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A Glorious Moment

April 14, 2024

3rd Sunday of Easter
Fr. Victor Feltes

Boys and girls, I want to tell you about an adventure I went on last week. I took a short trip to see the solar eclipse on Monday in Indiana. (An eclipse is a very rare event where the Moon gets in front of the Sun in just the right way that, for a few minutes in particular places, the Moon blocks out the Sun’s light.) My friends and I had looked forward to that day for seven years, ever since 2017 when we traveled to see the total eclipse in Missouri. Widespread clouds had been forecasted for Monday, but the skies were providentially clear for millions of eclipse-watchers from Texas to Ohio.

The Moon began covering the Sun over the course of an hour. At first, to the naked eye, you couldn’t notice anything had changed, but the sunlight slowly became like an overcast day. (Remember kids, do not stare at the Sun because that can permanently damage your eyes.) In the final moments before the full eclipse, it was like seeing the world’s dimmer switch being turned down. Then, the Moon totally covered the blinding light of the Sun. You could see the Sun’s corona resembling white wisps of motionless smoke. Jupiter and Venus were visible in the darkened sky, while every horizon around us looked like twilight. All the birds were quiet. After three minutes, the Sun began to reemerge and several seconds later, its light became too bright again for us to look at without our special, filtered safety glasses. Imagine if colorful sunsets only occurred on Earth at particular places on a handful of dates each decade. Seeing the total eclipse was as special as that.

Besides its beauty, a wondrous thing about a total eclipse is our ability to predict them. The orbits of the Earth and Moon around the Sun are well-known, such that we can calculate with high accuracy, years in advance, when and where eclipses will occur. For instance, unless the second coming of Christ occurs first, the United States’ next total eclipses will be in 20 and 21 years. (You children will be grown up by then.) And 75 years from now, a total eclipse is forecast over Bloomer, Wisconsin, on September 14, 2099 at 10:45 AM, lasting four minutes. (So far, I have nothing else scheduled on my calendar for that day, but we’ll see.)

Another wondrous thing about total eclipses is that they are even possible. The Moon is 400 times smaller than the Sun. The Moon it is also about 400 times closer to us than the Sun. For this reason, our Moon and Sun appear the same size in our sky and one can closely cover the light of the other. Scientists have not identified any reason why their relative sizes and distances would have to be this way, but if their ratios were just a bit different then the stunningly beautiful eclipses we have would never occur; the Moon would cover either too much or not enough of the Sun. Countless things about our universe are fine-tuned in this way.

The physical laws of the universe fit together so providentially to allow and sustain living and interesting and beautiful things that some want to imagine there’s an infinite number of universes to explain away this fact. St. Paul wrote to the Romans about people who deny our Creator, “Ever since the creation of the world, [God’s] invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.” Our lives are not an accident. We are willed by God. Heaven and earth are full of God’s glory. We and our world are wonderfully made.

The coming of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ we heard about it today’s gospel reading are like a total eclipse; beautiful, awesome, and stunning; happening in real history at a particular place at a particular time; and “announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets.” These things draw the attention of millions, though many disregarded them. God was like the Sun, our source of life, yet too hot, too blinding, and too far away to approach. Jesus Christ is like a solar eclipse. Like the Sun and Moon during a solar eclipse he is God and man united, allowing us to see God’s glory. Jesus Christ performs a similar wonder today for you. Behind the appearances of bread you can gaze upon his very self. Jesus has chosen this day, this place, this glorious moment to give you his Most Holy Eucharist, this most precious gift of himself.

Posted in Homily, Incarnation, Jesus Christ, Real Presence, Resurrection, Science, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Peace Be With You

April 11, 2024

Divine Mercy Sunday
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

On Good Friday, Jesus suffered and died for our sins. His trusted disciples abandoned him. Judas sold him for thirty pieces of silver. Peter denied him three times. The rest of the disciples went into hiding themselves except John. When Jesus needed their help, they failed him. One reason for this must be fear of the Jews and their peace was completely disturbed. After the resurrection of Jesus, they were afraid to face Jesus because of what they had done to him. They thought he would surely condemn them for their infidelity. Now, Jesus appeared to them for the first time. He stood in their midst and the first words he uttered were “Peace be with you!”

The resurrection of Jesus changed everything. It was a new experience for the disciples, even though Jesus constantly preached and explained about his rising from the dead, they were unable to understand it. Today’s gospel helps us to move from fear to joy, seclusion to mission, absence to presence, disbelief to faith, and mere existence to new life. Just look at how Thomas changed. Before he met Jesus, he was depressed, absent from the group of apostles, and disbelieving: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) after His resurrection, Jesus offered Thomas the proof he needed. Thomas was amazed, and he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) In that moment, Thomas’s doubt turned to faith.

During his apparition to the disciples, Jesus gave the mission; telling them that just as the Father had sent him, he was sending them to continue the mission that was given to Jesus by his Father. He was commissioning the Church through His disciples to continue the work of salvation. They are called upon to live like Jesus and draw others to share their personal experience of knowing and loving Jesus and being loved by him. Now they have a mission to spread the love of Jesus, to form a community, and celebrate the Eucharist.

Jesus’ mission to his disciples was to restore their peace. He said to them Peace be with you, do not be afraid. In the same way, Jesus says to all of us this Sunday, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid,” because I have truly risen. Therefore, this is one message that we must bring to our world as we witness the risen Christ this season. This is because our world lacks peace and needs the peace that comes from Christ. This is very important in a world where all we hear every day is about wars, bombing, hatred, accidents, shooting, fighting, killing, broken relationships, and fractured families. We must accept and bring the peace of the risen Christ to our families, to our neighbors, to our communities, and our world.

On the second Sunday of Easter, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. Let us celebrate the mercy of God. Like the disciples of Jesus, we, too, have been unfaithful to Him. We have turned our backs on Him and have failed Him so many times. However, Jesus does not condemn us, nor is He angry with us. It is because He is the God of mercy. Mercy is the word for generous love towards sinners.

Posted in Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ, Peace, Resurrection, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Encounter Christ’s Divine Mercy

April 6, 2024

Divine Mercy Sunday
By Fr. Victor Feltes

On Easter Sunday evening, all of the apostles (besides Judas and Thomas) were gathered behind locked doors in the Upper Room. Yet the Risen Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” St. Luke records that they “were startled and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost.” So to reassure them, Jesus asked, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And Jesus showed them the enduring wounds in his hands and feet and side.

Jesus’ first order of business on Easter Sunday was to demonstrate to his disciples the fact of his bodily resurrection, and “the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” for the rest of their lives. So either Jesus Christ rose again from the dead in his flesh or all the apostles lied; but who would ever die for what one knows to be a lie? They were amazed and overjoyed, and Jesus said again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Second to establishing the fact of his resurrection, of next importance was commissioning the apostles to spread Divine Mercy and giving them the authority to forgive sins.

Some people imagine that they themselves never commit sins. However, without great devotion, that is extremely unlikely. In his first New Testament letter, St. John taught that “if we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Some Christians acknowledge their sins yet never come to confession and merely pray to God. Contritely praying to God is good, but if this were all the Lord desired for the forgiveness of your post-baptismal sins, then why did he give his Church’s priests the power to forgive sins? To do other than what he has ordained is presumptuous. Please do not be afraid to approach and receive this healing gift of mercy.

Since the year 2000, during the papacy of St. John Paul the Great, this 2nd Sunday of Easter has been celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. This is one fruit of private revelations (judged by the Church as being “worthy of belief“) to a Polish religious sister in the 1930s. Jesus told St. Faustina Kowalska, “When you go to confession, to this fountain of mercy, the blood and water which came forth from my heart always flows down upon your soul. … Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. … Come with faith to the feet of my representative. … I myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest… I myself act in your soul. … Make your confession before me. The person of the priest is, for me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to me, and I will fill it with my light.” Jesus declared, “The miracle of Divine Mercy restores that soul in full. Oh, how miserable are those who do not take advantage of the miracle of God’s mercy!” … Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to my mercy.”

I know how much I regularly need and benefit from Confession and I hope that you will soon avail yourself of this sacrament soon. Please do not be presumptuous and do not be afraid. Promptly approach this great and holy sacrament of Divine Mercy. and Christ’s peace will be with you.

Posted in Confession, Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Mercy, St. Faustina, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Encountering Our Risen Lord

March 31, 2024

Easter Sunday
Fr. Victor Feltes

This gospel reading is a curious one to proclaim on Easter Sunday. It’s the one we read on Easter Sunday morning every year: John’s story of Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the Beloved Disciple at the empty tomb. Other gospel reports about Jesus’ resurrection have miracles and appearances of angels or of Christ himself. St. John’s Gospel recounts examples of these on Easter as well; for instance, after where our reading ends, Mary is greeted by Jesus and angels at the tomb, and Peter sees and touches the Risen Lord in the Upper Room. This morning’s gospel reading, however, does not find Jesus and sees no angels or miracles in progress. Mary Magdalene discovers Jesus’ body is missing and runs away distressed. She finds Peter and the Beloved Disciple (traditionally, the Apostle John) and the men run back to the tomb. Both of them go inside but only find burial cloths. They had not yet understood Jesus’ previous remarks nor the Old Testament passages which foretold “that [Christ] had to rise from the dead.” But, when the other disciple went inside the tomb after Peter, “he saw and believed.”

So what convinced him? Was it something about those burial cloths? Was it because the cloth which had covered Jesus’ head was “not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place” with a tender delicacy which a grave robber would not show? Was it because tomb raiders in the ancient world would typically steal fine burial linens and leave the body behind? Was it because a body-snatcher would not peel the dry-blood-caked shroud away from the body to carry away a naked corpse? Perhaps the cloths looked deflated, as though Jesus’ body had vanished or passed through without disturbing them. Or maybe a miraculous image of Jesus’ body had been left behind upon the shroud. Whatever it was, the Beloved Disciple reasoned from what he saw to firm conviction. Was Peter convinced by seeing the same scene? Maybe not. Mary Magdalene was not consoled by her first glances at the tomb. It was later encounters, typically together with other friends of Jesus, which led Christ’s disciples to faith in him as the risen Lord.

Many people come to church on Easter Sunday morning. And this is a good thing. Our Lord is pleased that you are here. On the first Easter Sunday evening, when Jesus Christ appeared in the Upper Room even though he had died for their sins, even though they had previously deserted him, he said to all those gathered: “Peace be with you… Peace be with you.” Many people come to church on Easter Sunday morning. But typically, on the following Sunday, a fewer number attend. Jesus may touch your heart this morning, he may give new insight to your mind, you may “see and believe” in a new way. Or maybe you will encounter Jesus’ empty Easter tomb this morning and walk away unchanged. Remember that it was later encounters, typically together with other friends of Jesus, which led disciples to faith in him as the risen Lord.

Jesus desires a personal relationship with each one of us; a relationship which will bless, console, strengthen, and guide us. A life of daily prayer, weekly worship, and true devotion. Praying to God only when I need something is like talking to a friend only when I want something. If you have been away from Christ, he calling you to return, to draw nearer, so your personal relationship and conviction may deepen. Realize that if Jesus Christ had not been risen, nothing else in life would matter. But since Jesus Christ has been risen, nothing else in life matters as much as this.

Posted in Christian Perfection, Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ, Resurrection, St. John the Evangelist, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Peter, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Building Community

March 31, 2024

Easter Vigil
By Fr. Victor Feltes

A theme of Easter Sunday was Jesus Christ’s disciples being reunited. When some female disciples find the stone rolled away, an angel announces that Jesus has risen and instructs them to “go and tell his disciples and Peter…” Later, when Jesus himself appears to Mary Magdalene outside the empty tomb, he tells her to “go to my brothers and tell them…” The two disciples on the road to Emmaus would not have returned to Jerusalem if they had not encountered Jesus along the way. And all of the remaining apostles (except for Thomas) were together Easter Sunday evening when Jesus appeared in the Upper Room. Notice that for St. Thomas the Apostle coming to full faith in Christ and accomplishing his Christian calling involved him rejoining the other disciples and sharing in their community. Now Jesus did not need to employ messengers. Post-resurrection, he could have opted to appear to each of his disciples personally, individually. Mary Magdalene, Peter, and Paul each had private first-encounters with the risen Lord. Yet Jesus wants his friends to help share the good news about him with others and he prefers to reveal himself when they are gathered together.

June of last year, our church renovation pledge drive concluded. Since then, your contributions, generously fulfilling those pledges, have been flowing into the parish. This January, we signed the building contract to renovate our vestibule. And tonight we see that project substantially compete, though a few details remain to be finished. In just a nine-month span, St. Paul’s entryway has been transformed, under budget and sooner than we had imagined. I wish to thank God and St. Paul our patron, who helped all of this come together better than we could have planned. And I wish to thank you for your generosity, those of you who served on our committees and all who have contributed to our Inspired by the Spirit campaign. Based upon some back-of-the-envelope calculations I made this afternoon, with the capital campaign monies we have received and at the rate your campaign contributions have been coming in, I estimate we could have all the money needed for our next stage, the renovation of our nave—that is, the front portion of our church—about a year and a half, eighteen months from now, or less.

Our new vestibule is a wonderful thing. The elderly or handicapped who may have stayed away from Mass now have recourse to a first floor bathroom. Parents self-conscious about their babies now have a cry-room space and a first floor changing station. Funeral mourners now have a space for casual visitations onsite, and no longer need to go outside on school days to find a restroom. And now our parish has a natural place to mingle after Mass respecting the prayerful quiet of this sacred space while strengthening bonds of holy friendship between us. The growing and deepening of this community is the greatest reason for our vestibule renovation.

Tonight we are delighted to be initiating through Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion, new Catholic Christians among us. We welcome you and feel great joy that our collective witness has drawn and not repulsed you to full communion with Jesus Christ’s Church on earth. We treasure you and rejoice to share with you the precious gifts of grace and wisdom which we have received from the Lord. But brothers and sisters, we must do more to be inviting and share these gifts.

Jesus wants us, his friends, to help share the good news about him with others and he prefers reveal himself when we are gathered together. An old joke goes, “I don’t know why people say our parish is unfriendly — I always say ‘hello’ to everyone I know.” If you see someone new at Mass, please make them feel welcome. If you would like to organize after-Mass socials for our vestibule, with coffee and doughnuts, or ice cream, or something else to promote community, let me know. Invite a non-practicing Catholic back. Invite a non-Catholic Christian or even a non-believer to come and see. Invite them to come here with you to some weekday or Sunday Mass or to Eucharistic Adoration. Maybe offering to treat them to a coffee or meal after. Pause and ask the Holy Spirit: “Whom are you calling for me to invite here?” Let’s see how many more souls we can help bring into communion with Christ’s Church at next year’s Easter Vigil. If Jesus Christ had not been risen, nothing else would matter. But since Jesus Christ has been risen, nothing else matters so much.

Posted in Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Resurrection, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Psalm 22 Fulfilled

March 24, 2024

Palm Sunday
By Fr. Victor Feltes

A thousand years before Christ’s Passion, King David was inspired by the Holy Spirit to pen the Twenty-Second Psalm. Jesus quotes this psalm’s opening words from the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Psalm 22 contains passage after passage prophetically predicting details of Good Friday.

It foretells how Christ’s enemies would deride him: “Scorned by men, despised by the people… they mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads: ‘He relied on the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, if he loves him.’”

It reveals what Jesus would endure in his chest, mouth, limbs, and back: “My heart has become like wax, it melts away within me. As dry as a potsherd is my throat; my tongue cleaves to my palate… They have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones.”

It predicts what all four gospels writers record the soldiers did: “They stare at me and gloat; they divide my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.”

Despite expressing great anguish at feeling as if God were distant throughout these sufferings, the psalm declares hope in deliverance, a restoration to life: “I will proclaim your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you. …All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord; All the families of nations will bow low before him… The poor will eat their fill… And I will live for the Lord; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.”

These accurate prophesies have been realized in God’s Church, where our Lord is with and in his Eucharistic people proclaiming his resurrection to every land and generation. The Twenty-Second Psalm was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and he continues today to fulfill it in our midst.

Posted in David, Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Inspired Scripture, Jesus Christ, Passion, Salvation History, Sunday Homilies | 1 Comment »

He Set His Face Like Flint

March 23, 2024

Palm Sunday
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

This week, the Holy Week, is a week like no other in the year, a week when we celebrate in our special celebrations on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil, what Jesus did for us. This week is a week to take time out, to stop, to reflect, to spend time with Jesus who gave his life for us, a week to pray.

Today I want to share my thoughts briefly on the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who tore out my beard; my face I did not hide from insults and spitting. The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 50:6-7) This passage from the prophet Isaiah is very striking and every detail of his prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in the passion of Jesus.

The face is very important because, in many ways, the face represents the inner person. “The front part of the human head including the chin, mouth, nose, cheeks, eyes, and the forehead.” Therefore, the expressions of the mouth, such as smiling, tight lips, and shaking lips form part of facial expressions. Emotions of cheerfulness, fearfulness, troubled mind, and anger are often expressed on the face. The eye is called the light of the body and the window of the soul.

The face not only gives an idea of the emotional state of a person but also the mental state. One can imagine the facial expression of Jesus in those moments of his suffering and distress. Jesus also communicated to God with his face. When he went into the Garden of Gethsemane, he fell on his face to pray. Falling to the face was a mark of humility and total surrender to God’s will.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the detractors of Jesus targeted his face. “Then they spat in his face and struck him, while some slapped him. The soldiers weaved a crown of thorns and placed it on his head (his forehead, his face)…They spat upon him took the reed and kept striking him on the head.”

There is something great to learn from Jesus. Even when his body was wounded and his face suffered bashing, He set his face like flint meant he remained positive and strong. In his wounds, he never lost the spirit of fortitude, endurance, patience, and boldness. He carried his cross with dignity without a word of insult to his persecutors. What is more, even in the face of agony he sought the face of God and the will of God.

Therefore, He teaches us the necessity of seeking the face of the Lord when we are in difficulty, even when our detractors try to put our faces to shame. “Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.” (1 Chronicles 16:11)

Posted in Feast Day Homilies, Homily, Jesus Christ, Passion, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

Jesus the Grain of Wheat Died to Harvest Us

March 20, 2024

5th Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

Who are the important people in our world? Who are the great people in our country? It depends on what you mean by “important” and “great.” These are some of the people in our world who receive glory, fame, and publicity: such as pop stars, sports stars, successful businesspeople, and company directors. Other people are not famous—people caring for sick relatives, people suffering crosses without grumbling, those encouraging others, those who bring the love of God to others, those who witness to Jesus in small ways. Are they the greatest people in our world? I think they are.

What about Jesus? At the wedding in Cana Jesus said, his hour had not yet come but in today’s Gospel, he says his hour has come. Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. (John 12:23)

What is this hour of glory for Jesus? It is his passion and death. That is the hour of glory for Jesus in John’s Gospel, his passion and death. Why? The first reading, taken from the book of the Prophet Jeremiah, explains how God will replace the Old Covenant of Judgment with a New Covenant of Forgiveness of sins. This New or Renewed Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah has been fulfilled, through Jesus’ life, and death. (John 12:24) “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Here Jesus tells us that this is the price of eternal life. The grain, of course, does not die but is transformed into something completely new: roots, leaves, and fruit. Jesus here speaks about his own life, which he sacrificed to gain new life in the Kingdom. He invites us too to be ready to lose our life for the sake of Jesus to gain eternal life.

The hour of glory for Jesus is his passion and death because when he is lifted from the earth, he will draw all men to himself. (John 12:32) Jesus’ glory is not what the world thinks is glorious because the world does not see as God sees.

Today’s Gospel teaches us that new life and eternal life are made possible only by the death of the self through obedience, suffering, and service. Salt gives its taste by dissolving in water. A candle gives light by having its wick burned and its wax melted. Loving parents sacrifice themselves so that their children can enjoy a better life than they have had. Let us pray that we may acquire this self-sacrificing spirit, especially during Lent.

Only a life spent for others will be glorified, sometimes here in this world, but always in Heaven. We know that the world owes everything to people who have spent their time and talents for God and their fellow human beings. Mother Teresa, for instance, gave up her comfortable teaching career, and with just five rupees in her pocket began her challenging life for the “poorest of the poor” in the crowded slums of Calcutta. The people who spend their lives and talents for others are great and important.

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God Loves You So Much

March 11, 2024

4th Sunday of Lent
by Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

The central theme of today’s readings is that our salvation is the gift of a merciful God, given to us through Jesus, His Son. The readings give importance to God’s mercy and compassion and remind us of His great love and kindness. As an act of love and gratitude to God, who is “rich in mercy,” and as an expression of our Faith, we are invited to share Jesus’ sufferings by doing penance during Lent so that we may inherit our eternal salvation and the glory of his Resurrection in Heaven.

In the first reading, we learn the compassion and patience of God. The reading shows us how the people’s infidelities also caused them to lose the Temple, their homeland, until they “came to their senses,” recognizing their sinfulness, and cried out to God for mercy. It was then God came to their rescue, choosing to work through the pagan king Cyrus. To return them to their homeland and to help them rebuild His Temple there. God chose Cyrus the Great, a pagan conqueror, to become the instrument of His mercy and salvation for His chosen people.

The second reading reminds us to focus on the mystery of salvation as a gift to sinners. St. Paul teaches us that, although we do not deserve anything from God on our own merits, God has chosen to love, save, and give life to us – both Jewish and Gentile Christians. St. Paul says that Divine grace does three things for us: a) brings us to life in Christ, b) raises us with Christ, and c) seats us in the Heavens. The sole purpose of these Divine deeds is to show the immeasurable riches of God’s grace.

Today’s Gospel provides Jesus, the Son of God, to become the agent of God’s salvation, not just for one sinful nation but also for the sinfulness of the whole world. Through John 3:16, the Gospel teaches us that God has expressed His love, mercy, and compassion for us by giving His Only Son for our salvation. Nicodemus, the wealthy Pharisee, and member of the Sanhedrin, meets Jesus by night and begins a long religious discussion. Jesus explains to him that he must believe Jesus’ words because Jesus is the Son of God. Then, by referring to the story of Moses and the bronze serpent (Num 21:1-9), Jesus further explains God’s plan of salvation. Just as God saved the victims of serpent bite from death through the bronze serpent, He is going to save humankind from its sins by permitting the crucifixion and death of His Son Jesus, because the love of God for humankind is that great.

We need to love the cross, the symbol of God’s forgiving and merciful love: it is not only of God’s love and mercy but also of the price of our salvation, It encourages us not only to feel deep sorrow for another’s suffering but also to try our best to remove that suffering. God’s love is unconditional, universal, forgiving, and merciful. Let us try to make an earnest attempt to include these qualities in sharing our love with others during Lent

Posted in Homily, Love, Mercy, Sunday Homilies | Leave a Comment »

The Light of Christ

March 11, 2024

4th Sunday of Lent
Deacon Dick Kostner

It seems to me that the last time I talked to you I was wearing my “favorite” color of pink and talking about the light of Christ and once again I am called to talk to you bright as ever, once again displaying for all to see that God does indeed have a sense of humor in asking this Deacon friend of his to share some thoughts with you during this Holy Season of Lent before celebrating with you the “Light of Christ” at the Easter Vigil.

Why does God God punish us so much with pain and suffering? Why has our world lost common sense and no longer can determine what sex a person is or what bathroom one should use? Or the great question, where can I find someone I can count on to tell me some truth for it seems that no one seems to be able to even define what truth is? Sounds like the conversation between Pilate and Jesus don’t it? All of these big issues and questions are on display for us in the readings for this weekend with Jesus giving us the answer that we may not really want to hear or accept.

All of the problems we encounter during our lives centers around us being human descendants of Adam and Eve the first creatures God created in his image and likeness to create a new kingdom where love of God and others would find its home. But because of their desire to be like their creator and because of their free will they too wanted to be gods and make up their own plan of happiness and love, and so they did not listen to their creator and thus they and their descendants were blemished through their decision and God allowed them and all their descendants to suffer the consequences of their actions because of God’s love and respect for them.

Because of God’s love for us he gifted us with his son Jesus, and became human to allow us to learn how to live a life of happiness and love even in a world that contains sufferings. Jesus, our mentor and redeemer who will accompany us on our journey to eternity and support us to weather problems beyond our control such as natural storms and yes even the experience of having to die.

But what about the sufferings we experience such as failed relationships, and trying to find truth in a world filled with craziness? Where do we get relief and answers? Jesus gives us the answer in our Gospel as he explains it to Nicodemus. The answer is: “Through the light of Christ” and by allowing the light of Christ to become transparent and to shine through us as brothers and sisters of our Brother Jesus.

I believe that through our baptism we are given a hot line number, a switch so to speak that allows us to make a call for help to Jesus at any time of the day or night. When we are suffering or just uncertain of a path we are tempted to follow in life all we have to do is to not be afraid to make a call to the someone who can help us see the light to get us through our suffering or make that important decision. A person we can depend on to tell us the truth, that person is Jesus who has promised to send his spirit, the “light” referred to in the Gospels, to help us see our way out of a dilemma or weather a suffering. The problem is we first need to make that call for help or throw that switch “on” in order to make that connection with him, and secondly we need to listen to and trust his response even though it might not make sense to us or we disagree with what he is saying.

Because of free will if we fail to listen to him and trust ourselves over his advice, we will need to accept the consequences of our decision. God does not inflict punishment on us, rather he allows us to make up our own mind which can impose on us results that we might like to blame on him or others.

When I first got out of law school and began practice the first thing my dad taught me was to never be afraid to ask people who have knowledge and experience, for help. He said when you are uncertain pick up the phone and call a fellow attorney for advice. They will never refuse to help out a fellow brother. I trusted my dad and followed his advice and that eliminated me making a lot of mistakes and needless sufferings.

Jesus gifts us with the Sacraments to offer us help and support. He gives us an army of spiritual advisors to access through his Church, his body and his priests educated in obtaining for us the vocation he planned for each of us at our birth. And yes he gives us his written hopes and direction through his Gospels for us to study and to partner with him in building the kingdom of God here and now.

Do you trust Jesus? Do you believe he will tell you the truth? If so why do we not think about asking him and his Church first for help and direction when we are uncertain if we are making the right move in life or experiencing sufferings and need some support? He knows the future and what is best for us we don’t, so that’s where we need to trust his advice and accept it. We only need to throw the switch to see the light of Christ overtake the darkness of the world we live in and continue our walk in safety.

Remember the ashes we received, listen to our friend Jesus and “Repent and believe in the Gospel” to move through the Good Friday’s of life and see the light of Christ with him through his Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Assignment: Examination of Conscience meditation on being a Light Disciple through prayer giving us “The Last Days of our Life with no regrets!” A Second Chance! (PS. Barb agrees with AJ she says I look good in pink!)

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Zeal for Your House Will Devour Me

March 2, 2024

3rd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

Like the desert (Lent week 1) and the mountain (week 2), the Temple is a place of special encounter with God. However, today we are not going to see the glorious face of Jesus; we are going to see his angry face. At the same time Jesus is kind and merciful, we should not take his kindness for granted. His love is forever yet, he corrects our faults. By chasing those buying and selling out of the Temple, Jesus gives us a foretaste of his wrath on those who do not obey the commandments of God. The Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17) given by God are meant to be obeyed and kept by all. Yet many of us are taking it for granted. God is the Father of us all and he wants us to be upright.

For this reason, St. Paul tells us that, “while the Jews demand miracles and Greeks look for wisdom, here are we preaching a crucified Christ.” (1 Cor. 1:22-25) We preach Christ because he is the power and wisdom of God. Those who follow Christ are on the right path because he has the message of eternal life. Those who do not know Christ lack wisdom.

Since they lack wisdom, they turned the house of God, which is meant for prayer into a marketplace. Jesus proved to them that he had a strong desire to dwell in God’s house forever. He exclaimed, “zeal for your house will devour me.” (Jn. 2:13-25) This zeal to dwell in God’s house forever is the motivating factor behind Jesus’ mission. He has come to serve, not to be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many. The house of God is the house of prayer and worship.

On the spiritual level, the temple refers to every one of us. St. Paul tells us in the First Letter to the Corinthians (3:16-17) that we are God’s temple and God’s Spirit dwells in us. Therefore, if anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy the person, for God’s temple is Holy, and that we are.

For those who feel that going to church to worship God is not necessary, Jesus has proved to them that we meet in God’s house for adoration and prayers. The church is a sacred place. It should be kept holy and reserved for things concerning God. When we gather in the church, we are in the presence of the almighty and ought to maintain the decorum befitting his presence. May our Lenten observance help us to experience the presence of God among us.

Let us love our parish Church as “our Heavenly Father’s house” and make it a holier place by our care for it, by our active participation in the liturgy, by offering our time and talents in the various ministries, and by our financial support for its maintenance and development.

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Revere What Is Holy

March 2, 2024

3rd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

On a spring day before Passover, Jesus went up to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. He found people there selling animals to be sacrificed; oxen, sheep, and doves. He also saw money changers doing business there, seated at their tables exchanging foreign currencies. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, then made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area along with the sheep and oxen. He spilled the money changers’ coins and overturned their tables. The doves for sale were kept in cages, so Jesus told those vendors, “Take these out of here!” Jesus proclaims peacemakers blessed, yet we see that he is not a pacifist. His disciples who witnessed the event recalled a verse from Psalm 69, “Zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.” So why was what was going on at the temple upsetting to Jesus and insulting to his Father?

Jesus said, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” He also quoted to them a verse from Isaiah, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” “But you,” Jesus said, “are making it ‘a den of thieves!’” Jesus was angered by how they were profaning the temple, exploiting the Jewish faithful, and being obstacles to foreign peoples’ coming to worship God. The Jews regarded marketplaces as impure places. St. Mark’s Gospel notes how “on coming from [marketplaces], they would not eat without purifying themselves.” Running a market at the temple was treating the holy place like somewhere base or ordinary. Jesus likened the vendors and temple officials to a den of thieves for charging the Jews who came for worship inflated animal prices and exploitive rates of exchange. And their marketplace was setup inside the Court of the Gentiles, the temple courtyard for all the nations, where God desired non-Jews to come and worship him. Consider how much harder it is to pray when surrounded by the noise of others. (This is why we encourage people after Mass to gather to chat in our vestibule or basement—to preserve the quiet of this holy place for the benefit of others at prayer.) Ultimately, Jesus cleanses the temple because the ways in which it was being profaned were creating obstacles to peoples’ deeper relationship with God.

A physical holy place can be profaned. Holy names can be treated profanely as well. God commands his people, “I, the Lord, am your God… You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished the one who takes his name in vain.” This second of the Ten Commandments forbids the misuse of God’s holy name. Swearing false oaths, invoking God to declare untruths, is taking his name in vain. Neglecting or spurning doing something that you have vowed to God, is taking his name in vain. And most commonly of all, using the Lord’s name without reverence and love (that is, blasphemy), is taking his name in vain. Using God’s name carelessly like a joke, employing the name of Christ like a word for excrement, treating holy things as base or ordinary creates a stumbling block for others as they see our Faith as foolishness. If we do not lovingly respect our holy friends in heaven and holy things on earth, then why should they? Only say “O my God” as an act of prayer. Only say “Bless your heart” if you sincerely mean it. And only say “I swear to God” about things which are gravely important and true.

The Second Commandment demands reverence for the Lord’s name for the same reason Jesus forcibly cleansed the temple; that people may come into deeper loving communion with God. Let us love God, and his holy ones, and everyone by word and deed, and respect his holy things and places. By our lived Christian example, may others come to do the same.

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The Mountaintop Experience

February 26, 2024

2nd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Chinnappan Pelavendran

God’s call is personal; it is an invitation to enter into his holiness with an attitude of faith and total trust in God. As we enter the second week of Lent, our task is to continue to examine our hearts and change ourselves to be worthy of his glorious paschal mystery. As human beings, we do not like to change and we resist any change as much as we can. However, change is a part of our life. We know that we are pilgrims on a journey to a more permanent dwelling place. A place of total union with our God.

In Genesis 12, God tested Abraham to leave his father’s land for an unknown land. Abraham through his obedience demonstrated that he loved God more than his father’s land. In the first reading as we saw today, God tested Abraham again to see how convinced and strong his faith was by asking him to sacrifice the son of promise. Abraham was a man of great faith and his faith led him to the mountaintop, a place of great encounter with God. It took Abraham three days to journey to the mountaintop at Moriah for the sacrifice and within this period Abraham never changed his mind for his faith remained firm.

God wants you to make the first step with determination and he will come and take control. Remember not to entertain distractions and discouragements in your journey to the mountain-top, Abraham had to leave his servants at the foot of the mountain while he climbed with Isaac alone to avoid distractions. When we keep our faith strong in God and we are ready to make enormous sacrifices towards meeting Him at the mountaintop, then we can be sure that God will be on our side and as the second reading says if God is on our side nobody can be against us. Even when we make mistakes as humans, God would still forgive us since Christ has died to spare us and he stands at God’s right hand interceding for us.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus leads his disciples up a high mountain to witness his transfiguration. Elijah and Moses appear and this demonstrates that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophets and the law. God speaks from heaven and this gives the disciples clarity in their vocations. Peter wants to stay in the moment. Peter wants to build monuments and to stay. Soon after the events at Mount Tabor, however, Jesus begins to lead his disciples to Jerusalem and the cross. You see, Jesus leads his disciples to another mountain, Golgotha, where all of humanity is transfigured through his passion, death, and resurrection. For Abraham, the undiscovered country seems to be a stretch of land that God would give to him and his descendants. For the disciples of Jesus, the undiscovered country is our salvation, the promise of resurrection and everlasting life.

As we make our way with Jesus from our Mount Tabors to our Good Fridays, we are invited to never lose sight of where Jesus is ultimately leading us. Our destination is our Easter hope. To get there, we need to know who we are, and where we are going, and recommit ourselves to following Jesus who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

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His Manifest Devotion

February 24, 2024

2nd Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

How could Abraham do what he did? He fully trusted in God, and through this trust he and us were greatly blessed. God had promised descendants to Abraham through his son, Isaac, declaring, “Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.” Because of the miraculous birth his son and other experiences with God, Abraham believed the Lord could and would keep all his promises.

So when Abraham reached the mountain of sacrifice, where the Jewish temple would be built about 900 years later in Jerusalem, he told his servants (in a passage omitted from our first reading): “Stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” The Holy Spirit tells us in the Letter to the Hebrews that Abraham “reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol.”

After Jesus was transfigured and proclaimed by the Eternal Father to be his beloved Son, “as they were coming down from the mountain, [Jesus] charged [Peter, James, and John] not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when [he] had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.” The sacrifice of Isaac, in which Abraham’s son was spared, foreshadows the sacrifice of Jesus offered by God the Father for us.

Upon staying the hand of Abraham, the Lord’s messenger said, “I know now how devoted you are to God.” After Christ’s sacrifice, we now know how devoted God is to us. St. Alphonsus Liguori agrees with St. Thomas Aquinas in saying, “God loves man just as if man were His god, and as if without man He could not be happy; ‘as if man were the god of God Himself, and without him He could not be happy.’”

Such is God’s devotion to us. And brothers and sisters, as St. Paul writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?” So let us fully trust God as Abraham did, and through this well-founded trust be greatly blessed and greatly bless others as well.

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What Is “The Gospel”?

February 17, 2024

1st Sunday of Lent
By Fr. Victor Feltes

God loves us despite our sins. Sin divides people from God and one another. So to forgive our sins, to heal our divisions, and to make us saints, God the Father sends his Eternal Son. Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Mary, suffers, dies, and rises again to achieve our reconciliation. Through baptism into Christ and his Church we can be saved from sin and death, similar to the story of Noah whose family is saved through the Flood inside of the ark. As God the Holy Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert so he guides his Church, forming saints in Christ’s likeness.

This is an expression of what today we call the gospel. God loves us and wants to deliver us from sin and death and to bless us in his Church through Christ’s saving sacrifice. This is our Faith. This is the Good News both you and I are called to share with others. Who will you invite to receive the gifts of God you have known and enjoyed? If you are open to it, the Holy Spirit will arrange opportunities for you to do so.

Today we hear St. Mark recount how “Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: ‘This is the time of fulfillment! The Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe in the gospel!’” This is how Jesus preached at the beginning of his public ministry years before his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We have an idea of what “the gospel” means now, but what was “the gospel of God” that Jesus called people to believe in before his saving sacrifice had happened?

All of the New Testament writers wrote in Greek. The word our English bibles translate as “gospel” is the Greek word “euangelion” (εὐαγγέλιον). Euangelion is a compound word which combines eu which means “good” and angelia meaning “announcement.” In the ancient Greco-Roman world, the news of a new ruler coming to power or of some major military victory were proclaimed as euangelion. In that cultural setting, Jesus proclaims the great announcement that God’s Kingdom is near.

A divine victory was imminent. Time had come for fulfillment of God’s Old Covenant promises. The will of God would soon be done more fully on earth as it’s done in heaven. Jesus says, “This is the time of fulfillment! The Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe in the gospel!” Jesus is calling his hearers to believe that things can get better.

Pessimists imagine this world is forever getting worse. But if that were true, if things were always becoming worse and worse what good would there remain for any of us to see now? How could any of us still be left alive? Things can get worse or they can get better. In days past, at the beginning of his public ministry, and now, at the start of this season of Lent, Jesus calls for repentance and faith in the gospel. He calls us to believe that we can become more perfectly like himself; to believe this world around us, as a result of grace and cooperation with Christ, can be more fully God’s Kingdom come.

When he came to his hometown, the people of Nazareth were unwilling to believe in Jesus and what he preached. They refused to believe that Jesus could change their lives and change their world. “So,” St. Mark records, Jesus “was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Peoples’ trust and openness was a factor in how much they could receive from Christ.

What could Jesus do in us and in our world beginning in this Lent? Jesus calls you to “repent and believe in the gospel!”

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