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Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Christian Witness

Reflection for Trinity Sunday 2025

Poland - Polish - Polonia

The Turks’ Prayer against the Christians

Eternal God and creator of all things, and thou O Mahomet his sacred and divine prophet. We beseech thee let us not dread the Christians, who are so mean and silly to rely on a crucified god. By the power of thy right hand, so strengthen ours that we may surround this foolish people, on every side, and utterly destroy them. At length fulfill our prayers and put these miscreants into our hands, that we may establish thy throne for ever in Mecca, and sacrifice all those enemies of our most holy religion at thy tomb. Blow us with thy mighty breath like swarms of flies into their quarters, and let the eyes of these infidels bedazelled with the lustre of our moon. Consume them with thy fiery darts, and blind them with the dust which they themselves have raised. Destroy them all in thine anger. Break all their bones in pieces, and consume the flesh and blood of those who defile thy sacrifice, and hang the sacred light of circumcision on their cross. Wash them with showers of many waters, who are so stupid to worship gods they know not: and make their Christ a son to that God who ne’re begot him. Hasten therefore their destruction we humbly entreat thee, and blot out their name and religion, which they glory so much in, from off the face of the earth, that they may be no more, who condemn and mock at thy law. Amen. “

From a letter from the King of Poland, John III Sobieski to his Queen following his victory against the Turks at Vienna in which he inserted many particulars including the “Prayer of the Turks against the Christians”. (London: 1683).

Cited in: The Struggles for Poland by Neal Ascherson, excerpts of the First American Edition, Random House Inc., New York 1988

Current Events

For Your Freedom and Ours?

During the Partitions of Poland and through World War I, a common motto for Poles in exile was Za wolność Waszą i Naszą (“For freedom: yours and ours”).

The phrase was adopted by these Poles as they fought for freedom on behalf of their adopted countries. Poles fought in various independence movements all over the world, including the American Revolution. Check out the article For Your Freedom and Ours by Arthur Chrenkoff at the Polish Legion of American Veterans website.

Having this as background makes you wonder what we are fighting for in Afghanistan and other such places. To wit:

Christian Convert Vanishes After Release

On Monday, hundreds of clerics, students and others chanting “Death to Christians!” marched through the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif to protest the court decision Sunday to dismiss the case. Several Muslim clerics threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying that he is clearly guilty of apostasy and deserves to die.

“Abdul Rahman must be killed. Islam demands it,” said senior Cleric Faiez Mohammed, from the nearby northern city of Kunduz. “The Christian foreigners occupying Afghanistan are attacking our religion.”

If you’d like a real oxymoron, take a look at this World War Two poster by Norman Rockwell:

Rockwell - Save Freedom of Worship

Everything Else,

Vocation to the Diaconate

A reader asked:

…can [you] provide some information about how you came to become a deacon, and offer your advise for others who are discerning that call, it would be greatly appreciated.

As they say —“ start with humor. Asking a blogger to talk about himself is an oxymoron…

And here I was going to begin writing about discernment, formation, the time it takes to have an understanding of yourself and your relationship with Christ in the context of the Church.

It would all be good, sound, doctrinal stuff. It would also be insipid.

What I suggest is that you go on over to the Ancient Faith Radio website or directly to the Our Life in Christ website and listen to their podcasts regarding the Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian (he was a deacon by the way).

Here’s the prayer:

O Lord and Master of my life,
Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair,
lust of power and idle talk;
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my
own transgressions and not to judge my brother,
for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.

The key to any vocation and to life in Christ is the humility found in this prayer.

The Lord needs to be the Master of your life. He should be enthroned as its center and seen as its purpose and goal.

For a deacon, humility is ultimately important. Some might look on the vocation as social work and charity under the guise of a confirmed role in the Church. That is very far from the truth. If people want to do charity, enter into social work, or just ‘do good’, there are plenty of opportunities both in the secular world and in parishes.

My vocation had its roots in my family life, the examples of the saints and heroes of the faith, regular attachment to the Church, and the struggles during the dark times of life. Ultimately, my vocation came from my desire to set myself aside; to let the fullness of Christ shine through me and through my service to Him. It is the desire to be an object the Lord uses to accomplish His purposes.

Can I say I am there? Absolutely not! I can only say that I try each day to orient myself to what God desires. It is difficult. It is tempting to focus on the self. Temptation and struggles abound. But when I am in Christ’s presence at the Holy Altar, I cannot help but be overwhelmed with the desire to serve Him; to perform the most menial of tasks, and from that deprecation of the self, to receive the grace to care for my brothers and sisters.

That sense or desire is more than a momentary impression or feeling. It grows with time into a longing desire. Everything flows from Christ and the way He taught us to follow the Father’s will. It flows from His very presence in the Holy Eucharist. It fills the nooks and crannies of your life, your relationship to work, school, friends, family, those who dislike or hate you, the whole world.

I have also written on vocations for our parish website. Check out: Do I have a vocation?

The becoming part is something that happens in your life. It is the way Jesus is moulding you. If you are allowing Him to mould and form you, then you are ready to inquire. There is a process of course, and I would refer you to Fr. Czeslaw Kroliczkowski, Vice-Rector of the Savanrola Theological Seminary for more information on the particulars.

Savonarola Theological Seminary of the
Polish National Catholic Church
1031 Cedar Ave
Scranton, PA 18505
School, (570) 961-9288
Office, (570) 343-0100

If you wish, send me a private E-mail and I will forward your inquiry to him by E-mail.

Current Events, Media

Someone left the door open… The malfeasants are taking over

94 Year Old Jesuit Priest Commanded to Stop Saying Traditional Latin Mass!

From the St. Joseph’s News Service:

Santa Clara, California: Shocking information was revealed today, that a 94 year old Jesuit Priest who is retired to the Sacred Heart Jesuit Retirement Facility in Los Gatos, California, has been “commanded” by his immediate superior, Rev. John Martin, to stop saying the Traditional Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at a small private chapel in Santa Clara, California.

Father Phillip Bourret, S.J., a retired Jesuit Missionary to China has, in recent years, returned to the practice of saying the Immemorial Mass. This was the Mass for which he was ordained nearly 70 years ago. He remains a hard working priest in the service of Our Blessed Savior, and though retired, continues to minister to souls wherever and whenever he is needed.

A small independent chapel, which is used by retired priests to provide the Holy Mass, welcomed Father Bourret to celebrate his private Mass in their chapel once a week on Tuesdays. He had started devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (A Traditional Devotion of the once orthodox Jesuit Order) with Mass and Novena as a simple way of providing for the spiritual needs of a few individuals who were fortunate enough to attend his Mass.

…

Father John Martin had the unmitigated audacity not only to command the old priest to stop saying the TLM but applied the sanction that he would be SUSPENDED if he disobeyed the perverse command.

You can contact Fr. Martin here:

Sacred Heart Jesuit Center
Rev. John Martin, SJ
300 College Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Phone 408-884-1756

Or better yet, E-mail the Provincial Office.

Ban of Easter Bunny draws unwanted attention to St. Paul

From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Easter Bunny’s gigantic ears must be burning now that he’s gotten the boot from St. Paul’s City Hall.

The story of the bunny’s eviction from the lobby of the City Council offices is the talk of the town on public airwaves, in skyways and on Web sites throughout the country. Even Fox’s Bill O’Reilly asked about it.

Those who agreed with the decision to pull “Happy Easter” messages kept a relatively low profile; several city employees who applauded the move asked to remain unidentified.

…

The items included a cloth rabbit and pastel-colored eggs bearing the “Happy Easter” message. They belonged to one of the council secretaries and were not bought with city money. The secretary has also put up decorations inside the City Council lobby to celebrate fall, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day for at least a decade.

“My issue was not about the rabbit or the egg, it was the sign on the door that said, ‘Happy Easter,’ ” Terrill said Thursday. “We talk about diversity, respect, inclusion. When you put that on the front door of a government office, it could be offensive to someone who’s a Muslim, a Jew, an atheist, what have you. That’s my job to bring it to someone’s attention.”

…

“As much as I believe in the separation of church and state, I think it’s an overreaction,” Thune said. “This makes everyone look foolish, to ban the bunny.”

He said producers for “The O’Reilly Factor” called to inquire.

Lantry said her decision was not about “being politically correct” but that government shouldn’t advance the cause of religion with Easter signs.

Note to self, find the church of the happy-slappy Easter Bunny so I can attend the early morning chocolate bunny and egg liturgy.

The City can happily go about its business of removing ridiculous decorations any time it likes, with my blessing. As a matter of fact, thank you! Let’s end the commercialization of the most sacred day of the year.

Second note to self, remember to be insulted by anyone who finds my beliefs insulting, most especially Muslims who feel so insulted they have to pronounce death sentences on Christians.

San Francisco City Government Calls Catholics ‘Hateful, Discriminatory, Insulting, Ignorant’

From LifeSiteNews:

Top Cardinal is “decidedly unqualified”, says resolution
By John-Henry Westen

SAN FRANCISCO, March 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In one of the most startling attacks on the Catholic Church coming from a governmental body in the United States in half a century, the governing body of the city of San Francisco – the Board of Supervisors – voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a non-binding resolution blasting the Catholic Church for its opposition to homosexual adoption…

Uh, remember that separation of Church and State thingy? And you are interfering in and commenting on Church matters because…? Oh yes, that’s it, political hypocrisy.

Saints and Martyrs

March 27 – St. Rupert (Św. Rupert)

Św. Rupercie, urodzony w królewskim stanie, który wyrzekłeś się przepychu i uciech tego świata, a życie swe spędziłeś w ubóstwie i pracy misyjnej, uproś nam tę u Boga łaskę, abyśmy wystrzegali się pychy, marnotrawstwa, a cnotami zasłużyli sobie na uczestnictwo w chwale niebieskiej. Przez Chrystusa Pana naszego. Amen.

Current Events, Media

A church closes – more is lost

The following is an excerpt from East Bay Newspapers on the closing of St. Casimir’s Parish in Warren, Rhode Island.

St. Casimir’s Church closure still pains Warren parishioners

Tough void to fill

A small community is what brought former St. Casimir parishioner Barbara Godek to St. Thomas the Apostle Church. But it also took her time to find a new parish, and the warmth of the church she spent 45 years of her life at was one of the many things she lost when it closed its doors late last year.

“Finding a church, it’s like buying a pair of shoes. You try on a few but they just don’t seem to fit,” Ms. Godek said.

Another thing lost was the Divine Mercy Novena Sunday group that consisted of nearly a dozen Rosary women —” Ms. Godek’s fondest memory. But the group is inactive in other church’s and she finds no place puts as much emphasis on prayer as St. Casimir’s once did.

“We didn’t mind praying hours after hours for different things and different people. You don’t get that at other churches,” Ms. Godek said.

Members of the church’s Rosary Society were close. They met the Sunday after Easter for the Divine Mercy Novena, which celebrates a picture of Christ said to spawn miracles. People in Poland placed the photo in their homes during wars in hopes of sparing their family from bombings.

The Rosary Society, the feasts, the Polish music, the smiles, the prayers and the sermons remain simple memories.

“It’s sad and it was a very difficult thing,” Ms. Godek said. “We lost so much at one time that it was hard to cope with —” we’re like Moses in the desert.”

The simple faith of these people has been injured. Not only that, a community that practiced intercessory prayer is gone. It certainly won’t be reconstituted in the mega parishes with their focus on the bottom line. Yes, Ms. Godek, much has been lost. It’s just sad, discouraging…

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe (in me) to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”

Homilies

Fourth Sunday of Lent

God puts up with us. Because of His mercy, he patiently awaits our conversion.

What He desires, while being patient with us, is that we all come to believe in Him and come to eternal life.

The Father desires that we know in our heart of hearts that Jesus is His Son, come to earth, raised up on the cross, who suffered, died, was buried, and Who rose again from the dead. Not only this, but to know that we have life through Him.

Moses was directed to raise a figure of a serpent on a stick so that those who had been poisoned might be cured by looking at it. So God sent His Son to be raised on the cross so that all of us, poisoned by sin, might have life in His light.

My brothers and sisters,

When the chosen people disobeyed God, and not only disobeyed but mocked Him too, God’s righteous anger was raised.

The Second book of Chronicles tells us:

the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem,
set all its palaces afire,
and destroyed all its precious objects.

God allowed the land to go fallow. There was no life in Israel. Life there ceased and all the people were carried off as was their livestock.

For a reality check, picture the State of New York. A beautiful place. Trees, hills and valleys, magnificent cities and farms. Picture it all gone, empty. The farms have gone wild. No person or animal can be found. The cities are empty and burned. No one dares set foot there. All is emptiness and lifelessness.

The time of fallow and exile brought home the reality of life to the Jewish people. Life, and the fullness of life, is in God alone. Life is in doing His will, in living His commandments. God is life and light.

The words of today’s psalm are poignant. The people of Israel cry and bemoan their loss. They sit in Babylon and long for the joy of the Lord in Jerusalem. They long to sing to the Lord once again. But they could only cry and long.

By this process they were formed. They redeemed the fallow land by their penance, and the Lord God relented of His anger.

—Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths,
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest
while seventy years are fulfilled.—

And after seventy years, Cyrus, the King of Persia said at God’s command:

Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of His people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!—

Can you imagine the joy? It should be the kind of joy you feel when you go to sleep Saturday night. Tomorrow we go to the House of the Lord.

God has given us nothing but His ultimate gift of love, His Son. He also gives us His infinite patience.

St.Paul tells us:

God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ

Yes, we are alive in Christ Jesus. Alive and preparing ourselves to meet Him. This tremendous gift is not of our doing. For God loves us so much that He allows us an eternity of preparation. He puts up with our transgressions, allowing us to seek His forgiveness. He gives us the grace we need to seek His mercy and to live up to His expectations. This is salvation. The real, living, font of salvation.

Paul tells us here:

For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;

Oh, what a tremendous gift. A gift what we can never be worthy of, a gift for which we can never be thankful enough.

Therefore, let us look upon Him who has been pierced for our offenses. Jesus, who has been sacrificed so that we might be sanctified. Jesus, who has died so that the doors of heaven might be opened to us. Through these open doors flows the bounty of God’s grace, flowing clean and pure into our lives.

Each day and each week, every hour of the day, we must move forward to better live in the light.

Jesus said:

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Work then in the light of God, and in cooperation with His grace which strengthens you, bringing you out of darkness. God will put up with us and gives us every opportunity. He has given His Son and His grace for our journey home. Now is the time to accept this gift. In faith say yes to Jesus Christ and choose to live in the light of God.

Amen.

Saints and Martyrs

Athanasius – On the Incarnation of the Word

An except from St. Athanasius – On the Incarnation of the Word for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

8. The Word, then, visited that earth in which He was yet always present; and saw all these evils. He takes a body of our Nature, and that of a spotless Virgin, in whose womb He makes it His own, wherein to reveal Himself, conquer death, and restore life.

For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God comes to our realm, howbeit he was not far from us before. For no past of Creation is left void of Him: He has filled all things everywhere, remaining present with His own Father. But He comes in condescension to shew loving-kindness upon us, and to visit us.

And seeing the race of rational creatures in the way to perish, and death reigning over them by corruption; seeing, too, that the threat against transgression gave a firm hold to the corruption which was upon us, and that it was monstrous that before the law was fulfilled it should fall through: seeing, once more, the unseemliness of what was come to pass: that the things whereof He Himself was Artificer were passing away: seeing, further, the exceeding wickedness of men, and how by little and little they had increased it to an intolerable pitch against themselves: and seeing, lastly, how all men were under penalty of death: He took pity on our race, and had mercy on our infirmity, and condescended to our corruption, and, unable to bear that death should have the mastery –lest the creature should perish, and His Father’s handiwork in men be spent for nought — He takes unto Himself a body, and that of no different sort from ours.

For He did not simply will to become embodied, or will merely to appear. For if He willed merely to appear, He was able to effect His divine appearance by some other and higher means as well. But He takes a body of our kind, and not merely so, but from a spotless and stainless virgin, knowing not a man, a body clean and in very truth pure from intercourse of men. For being Himself mighty, and Artificer of everything, He prepares the body in the Virgin as a temple unto Himself, and makes it His very own as an instrument, in it manifested, and in it dwelling.

And thus taking from our bodies one of like nature, because all were under penalty of the corruption of death He gave ‘it over to death in the stead of all, and offered it to the Father — doing this, moreover, of His loving-kindness, to the end that, firstly, all being held to have died in Him, the law involving the ruin of men might be undone (inasmuch as its power was fully spent in the Lord’s body, and had no longer holding-ground against men, his peers), and that, secondly, whereas men had turned toward corruption, He might turn them again toward incorruption, and quicken them from death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of the Resurrection, banishing death from them like straw from floe fire.

9. The Word, since death alone could stay the plague, took a mortal body which, united with Him, should avail for all, and by partaking of this immortality stay the corruption of the Race. By being above all, He made His Flesh an offering for our souls; by being one with us all, He clothed us with immortality. Simile to illustrate this.

For the Word, perceiving that no otherwise could the corruption of men be undone save by death as a necessary condition, while it was impossible for the Word to suffer death, being immortal, and Son of the Father; to this end He takes to Himself a body capable of death, that it, by partaking of the Word Who is above all, might be worthy to die in the stead of all, and might, because of the Word which was come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible, and that thenceforth corruption might be stayed from all by the Grace of the Resurrection. Whence, by offering unto death the body He Himself had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from any stain, straightway He put away death from all His peers by the offering of an equivalent.

For being over all, the Word of God naturally by offering His own temple and corporeal instrument for the life of all satisfied the debt by His death. And thus He, the incorruptible Son of God, being conjoined with all by a like nature, naturally clothed all with incorruption, by the promise of the resurrection. For the actual corruption in death has no longer holding-ground against men, by reason of the Word, which by His one body has come to dwell among them.

And like as when a great king has entered into some large city and taken up his abode in one of the houses there, such city is at all events held worthy of high honour, nor does any enemy or bandit any longer descend upon it and subject it; but, on the contrary, it is thought entitled to all care, because of the king’s having taken up his residence in a single house there: so, too, has it been with the Monarch of all.

For now that He has come to our realm, and taken up his abode in one body among His peers, henceforth the whole conspiracy of the enemy against mankind is checked, and the corruption of death which before was prevailing against them is done away. For the race of men had gone to ruin, had not the Lord and Saviour of all, the Son of God, come among us to meet the end of death.

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