Sunday, May 30, 2021
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
An Eternal Exchange of Love
Dear Parishioners,
On this Trinity Sunday, I share
some reflections on the Holy Trinity—this profound mystery of our faith.
First, we should realize that
Jesus opened up for us the inner life of God.
He revealed that God was a Trinity of Persons. Recall, the Jewish people were strict
monotheists—Hear O Israel! The
Lord is our God, the Lord alone! (Dt. 6: 4)—and they held on to this belief despite being
surrounded, invaded and conquered by various polytheistic cultures (e.g., Rome). However, Jesus began to teach his disciples God
is Father—His Father—and this must have caused significant concern for
those around Him. He equated Himself
with God, His Father: The Father
and I are one. (Jn. 10:30) What exactly does He mean? He also promised to send the Holy Spirit to
His disciples once He was gone: But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you (Jn. 16: 7). There is no natural way that we could
figure out on our own that God was a Trinity of Persons without Jesus
revealing this mystery to us.
Next, we are told that God
is love (1 Jn. 4:8) Therefore, the experience of love itself
seems to indicate that there should be a lover and a beloved. Within the Trinity, the Father loves the Son
from all eternity and the Son loves the Father from all eternity. The love between the two is also a Person:
The Holy Spirit. “God's very being is love. By sending his
only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his
innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC # 221)
I contend that things in this world
reflect and model for us certain eternal truths—albeit imperfectly—and help us to understand some mysteries of our faith better. Take the example of a family. A husband loves his wife and the wife loves her
husband. Their love for each other can be
manifest in a child who is the result of their love for each other. In essence, there is a type of a trinitarian
love involved here: the love between
husband, wife and child. Again, the
example is not perfect as God is uncreated, but it does shed some
light on an otherwise complicated topic.
Another example from our life
experience helps us with our understanding the Trinity. Take H2O which can appear
in nature as water, steam or ice. All
three have the same chemical composition but can appear in different forms depending
on temperature. This helps us to see how
something can be three and one at the very same time. Our belief in the Holy Trinity teaches that there
are Three Divine Persons in the One True God.
Every time you make the Sign
of the Cross, think about how we acknowledge our belief in the Holy
Trinity. By God’s immense love for us,
we are invited to share in the life of the Trinity and to dwell one day within
that eternal exchange of love.
The whole idea can be mind-boggling.
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
40 Hours of Eucharistic Adoration
Dear Parishioners,
Next month, on Tuesday, June 22nd, we will celebrate the feast day of our patron, St. Thomas More. At that time our parish will also observe 40 Hours of Eucharistic Adoration beginning after the 11 AM Mass on Sunday, June 20th until the 9 AM Mass on June 22nd. Following the 11 AM Mass on June 20th, the Blessed Sacrament will remain continually present on the altar for
private prayer and adoration, except when a Mass is scheduled. We will also have an evening Mass at 7 PM
on Monday, June 21st, (in addition to our regular morning Mass at 9 AM).
On Tuesday, June 22nd, we will close the 40 Hours at 9 AM with Holy Mass and a Eucharistic Procession. More information will be given in the upcoming weeks.
I truly believe that when we take
the time to be with Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament, it is a time of tremendous blessing not only for us as
individuals but also for our families and for our entire parish family. I do not ever
want us to take for granted the great gift of the Real Presence of Jesus
in the Holy Eucharist. Time spent with
Him is a grace-filled time. We can
express our love and adoration for Jesus, thankfulness for our blessings, and contrition
for sin (our own and the sins of others). We can also intercede for one another and
petition the Lord for our various needs.
It is an invaluable time to spend with Jesus, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
When we come into the
Lord’s presence, Jesus can do something to us. We may think that we go to pray, to
petition and to worship, or even that we are doing God a favor by spending some of our precious time with
Him. Our Lord Jesus, however, can
transform us while we spend time with Him. We do not need to worry about what prayers we
should say, what spiritual readings we should be reading or what we should be
doing in His Presence. Just being with the Lord can be transforming. He can soften our hearts, heal our wounds,
inspire us and guide us. He can give us
an inner peace that nothing in this world can match. Making the commitment to spend time with Him
can truly transform us.
What I am requesting
from you, my parishioners, is that you plan to dedicate one hour sometime during these three days with the Lord in
adoration. (This should be in
addition to any time attending Mass, when possible.)
This devotion will continue for two nights—around the clock—and I
need your help and cooperation in order to do this. Could you please think about dedicating an
hour in prayer before the Most Blessed Sacrament? Why not encourage members of your family to
pray as a family for an hour? Perhaps a group or organization within the
parish can make a holy hour together (choir, Knights of Columbus, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Small Christian Communities, Faith and Justice Team, catechists, lectors,
extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, etc.). I especially need a few insomniacs or
night owls to cover the late hours! Sign-up sheets will be made available in the coming weeks so that all hours are covered and Jesus is never left alone.
Pastor
St. Thomas More
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Preparing for the Holy Spirit
Dear Parishioners,
After His Resurrection, Jesus
appeared to His disciples and told them: “. . . You will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout
Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
As Christians, we first received
the Holy Spirit when we were baptized. In Jerusalem, St. Peter
declared to the crowd: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38) St. Paul also reminds us: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your
own?” (1 Cor. 6:19)
In Confirmation, the same Holy Spirit is once again given to us. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of
Confirmation is the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the
apostles on the day of Pentecost.” (#1302)
In Jerusalem after Jesus’
Ascension, the apostles were assembled in the upper room as a community. They remained there in prayer together with Mary, the mother of Jesus, in preparation for
the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost. (See Acts 1:13-14)
Each year we should prepare similarly as we approach Pentecost Sunday. The idea of a novena—nine consecutive days
of prayer—took place in the early Church between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost
Sunday. We should pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon ourselves, our
families, our parish, the Church, our nation, and our entire world. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us, to
strengthen us, to protect us and to fill us with His love.
Pray for the gifts and fruits of the
Holy Spirit to fill your lives. The
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (See Isaiah 11:2) are wisdom,
understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. The fruits
of the Holy Spirit, according to the Catechism
(#1832), are “perfections that the Holy Spirit
forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of
them: ‘charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity,
gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity.’" (Gal. 5:22-23)
Remember that the Holy Spirit is a Person—the third Person of the Blessed Trinity. Sometimes the limited images (tongues of
fire, a dove, etc.) used to describe this mysterious Person may restrict our thinking and understanding. We should strive to know and truly love this
mysterious Person. There should be a certain intimate relationship
that we establish with the Holy Spirit through prayer.
Begin praying that the Holy
Spirit fills the hearts of all believers and enkindles in them the fire of His
love more fully!
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
Sunday, May 9, 2021
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Mother's Day!
Dear Parishioners,
I wish a Happy Mother’s Day to
all mothers this weekend.
For most people there is a special bond between
mother and child. Our mothers carry us in their wombs for nine
months. They endure the pangs of birth. They feed us, bathe
us, clean up after us, teach us, comfort us, caress us and, most
importantly, love us.
How often they are willing to sacrifice for us!
Thanks moms for your strength, patience and ability to make
things better by your calming and reassuring presence. Whenever we take you for granted or forget
what you have done for us over the years, we apologize. You deserve
better from us.
We love you!
Those who have lost their earthly mothers, please remember to pray
for them and have Masses offered for them.
Our faith teaches us, whether they are in purgatory or in heaven, they
can pray for us! Let’s aid them in
getting to heaven by offering our prayers, Masses and sacrifices for them.
In addition to our biological (or adoptive) mothers, I think that
it is also important to remember to honor our Spiritual Mother as
well. Our Blessed Lady should play an essential role in the lives of
Catholics and indeed all Christians. She was given to us as our mother
through St. John at the foot of the cross:
When Jesus saw his
mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman,
behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And
from that hour the disciple took her into his home. (John 19: 26-27)
We honor Our Lady as our Queen and Mother.
She continues to intercede for her children here on earth and we place our
confident hope and trust in her.
We need to ask her continually to pray for us sinners now and
at the hour of our death. Pray her rosary and meditate upon the
mysteries of our faith. We desire to
share eternity with her and her Son Jesus in
His Heavenly reign.
Whether biological, adoptive or spiritual, Happy
Mother’s Day to all our mothers! Thanks for loving us!
Fr. Ed
Namiotka
Pastor
Sunday, May 2, 2021
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