, 2006, when it was already clear that Cleveland had too many parishes in its urban core.

The closures have been driven by monetary losses in many of the parishes, migration to the suburbs and a shortage of priests, Tayek said.

That explanation is sharply disputed by some of the parishes, which contend they are financially healthy and have recruited foreign-born priests to conduct services in native languages. The closures are pushing them into what they call impersonal suburban churches.

“Lennon wants a homogenized product,” said Stanislav Zadnik, an electrician unemployed since November 2008. On June 20, Zadnik’s Slovene parish, St. Lawrence, is scheduled to close.

Lennon supports the ethnic role the Catholic Church plays in Cleveland, Tayek said, but at some of those churches, “you can throw a baseball and not hit anybody.” In many cases, he said, the parishioners drive into the urban neighborhoods only for church services, and then often only on holidays.

A former television news reporter, Tayek identifies himself as a Bohemian —” half Slovak and half Czech. His grandfather worked in a steel mill, he said.

The sharp reaction has surprised the bishop, Tayek acknowledged. The diocese has received e-mailed threats of violence, he said.

About 10 parishes have filed formal appeals with Catholic courts in Rome. Even while those appeals are under review, the diocese has put some church properties up for sale, another sore point with the closed congregations.

In another effort to stop the closures, Nancy McGrath sued Lennon and the diocese, challenging their legal authority to move without the consent of the parishes. The diocese countersued, charging her with trespassing after a church service.

McGrath, who formed the Code Purple protest group, claims the diocese has a hidden agenda of grabbing parish bank accounts to pay off confidential settlements involving allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

St. Wendelin had $1.2 million in its account, St. Emeric $1.3 million and St. Lawrence $990,000, according to figures compiled by Endangered Catholics, a group formed to protest the church closures.

Tayek acknowledged that the diocese had made confidential legal settlements for sexual abuse claims, but he said the cost was covered by special reserves and that none of the church closings was based on a need to pay such claims.

The diocese, rather than seizing parish assets, will transfer money with the congregations when parishes are merged, Tayek said.

The bishop’s explanations fail to ring true in many of the tidy churches where closings are tearing apart friendships that go back a lifetime and threatening to loosen people’s grips on their cultural identities.

“We built these churches on the sweat and money of our ancestors who came here,” said John Juhasz, a member of St. Emeric. “The closings are an assault on the ethnic component of the church…”

From The Times: Voice grows louder for Save the Parishes
Frustration continues to grow from Save the Catholic Parishes of Streator

Sixty-five people in support of the organization met Monday at Polish National Alliance Hall to discuss the fate of their Catholic parishes. The group discussed the engineering report by Healy, Bender and Associates, a possible protest at the steps of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria, and limiting donations to the parishes.

Organizer Melissa Peters invited members of the Vision 21 Board and Rev. Monsignor John Prendergast to the meeting. None attended.

Their absence stirred up a crowd looking for answers.

“Interest is starting to build as we hear about possible demolitions of the convent at St. Anthony and rectory at St. Stephen,” said Siobhan Elias, parishioner at St. Stephen. “Like I said, it’s rumors now but considering what happened with St. Stephen School (demolition). It happened so quickly, it wouldn’t surprise me if (those buildings) were slated to come down very soon. If people want to stop it, they have to stop giving or get involved.”

At the meeting, the group discussed busing people to Peoria to protest in front of Bishop Daniel Jenky’s church.

Others found it difficult to cut their donations. Karen Ricca, a St. Anthony parishioner, suggested only donating three out of the four weeks with a dollar, then on the fourth week, giving a regular donation. She said to set that money aside and give it only if the parishes decide to stay open.

“That is one of the few ways we can get the diocese to listen to us,” Elias said. “I called three people at their office and Ihaven’t heard back from any of them…”

Of course, I would invite these folks to do what the people of Scranton, Buffalo, Chicago, Toledo, and other locales have been doing since 1897, explore the faith, history, claims, governance, and polity of the Polish National Catholic Church. Do this in a positive way; you may be far more comfortable in a Church where you actually do have a voice and a vote.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, , ,

XXIII General Synod of the Polish National Catholic Church

The XXIII General Synod of the Polish National Catholic Church will be held from Monday, October 4th to Friday, October 8th, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 5685 Falls Ave., Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. The XXIII General Synod is being hosted by the Canadian Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church.

The Synod registration fee is C$750. Hotel reservations may be made directly with the hotel by calling 1-800-519-9911. Guests should request the special convention rate for the Polish National Catholic Church which is separate from the Synod registration fee.

Synod Registration will take place Sunday, October 3rd from 5-9pm and Monday, October 4th from 8am to noon. Opening Holy Mass will take place on Monday, October 4th at 1pm. Synod banquets will be held on Monday and Thursday evening. Dinning vouchers will be provided to cover Tuesday and Wednesday evening. The Synod will close with lunch on Friday, October 8th.

Elections will be held for the Office of the Prime Bishop of the Polish National Catholic Church. Two candidates for the Office of Bishop will also be elected. As more details become available I will offer them here.

Additional information may also be obtained from the Pre-Synod Committee, Holy Trinity Parish, 880 Barton Street East, Hamilton, Ontario, L8L 3B7, Canada. Telephone the Parish at 905-549-0470 or contact Mr. Anthony Jasinski at 416-543-8910 or by E-mail.

Events, PNCC, , , ,

PNCC – Upcoming National Events

National United Women’s Societies for the Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament – Women’s Retreat

The Heart of a Woman – The National United Women’s Societies for the Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament 2010 retreat at the Bishop Hodur Retreat and Recreation Center, 596 Honesdale Road, Waymart, PA 18472 – August 12 – 14, 2010. Please download a copy of the 2010 Retreat Registration Form or contact Jean Macionus for registration information and forms.

YMS of R Track & Field Meet (Zlot)

The 82nd Annual YMS of R Track and Field Meet – Zlot – will be held Saturday, September 4, 2010 at the YMS of R Park on Kane Street in Scranton, PA. The rain date is Sunday, September 5, 2010. For further information, contact Nick Kazinetz.

70th Bi-Annual Convention of the National Young Men’s Society of the Resurrection

The 70th Bi-Annual Convention of the YMS of R will be held October 23rd and 24th, 2010 at Holy Mother of Sorrows Polish National Catholic Church, 212 Wyoming Avenue, Dupont, PA. The convention theme is to unite the youth of the PNCC in God’s name and in the name of the endeavor for the perfection of life. For further information, please contact Nick Kazinetz.

Christian Witness, PNCC, Saints and Martyrs, , , , , , ,

Get your flowers and herbs ready

Many PNCC Parishes will bless flowers and herbs on the Solemnity of the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin on Sunday, August 15th. For instance:

St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church will have a blessing of the harvest in honor of the Dormition-Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sunday, August 15th before the 8:30 and 11 a.m. Masses at the church, 200 Stephenson St., Duryea, PA. The parishioners and public are encouraged to bring an item from their garden (vegetables, flowers, and herbs) as a way of giving thanks to God for the bounty of the Earth. For more information please call the Rev. Carmen Bolock, pastor, at 570-457-2291.

Check with a parish near you for details.

PNCC,

Sad news at St. Francis of Assisi Parish

From The Denver Post: Statue of St. Francis stolen from Denver parish

A brilliant white statue of St. Francis —” the Patron Saint of Animals —” was taken sometime Friday night from the front of the St. Francis National Catholic Church in southeast Denver.

Father John Kalabokes said that St. Francis had stood in front of the small church, which is near Leetsdale Drive, for 18 years.

“My reaction was one of a great deal of disappointment,” said Kalabokes. “I’ve had a lot of mixed emotions. I just got the feeling that they (the thieves) felt they needed him more and may have put him in their yard.”

Kalabokes said St. Francis National Catholic Church is a very small parish of mostly fixed income people.

“It is a big hit,” he said. “We struggle to make ends meet.”

A similar staute will cost about $3,500, he said.

Kalabokes said the thief or thieves tore the statue, located in front of the church at 556 S. Jersey St., off its base. It had been securely bolted to the ground, he said.

They then lifted it over the railing that surrounded the statue, leaving white scrapes on the railing. Kalabokes believes the statue was damaged.

“It had to be a pretty big guy or a bunch of them,” he said.

He said the parish landscaping is such that the thieves could have backed a vehicle up to the railing and loaded the statue into the back of the vehicle, possibly a pickup.

The statue includes a small bird which St. Francis is holding. Kalabokes said that thieves have taken the small bird several times in the past and each time the tiny bird was replaced.

The theft occurred sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m Saturday, when a woman who arranges flowers at the church arrived and discovered St. Francis missing.

Kalabokes said he has filed a police report. He said that police responded and he believed they lifted fingerprints of the culprits off the railing that surrounded St. Francis.

“I cannot understand the cruelty and thinking of those who did this despicable act,” said Kalabokes. “This symbol is a great loss to this small parish.”

The Parish is asking for help to defray the cost of replacing the statue. You may make a donation online via PayPal. I also ask of your prayers for those who took the statute, that their hearts be moved to return it and make amends.

O Savior of the World, Whose love embraces all mankind; we hear Thy prayer from the Cross: “Father forgive them.” In the name of universal pardon, we beseech the Heavenly Father to have mercy upon our enemies; and deliver us from their snares. May our prayer be for them a ministry of reconciliation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. —” A Prayer for our Enemies from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Christian Witness, PNCC, Saints and Martyrs, ,

Commemorating St. Christopher

From the Republican Herald: Priest blesses cars for faithful

FRACKVILLE – Ann Marie Wycheck, Frackville, has never been in a major car accident.

Neither has Helen Hopko or Al Gursky, both of Frackville. Or Dorothy or Walter Jaskierski, Saint Clair.

But that didn’t stop them from having their cars blessed Sunday after Mass at St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church.

Parishioners joined in the parking lot with the Rev. Robert P. Plichta to say a short prayer and have the priest perform a blessing ritual.

“I think we can all use a little prayer over our cars to be blessed,” Wycheck said as Plichta made the Sign of the Cross at a nearby vehicle.

“This will help a lot to give me peace of mind when driving,” Hopko said.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Gursky said. “Every little bit helps when you think of how people drive, how dangerous it is.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported more than 37,000 motor vehicle fatalities in 2008, and the U.S. Census Bureau reports that there were an estimated 10.6 million motor vehicle accidents in 2007. Both statistics are from the most recent year data were available.

Plichta said he started this tradition at the church last year, performing the blessing on the Sunday closest to the feast day of St. Christopher, which is July 25. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers.

“For people, it’s important to ask God for protection,” Plichta said.

He said he also says a brief prayer each time before driving.

“In Poland, there was twice where I didn’t say a prayer, ‘under thy protection …’ and I had two accidents – somebody hit me, I hit somebody. Minor. But now I say every time,” Plichta said. “It’s important for somebody who believes.”

Plichta, who is originally from Poland and served a congregation of more than 17,000 in Gdansk, said while in Poland he saw many people who had accidents, then came to get their new cars blessed.

“It just helps give peace of mind to some people,” Plichta said.

He said anyone wishing to have his or her car blessed can contact him at the church at 874-1960. Get your car blessed

If anyone would like to get their vehicle blessed, contact the Rev. Robert P. Plichta, pastor of St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church, Frackville, at 874-1960.

Christian Witness, PNCC

On preaching like Jesus

By Rick Warren from Pastors.com: Learning to Preach Like Jesus

Jesus’ preaching attracted enormous crowds, and the Bible often records the positive reactions of those crowds to his teaching. Matthew 7:28 tells us, “…the crowds were amazed at his teaching.” Matthew 22:33 says, “…the crowds were profoundly impressed.— Mark 11:18 says, “…the people were so enthusiastic about Jesus’ teaching.— Mark 12:37 says, “The great crowd enjoyed listening to Him.—

These crowds had never heard anyone speak to them the way Jesus did. They were spellbound by his delivery.

To capture the attention of unbelievers like Jesus did, we must communicate spiritual truth the way he did. I believe that Jesus – not anyone else – must be our model for preaching. Unfortunately, some homiletics classes pay more attention to Aristotle and Greek rhetoric than to how Jesus taught.

In John 12:49 Jesus admitted, “The Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.— Notice that both the content AND the delivery style were directed by the Father. This is extremely important to note. We often overlook the manner in which Jesus preached.

There’s so much we can learn from Jesus’ style of communication, not just his content. But for now I want to briefly identify three attributes of Jesus’ preaching.

1. Jesus began with people’s needs, hurts, and interests.

Jesus usually taught in response to a question or a pressing problem from someone in the Crowd. He scratched where people itched. His preaching had immediacy about it. He was always relevant and always on target for that moment.

When Jesus preached his first sermon at Nazareth, he read from Isaiah to announce what the preaching agenda of his ministry would be: “The Lord has put his Spirit in me, because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they can see again. God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Notice his entire emphasis on meeting needs and healing hurts. Jesus had Good News to share, and people wanted to hear it. He had a message that offered practical benefits for their lives. His truth would “set people free— and bring all sorts of blessings to their lives.

Our basic message to the lost must be good news. If it isn’t good news, it isn’t the gospel. We must learn to share the gospel in ways that show it is both “good— and —news.— The gospel is about what God has done for us and what we can become in Christ. A personal relationship with Christ is the answer to all of man’s deepest needs. The good news offers lost people what they are frantically searching for: forgiveness, freedom, security, purpose, love, acceptance, and strength. It settles our past, assures our future, and gives meaning to today. We have the best news in the world…

A great read for we in the PNCC who so value the Word and its sacramental value.

Homilies, PNCC

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – C

First reading: Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm: Ps 138:1-3,6-8
Epistle: Colossians 2:12-14
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13

For everyone who asks, receives;—¨
and the one who seeks, finds;—¨
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. —¨

Earnest and persistent prayer

Today, St. Luke tells us of Jesus instruction on prayer. Luke’s narrative is different than the one found in Matthew. It is shorter, and written in simpler language. It is also followed by examples of the need for earnest and persistent prayer. Keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking — and God will provide.

Praying for?

Jesus’ words as recorded by St. Luke describe the simple things we might ask for: bread, fish, an egg. To understand Jesus’ focus on our prayer and God’s provision, both being focused on the simple, most basic things, we need to look at the situation on the ground in Jesus’ day.

The Greek language has two terms for —poor—: penes and ptochos. Penes refers to a person who does manual labor — the working poor. These penetes were people who needed to work in shops or in the fields. They didn’t have time for anything else, for the leisure of the rich gentry, who were free to give their time to politics, education, or other pursuits.

A ptochos, on the other hand, was a person reduced to begging. They were destitute, without farm or family. They were wanderers — outsiders who could only impose on the generosity of a community for a short time before moving on. Communities consisting of the working poor and less than a handful of the gentry couldn’t support them long-term.

In Jesus’ time the gentry – the rich aristocrats made up 1 to 2% of society. The middle class, the tax gatherers, police, scribes, priests, 5 to 8% of society. The bulk of the population, about 75%, were the working poor. Below these, the untouchables, about 15% of society who were ptochos — beggars, cripples, prostitutes, and criminals.

Poor and getting poorer:

Now, in Jesus day the working poor weren’t just people who couldn’t get ahead. Factually, they had no ability to get ahead. We can imagine that the working poor and the beggars would be inclined to pray, and to pray for their most basic needs because they might not have them tomorrow.

For every step forward, the aristocratic class forced the working poor and the beggars two steps backward. They did this through plunder and taxes. There were many kinds of taxes: a head tax, land tax, tax via seizures of goods so that the government could house and feed soldiers and their animals, or to make younger family members impressed laborers, a tolls tax on all produce and manufactured good brought to market, and tithes.

Let’s look at Jonah the fisherman and his sons, the Apostles Peter and Andrew. They paid a fee to fish in the lake, not anywhere, but in a specific area; they paid a tax to the toll collectors just to take their catch to market; when the fish was sold, that too was taxed. On top of all of this, the tax collector came annually to collect the other taxes. Even if they caught a boatload of fish (Luke 5:6-7), after tolls and taxes there would not be much left. The taxation system might take 30 to 40% from the working poor.

Life was at best —subsistence,— and the wolf was always at the door. With this system of heavy taxation, the working poor, the penes, slid back to become the new ptochos. The Roman historian Tacitus noted: —The provinces of Syria and Judea, exhausted by their burdens, were pressing for a diminution of the tribute.—

As the tax burden grew, the tax debts grew. As the penes could not stay one step ahead of that tax debt, the aristocrats created their large estates by the annexing their small plots. The new ptochos were made homeless wanderers, disconnected from family and community because of their debt.

The poor were getting poorer and they knew there was no answer from the aristocrats.

Having something to pray for:

The people well knew that they might not eat tomorrow, that tomorrow there would not be bread, or fish, or eggs. That tomorrow, no neighbor would knock on their door because they wouldn’t have a door to knock on.

They had something to pray for. They needed to know something about the heavenly Father. They needed to be connected to Him, to know He would hear them and answer their prayers. Jesus showed that this was true.

Why, for what, and for whom?

So when we pray, do we have certainty that we have reached someone who will help us in our need? Are we sure we are talking with someone who will provide at least the most basic of needs? Will He stop our slide from the working poor to the begging poor?

Prayer is remarkably powerful, and here is just one example of where we might take Jesus at His word. Surprising that more people don’t do that. We have God, come to earth, giving us the approach we are to use, and the guarantee of what will happen when we do it. Unfortunately, we often fear it will not happen. We think, if I pray for this or that, for healing, for bread, for my uncle or cousin who is in need, to have my sins forgiven, well God might not be listening. If I knock and knock it is unlikely that He will open the door. But He does, and we do have that guarantee. He will give us that chunk of bread, the fish and egg — He will give us our daily bread. And so we do not slide backwards, He will forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

In this place, this parish church, those prayers are answered, and I can attest to the truth of that. I have seen it in my life and in the lives of parishioners as well as those whose prayers come here through your voices.

A guarantee without cost

St. Paul takes this a step further in helping the people of Colossae to understand God’s generosity to we who are poor. He reminds them as he reminds us — we were dead. We have nothing to offer to God. We weren’t even in the position of Abraham who could offer God a place to rest, some curds, milk, meat, and bread. We were completely dead in sin and apart from God — and God, in His remarkable generosity, made us His friends, people who could knock and ask — and who will receive.

And even when you were dead—¨
in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,—¨
he brought you to life along with him,
—¨having forgiven us all our transgressions;—¨
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,—¨
which was opposed to us,—¨
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.

God listening

God is listening and we have His guarantee. Christ has intervened as our sole source of hope and path to the Father who answers our prayers.

The Very Rev. Józef L. Zawistowski in his booklet Polski Kościoł Narodowy Katolicki Jest Swięty [The Polish National Catholic Church is Holy] tells us that our Holy Church is a serious, important, and fundamental religious reform movement calling its members to reconnect with the God who is in the world, the God who listens to us and answers our prayers. That had been all but forgotten when our Church was organized, as it is often forgotten today.

Jesus tells us that we are not apart from God, and that our God is the God that does more than listen to us. He stands at our side, hears us, answers our needs, suffers with us, and together — He with us — we constantly move forward in the creative process of raising ourselves and the world to eternal perfection.

This is God’s guarantee to all of us who knock, seek, and ask. We begin in asking, knocking, and seeking after the simple things — bread, a fish, an egg, and in the end know:

how much more will the Father in heaven
—¨give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

Our prayer and God’s provision, are still focused on the simple, and really the most basic of all things — our eternal life. In that is God’s answer and our salvation, for in heaven we will all be rich. Amen.

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