Monday, June 30, 2025
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Saint Peter and Saint Paul
Dear
Parishioners,
St. Peter the Apostle (a.k.a. Simon) was personally chosen by Christ to head what would become
known as the Catholic Church. “ . . .
You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.” (Mt.
16:18) Peter was a weak,
imperfect man. He denied Christ three times. He fled the crucifixion scene.
Peter fell asleep when Christ asked him (and others) to pray with Him in the
garden of Gethsemane. Christ strongly rebuked Peter when he tried to contradict
Christ’s prediction of His future suffering and cross. “[Jesus] turned and said
to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking
not as God does, but as human beings do.’” (Mt. 16: 23) Nevertheless, Peter became the leader
that Christ wanted for His Church.
St. Paul (a.k.a. Saul) initially persecuted the early Church:
“Now
Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went
to the high priest and asked him for letters to the
synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged
to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.” (Acts
9: 1-2)
He
had some culpability for the death of St. Stephen. “Now Saul was consenting to
[Stephen’s] execution.” (Acts 8: 1) Yet, Christ had other plans for him. Eventually he become
known as the Apostle to the Gentiles
willing to go far and wide to proclaim Jesus
is Lord. (See Phil. 2:11)
What
lessons can we learn from Christ’s choice of these two men? First, Christ does
not necessarily choose only the perfect, the holy, the best or the brightest.
He chooses sinners, the weak, the lowly, and the seemingly insignificant. He
chooses whomever He wills in spite of what others may think. After all, He is
God.
Next,
Christ has the power to transform even the worst possible situation into
something holy and salvific. Peter and Paul were sinners who became saints. They
did not initially act in accordance with what Christ intended for His Church. However,
with the grace of God’s transformative love, they became holy. They learned to
love Christ. They suffered and died for Him. They are officially recognized as saints. The Church’s history is filled
with many such scenarios.
Additionally,
we see how it is the power of Christ
that works through these men and sometimes in spite of them. Peter could only
walk on water when he kept his eyes focused on Christ. Otherwise he sank. (See
Mt. 14: 22-33) Paul’s
zeal for his religion was initially misdirected to destroy Christianity until
Christ turned him around and allowed him to see clearly. He then became one of
Christianity’s greatest proponents and missionaries.
Tradition
has it that Peter was eventually crucified
like Jesus. However, he requested to die upside down because he was not worthy
to die in the manner his Lord had died. Paul, after a time of imprisonment, was
beheaded. Peter is symbolized by keys illustrating his binding and loosing
power as head of the Church. Paul is symbolized by the sword indicating the power Sacred Scripture has to pierce one’s
being (See
Heb. 4: 12) as well as
the manner of his death.
As
we honor these two great Church leaders on this solemnity, may we aspire to be transformed
in like manner by Jesus into zealous disciples.
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
Monday, June 16, 2025
Monday, June 9, 2025
An Eternal Exchange of Love
Dear Parishioners,
On this Trinity Sunday, I share some reflections on the Holy Trinity—a most 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 are 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 indeed be mind-boggling.
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Monday, June 2, 2025
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, I Place my Trust in Thee
Dear Parishioners,
In the Catholic
Church, the month of June is traditionally
dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I think it is no mere coincidence
that the secular world puts an emphasis on something contrary to Christ and the
teaching of His Church. Rebellious human beings would rather act defiant to
God’s design and try to tell God how they should be allowed to live and act.
The first deadly sin—pride—once again rears its ugly
head.
For fourteen years of my life I had worked at a
high school named for Our Lord’s Sacred Heart. The motto of
the school was: Fac Cor Nostrum Secundum Cor Tuum. (The
translation of the Latin: Make our hearts like unto Thine or Make
our hearts like Your Heart.)
The image of the Sacred Heart centers
on a devotion to Jesus’ physical heart as representing His Divine Love for all
humanity. The Sacred Heart is often depicted in Christian art as a flaming
heart shining with divine light. It is bleeding, pierced by the
lance-wound, surrounded by a crown of thorns, and surmounted by a cross. The
wounds and crown of thorns allude to the manner of Jesus' death, while the fire
represents the transformative power of Christ’s love.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is associated with the devotion to the
Sacred Heart. She entered the Visitation Convent in 1671 and six years
later Christ appeared to her in a vision in which she said: "I could
plainly see His heart, pierced and bleeding, yet there were flames, too, coming
from it and a crown of thorns around it. He told me to behold His heart
which so loved humanity. Then He seemed to take my very heart from me and
place it there in His heart. In return He gave me back part of His flaming
heart."
In all, there were four revelations, during
which the now-familiar Twelve Promises
of the Sacred Heart were
made:
1. I
will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2. I
will establish peace in their homes.
3. I
will comfort them in all their afflictions.
4. I
will be their secure refuge during life, and above all, in death.
5. I
will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6. Sinners
will find in my Heart the source and an infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Lukewarm
souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent
souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9. I
will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.
10. I
will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those
who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart.
12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.
The last of these promises is responsible
for the nine First Fridays’ devotion. Also requested by
Jesus was the establishment of a feast in honor of His Sacred Heart. We
now celebrate this Solemnity of the
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on the first Friday after the octave of
the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. This year it falls on June 27, 2025.
Additionally, we honor the Sacred Heart every first Friday of the month. It is
also a Catholic tradition to have an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
enthroned in the family home.
Now that you have a brief history, what truly
matters is whether or not we are becoming more Christ-like and whether our
hearts reflect Christ’s love for us.
The simple prayer said — Make my heart like Your Heart — should
remind us of the task in front of each of us.
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
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