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Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Art, Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , ,

Polish-American Heritage Day cross promotes sports and art

Polish-American Heritage Day Part of EMU Basketball Cross-Promotional
By Raymond Rolak

YPSILANTI– On Saturday, February 11, 2012 Eastern Michigan University will be hosting Polish-American Heritage Day along with their scheduled basketball doubleheader. The women will take on Kent State at 2:00 p.m. and the men host perennial Mid-American Conference power Ohio University at 4:30 p.m.

Ethnic Heritage Days are growing area of sports cross-promotion. All the Mid-American Conference teams are finished with non-conference play and looking toward the MAC Championship weekend in Cleveland, March 7-10, 2012.

The EMU women boast high scoring guard Tavelyn James, an All-America candidate, and rebounding whiz Olivia Fouty while the men’s team features Polish national Kamil Janton.

The afternoon will be highlighted with a Polish art show, educational and historical exhibits. Polish dance troupes, folk music and Polish food items will also be featured. Children’s activities will be in abundance and the ever popular EMU mascot, ‘SWOOP’ will entertain. The ‘EMU SPIRIT’ dance team will be conducting a pregame dance tutorial for the attending dance groups.

For out-of-town visitors there is a special basketball package available. Polish fraternal organizations, Polish National Alliance and PRCUA are sponsoring the dance activities. The E-Club, an organization of athletic letter winners will be presenting the Hall of Fame inductees during halftime of the men’s game.

Halftime entertainment will also include a folk dancing spectacular and the song renditions of Polish pop sensation Magda Kaminski.

Included with a game ticket will be a free chance at a $1,000 MacBook among other prizes. This type of cross-promotion has been very successful with Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball teams that have active ethnic populations in their cities.

Senior 6' 10" center Kamil Janton gets a chance to talk about his NCAA basketball experiences at Eastern Michigan University to broadcaster Tomek Czuprynski of Telewizja-Detroit. Janton, who was born in Tarnow, Poland played high school basketball in suburban Chicago. EMU is hosting the upcoming Polish-American Heritage Day set for Saturday, February 11, 2012. The basketball doubleheader at the Convocation Center will include an art show. Photo by Lars Hjelmroth, Rolco Sports Network
Homilies,

Solemnity of the Holy Name of Jesus

First Reading: Sirach 51:8-12
Psalm: Ps. 113:1-6
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

I will praise thy name continually,
and will sing praise with thanksgiving.

Given a name:

Today we celebrate the name we were given. Our parish, “Holy Name of Jesus.”

Have you ever considered the name you were given, and why you ended up with that name?

Perhaps your mom or dad told you the story of your name. You were named after… We always liked… Your name means…

Today, let’s consider our name, what it means to be named after Jesus and His holiness.

Name and being are one:

In biblical times names had particular importance. The name one was given might reflect something that was happening at the time of their birth. It might reflect a prophecy or a hope. The most important name was the name of another person given to the child. When a person gave their name to another it meant that they were joined in very close unity. Furthermore, the closest possible relationship exists between a person and their name. Particularly in biblical times, and in many cultures today, if someone’s name were removed, they pass out of existence, out of relationship with their community. Name and existence are one, and signify being.

Baptism:

When someone is baptized they are given Jesus’ name. They bear His mark, the sign of the cross. His name is their name, and the baptized person and Jesus are one.

God’s name:

If a person were ever to forget God’s name, they would depart from Him. God’s name is particularly important because knowing His name, being baptized into Him, makes us His people.

Holy Name:

God’s name is holy. God’s revelation in the old testament is made complete and explicit in the coming of Jesus. Knowing Jesus and knowing His name means that we also know and acknowledge His holiness. Jesus is the full revelation of God’s holiness.

In Jesus we see the true nature of God’s holiness. His holiness is exactly this: That God is pure and loving, that He is righteous, that there is nothing evil in Him.

Because of this pure, loving, and righteous holiness, God gave Himself for our redemption. Jesus came to us to save us, and to reveal the fullness of God’s holiness to us. That holiness longs and desires to make itself known to us personally and to all, universally.

Let’s consider:

So let us consider the name we were given. Let us think about the name we were given, Holy Name of Jesus Parish.

Our name is not only important, but it is the most important of names, because we are given, granted the name of Jesus. This means that we are joined with Jesus. We are at one with Him in His work, in His mission, and His ministry.

Our name and our being are not only important, but create oneness, unity with Jesus. Our name represents a community with Jesus at the center, and all of us joined with Him. Apart from Him we do not exist. Our name and our mission are one.

Our community is a baptismal community. Baptism is the gate through which we all enter, where we are made one with Jesus. He gave us His name – not just as a building or a parish, but as individuals and a community.

Each of us and our community are joined to the holiness of God. God’s holiness is in all times and places. It is in every institution associated with His worship — and in particular with this place of worship because we bear His name. It is our high and distinct honor to be called by Jesus’ name.

Our mission:

Our mission is to reveal God, to share Jesus’ holy name with all. We are to bring people to baptism into Jesus, so that Jesus’ name will be their name. We are to bring people to the holiness of God by revealing His holiness – His pure, loving, and righteous holiness. In their joining with us, under His name, they will receive all the promises of Christ. They will know God, they will have abundant life, and they will have everlasting life.

Jesus’ Holy Name — His name and His holiness are given to us. We, by taking His name, have entered into a personal and communal relationship with God. We exist because we abide in His holy name. We are blessed by His name, and we have our work and mission before us. Honoring His holy name, we shall be victorious.

Blessed be the name of the Lord forever!

Amen.

Homilies,

Solemnity of the Circumcision of our Lord

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

This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you

Dealing with promises:

Let’s make a deal! It is easy if Monty Hall is asking you if you have a grapefruit in your purse, or if your selection comes down to door 1, 2, or 3. Abraham wasn’t quite at that place.

In Genesis 15, God promised Abram would have a son of his own who would inherit everything. Abram had no children, and his servant was to inherit everything. God was going to change things for Abram. God not only promised that things would change, but entered a covenant to guarantee it.

Covenant:

A covenant is a formal contract. In ancient times people would sacrifice an animal as a sign of the pact they made. They would divide the animal in two, and each would walk between the two halves, sealing the deal. This was a deal made between two equal parties. But when God promised Abram that things would change and He made that pledge with Himself. Abram did not walk through the sacrificed animals, only God did in the form of a smoking fire pot and a burning torch. God promised, by Himself, to keep the deal He made with His people.

Abram wasn’t sure:

Now Abram wasn’t sure how God was going to keep His covenant. He didn’t place his trust in God’s contract, God’s pledge. Instead, Abram took his servant Hagar as his wife and had a child with her. Abram tried to figure out God’s plan and did an end run to make it happen. Abram set the terms and conditions — telling God how things were going to work.

Was this according to God’s plan? No. This was according to Abrams’ plan. Abram didn’t trust that God would change things, he tried to change things himself.

God returns:

Its been twenty-four years, God and Abram together, and God returns again and says: I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. Now twenty-four years of God’s promises, Abram trying to figure it all out, and God shows up to reinforce His promise. Things are going to change. I will give you a child by your wife Sar’ai and you will be a great nation, greater than all the stars in the sky.

So Abram bows down before the Lord, and after twenty-four years, and a bunch of mistakes along the way, renews his trust in God’s pledge. Abram once again trusts that things will change – but now according to God’s way.

Changes:

Things begin to change immediately. God gives Abram and Sar’ai new names, Abraham and Sarah. God asks Abraham to show his agreement, to make an outward sign of this change. The sign would be in his flesh, and the flesh of his descendants.

Not exactly a Monty Hall moment. We could wonder if Abraham might have said, ‘Ummm, God, couldn’t I just choose from door 1, 2, or 3. I have a lovely grapefruit in my bag…’

But no, a great moment of faith occurs. Abraham says that he will continue to trust in God’s promised change, in God’s contract, and most importantly in God’s way. Abraham does as God asked.

Lesson learned:

Abraham was 99, and finally in that act of faith he learned a valuable lesson. It is an important lesson for us. God’s covenant is a living thing. God doesn’t promise, deliver, and leave. God isn’t Monty Hall, and we won’t just walk away with a lovely parting gift.

Sure, God’s timing is different than ours, and we cannot make change happen by ourselves. We need to trust that God’s promises to us are being fulfilled. Jesus’ coming was to deliver these three key promises — That we will know God; That we would have an abundant and blessed life by following His way; and that we will have eternal life.

God understands our flaws, our failings, but comes again, in each and every moment, in each step we take, to constantly renew His covenant, His pledge, that our lives will be changed. Most importantly, we don’t have to make the change alone, God gave us the Holy Spirit to remain with us and to be the agent of change in our lives.

Jesus lives in the promise:

Today, eight days after His birth, Jesus was circumcised. Jesus keeps the covenant of His Father. Most importantly, He will go on to tell us that keeping the covenant with us — bringing change to our lives — is real. This is not just something of the flesh, like circumcision, but change in our hearts and lives.

Today, on this new year’s day, let us renew our faith in God’s promise. Let’s remind ourselves of the Spirit’s presence in this congregation, in our daily lives. Let us be aware that we are changed and that we are His agents of change. Let us be truly circumcised and carry the gospel in the way we live, talk, act, feel, treat others, pray, worship, and … in everything we do.

And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Amen.

Christian Witness, Homilies

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Circumcision

You want me to do what? Couldn’t we just shake hands?

God is talking with Abraham, making a covenant with him and his descendants. God says:

Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

A covenant is a contract. In ancient times people would sacrifice an animal as a sign of the pact they made. They would divide the animal in two, and each would walk between the two halves, sealing the deal. God had already done that with Abraham, but Abraham did not walk through the sacrificed animals, only God did in the form of a smoking fire pot and a burning torch. God promised, by Himself, to keep the deal He made with His people.

Now God is asking Abraham to make an outward sign of this deal in his flesh, and the flesh of his descendants.

It would be great if it were that simple with God. Maybe as Christians, as people of the new covenant, we should place a fish bumper sticker on our cars, or wear a gold chain with a cross. Would people know then that we are Jesus’ people, people of the covenant?

That’s unlikely. How many times do we see people carrying the outward signs of Christianity, only to disappoint by their actions? It was the same with Abraham and his descendants who carried the sign of the covenant in their flesh, but neglected to carry the sign of the covenant in their hearts.

To be truly circumcised means to carry the gospel in the way we live, talk, act, feel, treat others, pray, worship, and … well in everything we do. Yes, the outward signs of our Christianity ARE important. That is our proclamation. Our proclamation must be coupled with our witness, with hearts that live what the outward signs represent.

Art, Christian Witness, Saints and Martyrs,

Art for the Commemoration of King David

David Playing the Harp Ahead of the Ark, Jan de Bray, 1670

And it was told King David, “The LORD has blessed the household of O’bed-e’dom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of O’bed-e’dom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the horn. — 2 Samuel 6:12-15

Art, Saints and Martyrs,

Art for the Commemoration of the Holy Innocents

Slaughter of the Innocents, Guido Reni, ca. 1611

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled,
because they were no more.” — Matthew 2:13-18

Calendar of Saints, Homilies, Saints and Martyrs

Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist 


First reading: 1 John 1:1-4
Psalm: Ps 97:1-2,5-6,11-12
Gospel: John 20:1-8

Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.

Cut off:

Rumi was a Muslim poet, theologian, and Sufi mystic. He lived in 13th-century Persia.

Many of Rumi’s poems center on the concept of longing and desire for union with the beloved. But this is longing and desire based on being cut off from our beloved. Our trying to find, reconnect with our beloved.

Names:

Saint John is known by many names: Apostle, Evangelist, John of Patmos, the Beloved Disciple, one of the sons of Zebedee, one of the “sons of thunder,” one of the twelve, a Pillar of the Church at Jerusalem.

John is best known as the “Beloved Disciple” mentioned about 8 times in the Gospel. John was present at every important event in the life of Jesus.

That term, beloved disciple, tells us something about the connection and relationship between Jesus and John. This is a connection between two people who love each other. Being beloved is never about being cut-off, about searching to find our beloved, but about being joined in an on-going loving relationship. Being beloved is the real presence of love in our lives. John was surrounded by, filled by, and completed by the love of Jesus.

Witnesses:

John, along with Peter and James witnessed the raising of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:37), the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), and of the Agony in the Garden (Matthew 26:37). Peter and John were sent into the city to make preparations for the Last Supper (Luke 22:8). At the Last Supper John sat next to Jesus and leaned against Him (John 13:23, 25). John was the “other disciple” who followed Jesus after His arrest, and witnessed the mock trial before the Sanhedrin and Chief Priest (John 18:15). John was the only disciple to stand, along with Mary and the other faithful women, at the foot of the cross. Jesus entrusted the care of His mother to John (John 19:25-27). After the Resurrection John ran to the tomb along with Peter, as we heard in today’s Gospel, and he was the first to understand and believe that Christ had truly risen (John 20:2-10).

Being there, being together is a key part of being joined in love. John was not apart and away, or cut off from the events in Jesus’ life. Instead, as a beloved of Jesus he was present. As a faithful disciple and apostle, in love with Jesus, he remained with Him throughout it all, good and bad, and he understood Jesus.

Long life:

John went on to live a long life with his ministry and home primarily in Ephesus where he served all of Asia Minor, guiding the Churches of that province as their bishop. John was the only apostle who was not martyred. That’s not to say that some didn’t try. Church Tradition teaches that Domitian tried to boil John in a vat of hot oil. John emerged unhurt. He was then exiled to Patmos where he wrote the Revelation. On this day we recall that event, when John was given a chalice of poisoned wine. He prayed over the cup and the poison left the wine in the form of snakes. John then drank the wine without harm.

Death and suffering are a big fear, and are often the times when we feel most isolated, most alone. When we are sick, in trouble, threatened, we can feel cut off and alone, unloved.

We see that John’s life was marked by moments of suffering. The key is that John knew he was not cut off or alone. He knew that Jesus was with him throughout it all, through loneliness, struggle, suffering, and exile.

Witness to love:

On this feast, we should focus on our connection to Jesus. Do we know that He loves us as He loved John? You and I are the beloved of Jesus. No matter our state or situation, we are never abandoned, alone, or cut off. The whole reason for Jesus’ coming was to connect us as individuals and as a community to God.

Witness to constancy:

Jesus’ love is constant. It can be hard to conceptualize that constant connection. We can find it hard to remain connected even to those we love the most. We can find it difficult to overlook the sins and breakdowns in our relationships. We can sit and wonder whether those we love really love us. St. John’s feast reminds us that there is no such thing as being cut off from God. Jesus’ coming and His relationship with John, teaches us that We are His beloved.

Share in the chalice:

John bore witness to the gospel’s message, to the overriding love of God that is at the center of our lives. Jesus told John and James “My chalice indeed you shall drink” (Matthew 20:23). When we hear those words, we might think about their share in Jesus’ suffering. Today, let us recall and remember that Jesus’ chalice, the wine that He offers, is abundant love, an on-going relationship, and the promise that we will never be cut off from Him.

As we share later in the wine we will bless, remember that we are His beloved. That little warm feeling isn’t the wine, it is the warmth and love of Jesus who loves us completely. Amen.

Art, Calendar of Saints,

Art for the Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

St. John the Evangelist on Pathmos, Alonso Cano, ca. 1648

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. — 1 John 1:1-3

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