From Pastor's Desk
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From Pastor's Desk
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Each year, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) to recognize the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans who have inspired others to achieve success. “The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their Independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or ‘Día de la Raza’, which is October 12, falls within this 30 day period.” We are very proud as a parish to celebrate the history and culture of our brothers and sisters and to recognize the contribution that they play in our community and parish. May we continue to be enriched through the presence of one another.
On the third Sunday of September, the church celebrates ‘Catechetical Sunday’, which began as an opportunity for catechists, parents and guardians to recommit themselves to the mission of catechesis, and to celebrate and affirm in them this great vocation. This year, the Church celebrates Catechetical Sunday on September 19, 2021, and the theme is: “This is my body given for you.” We are very grateful to all those who provide faith formation to diverse age groups and settings. This is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the role that each person plays, by virtue of Baptism, in handing on the faith and being a witness to the Gospel. The readings of this Sunday reflect on being a good steward of the goods of the world. Can we call the rich of the time Amos shrewd? They became wealthy by cheating the poor, had no respect for ‘holy days’ and they busied themselves with their own selfish interests. In the eyes of people they were certainly shrewd, but in the eyes of God they ruined themselves. This is what the first reading teaches us. Jesus tells us in the gospel that we are ‘shrewd’ if we use the goods of this world to help others. In this way we acquire the only thing that counts, the friendship of the poor. To understand this truth, so difficult to accept, we need prayer. Paul tells us this in the second reading. May the Lord bless us. In the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD My dear brothers and sisters, today, all three readings have the same theme. In the first we see a God who forgives the people of Israel though they had returned to the worship of idols. His forgiveness is without conditions, he does not wait to see if they are going to deserve his forgiveness. He is led only by love. The gospel says the same thing: what could the little sheep have done to merit the attention of the shepherd? Nothing. It had just got lost, that’s all. The example of Paul proposed in the second reading completes today’s catechesis. Some may say that Paul was wrong without knowing it (1 Timothy 1:13); the people of Israel had reverted to paganism because of ignorance; the little sheep had gone astray by mistake…That is why the Lord was so good and understanding of them. But I say, is there anybody who sins in any other different way?
A story is told of a father who has two sons and who loses them both. One son is lost in a far country, and the other is lost in the wilderness of his own hostility. One leaves home in the fond hope that he will experience happiness in the unfamiliar, only to discover it is found at the heart of the familiar. One stays at home but is such a stranger to the love and acceptance which surround him that he might as well be an alien in a foreign land. They are a mixed human family in which tenderness and selfishness and hostility vie with each other for possession. The young son yearns for a life different from that at home. He leaves home and soon discovers that his promised land is barren. He experiences failure, but his failure is not unimportant: through his failure he comes to himself. It appears that the younger son has gone on a fruitless journey to end up where he started; but if he ends up in the same place, he is different. At journey’s end he is a man of new insight. The elder son does not leave home, but staying at home has not led him to hospitality. When he returns from the fields, with the sweat of the slave on his brow, he hears music and dancing. Rather than hurry in to join the party, he reacts with anger. Unlike his father, he does not have the generous instinct to rush to meet the younger brother. The elder brother refuses to move. He sees himself as a slave: “All these years I have slaved for you…” His own anger immobilizes him. Now, it is he who is far from home. He is “the separated one” who cannot move to except his brother and rejoice with him. But the father loves both of his sons and he lives in the hope that they will love and accept each other. The father's attitude reflects the generosity of Jesus’ way of dealing with sinners. May we encounter this love in the sacrament of reconciliation and may we put it into practice. Kay the Lord bless us with peace and love. In the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD. My dear brothers and sisters, chapter nine of the book of Wisdom has a wonderful prayer that asks God to grant us his wisdom. Let us not confuse the ‘wisdom’ of the Bible with all that we learnt at school. The author of the book was a very intelligent and highly educated person and yet he still felt the need to ask God for wisdom. This is because the kind of wisdom he wanted can only come from God and it cannot be earned. In today’s first reading, the author reflects that it is hardly surprising that we have trouble figuring out the intentions of God when we have so much trouble figuring each other out. He warns: “And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty.” There are times when those within our reach puzzle us, just as we puzzle them; there are times when we have to work at understanding our own intentions and behavior because we are a puzzle to ourselves. And even though God has revealed himself through the Holy Spirit, nobody can claim to fully understand the mystery that is God. We cannot discover truth just by using our intelligence. In the gospel, Jesus gives a twin parable, anyone intending to build a tower would: first sit down and work out the cost”. If he started without finishing, the sum of his achievement would be a monument to his own stupidity. Likewise, the king who discovers that his forces are outnumbered would “first sit down and consider” whether the opposing troop is too heavy. If he wants to be a smarter survivor “he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms”. In both instances the advice is clear: take time; sit down; look at the demands; figure out whether you can honestly meet them. Much of our lives involve figuring out what is within our reach and what we ourselves can realistically achieve. May the Lord bless us with his spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom to discern what is best for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The message of this week’s Gospel is clear. Jesus wants humility. He gives some examples of humility that leave no doubt of its importance. So, it is worth thinking about the sense of humility. True humility depends on our attitude and the recognition that God is the giver of all the good that we are. We have to do the best we can, not to win over others, but to develop our gifts. Our goal should not be to beat others, but to use the good we have to improve the world.
Humility is a Christian virtue. It is foundational to all the other virtues. It symbolizes lowliness and submission, but not passivity. It takes its root from the Latin word Humus, that is earth, which is beneath us. Applied to persons, it is first, to be reminded or to be conscious of our own human smallness in the face of God. And second, being conscious of your own worth and yet submitting yourself to others. Not because we are weak or timid, but because that is what God asks of us, and that is how Christ would act. There we are invited to “have among ourselves the same attitude that is also ours in Christ Jesus, who, though, was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every know should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-11). Humility is the opposite of pride and Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goes before a disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall”. Pride is the inordinate desire for one's own excellence. Humility is its opposite, because a humble person seeks his or her own excellence in a proper manner and degree. My dear friends, humility produces countless fruits, and it is linked to all the other virtues (prudence, chastity, meekness, patience, brotherly and sisterly love, kindness). Let us find countless opportunities each day to live a life of humility. May the Lord bless us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we wish to welcome all our students, faculty and staff to the new academic year 2022-2023. The beginning of the new school year is an opportunity to ask God’s blessings on the school community in the coming year and to help prepare the hearts of students, parents, teachers and staff. We kindly ask all parishioners to help the students feel at home in our faith community. We begin our religious education this Sunday, and we wish to thank all our students and catechists for their desire to participate in sharing the faith and growing in it.
We live our faith through the profession of faith (the creed), the celebration of the Christian Mystery, Life in Christ, and Christian prayer. There is the need for us to better understand the faith we profess. When we profess the creed in the liturgy, we keep the principal truths of the faith alive in memory. In the celebration of the Christian Mystery, the proclamation of the Gospel finds its authentic response in the sacramental life, through which we experience and witness, in every moment of our existence, the saving power of the paschal mystery by which Christ accomplishes our redemption. Life in Christ recalls the ways through which we manifest our commitments to the faith we profess and celebrate, through our actions and ethical choices. We are called by the Lord Jesus to act in a way which befits our dignity as children of the Father in the love of the Holy Spirit. May this year be a time to reaffirm, renew and deepen our faith. To do this we are invited to reflect on our faith in God. Devote time each day in reading the Word of God, because your faith will be strengthened by the power of the Word. In Roman 10:17 we read that “faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes from what is preached”. Devote time for your personal prayer. Constantly ask the Blessed Mother Mary to intercede for you and may we learn from her faith journey. Ask pardon from God in the sacrament of reconciliation. May the Lord fill us with his blessing and lead us along the right path. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD My dear brothers and sisters, The Synod on Synodality is a two-year process of listening and dialogue which began with a solemn opening in Rome on October 9 and 10, 2021 with each individual diocese and church celebrating the following week on October 17. The synodal process will conclude in 2023. Pope Francis invites the entire Church to reflect on a theme that is decisive for its life and mission: “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium.” This journey, which follows in the wake of the Church’s “renewal” proposed by the Second Vatican Council, is both a gift and a task: by journeying together and reflecting together on the journey that has been made, the Church will be able to learn through Her experience which processes can help Her to live communion, to achieve participation, to open Herself to mission. (From USCCB website)
The theme of the Synod: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission”. It invites the whole church to question itself on synodality. Even though it's not a new concept in church history, synodality is a new term for most Catholics. Synodality denotes the particular style that qualifies the life and mission of the Church, expressing her nature as the People of God are journeying together and gathering in the assembly, summoned by the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel. This Synod is intended as a Synodal Process to provide an opportunity for the entire People of God to discern together, how to move forward on the path towards being a more Synodal Church in the long-term. A basic question prompts and guides us: How does this journey together, allow the Church to proclaim the Gospel in accordance with the mission entrusted to Her; and what steps does the Spirit invite us to take in order to grow as a Synodal Church? The Theme: Communion, Participation and Mission. Communion: The communion we share finds its deepest roots in the love and unity of the Trinity. Together, we are inspired by listening to the Word of God, through the living Tradition of the Church, and grounded in the sensus fidei that we share. We all have a role to play in discerning and living out God’s call for his people. Participation: Participation is based on the fact that all the faithful are qualified and are called to serve one another through the gifts they have each received from the Holy Spirit in baptism. In a Synodal Church the whole community is called together to pray, listen, analyze, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will. Mission: Our mission is to witness to the love of God in the midst of the whole human family. This Synodal Process has a deeply missionary dimension to it. It is intended to enable the Church to better witness to the Gospel, especially with those who live on the spiritual, social, economic, political, geographical, and existential peripheries of our world. Bishop Wack invites each of our parishioners to prayerfully consider sharing your feedback in a six-question Synod Survey. Visit to participate. (https://ptdiocese.org/synod) to participate. The link can be found in the bulletin, on the parish Facebook page, and the parish WhatsApp group. God bless you. Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD In today’s gospel, the Lord takes advantage of a question about inheritances to teach us about the true worth of things in the light of eternity. “Take care to guard against greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions”. “Greed”, the inordinate or disordered attachment to worldly things. Greed can be an obstacle to true freedom.
The rich man in the parable sought for total security and comfort in this life. We can describe him as a person of vision, he had foresight. In fact, he was a serious, and hardworking man, who did not steal from anyone. But his pursuit of security and complacency that rejected God was his problem. “Fool” is what God calls him because the person who ties himself down to the world, forgetting that his or her end is Heaven, is doomed to live a disoriented life of complete ‘idiocy’. A word, which comes from the Greek word ‘idiotes’, meaning ‘one who is alone’. This parable covers about four verses of the chapter and in these verses the words I, my and myself are used more than any other word. He does not make mention of his wife, or children, or family or friends, or workers, everything is about I, me, myself, and his crops and barns without the thought for others. The rich man saw himself in a very se cure position because he had acquired great resources. He based his stability and happiness on this wealth. But he didn’t know that authentic human life and happiness itself are not founded on worldly goods. St Augustine says, “Lord, you made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Worldly goods can never become an end in themselves because our destination is heaven. And if our treasure takes us away from God, this parable is a wakeup call for us. ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be’. St Paul exhorts us in the second reading: “put to death, then the parts of us that are earthly; immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the greed that is idolatry. Stop lying to one another”. May the Lord grant to us the grace not to make a selfish use of wealth. Let us seek for security and comfort in our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless us, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Fr. Paschal Chester, SVD. Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” The Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most popular parables known by most of the people even for those who are not Christians. It started with one of the most important questions of a lawyer to Jesus: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The lawyer in this story is keenly interested in making sure Jesus’ interpretation of the Law/the Torah is correct. He already knew the answer: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.”
It should not surprise us that the lawyer wanted to know who his neighbor is because there were different understandings about the definitions and notions of what neighbor is all about. For some of the Jews neighbor’ means, someone who is near to them, either physically or socially; the one who shares the same religious persuasion as themselves or only those who shares the same nationality and ethnicity with them, etc. For Jesus, nevertheless, neighbor means anyone of any nation who is in need, regardless of his/her status in life. Without a doubt, Jesus went beyond the concept of neighbor as a friend or someone of the same religion or of the same nationality. Jesus did not respond with a definition, but with a story: the parable of the Good Samaritan. Meditating on this parable leads us to discover who our neighbor is according to Jesus. In that story, the first person to see the victim is a priest, but rather than get involved, he passes by on the other side of the road. He is followed by a Levite, a temple-worker. The Levite does the same—he passes by. Then along comes a Samaritan. One must understand the relationship between Jews and Samaritans. So, who were the Samaritans, really? They were not simply outcasts: They were the despised enemies of the Jews. They were a mix of Jew and Gentile, and the Jews did not like them. They had names for Samaritans like “half breeds” and “heathen dogs,” and considered them to be spiritually defiled or unclean. But in Jesus’ story, it is this outcast who stops to help. Not only does this Samaritan help, but he goes far beyond what most people do. He cleans the victim’s wounds with oil and wine, then bandages them and takes him to a safe place to be taken care of. With this little story, Jesus asks the lawyer: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”. Jesus has turned the question around. He is not asking, “Which people should I help?” He is saying: To answer the question, you need to put yourself in the shoes of the man who was beaten and left to die. Therefore, the better question should be: “When we need help, who do we want to help us?” The parable ends with Jesus giving a commandment to go out and do the same as the Samaritan had done. So, Jesus is using the Parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of loving those who may not be our friends. Normally, it is easy to love friends and family, but it is much more difficult to love those who you may not get along with, or even those who may harm or hurt you. Luke is talking about the need to see as neighbors, people who are very strange to us and maybe even threatening to us. To show love to your enemies is to truly love as Christ did. This reminds us that we should also love our enemies as it is also reflected in Matthew's Gospel: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’ But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5,43-47). Therefore, we should not forget that our neighbor can be whoever God puts in our path or in our personal history regardless of his/her status in life or whether he/she is rich or poor, black or white, educated or not, native-born American or foreigner or refugees, legal or illegal…. The fact that it is a Samaritan who stops to aid the man in need highlights the point that we should show compassion and kindness to everyone we meet, even those who are considered enemies. In our society today, there are countless victims along the road. They suffer from ignorance, disease, violence, blindness, depression, old age, poverty, discrimination, floods and fire and etc. At the end let us ask ourselves the following question: what are we doing for them? In some sense, Christian brotherhood is the inclination to make any person our neighbor because the foundation of what it means to live a Christian life is to love without boundaries. Let us not forget that: a) Love your neighbor as yourself means love everyone. b) Helping the person who needs help is helping Christ c) And the only thing that matters is what you do. To conclude this let us remember these words entitled Song of St. Francis for us to reflect: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: When there is hatred, let me sow love When there is injury let me bring pardon When there is doubt, faith When there is despair hope When there is darkness let me bring light When there is sadness, let me bring joy…. Self-reflection: But do we keep the spirit of the Good Samaritan message alive in our daily lives? Do we put into practice the key lessons it represents? Fr. Louis Nakpane, SVD The Joyful Christian Wars and violence and many parts of the world, increased poverty, a world polarized politically and spiritually, pandemics and diseases, conspiracy theories, not to mention inflation … the world seems to be spiraling out of control … In the face of this, how can we say that we Christians ought to be filled with Joy?! We say that we come to celebrate Mass, but sometimes it feels more like a wake. Of course, there is a sense that the Mass IS a wake, for it encompasses all of the Mystery of Christ: His incarnation, suffering, DEATH, and resurrection… but for some reason we seem to focus on the suffering and death, and we forget both the joys of our own incarnation and of our own resurrection. For in celebrating all of HIM, we celebrate all of US. Some of you may be aware that Pope Francis wrote an Apostolic Letter (released this past week) on the Liturgy entitled: DESIDERIO DESIDERAVI. The title refers to the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke Ch. 22:15. “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,” words He spoke moments before the words of Institution.
Pope Francis exhorts us to take a good look once again at the meaning of the Liturgy and its importance. In it, he emphasize the importance of the Liturgy in forming us as a “joyful” people. But, how, when come Monday I must go back to the difficulties of life, when problems seem to accumulate…How can we be joyful?! How can we be joyful when God seems to ignore many of our problems? For some of you your crosses are heavier. In Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s search for meaning,” we find a very descriptive account of his experiences as a Jewish prisoner at different concentration camps during WWII. He noticed that amidst the great difficulties and horror of the camps, some like him could motivate themselves to continue on, weak and exhausted, by imagining in a future without war, without suffering. He also, imagined himself reuniting with his wife and helping others after the war … he was a psychologist. So, what does this have to do with being a Joyful Christian? I think a lot. We believe in THE God of the Living. We believe in Christ!! We believe in the promise of the resurrection, of the kingdom, of heaven! We come to Mass to celebrate, not only his suffering and death… but His Incarnation AND His Resurrection as well! We OBSERVE his suffering and death BECAUSE they indicate to us that LIVING HERE and LIVING ETERNALLY in the KINGDOM are SO Valuable that experiencing them is worthy part of the process. We come to celebrate first and foremost HIS incarnation, HIS suffering, HIS death, and His resurrection. But this celebration includes us, and we are also invited to celebrate Our incarnation, Our suffering, Our death, and Our resurrection! And not just a resurrection to the fallen world… a resurrection to the KINGDOM! To God’s Kingdom, to the Kingdom of bliss, to the kingdom of Peace, Goodness, Beauty, and Love. To the Mystery of the Eternal Agape! We REJOICE today, now, because if we allow the celebration of what we are doing right now, this Liturgy, it will permeate every aspect of our lives in the coming week, no matter how difficult life might be. And we repeat it next Sunday in order to recharge our batteries so that we can do it again and again, until the Lord calls us. For in the Liturgy, we do not have mere imaginary conversations with Jesus, we have absolutely real conversations with Him… and we can carry on those conversations and encounters as we leave the Church… we don’t have to imagine helping others “when this is over” … no, we go on MISSION (“Ite Missa est”) to help those in needs, not as psychologists, no, … as evangelists as missionary disciples, because we KNOW our DESTINY. And when we go, we don’t go alone… like the disciples in today’s Gospel. We go accompanied by a host of others, friends, family members, fellow parishioners, angels and saints, and Jesus Himself. We too can heal and cast out demons … we too can dine with sinners and tax collectors, we too can preach the Kingdom, we too can do amazing things “in His Name.” But we do not boast in what we can say or do, or even see in this earth … with St. Paul we “boast in the cross of Christ.” For like Christ, we know that part of our experience includes suffering, and includes death … The true rejoicing comes in the knowledge that, IN HIM, our names are written in heaven. This is why we should always rejoice! Deacon Santiago Molina “Follow me” One of the great themes of the Gospel of Luke is the emphasis on following Jesus. According to him, following Jesus involves submission to Him and His teaching and being completely committed to Him as Lord. That is why in this Sunday readings especially in the gospel reading, Jesus makes some radical demands on His followers.
On his way to Jerusalem after the refusal of the Samaritans to receive him, he encounters two men who volunteered to be his followers and one whom Jesus himself calls to follow Him. In each of the three examples provided, we see potential Christ-followers blinded by fear, insecurity, and lack of understanding. We don’t know whether these men responded or not. But Luke doesn’t focus on their response because he wants us to apply Jesus’ words to our own hearts. For some of us the answers of Jesus to those men may sound harsh and unkind. But we must know that following Jesus should be more important than anything else in our life or than every other comfort we have. Following Jesus must be more important than every other responsibility we have. The most important desire a Christian should have is to follow Jesus and nothing should supplant that. It is an important desire to see that your children succeed in their career or dreams, but if those accomplishments keep them away from hearing about Jesus in a local church then your priorities are wrong. Therefore, this Sunday readings are inviting us to ask ourselves: Are we following Jesus totally or just casually ? Do we find time to serve Jesus or our church or our neighborhood? Do we think that the call of Christ at times is too demanding? The church today is in desperate need of devout followers of Christ who take their faith seriously. Perhaps there are many who think that following Jesus is important, but not the most important thing in their life. We pray God to help us through his Holy Spirit to be true followers of Jesus in our different vocations: marriage, single life, religious, consecrated life o priesthood. Today Jesus keeps telling us: Follow me. What will be our answer? Father Louis |