tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24967553115399756272024-03-13T09:27:46.621-07:00St. Francis Universal Catholic ChurchSermons from St Francis Universal Catholic Church San DiegoUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger316125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-65513905578927302312021-08-22T18:15:00.003-07:002021-08-22T18:15:58.208-07:00Trinity 12<p> August 22, 2021</p><p>Trinity 12</p><p>(Joshua 24:1-2, 14-18; John 6:60-69)</p><p>Bread has always been an important basic food for people. Bread was made at home by wives and daughters. It was usually made fresh each day but, because it could last for several days without going bad, it could also be given to those setting out on a long journey. Bread was often offered to strangers who passed through the land and when God's people were disobedient, God warned them that their supply of daily bread would be taken away as punishment. </p><p>Most bread was made in flat cakes on flat stones or in pans. Some was baked into larger, thicker loaves that were placed on a special table in the temple and offered to God as “sacred loaves of bread.” Only priests could eat this bread, but David and his supporters were once given some by the priests when David and his men were starving. God provided bread for the Israelite people as they were wandering through the desert of Sinai on the way from Egypt to the promised land. They called this bread manna, which in Hebrew, means “What is this?” This bread is also referred to as the bread from heaven. </p><p>Ancient documents discovered in the 20th century known as the Dead Sea Scrolls revealed that Jews in the community at Qumran shared meals of bread and wine. These meals were both a celebration of good times in the present and a celebration of the day when God would defeat their enemies and send the Messiah. Jesus' followers believe that he was God's chosen Messiah and the true bread from heaven that gives life. Jesus told his followers to ask God to give them the basic food bread they needed to live from day to day. After Jesus was taken to heaven, they continued to celebrate their new life together as God’s people by “breaking bread” in ordinary meals and by sharing in the bread of Communion (Eucharist), which Jesus said was his Body. </p><p>Let us listen to the previous verses to that which we have just heard in our Gospel reading this morning. We need to remember these words in order for our Gospel reading today to make sense. </p><p>(John 6:41-51) The Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring[r] among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets:</p><p>‘They shall all be taught by God.’</p><p>Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”</p><p>Jesus begins what scholars call the “Bread of Life Discourse,” or what some like to call the “Jesus mic drop!” Jesus drops a bomb of sorts. He says I am the bread of life. Full stop. Record scratch. Everybody in room turns to look…What did he just say??!!</p><p>“I am the bread of life….I am the bread that came down from heaven… I am the living bread…. The bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh… Eat the flesh of the son of man….my flesh is food….my blood is drink…he who eats me will live…he who eats this bread will live forever.” As if he wanted to be sure that he was clear, he restates multiple times that he is the bread of heaven and he must be eaten! Oooooookay then! Seems pretty clear to me.</p><p>This indeed seems pretty clear. Each time he says something that seems inflammatory, he just doubles down and says it again in a different way. He doesn't want the crowd to go away thinking he's speaking in metaphorical terms (which is a mercy for the disciples, who as we know, gets thrown off by that kind of thing).</p><p>“I am the bread that gives life.” Jesus compares himself to the miraculous gift of manna that God sent from heaven. Just as God sent them manna, God sends Jesus to bring life. </p><p>“This language is very hard,” they say. How could Jesus’ listeners believe that he, the “son of Joseph,” had come from God? And today how can we believe that we need the Eucharist? Jesus tells us why he came: The Son of God came down to us, so that later he would ascend to where he was before. He came from God to communicate to us the very life of God and to bring us to the bosom of God. </p><p>The truth is that by Christ’s resurrection, our world has started its renewal. For when the Son of Man entered the Glory of his Father, he carried on his shoulders the whole of creation which he wanted to renew and consecrate. Clothed in our humanity, the Son of God has ascended to where he was before; the first of our race has achieved full union with God. </p><p>Although, to all appearances, life goes on as before, we should believe that the renewed world has made been made present. The Spirit is at work with gigantic disturbances which continually agitate and shake the whole of humanity. Invincibly Christ is consecrating this world. He enables humanity to arrive at maturity by means of innumerable crisis and deaths that prepare for resurrection. </p><p>Jesus’ listeners could not understand the mystery of the Son of God and his humiliations. Jesus wanted to dispossess himself of his divine glory by becoming human and dying like a slave and, so that later the Father would enable him to ascend to where he had come from. It is likewise a test of our faith to believe that God continually works among us in our world. In spite of the unresponsiveness of people, God still loves us; the Church is so unworthy, yet God uses it to fulfill his plan; history is so destructive, yet it is preparing us for the fullness of the Kingdom. </p><p>Jesus spoke of giving us his flesh, but this should not be understood as a continuation of Jewish religion, in which the meat of sacrificed animals was eaten. In Hebrew culture, flesh and blood denote “the world below” where humankind move and where one has no access to communication with God. The Eucharist is different. This is the body, or flesh, of the risen Christ transformed by the Holy Spirit, which acts in us spiritually and brings us into communion with God. </p><p>We must remember that Jesus also meant that to “eat his flesh” also had a spiritual meaning of trusting and believing in him, especially in his death for the sins of mankind. Similarly, to “drink his blood” means to trust in his atoning death, which is represented by the shedding of his blood. </p><p>The flesh, in example, human nature including emotions, will and intellect, is completely incapable of producing genuine spiritual life, for this can only be done by the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit works powerfully in and through the words that Jesus speaks, and those words are spirit and life in a sense that they work in the unseen spiritual realm - an awakened genuine spiritual life. </p><p>Jesus’ divine omniscience is shown by the fact that he knew the status of everyone's heart and therefore he knew who those were who did not believe. He also knew the future because he knew who it was who would betray him. Only God could know these things.</p><p>Many of these early disciples were not genuine disciples of Christ, for they turned back. Their initial “faith” was not genuine and they were maybe following Jesus only because of the physical benefits he gave, such as healing and multiplying of food. </p><p>The Holy Spirit gives spiritual life; without the work of the Holy Spirit we cannot even see our need for new life. All spiritual renewal begins and ends with God. He reveals truth to us, lives within us, and then enables us to respond to that truth. </p><p>Why did Jesus' words cause many of his followers to desert him? 1) They may have realized he wasn't going to be the conquering Messiah-king they expected. 2) He refused to give in to their self-centered requests. 3) He emphasized faith, not deeds. 4) His teachings were difficult to understand, and some of his words were offensive. As we grow in our faith, we may be tempted to turn away because Jesus’ lessons are difficult. Will we respond by giving up or rejecting Christ? Instead, we should be asking God to show us what these teachings mean and how they apply in our lives and then have the courage to act on God's truth. </p><p>There's no middle ground with Jesus. When he asked the disciples if they would also leave, he was showing that they could either accept or reject him. Jesus was not trying to repel people with his teachings. He was simply telling the truth. The more people heard Jesus’ real message, the more they divided into two camps - the honest seekers who wanted to understand more, and those who rejected Jesus because they didn't like what they had heard. </p><p>We also should notice here that this is the first reference of the Twelve in the gospel. (On a side note, when the “Twelve” or the original “Apostles” are in written form, they are always capitalized due to their importance in our Christian faith.) Their existence and appointment are assumed in the other three gospels. </p><p>After many of Jesus his followers had deserted him, he asked the 12 Apostles if they were also going to leave. In his straightforward way, Peter answered for all of us - there is no other way. Though there are our many philosophies and self-styled authorities, Jesus alone has the words of eternal life. People look everywhere for eternal life and miss Christ, who is the only source. We should stay with him especially when we are confused or feel alone. </p><p>And so, in answer to Christ’s question, if they will leave also, Peter responds, “to whom shall we go?” which rightly implies that there is no other teacher who can lead people to eternal life and true fellowship with God himself. Many of Jesus' followers left but, in the name of those who remain, Peter pledged his fidelity. </p><p>The words of Peter, “We have come to believe,” implies that Jesus’ disciples at this point had genuine, saving faith. Peter's confession of Jesus as “the Holy One of God” anticipates later references to Jesus being consecrated or set apart for service of God. </p><p>Our faith as Christians, whether we're Catholic or Protestant, we need to understand that this is a powerhouse core teaching kind of thing. As Catholics we see this discourse as literal truth…. just like the disciples who stayed behind. This discourse is like the part in a movie where a character lays out the ideas that you see in action at the climatic scene toward the end (in this case, the Last Supper). When we Catholics get to the Last Supper, we understand we've moved way past metaphor. Our non-Catholic brothers and sisters haven’t cottoned to the idea yet. And it's okay, no nobody is perfect…. except this one guy…. Jesus! To whom shall we go? Jesus, the Bread of life! Amen. Drop the mic.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In today’s Gospel we read that many disciples deserted Jesus because they found his teachings hard to accept. We pray that we, like Peter, be blessed with the faith to recognize that Jesus is the Holy One who will bring us with Him into eternal life. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for those who have difficulty in believing in Jesus and in accepting his teachings that the Lord look down kindly on them and bestow on them the great gift of faith. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for the followers of Christ throughout the world, that they be strengthened in their faith and invigorated with the love of Christ for family, friends, neighbors and, in particular, the poor, the lonely and the deserted in this world. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>On today, the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence based on Religious Belief, we pray for all those who are being oppressed, persecuted and abused for their faith, just as Jesus was. We pray, Lord, that you welcome into your kingdom all Christian martyrs who have given their lives sharing your gospel and living out their faith. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for religious tolerance in our world, where different races and cultures can live in mutual respect and where peace and justice reigns, built and guided by love. At this time we pray in particular for the people of Afghanistan. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for the people of Haiti, for those who died and for those who have lost loved ones in last week’s tragic earthquake. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord. </p><p>Father God, we too often want to turn away because of your “hard sayings.” We lack the courage to learn the truth. We lack the desire to find You in Jesus. We merely want to be fed and experience miracles. Yet, we can experience these very things in your presence each time we approach you in the Holy Eucharist. Open our minds and heart to your hard teachings that we may learn to love the way you love.</p><p>O Lord, how easy it is to turn away from portrayals of a world in which so many of your children exist in abject destitution alongside our colossal opulence. Break our hearts with that which breaks your own, O Lord. Till the unplowed ground of our souls with Christ's very hand, that we might become a living sacrifice of first fruits for all those who hunger and thirst. Empower us to be and bring manna amid the deserts of despair, through Jesus Christ, the bread of life.</p><p>Pardoned by God's abounding grace, empowered by God's constant love and protected by God's peace, let us go forth to serve God and others, always humbly aware of our own shortcomings, but always encouraged by the faithful and loving presence of God in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and power, now and forever. Amen. </p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>As a small parish, we come to you as beggars. As we go about our ministry to those who are not afraid of being progressives and the radical love of Jesus, we need your help to continue to keep the lights on and keep this vital ministry in an ever-hurting world. Please consider a gift, whether it be $1 or $1,000, you will be blessed equally in the Lord. Thank you and God Bless You! </p><p>www.stfrancisucc.org then click the donate button in the upper right corner.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-30691428095725029782021-08-17T11:35:00.001-07:002021-08-17T11:35:06.236-07:00Assumption of Our Lady Mary<p> August 15, 2021</p><p>Assumption of Our Lady Mary</p><p>(Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6, 10; Luke 1:39-56)</p><p>When it comes to teachings about the Virgin Mary, non-Catholic Christians are usually quite apprehensive of these seemingly wild claims that are not explicitly mentioned in the Bible. This is largely because they adhere to a authoritative system called “Sola Scriptura,” which is Latin for “Bible Alone.” Given the tumultuous history of the church leading up to the Protestant Reformation and to the modern era, it is completely understandable why those who follow Christ would want to maintain a high standard of biblical authenticity reflected in church ritual and doctrine. But it seems to be a byproduct of Bible alone mentality of the last 500 years is the flippant dismissal of anything that isn't explicitly mentioned in the scriptures. Though it is worth noting that even the Bible itself quotes,</p><p>“But there are many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)</p><p>This passage itself seems to imply the Bible in its entirety is only a small glimpse of what may be possible, namely with what Jesus had done during his earthly life. If God is omnipotent, then there is nothing on this earth that could limit him - not the Sacraments, nor to church or even the Bible itself. And yet, all of these things are accepted by Christians as God-given and inspired. This leads one to believe that Christians in general have a habit of compartmentalizing their idea of how God thinks by claiming if something isn’t in in the Bible, then it's not true!</p><p>But then again, who are we to decide how God thinks? If God is truly sovereign, then every one of his created beings is subject to his sovereignty, including the role of the Virgin Mary.</p><p>The Assumption of Mary is a Catholic dogma that claims the Virgin Mary was carried up into Heaven at the end of her life on earth. The first thing that often comes to mind regarding Mary's Assumption is that it sounds like she ascended into Heaven in the same manner Jesus did. This is often a cause of great criticism from non-Catholics, and where the importance of context comes in. The difference between the Ascension and the Assumption is Jesus went up to Heaven by his own power, (after all he is God). In Mary's case, she did nothing out of her own power, but rather it was God who carried her up into Heaven.</p><p>It is important to note that the Bible is not clear on Mary's fate. The consensus among non-Catholic Christians is all who are born of Adam have sinned, fall short of the glory of God, and are subject to die once before facing judgment. Granted this, non-Catholic Christians generally assume Mary had died like every other human born in original sin.</p><p>However, the Bible refers to a few persons who have been said to have been taken up into Heaven. Elijah was carried off by a flaming chariot into paradise, which would have been willed by the power of God. Enoch was supposedly taken up and not tasted death. The apostle Phillip was believed to have been snatched away from the earth. Enoch, Elijah and Phillip were faithful servants of God, yet were still born in Original Sin. Given what the Bible reveals about these people and lack of scriptural clarity, it is possible that Mary could have been raptured.</p><p>Many evangelicals are generally more inclined to give honor to patriarchs of the Old Testament as opposed to Mary as the mother of Jesus. It is especially evident when people claim that naming something after Mary such as a church building, an institution or event is considered elevating her above Jesus; yet will use the names like Elijah-fest and Calvin University (named after Protestant Reformer John Calvin) or First Baptist Church (easily a homage to John the Baptist). Provided that many non-Catholic Christians seem to have no problem honoring Old Testament patriarchs, I think it's worth pondering whether giving honor to Mary might stem from a misogynist view of women in the Bible. There appears to be an underlying fear of giving any sort of recognition of a woman living faithfully. Giving honor to mother of Jesus is vehemently condemned among non-Christians under the guise of giving glory to God alone. This is unfortunately at odds with the Jewish commandment of honoring our father mother in addition to the biblical verse, “… all generations shall call me blessed.”</p><p>As far as extra-biblical accounts of Jesus or the fate of the first Apostles, non-Catholic Christians generally don't seem to have a problem accepting the possibility of them being true. Jesus is said to have taken up clay from the ground and created living birds during his youth in the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas. It is also generally accepted among Christian scholars that the Apostle Peter was martyred in Rome by being crucified upside down. St. Andrew is believed to have been crucified on an X shaped cross in the city of Patras. These accounts of Peter and Andrew not mentioned in scripture, but are widely accepted by scholars and theologians as truth based on historical account, relics and tradition. Mary, on the other hand, did not have any relics associated with her from her time on earth. Some have theorized that the body of Mary might have been hidden or stolen by relic hunters. But since there appears to be no historical documentation over such a possibility, and no relics have materialized, maybe a supernatural occurrence should not be so readily dismissed.</p><p>It is also worth mentioning the Eastern Orthodox Church upholds a similar belief as the Assumption called the Dormition of the Mother of God. The major difference is the Dormition is defined as Mary having ‘fallen asleep’ or died an earthly death before being taken up body and soul into Heaven. While this account is not mentioned in the Bible, it is largely derived from written documentation by the Early Church Fathers. In one instance Saint John of Damascus wrote in the apocryphal work The Account of the Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God,</p><p>“Saint Juvena,l Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of Saint Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to Heaven.”</p><p>The Catholic teaching on the Assumption is silent on whether or not Mary died prior to acceptance into the Heavenly realm. Some have argued that she couldn't have perished if she had lived a sinless life, which relates to the teaching of her Immaculate Conception. But regardless of whether or not Mary's body perished, the outcome of the Assumption and the Dormition remains the same. They both imply that Mary holds a special position in Heaven with her son.</p><p>While most non-Catholic Christians would claim believing in the Assumption of Mary is not at litmus test for salvation, we would argue that it has more to do with whether Jesus is true to his word. Believing her acceptance in the glory of Heaven is viewed by some Christians as a symbol of Christ’s promise to all who endure through faith that they too will be received into Heaven. If Jesus meant what he said regarding the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, how little hope is there for us if it weren't true in the case of his own mother?</p><p>I tend to think that believing Mary is enjoying Heavenly peace with her Son is a safe assumption, pardon the pun.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>Today we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven and ask her to protect all in our parish and to beseech her beloved son, Jesus, to bestow on us the grace to love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly in our daily lives. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>As we celebrate the Heavenly reward of Mary who answered God’s call and committed her life to His service, we ask that we, too, be given the grace to also accept the will of God in our lives. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>On this great feast of the Mother of God, we remember all mothers and ask the Lord to bless them in their wonderful vocation. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>As we celebrate this feast of Mary, we pray that our family homes will be places where we experience healing, peace and forgiveness. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>As we reflect on today’s Gospel readings and the pregnant Mary, we pray for all young women who in their pregnancies were rejected by family and society. We pray that they may share in the blessings bestowed on the Virgin Mary and that their shared experience with her be a consolation to them. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for those who in the past weeks have been affected by wildfires, particularly those who have lost homes and loved ones. We pray also for an understanding and acceptance by all nations that we must urgently commit to protect our endangered ecosystem which is at the center of God’s wonderful creation. We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>Holy Mary, Mother of our Lord, we honor you on this day because of the singular grace you received from God the Father. You were Immaculately Conceived in advance of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Because your son was to be God’s Son, you were preserved from the stain of sin so that God could grow in your womb in the person of Jesus. Because of this great honor, and due to your faithfulness, you remained full of grace throughout your life. And hence, Jesus would not allow your body to become corrupt. The ark of the new Covenant would be preserved and assumed into Heaven, so that you could be with your Son always and so you could continue to intercede for us, just as you did for the guests at the wedding of Cana. We ask you to stay with us in this day uncertainties and pray for us to be given the strength we need to persevere. </p><p>Father God, You chose and blessed Mary with the singular act of making her the mother of Your Son. No average or corrupt human body would do for Your Son to come into the world, and thus you allowed Mary to receive the salvation of Christ in advance of his Crucifixion. We ask that we recognize this great miracle and how important it was – and is – to our own salvation. Help us each to come to greater understanding of the doctrine of the Assumption of Our Lady Mary and to venerate her for the great gift you gave her, and in turn she gave to us.</p><p>Let us all join in together and recite the Magnificat. I have inserted it in the bulletins for those who may not remember the words.</p><p>My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,</p><p>my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,</p><p>for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.</p><p>From this day all generations will call me blessed:</p><p>the Almighty has done great things for me,</p><p>and holy is his Name.</p><p>He has mercy on those who fear him </p><p>in every generation.</p><p>He has shown the strength of his arm,</p><p>he has scattered the proud in their conceit.</p><p>He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,</p><p>and has lifted up the lowly.</p><p>He has filled the hungry with good things,</p><p>and the rich he has sent away empty.</p><p>He has come to the help of his servant Israel</p><p>for he has remembered his promise of mercy,</p><p>the promise he made to our fathers,</p><p>to Abraham and his children forever.</p><p>Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,</p><p>as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.</p><p>May our Lady pray for us always! Glory be to God.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-83966223579789531512021-07-25T13:15:00.004-07:002021-07-25T13:15:27.570-07:00Trinity 8<p> July 25, 2021</p><p>Trinity 8</p><p>(Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16; John 6:1-15)</p><p>When was the last time you considered the question, "What is my calling?" That's not a question of your job, although the hope is that any occupation we engage in becomes an expression of our deeper call. The same goes for our state of life: married, single, clergy – with or without celibacy vows – and any myriad of possibilities. Each of those commitments becomes the context through which we become who we are called to be.</p><p>St. Paul brings us this question today in the Letter to the Ephesians, a letter that scholars see as addressed to the worldwide church throughout the ages. We might imagine the great apostle looking directly at us — individually or as an assembled community — as he says with a booming voice, "I urge you to live a life worthy of your calling."</p><p>Now, look in the mirror and dare to ask, "What is he expecting of us?" or "What does he hope for us? What does it mean to really live our calling or vocation?"</p><p>Paul goes to the heart of the matter and says, "You were called to one hope."</p><p>That hope, he explains, comes through the Lord Jesus and draws as one body in the Spirit into union with the Father so that God dwells in and through all. Our call is to be exactly who we are, offering our own gifts to the one body we are becoming.</p><p>So far, this is theory about hope and unity and vocation. Some churches follow a three readings cycle for their Sunday services – one from the Old Testament, one from the New testament, and one from the Gospels. If we were to use the Old Testament reading assigned for today in the Revised Common Lectionary, we would read from 2 Kings 4 also. 2 Kings and John offer something more specific than Paul’s expectations.</p><p>The story about Elisha is one in a series of anecdotes in which the prophet worked life-giving wonders on behalf of individuals or groups of people.</p><p>In this case, someone came from pagan territory with a small sacrificial offering. Instead of saving the gift for sacrifice, Elisha ordered a servant to distribute what would have been the equivalent of 20 rolls and some raw grain to a group of a hundred hungry people.</p><p>The sensible servant protested that such a gesture was ridiculous, if not insulting. Who would present such a paltry amount to such a large group?</p><p>Of course, as in the other situations mentioned in this section of 2 Kings, Elisha's outrageous desire to respond to the need at hand found fulfillment. The people ate and there were leftovers.</p><p>In today's Gospel, we hear the most oft-repeated story in the New Testament, the miraculous sharing of bread. The same one we heard from Mark last week. Mark and Matthew each recount two versions of the story and Luke and John each tell one; every rendition has unique emphases. While John's is the longest and most theological, today we begin with the details of the incident.</p><p>Obviously, the evangelists capitalized on the parallels between this incident and Elisha's history. John adds special details including the fact that this happened around the time of Passover, the celebration of God's deliverance of Israel from slavery.</p><p>Then, even more than in Elisha's story, we hear of the preposterous disparity between the size of the crowd and the quantity of available food. Mark and John also add subtle details that reflect Psalm 23 by depicting people reclining on lush grass.</p><p>In each account, we hear echoes of the Last Supper as Jesus takes bread, gives thanks and distributes it to the people. Anyone steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures hears this as a story of one greater than Elisha offering bread as God did in the Exodus desert. Christians hear in it strains of a Eucharistic celebration.</p><p>Having relished some of the artistry and details of the story, we still ask what it says about our calling. Admittedly, the story seems preposterous to some. One can invent rational explanations for what happened, but none of the evangelists are interested in those. We are meant to see and believe in the miracle of the loaves. </p><p>In spite of the way we often refer to the incident, no account ever says that the bread was multiplied. They only tell how a tiny amount was offered, that the multitude ate, and there was food to spare — in spite of the disciples' doubts. There is no scientific explanation, that is why it is called a miracle.</p><p>In the light of Paul's invitation to great hope, we can read the stories of miraculous sharing as a call to preposterous faith. The thought that humanity can learn to act as one or that we can "live in a manner worthy" of our call appears as ludicrous as the decision to satisfy the hunger of a multitude with a few rolls and some dried fish. It is also the hope to which we are called. We are called to the hope – faith of a God who can, and does, all things. Miracles are indeed real.</p><p>According to these Scriptures, faith calls forth unreasonable expectations. Our calling is to offer the paltry stuff of our lives and assume that God will do more with us than we could ask or imagine.</p><p>Maybe this is the calling for all Christians, to look for the miracle in what seems preposterous and ludicrous. To know in the end, that our calling, and life’s miracles are not our own. They are God’s. Maybe if we expected and thus were more open to miracles, more would be experienced. </p><p>Let’s us follow Paul’s call to hope and live our calling in preposterous ways.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In our Gospel reading we are reminded that there are so many in the world today seeking the true meaning of life, like sheep without a shepherd. We pray to our God in Heaven, who is father of all mankind, that He have compassion for all his flock and open our eyes to our calling and to the message of the true shepherd. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For a sharper awareness of the hungers within our hearts. May we rely on your grace and providence to satisfy and fill us, and to give us direction. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Bless all who bring food – our loaves and fishes - to our tables daily; farmers, harvesters, transporters, grocers and cooks. Renew their dedication with energy, perseverance and inspiration. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That the Church may boldly and faithfully point to Christ as the true bread and sustenance for every human need. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those around the world and here in our country where cases of COVID-19 are seeing another surge, and for those anxious about the future. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord. </p><p>Wondrous and generous God, your gifts are overwhelming: Your sun lights the way for our journey, and your stars puncture our darkness. Your living water quenches our thirst, and your broken bread opens the door to eternal life. Your healing touch binds up our wounds, and your forgiveness washes clean our sin.</p><p>Wondrous and generous God, from the four corners of the earth, a chorus of praise erupts. The ocean roars and the trees shout their joy. From the deepest depths of our being, our prayer gropes to find words of adoration. For you are patient and kind, even as we wander, lured by the trivial and attracted by the quick solution. For you are full of compassion and truth, even as we stumble in relationships and hesitate at the doors of justice.</p><p>Come now, wondrous and generous God. Bring comfort to those who agonize over broken relationships, who mourn the death of what used to be. Touch those whose bodies need healing. Liberate those whose addictions warp their full potential. Surprise those whose days are filled with sameness and whose joy has ceased.</p><p>Come now, wondrous and generous God. Make this church a place where seeds grow, joy is shared, songs are sung, peace is shaped, dreams are born, sorrow is graced and ripples of love spread. May your preposterous ways permeate our lives so that we may see your miracles and what you are calling us to be. In the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.</p><p>God Love you +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We at St. Francis appreciate all of you who keep our ministry alive through your prayers and donations. There is much ministry to do, with ever so limited resources! Please consider adding St. Francis Chapel as one of your donors! Thank you, and God Bless+++</p><p>www.stfrancisucc.org then click the donate button in the upper right corner.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-21299013042770805642021-07-13T09:32:00.002-07:002021-07-13T09:32:42.467-07:00Trinity 6<p> July 11, 2021</p><p>Trinity 6</p><p>(Ephesians 1:1-14; Mark 6:7-13)</p><p>You are social distancing, you have masks in the glove compartment, jacket pockets, desk drawers and on hooks in the hallway, and you’re afraid to go shopping. Yet, the Bible says you’re blessed. Excuse me? Well, okay, maybe California no longer has so many of these restrictions, however I am sure you get my drift.</p><p>The first verse of today’s Epistle reading mentions a form of the word “blessed” three times! Even those of the dimmest understanding will recognize this as a probable key to the entire reading.</p><p>Reading verses 4 through 14, however, is a daunting task. If one were to enumerate all the blessings mentioned therein … well, it would be like searching for the correct number of squares in a Facebook puzzle. If you are not familiar with the puzzle, you’re additionally blessed. Only the perceptive and spatially gifted can arrive at the correct answer. You uncover one blessing, only to find another … like Russian nesting dolls. Well, okay, maybe I am exaggerating – a smidge. </p><p>Maybe we should count the blessings in the passage – and in our lives - just as the old hymn “Count Your Blessings” advises us to do:</p><p>When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,</p><p>When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,</p><p>Count your many blessings name them one by one,</p><p>And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.</p><p>Count your blessings, name them one by one.</p><p>Count your blessings, see what God hath done.</p><p>Count your blessings, name them one by one.</p><p>Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.</p><p>So, how many blessings are in the passage? Some might argue for a number between 20 and 28 blessings! Others might not see so many blessings, but can easily spot the big ones:</p><p>~ God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (v. 4).</p><p>~ God destined us for adoption as his children (v. 5).</p><p>~ In Jesus we have redemption through his blood (v. 7).</p><p>~ In Jesus we have … the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace (v. 7).</p><p>~ In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance (v. 11).</p><p>~ In him you also … were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit (v. 13). </p><p>Maybe blessings are not supposed to be counted. It may seem absurd on the face of it. Counting our blessings makes about as much sense as trying to count grains of sand at the beach or the number of hairs on your head. C’est impossible! Yet, counting and keeping track is what we humans do. We not only count our own blessings, but we count the blessings of other people and wonder why they’re blessed and we aren’t. We keep track of successes and failures, insults and awards, the good things and bad things. We like to have a balance sheet, or a P&L statement that shows just where we are in this experience we call life. We have egos, don’t you know?</p><p>So it’s natural to itemize our blessings, and one gets the feeling that the apostle Paul is just getting started — that he feels blessed in so many countless ways.</p><p>But we don’t often feel blessed these days, do we? 2020 and 2021 have not been easy. The three-headed ogre — Politics, Racism and Pandemic — is a fire-breathing monster that has kept the country on edge for a long time. Is it possible that like the ancient Israelites tramping through the wilderness of Zin, we have lost sight of our blessings and instead constructed a culture of complaint. If we’re honest, we can find things to complain about far easier than we can find blessings. </p><p>That’s probably overstating the case, but still, to speak of one’s blessings is so … 1950s. It’s retro and nostalgic. Perhaps we used to feel blessed, but the thrill is gone. What happened?</p><p>Blessings? What blessings? </p><p>We Are Blessed</p><p>This reading from Ephesians 1 is a much-needed attitude adjustment. But before going further, let’s look at the word “blessing.”</p><p>Grammatically, it can be both a noun and a verb. Used as a noun, we might say:</p><p>~ “She is such a blessing.”</p><p>~ “He said a blessing before dinner.”</p><p>~ “Dad gave our marriage his blessing.”</p><p>~ “We have received so may blessings.” </p><p>And by the way, “blessing” is a countable noun.</p><p>But the word can also be a verb, conveying action.</p><p>~ “The pastor blessed the couple and sent them on their way.”</p><p>~ To cite today’s reading: “ … God … who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.” Here, the word appears as both a verb and a noun.</p><p>I am amazed I can even remember all this from grammar school, however …. </p><p>The point is that a blessing is something that one can both receive (noun) or bestow (verb). We can receive a blessing, and we can bless others.</p><p>In the Old Testament, blessings generally refer to material possessions, children, good crops, good health and long life. Ancient Judaism considered such things as blessing from God for living within His laws. </p><p>When God blessed Job after his horrifying ordeal, the Bible says that “the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. … In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters … After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years. … And Job died, old and full of days” (Job 42:12-17). Notice he didn’t get a second wife? After all, his wife was not taken from him – in fact she even told him that he should curse God and die! (Job 2:9) Thus God didn’t give him another wife to match, because one Mrs. Job was quite enough, thank you very much! (There is more to this story also, but we will leave it be for today.)</p><p>Many people are familiar with the most famous blessing in the Hebrew Bible is the Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6:24-26:</p><p>The Lord bless you and keep you;</p><p>the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;</p><p>the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.</p><p>In the New Testament, however, blessings generally refer to spiritual benefits. The text before us is an example of this, of course, but there are other well-known passages, too. The most famous of these are the so-called Beatitudes from the mouth of Jesus himself.</p><p>In the Beatitudes, traditional notions of what it means to be blessed are turned upside down. People, exposed to the Scriptures through the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees, generally believed that:</p><p>~ The rich were blessed, but Jesus said the poor were blessed.</p><p>~ Those who were in mourning had been cursed or punished for their sins, but Jesus said that those in mourning were blessed and would be comforted.</p><p>~ The strong and mighty are the blessed ones, but Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth.</p><p>~ You are blessed if you have plenty to eat and drink, but Jesus said that those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” are truly blessed. </p><p>The apostle James speaks of the blessing that comes to the person who “endures temptation” because “Such a one … will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).</p><p>But we’re not in Matthew 5 or James 1. We’re in Ephesians 1, and here we have blessings galore. Of course we are blessed! We’ve been “chosen” before the natural world came into being! God thinks of us as divine children. Our sins and transgressions have been forgiven through the blood of Christ. And — this is interesting — there is an “inheritance” awaiting each of us! Okay, yes, our inheritance in heaven is better than becoming a billionaire! Of course, asking for both is a bit outside of our message today.</p><p>In our roles as husbands, wives, sons and daughters, neighbors and friends, we have all experienced moments of mercy and forgiveness. How liberating it feels to be forgiven! We are blessed.</p><p>So, we understand the apostle Paul when he reminds us that God has forgiven us. God has no argument or beef with us. God’s cool. We’re cool. All God’s children are cool. What a blessing! Cool. </p><p>Now, to the part where we bless others.</p><p>To bless, to be a blessing, is the verb form of the word. Followers of Jesus try to live in a way that blesses others.</p><p>As the apostle Paul says in our text, we have received “every spiritual blessing,” so now we try to offer others every tangible and emotional blessing that we can. In all we do, we bless others, and our lives are blessings in action – or we should be.</p><p>~ People who are blessed do not curse (see James 3:9-10).</p><p>~ People who are blessed do not listen to complainers and naysayers (see Psalm 1).</p><p>~ People who are blessed do not feel entitled; they feel grateful.</p><p>~ People who are blessed tend to pay their blessings forward; in other words, they are generous.</p><p>~ People who are blessed are vividly aware of their blessed-ness and are humbled by it.</p><p>~ People who are blessed see the sacred and holy in every aspect of their lives. </p><p>This last thought is particularly significant. The apostle Paul had some incredible adventures that included shipwrecks, floggings, imprisonment, false accusations, the misunderstanding of colleagues, and illness. But Paul always regarded himself as blessed. He lived and breathed in the blessing of God!</p><p>Maybe this awareness of the providence of God came, in part, from his upbringing and education as a Jew. This cannot be understated because, as Rabbi Jennifer Singer notes, “Judaism is chock-full of blessings.” She references Rabbi Fred Dobb, who said, “We’ve got blessings for seeing heads of state, Torah scholars, and ugly people. Blessings over sunsets, meteors, rainbows, reunions, and bad news. Blessings for bread and baked goods and fruit and vegetables, all different.” Gosh – they sound just like Catholics! A prayer or blessing for nearly everything!</p><p>A blessed person perceives blessings when others are oblivious. In turn, a blessed person blesses everything! In the Talmud, Rabbi Meir suggests “reciting 100 blessings each day … one every 10 minutes of our waking lives.” Which is to say that we “should be constantly aware of the world around us and should respond through gratitude and prayer.”</p><p>So, can we come up with 10 blessings a day? Absolutely! And let us pray that it happens! Meanwhile I will curb my sarcasm for a few minutes. </p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In today’s Gospel we read how Jesus sent out his disciples to spread his message among the people of Israel. Through baptism we too are disciples sent out to live the gospel. We pray that through the example of our words and actions we may in our own lives be witnesses of the goodness of God, our Father. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray that the Good Lord, who sent out the Twelve, would today look down with mercy on his Church and inspire young men and women to join in the good work of spreading his holy gospel. We pray to the Lord.</p><p> For our companions on this faith journey. For our families, friends, co-workers and members of our parish community. Hold us together in faithfulness to each other and unify our commitment to Christian values during this time of polarization. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Bring healing to all in need. Invigorate those who are saddened or having difficulty. Restore life to the sick, the dying and the grieving. Inspire the addicted and the destitute. Create life-giving pathways for immigrants and for all who are afflicted. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Awaken with us, oh Lord, the blessings you have given us. May we open our hearts and minds to see the blessings we often ignore. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For our LGBTQ brothers and sisters as they celebrate Pride this weekend here in San Diego, may they never fear to live in honesty by living as they truly are. May legislation be passed to protect and give complete and equal rights. God does not make mistakes, he creates all humanity and love us all equally regardless of the gender we are or know we should be, and that we all should be free to love whom we are drawn to, just as God has designed all of humanity. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord. </p><p>Holy God, weave praise into the fabric of our days so our lives become a blessing to others.</p><p>Weave peace into our words and deeds so hatred and anger are disarmed.</p><p>Weave love into our work so accomplishments are imbued with humility.</p><p>Weave kindness into our actions so the world becomes a joyous place to live.</p><p>Weave hope into every encounter so we may testify to God's continuing resurrection.</p><p>Weave songs into our worship so our morning might echo in praise to God. Amen.</p><p>God Love you +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We at St. Francis appreciate all of you who keep our ministry alive through your prayers and donations. There is much ministry to do, with ever so limited resources! Please consider adding St. Francis Chapel as one of your donors! Thank you, and God Bless+++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-7668545639974966722021-07-05T01:28:00.001-07:002021-07-05T01:28:19.545-07:00St. Junipero Serra Sunday<p> July 4 2021</p><p>St. Junipero Serra Sunday</p><p>Trinity 5</p><p>Independence Day</p><p>(2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13)</p><p>Do you ever wonder if God is giving you a nudge to begin something in your life, but the task seems impossible? Our patron saint for California, Junipero Serra certainly did – but he was successful in many ways, even if a bit controversial to some. So did our founding fathers of our nation – and they too succeeded.</p><p>In September 2020, Israel signed diplomatic pacts with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the first such agreements since Israel’s peace accords with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. Neither of the new deals end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — which many believe is the greatest obstacle to peace in the Middle East — but both appear to be steps in the right direction, even with the past few weeks of unrest.</p><p>The pacts were brokered by the United States and dubbed the Abraham Accords in recognition of the biblical Abraham, who is the spiritual ancestor of both Jews and Muslims. The accords normalized relationships between the two Muslim countries and Israel and may have set a precedent for how peace in the Middle East will progress. In fact, Israel and Morocco agreed to normalize their relations in the months following the accords, with the United States recognizing Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara.</p><p>The biggest step toward Middle East peace would be to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but that hasn’t happened, despite the many efforts of skillful, well-intentioned diplomats and others. The Abraham Accords, however, ignored that area and instead focused on how an accord could benefit those nations willing to be involved. Sometimes, doing what is possible is better than bemoaning a larger goal that can’t be achieved at present.</p><p>Something like that seems to be going on in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus was visiting his hometown — Nazareth — and when the Sabbath came, he went to the local synagogue and began to teach. His reputation as a miracle worker had likely preceded him, and Jesus’ teaching apparently wasn’t what that congregation was expecting. Yes, there was great wisdom in what he was saying, but who did he think he was? After all, he was a hometown boy, and some in the pews apparently thought he was getting too big for his britches. “And they took offense at him” is what we learn today. On the whole, they had no faith in him, and because of that, “he could do no deed of power there.” Faith on the part of the recipients was necessary for healings and the like, and since that wasn’t evident, the congregation missed out on what Jesus might have done for them. </p><p>Remember, what I often say to many, God will not force himself upon you, he wants you to be a willing participant. Of course, that isn’t to say he doesn’t have the power to do so, for he certainly has and sometimes does – he merely wants you to agree to or be open to his miracles. There are times when there are two parties involved in a miracle, and one party is open to God’s grace, while the other is not. God could very well work a miracle for the accepting recipient and the other will be somehow be affected by it, but indirectly – vicariously. I suppose this can be viewed as a paradox.</p><p>Mark makes this comment while narrating the story: “And [Jesus] could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” So, there must have been at least a few individuals present with enough faith to receive his help. We see the linkage to the Abraham Accords in Mark’s comment. When it turned out that Jesus could not accomplish in Nazareth what he had set out to do — what he was willing to do — he did what was possible, what the circumstances would allow, and healed a few sick people. He could have forced his miracles on them, but they still would not have accepted him, so there was no point.</p><p>What can we take from this? Sometimes, doing what is possible is better than giving up if solving the larger problem is beyond reach.</p><p>We know of no Bible verse that commands, “Do what is possible.” In fact, when the Bible uses the word “possible,” it is sometimes to contrast what God can do versus what human beings cannot do, such as in Luke 18:27, where Jesus said, “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.” </p><p>Nonetheless, there is an underlying theme in Scripture advocating and praising effort, diligence, perseverance and “bearing fruit,” which points us toward doing what is possible in the realm of good works, healing, peacemaking and other virtuous undertakings.</p><p>There is also Mark’s account of the woman who intruded into the house of Simon the Leper, where Jesus was a guest, and anointed Jesus’ head with costly ointment. She was soundly criticized by some of those at the table for the extravagant “waste” of the ointment. But in her defense, Jesus (knowing he was soon to die) said: “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial” (Mark 14:8), suggesting that she had accomplished what was possible.</p><p>Saint Francis of Assisi once advised, “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” In some difficult circumstances, the possible may be all that’s ever accomplished, but doing it can still be a godly thing. And Francis’ statement does suggest that there’s a momentum that may be unleashed by doing the necessary and the possible, and that it may carry over regarding the more difficult.</p><p>How can we apply this “do-what’s-possible” principle?</p><p>One place might be when you have offended someone, and that person has rebuffed your attempts to make amends. While the offended individual may remain intransigent, others who were less directly affected by your offense may be open to giving you another chance or putting the matter behind them. So, do what’s possible and make peace with them. Turning the other cheek sometimes means forgiveness and accept the amends being offered.</p><p>Another place might be in gift giving, where you have the “perfect” gift in mind for a loved one, only to find out that it’s no longer available or is beyond your reach budget-wise. What’s still possible, however, is some other genuine expression of your affection for that person (which may mean more than the gift anyway).</p><p>Kitty Harris, director of the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery at Texas Tech University, gives us another application of this principle from her journey to recovery from alcohol addiction: “As we begin the journey of recovery, we are capable of doing only the necessary. We don’t drink and we go to meetings and we live our lives in hourly increments. Slowly, as hours turn into days and days into months, the fog lifts and we begin to recall our forsaken dreams and goals. One day we realize it might be possible for us to achieve what we abandoned. As our dreams are reclaimed, we become the people we were intended to be and suddenly we realize we are doing the impossible. That is the story of my recovery …”</p><p>This principle also applies to projects or missions you may be feeling called by God to undertake, but seem impossible to you (I feel this way frequently as I have too many irons in the fire sometimes). Doing some part of the project that is possible is likely to give you an indication regarding whether you are really feeling the call of God or only entertaining an idea of your own.</p><p>A larger point behind this “do-what’s-possible” principle is that Christianity is not just a set of beliefs, but also a set of practices (think, for example, of the golden rule, the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments). Religion writer Karen Armstrong puts it this way: “Religion is not about accepting 20 impossible propositions before breakfast, but about doing things that change you. It’s a moral aesthetic, an ethical alchemy. If you behave a certain way you will be transformed.” </p><p>Thus, doing what is possible puts us in a position where God will transform us from people who think real change is impossible, to people who are doing the work of God — even when it looks like the odds are against achieving anything.</p><p>In that Nazareth synagogue, Jesus “could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” More would have been possible if others had some faith, but Jesus did what he could, and it meant the world to those few sick people who were cured. And for them, it was the will of God the Father being done by God the Son.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In today’s Gospel we read how Jesus was rejected as a prophet in his own town, by those who knew him as the carpenter’s son. We pray that we, who through our baptism are brothers and sisters with Christ, remain faithful to him and grow daily in faith nourished by the Word of God and his gift of the Bread of life. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>As we reflect on today’s Gospel, we pray that, in our own lives, we do not allow familiarity to breed contempt for others and that we treat all God’s children with love, honesty and respect. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for those who reject Christ, his Gospel and his Church that they may understand that Jesus requires just one commitment from us, that we love one another and our neighbor as ourselves. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That the Lord will bless our nation as we celebrate Independence Day, and that we will remain always grateful for the freedom we have as a country. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For the men and women in our military at home and abroad, and for all the public safety personnel who serve our nation; that they be kept safe and rewarded for their generosity and sacrifice. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those burdened by poverty, hardship, oppression, and persecution; that God will rescue them and lift them up. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord. </p><p>Father God, you created all the eye can see – the entire universe and cosmos – and we, yet part of the same creation, we do not welcome you into our lives and world. We often to not let you work miracles even though we so desperately need them! Use your divine power, we pray, to open our hard hearts to let you in and to listen to all you would have us know.</p><p>O God, you call us into agreement with one another. You urge us to end the divisions among us. How is this even possible? With fists clenched and jaws set, we grip tightly our perspectives and opinions, ready for battle with any who would challenge us.</p><p>We worship the god of Being Right. Desperate to belong somewhere, we claim allegiance to tribes of our own making — tribes of doctrine, of politics, of social location. Our quarrels reach your ears, and even as we stammer out our excuses, we know it is not your way.</p><p>Your way is excellent. Your way is relationship, discipleship, neighborliness, servanthood. Your way transcends the dim truths we might fashion from earthly assets. And your way seems impossible for us to imagine.</p><p>Help us to imagine it, O God, as we come to the table. Let the fellowship we have while at table continue when we leave the table. Help us to imagine sitting down together and breaking bread. Let the magnanimity we feel and express there go with us as we leave the table.</p><p>Imagine it for us, gracious God. Imagine it within us. Show us how to drop the nets, filled with our meager catch, which we clutch to ourselves, our paltry security, our self-made identity. Teach us to share. You have a better identity in mind for us. Make us into your fishers of people. Or perhaps we must simply allow ourselves to be caught by you first. Let us be one community, a tangle of faults and foibles, yet held in your net of grace. This is your way. We long for it, too. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We at St. Francis appreciate all of you who keep our ministry alive through your prayers and donations. There is much ministry to do, with ever so limited resources! Please consider adding St. Francis Chapel as one of your donors! Thank you, and God Bless+++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-81692099063367148772021-06-06T20:54:00.002-07:002021-06-06T20:54:30.909-07:00<p> June 6, 2021</p><p>Corpus Christi</p><p>(Hebrews 9:11-15; Matthew 14:12-16, 22-26)</p><p>Today, in lieu of a sermon, I thought we would explore the Eucharist a little bit, by taking a look at a handful of miracles. As some of you may remember, we had a “mini” miracle here with presence of human blood on a purificator I used for Mass a couple of years ago on which I discovered some dried blood. I have reserved it in the tabernacle with the Body of Christ.</p><p>There are over one hundred purported Eucharistic miracles that have been recorded and venerated since the earliest days of the Church to the present. </p><p>When we think about Eucharistic miracles, we may be tempted to think that most of them are unsubstantiated stories that only happened in the “old days” and couldn’t happen today in our age of science. </p><p>The last few decades, however, have seen a slight increase in Eucharistic miracles which cannot be explained by science. And in most of these recent miracles, the Eucharist turns into human flesh and blood.</p><p>Let’s begin with the oldest-known verifiable case of the Eucharist transforming into physical flesh and blood—the Miracle of Lanciano, which took place in 750 AD and underwent testing in the 1970s. </p><p>In 750 AD, a priest experienced a terrible temptation to doubt the True Presence while he was saying Mass. As he pronounced the words of consecration, the bread and the wine transformed into what appeared to be flesh and blood. </p><p>In 1970, more than 1,200 years later, scientists began a thorough examination of the miraculous substances, and in 1973, the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations began their own barrage of five hundred tests, which took fifteen months. The scientific tests revealed:</p><p>~ The coagulated substance is human blood, AB blood type, with the same protein distribution as found in normal, fresh blood.</p><p>~ The Host is human muscular striated tissue of the myocardium, left ventricle (heart); arteries, veins, the branch of the vagus nerve and adipose (body fat) tissue all can be identified.</p><p>~ Like the blood, the flesh is also fresh, living tissue, because it “responded rapidly to all the clinical reactions distinctive of living beings.”</p><p>~ Most remarkably, the blood is divided into five unequal-sized parts, and yet each part weighs exactly 15.85g, and all parts together also weigh the same 15.85g.</p><p>After their tests, the Medical Commission of WHO and the UN reported:</p><p>“Science, aware of its limits, has come to a halt, face to face with the impossibility of giving an explanation.”</p><p>It’s hard to imagine that the UN would get involved with a religious miracle nowadays, let alone admit defeat in explaining it away.</p><p>Until the 1990s, Lanciano was the only proven case of the Eucharist turning into human flesh. Other cases have not been tested with modern scientific equipment, nor have the many dozens of bloodstains on corporals and chalices that have been preserved and are venerated as having come from bleeding hosts. But in 1992, the miracles started happening again.</p><p>Buenos Aires, Argentina: In 1992, consecrated particles left on the corporal were put into water to dissolve and locked in the tabernacle. One week later, they had changed into a red substance. Then again in 1996 after a consecrated host fell to the ground and was also put in water to dissolve, it was found a few days later to have turned into a bloody substance. Both cases were sent to be tested by the archbishop of Buenos Aires, who was none other than the future Pope Francis.</p><p>2006, Tixtla, Mexico: During a retreat, a religious sister who was distributing Communion looked down and noticed that one of the Hosts had begun to bleed and transform.</p><p>2008, Sokolka, Poland: A consecrated Host fell to the ground during Communion and was put in water and locked in a tabernacle to dissolve. A week later, most of the Host was dissolved except for a red “clot” that remained.</p><p>2013, Legnica, Poland: A consecrated Host fell and was put in water and locked in a tabernacle. Two weeks later a red spot covered one-fifth of the undissolved Host.</p><p>(On a side note, in our denomination, if a Sacred Host should fall or otherwise become damaged after it has become the Body of Christ, we do not dissolve it in water, we dust it lightly and consume it. We wash our fingers in small bowl of water and drink the water.) </p><p>Each of these occurrences received intensive study with highly advanced technology. In several cases, doctors did not know the source of the material. And yet, in all the cases, the same results were found, and are consistent with the results of Lanciano, providing even more details due to more advanced science.</p><p>The blood is human, AB blood type; human DNA was found; white blood cells, red blood cells, hemoglobin, and indicating fresh blood present; in the Tixtla miracle, the blood clearly emanated from within, because the blood on the surface had begun to coagulate but the interior blood was still fresh, as with a bleeding wound.</p><p>The flesh is human myocardium tissue of the left ventricle of an inflamed heart; in the miracles from Argentina and Poland, there was evidence of trauma from the presence of thrombi, indicating repeated lack of oxygen; lesions present showed rapid cardiac spasms typical in the final phases of death.</p><p>In the Sokolka miracle, the remaining host is tightly interconnected with the fibers of human tissue, penetrating each other inseparably – as if the bread were transforming into flesh. “Even NASA scientists, who have at their disposal the most modern analytical techniques, would not be able to artificially recreate such a thing,” affirmed Dr. Sobaniec-Lotowska, who was one of the examining experts.</p><p>Dr. Frederick Zugibe, a forensic doctor at Columbia University who examined the Argentinian miracle, did not know the source of the sample and told the doctor who brought it to him:</p><p>“If white blood cells were present (in the heart tissue), it is because at the moment you brought me the sample, it was pulsating.”</p><p>When he learned the source of the sample, he was shocked and deeply moved.</p><p>Why has the Lord suddenly multiplied Eucharistic miracles in the last few decades? Are we, like Doubting Thomas, refusing to believe unless we see, touch, and feel for ourselves? Jesus in His love for Thomas condescended to let him see, touch, and feel His wounds in order to believe. Maybe He is now doing the same for us.</p><p>So many young people have rejected religion as “unscientific.” But, here’s the science to prove our faith. Others say they don’t believe in religion because it’s just opinion or contrary to “reason.” Here’s quantifiable, measurable, physical evidence.</p><p>But more is going on here. The Church teaches has nearly always taught that in the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.</p><p>Scripturally, we see this in John 6:48-58 and 1 Corinthians 10:16 and 11:27. Yet the Eucharist is transforming into human heart only. </p><p>It’s as if Jesus, by transforming into a human heart, is crying out to us, “I’m here! I love you! My heart yearns for you! Was not my crucifixion enough to prove my love for you? See, then, and believe. I have remained hidden in the Eucharist for these two thousand years that I may remain close to you. Please, approach me. Receive me. Quench my thirst for your love.”</p><p>If our Lord has condescended to make himself so evident to us in order to be heard above the noise of our modern world, gratitude alone should impel us to respond. </p><p>We should understand that we believe this is a miracle that is without a doubt hard to understand and must be taken in faith. One could go so far to say that the Eucharistic miracle that takes place each time Mass is said, that it is metaphysical! </p><p>Archbishop Bekken often said that he felt the energy went he entered our humble parish, where in other churches there was an empty feeling. I have felt it. Some of you have felt it. It is because Jesus is really and truly present in the tabernacle here on the main alter. The Blessed Sacrament mike look like merely an unleavened wafer, but by the miracle of God, through the words of and actions of the priest, with the help of the Angel of the Mass, those “mere wafers” become the actual Body of Christ. It isn’t hocus pocus. It is a miracle that only faith can accept.</p><p>So, we receive Him in Communion. Spend time in Adoration. Learn more about the Mass and the Eucharist so that you may appreciate Him more. On the Cross, Jesus cried out, “I thirst.” As many saints have told us, it was not water He was thirsting for. It was humanity. Those of you reading this online, I say come! Come to our humble chapel and feel energy emanating from Christ during Mass and also from the tabernacle before and after and always! </p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>Today, the Feast of Corpus Christi, we celebrate the great gift which Jesus has bestowed on us, the spiritual nourishment that is His Body and Blood. We pray that in uniting His Body and Blood with ours in the Eucharist we are strengthened in our faith and love of God and neighbor. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>The Church, which includes all men, women and children, is the Body of Christ. We pray for a Spirit of unity among all Christians. We pray that God will destroy all the divisions that separate the Christian family and help us to recognize God’s love as the common source of life. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>On this Feast of Corpus Christi, we recognize that Jesus offered His life for all mankind. We pray for enlightenment in Church practice on the reception of the Eucharist, and that all of good faith may be welcomed to the table of the Lord without discrimination. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for peace in the Holy Land where Jesus blessed its very soil with His presence and message of love of neighbor. We pray for a peace that will dispel all fear and hatred, a peace that will bring justice to both sides. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>For those who do not have access to the Eucharist, that Christ’s presence and love may still enter their lives and their communities. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Divine Father, we come before You as children, seeking Your Divine Spirit and life in the Holy Eucharist. Help all present to open their minds, senses and soul to the miracle that we are about to receive.</p><p>Holy and redeeming Savior, Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, we your people are preparing to join with you again at that Last Supper you had with your disciples. Help us hear again the full power of your words. Help us feel again the full power of your grace, given in these elements. Lord Jesus, call us once more to the foot of your cross so we might again understand the length and breadth you’re willing to go so we can share in this meal. Bring us together, as the church united by your loving sacrifice. Call us together again so we can praise you with our full voice. And may the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>Please help if you can, we are open for services and bringing the message of the Gospel to our troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-67763126711707101582021-04-25T19:18:00.001-07:002021-04-25T19:18:04.286-07:00 The Third Sunday after Easter<p> April 25, 2021</p><p> The Third Sunday after Easter</p><p>(World Day of Prayer for Vocations)</p><p>(Acts 4:8-12; John 10:11-18)</p><p>I am sure many of you have heard someone say that their dog looks like its owner. Oddly, one can go online and see some “evidence” of that theory. What about long married couples? Yes, they too sometimes look alike after many years of marriage. At the very least, their various habits and thought processes have become that of their partner. </p><p>We tend to naturally imitate some traits of those we are close to. Our beliefs and attitudes. Our allegiances. Our hobbies. Favorite brand names. You get the idea. The more we truly see and contemplate one another with love, the more our lives become intertwined. Choosing to love one another molds us together such that we become who we never could have become without one another.</p><p>Jesus, today, tells us the story of the “good shepherd.” “A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” This can be a troubling statement to our modern ears, but it shouldn’t be. Long married couples would do this. Dogs tend to be so loyal, they would do the same. (Except Mickey. He would run in opposite direction! He must be the “hired hand” Jesus mentioned!) Of course, as we know, Jesus was speaking metaphorically of himself and what would take place at Golgotha later. </p><p>Though this story represents Jesus’ willingness to suffer on the cross for us, it also harkens to God’s relationship with humanity since the beginning of time and that He will continue to be our shepherd to the end of time.</p><p>A hired hand will not stick around to help us when the “wolf” comes to the field – when the devil comes into the field, the hired hand runs. But the good shepherd does not run. He stays and protects the sheep and keeps the wolf at bay. The sheep know their shepherd, more by smell than anything else. The shepherd smells like one of them, because he is around them and sheers their wool and thus his clothes smells like them. </p><p>Jesus’ story came to pass. Jesus was no hired hand. Jesus laid down His life for all of us. We know this to be true from the Scriptures and historical writings. Jesus knew His sheep and gladly laid His life down for all of us. Rebellious sheep that we are, we are chased by the wolf toward the cliff, but our Good Shepherd comes and saves us before we get to the cliff.</p><p>When we think of the perception that we look like our pets, or that long married couples look and act alike, it is good to remember that this isn’t the only instance. We were created in God’s image. In fact, Genesis says we were made in “their” (our [Genesis 1:26]) likeness. We were made in the image of the Trinity.</p><p>John says in his first epistle, “what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (John 3:2) The Trinity was before we were.</p><p>The combination of Jesus’ description of what can happen because He is our Good Shepherd and John’s promise that “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is,” may seem somewhat esoteric, but we need to remember that the Word became flesh. God decided to smell like us so that we could take on the characteristics of the Divine image in which we were created. As such, we move more deeply into what has not yet been revealed through every relationship that draws us more deeply into the love of others.</p><p>Friends pick up one another's gestures, and couples who have loved long do begin to resemble one another. That's because they have been given one another what is most precious - they've spent their time on and with one another. In doing so, they have become more whole. </p><p>Today, Christ comes to us in the image of the Good Shepherd. It's important to note that everything He says about being a Good Shepherd is addressed to us in the plural. He doesn't invite us to be His exclusive lamb, but the sheep of His flock. </p><p>Jesus introduces us to God as Trinity, God who is a community in an ever-growing relationship. Jesus invites us to be His communal sheep, smelling like one another, growing in Him, giving our lives to and for one another. Doing that, we become ever more related and thus more like God in whose image we were fashioned.</p><p>Isn’t it amazing how our God, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, created us in His image? Isn’t also amazing how we often do not reflect Him in our daily lives? We have been given the greatest gift – life. Life in the image of God. </p><p>Because we treated this gift with such callous indifference, God came down to mankind in the person of the Son. God becomes man to save us, to be close to us, and to show how to live as He intended us to live. To bring us back – all of us are lost sheep. Christ came and beckons us back to the fold. </p><p>He laid down his life that we might have it again after losing it. He comes not just to those who already know Him; he comes to all of mankind. He comes to anyone and everyone. All the sheep of the fold and those who are not. No one is too far for Him to seek and find and bring them to the fold.</p><p>Sometimes we forget, or maybe rather not think about the fact that this life we are in now is but glimpse of what it to come. This life is finite, but the life to come is infinite. As followers of the Good Shepherd, we will have everlasting happiness and be transformed even more into the image of God. </p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells us that He is the Good Shepherd who was prepared to lay down His life for us. We pray that we may be forever in His care and be worthy of the love He has bestowed on us. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>Jesus tells the Apostles “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice”. We pray for our Church that it be an inclusive and a welcoming home for all those it has wrongfully alienated in the past. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for all those in our church, men and women, ordained and lay, who have been called to the role of shepherd, that they may follow closely the example of Christ and bear witness to His goodness. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>At this time when our Church has a crisis in the priesthood, we pray to the Lord that He inspire both men and women to answer His call to proclaim His Gospel and minister to His flock. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for an understanding among God’s children that we are all brothers and sisters in the same human family. We pray Lord that you open our ears to the cries of those wounded by discrimination and their passionate appeals for change and that we seek to heal wounds, build bridges, forgive and be forgiven, and establish peace and equality for all in our communities. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray that as we see unprecedented violence in our nation and that of many countries of the world, that we remember Christ’s words that those who “live by the sword, shall die by the sword,” and that the same Christ may inspire all to live in diversity without bloodshed. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>God of justice, in your wisdom you create all people in your image, without exception. Through your goodness, open our eyes to see the dignity, beauty, and worth of every human being. Open our minds to understand that all your children are brothers and sisters in the same human family. Open our hearts to repent of racist attitudes, behaviors, and speech which demean others. Open our ears to hear the cries of those wounded by racial discrimination, and their passionate appeals for change. Strengthen our resolve to make amends for past injustices and to right the wrongs of history. And fill us with courage that we might seek to heal wounds, build bridges, forgive and be forgiven, and establish peace and equality for all in our communities.</p><p>Help us to reflect Your love for us with the love we have for each other. Thank You for Your love and mercy shown to us. Thank You that we can comfort another with the same love and mercy that has comforted us. Praise be to You, our Shepherd. We are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture. Help us today to understand more fully how You have made us to live together and serve each other. Help us to understand Your plan for your flock and to give You praise. We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>Please help if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-78551563599710856382021-04-11T18:50:00.003-07:002021-04-11T18:50:40.916-07:00Low Sunday <p> April 11, 2021</p><p>Low Sunday</p><p>(Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday)</p><p>(Acts 4:32-35; John 20:19-31)</p><p>In June 2017, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg said that the social media platform with more than 2 billion users is like a church in that users feel part of "a more connected world." But is a virtual community known more for animal videos and political rants really a substitute for what the church is supposed to be? The book of Acts calls us to reconsider what a real church community looks like -- a community with a purpose.</p><p>American culture's retreat from traditional in-person social networks like civic groups, service clubs and even churches toward the more isolating kinds of entertainment and interaction made possible by technology.</p><p>Mark Zuckerberg founded the social media platform Facebook while a college sophomore at Harvard in 2004. Originally designed as a platform for college students to check one another out, Facebook is now a worldwide network of some 2 billion users who interact with many "friends," some of whom they have never met in person. What was originally a chance to connect and reconnect with new and old friends has morphed into a global phenomenon that purportedly shrinks the distance between people and gives them an opportunity to interact and share themselves with one another.</p><p>Studies show that for decades, membership in all kinds of groups has declined by as much as one-quarter. That's a lot of people who now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else. For Zuckerberg, that somewhere else is Facebook, which he sees as a postmodern, post-traditional form of "church." "People who go to church are more likely to volunteer and give to charity," says Zuckerberg, "not just because they're religious, but because they're part of a community." I am not sure I would equate Facebook with being a church, but the later part is true.</p><p>Comparing a virtual church of billions of isolated individuals tapping on keyboards to the real thing will cause most church folk to laugh. But we have to ask the question: What is the church missing that would allow Zuckerberg and millions of others to want to substitute wading through political rants and vacation selfies for real interaction with a living, breathing, worshiping community? </p><p>Maybe part of the answer is we need to reach back to the church's roots, and there's no better place to do that than by reading the book of Acts. Almost nobody worships or evangelizes alone in that book and all the interaction is face to face.</p><p>This is what the church does. While Facebook's innovation has had an amazing impact in the world by bringing us faces (of friends and family) right to our screen, the church allows us to experience faces -- the faces and lives of people in a community of faith, a community in which we act, serve and work together for the glory of God. We are physically able to share our pains and joys together.</p><p>From the very beginning of the book we learn that God, via the Holy Spirit, created this community called church not for the purpose of people merely checking one another out, but for introducing people to the good news of what God had done through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The very premise of the community was that God had come in person in Jesus and hadn't settled for sharing a tweet or posting our latest photos of making fools of ourselves. Jesus would form a real community of disciples, complete with their own quirks and flaws, and train them how to interact with others in order to bring them into God's kingdom. The Spirit empowered them for this work and, as a result, the community platform grew by leaps and bounds.</p><p>Immediately, this community began connecting in person around tables in their homes, in the temple and through sharing their goods with one another. In our reading, we get a more detailed window into how the community functioned, and it was a lot more about selfless service than selfies!</p><p>What we see in someone's Facebook profile is precisely what they want us to see and no more. Those vacation photos, pics of new cars and beautiful selfies are all designed in some way to show everyone else that we're doing quite well, thank you very much. For some people, the goal is to attract more "friends" and receive more "likes," which can make even the most mature adult begin acting like an insecure and self-obsessed seventh-grader. There's even evidence that using Facebook can cause depression in some who see the lives their "friends" present online as being much better than their own.</p><p>The church, on the other hand, was designed as a community where people focus on others more than themselves. It was created as a group centered on belief in the God who had saved them because they were all in the same situation -- they were all sinners in need of grace. They had no impression to manage because they were all outsiders to their culture. Instead, they were "of one heart and soul," completely focused on what God had done for them in Jesus. They modeled their lives after Him by voluntarily and sacrificially caring for others to the point of seeing their own personal possessions as being available to everyone else in the community.</p><p>At this point, someone might post a rant that this was an early form of communism or socialism, but rather than being compelled by an external force, the early church gave out of the internal resources of compassion made possible by the indwelling Holy Spirit.</p><p>Coupled with that deep sense of community was a central narrative that drove the church's action and mission. The church was centered on the story of the apostles' testimony that Jesus had risen from the dead, which had enabled them to receive God's grace in its fullness and compelled them to share that good news with the world. The story became the motivating and uniting factor in the church's life and work -- indeed, it's what made them a "church" in the first place. </p><p>Facebook, on the other hand, has no overarching narrative other than the collective stories of its users and no authoritative testimony other than the individual's opinion and worldview. Facebook’s vision of community doesn't include a central focus other than the human desire for self-elevation, which ultimately leads us back to what the Bible calls "sin." Instead of a central narrative, the social media platform often presents a constant mishmash of personal stories, silly videos, and angry screeds that are designed to draw like-minded people to one's page, with a few exceptions, of course. Granted, many Facebook users enjoy the ability to stay in touch with family members who are elsewhere in the country, and if friends are posting angry political posts or other offensive ideas, they can be easily unfriended.</p><p>It was this need for community that led the early church to be generous with one another. As God had been generous with His grace in Jesus, so they would be generous with one another, believing that their lives were part of something much bigger than themselves. Luke says that there was "not a needy person among them" and that members of the church community sold property and gave the proceeds to the apostles to distribute to those who were in need. </p><p>The early church's social platform was driven by generosity developed out of a sense of gratitude to God. People gave out of their scarcity so that others could have enough. Just as a few help me keep St. Francis’ lights on and the insurance paid!</p><p>It's interesting that Luke lifts out one name as an example from his description of the early church. A Levite from the island of Cyprus (from the priestly tribe) was named Joseph, but he received the nickname "Barnabas" from the apostles because he was constantly encouraging others in the community. This "son of encouragement" had sold a field and given the proceeds to the Apostles. He didn't need the real estate anymore because he was about to join another convert who underwent a name change (from Saul to Paul) and head out on a mission to spread the good news about Jesus Christ. The church viewed </p><p>While Facebook has launched a revolution in the way people relate to one another in a technological age, it can never replace the church and its real life impact. This assumes, of course, that the church gets back to its primary message and "business" model! </p><p>Maybe if we took seriously the way of community in the early church we wouldn't be competing with a virtual substitute. We can once again be people of the Book who share with others face to face! After all, the lesson isn’t about selling everything you own (which would not be as practical today) - it’s about being a community of faith and support. What can we do for others today?</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In today’s Gospel, we read how Thomas doubted the resurrection of the Lord until he himself could see the wounds in his hands and side. We pray to our Father in heaven that He bless us with faith and that we, without seeing Jesus’s wounds, would be firm in our belief and loyalty to Him. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>That the Church will rededicate herself to living and proclaiming Christ’s compassion, love, mercy and forgiveness in all our dealings with our family, neighbors and particularly those who may have injured or offended us in the past. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>That the sacrificial love of Jesus may inspire everyone to sacrifice some of themselves for anyone in need. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for our young people that they reap the positive benefits of social media while treating their fellow brothers and sisters with the respect and love which Christ has shown to us in His mission on earth. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray that You will be with the friends and families of the 11 people shot and killed in our country this past week and those injured from these same shootings. We further pray that our legislators will be inspired and encouraged to create laws to protect people from those who should not carry guns and to eliminate assault weapons from the hands of the regular citizen. Senseless shootings must stop and we ask Your intervention. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray that you will intercede in the genocide taking place in Ethiopia and protect the citizens from the atrocities taking place there. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Father, as we reflect today on your great mercy, we thank you for the confidence and encouragement we have gained through the resurrections of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We pray that we sinners may be made worthy of your promise of salvation. Mighty God, with grateful hearts we welcome you on this Second Sunday of Easter, joyously repeating the ancient Christian greeting: "Christ is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" Accept now, we pray, our homage for the forgiveness and the promise of newness, in this life and beyond, which in Your amazing grace, You extend to us, through Him. </p><p>Father God, as we go through our new week ahead, give us the courage and inspiration to live in the example of our community of believers who helped the Apostles, and do likewise in the various ways that today’s society affords us. We ask all these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>Please help if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-51405929133123348642021-04-04T17:11:00.001-07:002021-04-04T17:11:08.504-07:00Easter 2021<p> April 4, 2021</p><p>Easter Sunday</p><p>(Colossians 3:1-11; John 20:1-9)</p><p>She checks her social media around 10 times a day. Twitter and Facebook are her main sites, but she also looks at Google for news. Since the start of the pandemic, her habit has increased significantly.</p><p>“I’m a doom-scroller,” she admits to the Healthline website. Yes, this 26-year-old speech therapist confesses that she has a problem. Doom-scrolling is a new term used to describe the act of endlessly scrolling down news apps, Twitter, and social media, reading all the bad news. “The pandemic has exacerbated these habits in many ways,” says a New York psychologist, “including the fact that there is no shortage of doomsday news.”</p><p>If doom-scrolling is part of your daily routine, you are not alone. Twitter use has jumped 24 percent since the start of the pandemic last year, and Facebook is up 27 percent.</p><p>The problem with this habit is that it can lead to higher stress. We think that keeping up with the latest news will lessen our anxiety, but it increases it. Doom-scrolling is an “unsatisfying addiction,” says one clinical psychologist. Instead of making us feel safer, it raises our level of fear, anxiety and stress.</p><p>But we are not the first to experience this. Journalists admit that they have been doing it for years, and the three women who visited the tomb on Easter morning were some of the very first doom-scrollers.</p><p>Mark tells us that when the Sabbath was over, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus]. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.”</p><p>What were they feeling? Doom and gloom. Their Messiah had been killed in a humiliating death on a cross. His body had been laid in a cave-like tomb, and a large stone had been rolled against the door. They were feeling grief over the death of Jesus, stress about the future, and anxiety about how they would remove the stone.</p><p>As they were walking along, they had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” Anxiety is a feeling of fear or apprehension about what is to come, and that’s exactly what the women were experiencing. Many of us have felt this way over the past year. Minute by minute, their mental health was eroding. But when they arrived, “they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.”</p><p>Their doom-scrolling was met by an act of stone-rolling. Finally, some good news!</p><p>But as “they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.” They didn’t expect to see anyone, (other than their dead Messiah, of course) so they were startled. The man said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised.” Their doom-scrolling had been focusing on bad news, but the words of the young man gave them reason to hope.</p><p>Then the man told them to go “tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” The young man changed their focus from doom and gloom to a new possibility for the future. He promised them that Jesus was going ahead of them, and that they would see Him in Galilee.</p><p>So the women fled the tomb, filled with terror and amazement. Since negative emotions can be hard to overcome, Mark admits that “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Yes, the fear that had been gripping them was not easy to throw off. It took time. And what was true for them is also true for us.</p><p>You can turn off Twitter with the flip of a switch. But escaping doom and gloom is not always that simple.</p><p>Experts say that the solution to doom-scrolling is to break out of the “vicious cycle of negativity.” That’s the message for the women and for us, when we see large stones in our path and feel alarmed. The good news of Easter is that God has acted in our lives to break the cycle of negativity. We are invited today to see that the stone has already been rolled back, to believe that Jesus has been raised, and to focus on the future where our risen Lord is ahead of us and waiting for us.</p><p>And so, the stone is gone, the barrier has been broken down. Most of us have fears about the future, and we often focus on worst-case scenarios. This was what the women were doing as they approached the tomb, fixating on the enormous stone that they feared was going to block them from entering the tomb and anointing the body of Jesus.</p><p>However, fear is always worse than reality. “Our brains are crazy,” writes Tyler Tervooren in HuffPost. “Every day they lie to us about how terrible things are or how bad they’re going to be, but when we finally ignore the fear [we] realize everything’s pretty much okay, the world will keep turning, and we’re going to survive.”</p><p>Yes, the world will keep turning, and God will keep working. The women were so afraid of the stone that they never dreamed that God would take action to roll it away. Their brains were lying to them about how terrible things were and how bad things were going to be. But then God replaced their doom-scrolling with stone-rolling. (I bet that scared the posted guards! Must have, because they were no longer there!)</p><p>God will do the same for each of us. So, don’t let your brain convince you that the stone you fear will always stand in your way. Don’t let your brain lie to you. Since God is always at work, fear is worse than reality.</p><p>We need to open our eyes and see that Jesus is no longer dead. The young man in the tomb sensed that the women were not going to believe what he was saying, so he invited them to see for themselves. Jesus “is not here,” said the man. “Look, there is the place they laid him.”</p><p>Jesus is not here, dead in the tomb. See for yourself. Instead, He is alive in people who are showing His grace, His love, His forgiveness, His healing and His justice. Jesus is alive and well whenever a stranger is welcomed, a child is loved, a friend is forgiven, a patient is healed and an injustice is made right.</p><p>Resurrection is not stuck in history, but a reality at every time. The risen Christ, is saving and healing, here and now, and touching every place and time. Jesus comes into contact with human suffering whenever it is experienced. In the face of today’s racism and violence, Jesus suffers still, yet loves the more. </p><p>Jesus is not dead in the tomb. Instead, He is found in His followers who act with justice, love and praise. Open your eyes, and see that Jesus is alive and well in you, and in the people around you.</p><p>We are challenged to look to the future, not to the past. Our risen Lord Jesus is not simply with us — He is ahead of us as the man told the women, always ahead of us, calling us into the future that He is preparing for us. Our job is to figure out where Jesus is leading us, and to follow Him there. Something we need to seek urgently in a time of sorrow and unknown.</p><p>Doom-scrolling traps us in a vicious cycle of negativity that fuels our anxiety. “Our minds are wired to look out for threats,” says Dr. Amelia Aldao, who specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy. “The more time we spend scrolling, the more we find those dangers, the more we get sucked into them, the more anxious we get.” But what if we replaced a vicious cycle with a virtuous cycle? What if we turned away from threats and looked for possibilities? This is what Jesus was doing by moving ahead of his disciples to Galilee, and what He is doing by going ahead of us today. Jesus is rolling away stones and calling us forward.</p><p>I like to think that my daily hour of prayer each day, mixed with Lectio Divina, is a way of setting my mind in a more positive set of thoughts. I have always recommended some form of daily structured prayer. You would be surprised how the Holy Spirit interacts with you!</p><p>Let’s move toward new possibilities for deeper connections with family members and friends, new possibilities for vital ministry and mission in the church, and new possibilities for justice and righteousness in our community and nation.</p><p>We don’t have to focus on doom and gloom. Not with the stone rolled away and our Lord calling us forward.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>That the joy of Easter will infuse the church with energy to proclaim God’s good news. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That all nations of the world will act to protect the precious gift of life. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That all for whom this Easter is not joyful will know they are not alone and will experience Christ’s compassionate presence. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That all gathered here will be filled with the strength of Christ’s Spirit and will seek out creative ways to witness to the resurrection. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That those who seek justice may find it in the transformation of hearts, minds, and our institutions. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That we maintain the patience, vigilance, and understanding necessary to keep us safe during the pandemic, and for a speedy and equitable distribution of the vaccines. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For all those who give of themselves so that others may be helped – doctor, nurse, healthcare worker, EMT, police officer, firefighter, grocer, trucker, store clerk, mail carrier, takeout cook, hospital and building cleaner, teacher, childcare worker, mental health professional, and countless others. May they receive your protection as they serve. For those who have died and whose names are listed in this week’s church bulletin. May they celebrate everlasting life in Christ Jesus. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We gather, O God, in your presence to rejoice in the light of the empty tomb. The stone has been rolled away, both from the mouth of the tomb and from the depths of our hearts. During this difficult time, we have been trying to live in the power of the risen Christ. We also have tried to grow daily in the presence of our risen Savior.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Some of us, too, have suffered a long winter of the soul. We have struggled to breathe in the chill wind of adversity. We have been unable to grow anything in the barren fields of doubt and fear. We have trembled and shivered as we have struggled to sense the warmth of your love. We come to the empty tomb with an expectant hope in our hearts and the prayer of faith on our lips. We are confident that you are about to do a new thing, O God. We believe that the stone, which we struggle to move ourselves, is about to be blown out of its ruts. We look for an encounter with the risen Christ, and to that end we bow in worship, and worship in wonder, and wonder in faith, and have faith in you. We ask all these things, as we always do, through Christ, Your Son and our Lord. Amen.</p><p>Happy Easter! God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San. Diego, CA</p><p>Please help if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-60185165096902907542021-03-28T15:14:00.001-07:002021-03-28T15:14:01.787-07:00Palm Sunday<p> March 28, 2021</p><p>Palm Sunday</p><p>(Philippians 2:5-11; Mark 11:1-11)</p><p>Today with the whole of the Christian community we enter upon the final week of preparation for our yearly celebration of the Lord's death and resurrection. Since Ash Wednesday many of us have tried to read or listen attentively to God's word of life and mercy in Jesus Christ calling us once more to a renewal of our baptismal commitment. The renewal of that lifegiving stream within our hearts should flow anew into patterns of loving service in the midst of our sisters and brothers within the human family in a time when love is sorely needed. </p><p>The readings of this day's liturgy seek to gather the weeks of our Lenten journey around the St. Mark passion narrative and the story of Jesus’ messianic entry into Jerusalem. These readings represent diverse traditions of celebrating the Sunday before Easter in the early church. </p><p>The Roman tradition of the late 4th and early 5th centuries was to read the passion on this Sunday while the previous Sunday was called “Passion Sunday.” Passion Sunday started the period in which the church focused on the passion the week preceding the remembrance of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, known as the week of “Passion-Tide.” </p><p>The Jerusalem tradition focused more in reenacting the day by day events of the last week of Christ’s life and thus centered its liturgy in the Palm Sunday procession on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.</p><p>The medieval liturgical tradition, which we have inherited, sought to combine both traditions. Some branches of Christianity have taken a contemporary liturgical renewal which has continued the celebration of both traditions, but has placed renewed emphasis upon the reading of the passion as a central focus of today's liturgy of the word. </p><p>In the Liberal Catholic world, we would normally have a liturgy and readings less focused on the gruesome aspects of the passion. Here at St. Francis, however, we normally tend to take a more traditional approach with the Passion-Tide week leading into Palm Sunday. This year, given Covid-19 and reduced attendance, I am going with simplified worship. </p><p>On this Sunday, we read one of the synoptic gospels on the rotating basis while every year we read the passion according to the Saint John on Good Friday (depending on the service).</p><p>And so, today we read the passion according to Saint Mark so that the story of Jesus’ suffering and death will be a place where all individual and communal stories of pain, loss, suffering and death during the past year can find some meaning. For we are confronted each day with the tragedies of human suffering that seem to challenge the truth of God's love and providential care for us. The Christian response to human suffering is not so much a philosophically reasoned series of answers but an invitation to the kenosis, the self-emptying, of Jesus. (Philippians 2:7)</p><p>The St. Mark passion narrative does not ask us to choose suffering as suffering, but it does bid us to enter into Jesus' struggle to accept in faith the reality of suffering in human life. Jesus’ agony in the garden and His sense of abandonment by God on the cross reflect the truth of our own human experience. </p><p>Paul says in Philippians that our attitude must be that of Christ who empties himself by obediently accepting death on the cross. Jesus’ obedient acceptance is not a passive surrender in the face of suffering, but an active and faith filled listening to His own role in God's plan of Salvation. Such listening obedience does not remove the human agony or the feeling of abandonment that are part of our experience of suffering. But in Christ’s self-emptying of obedience unto death, we are opened as women and men to the mystery of God's strange ways of loving us through suffering and death unto newness of life. </p><p>God created us as human beings that we might have life and have it in abundance. In the self-emptying of Jesus’ passion, death and sin are conquered because they are taken into the mystery of God and transformed into new life. As we gather on this Sunday of the Passion around the word of God's gift of new life in Christ crucified and risen, we bring with it the mystery of our own experience of the passion during the past year as individuals, as a Christian community, and as members of the entire human family. Most suffering and tragedy make no sense to us, and we have often wondered where our loving God is when we are surrounded by pain and loss. </p><p>Today's readings tell us that through self-emptying, the loving God in, with, and through Christ, is present amidst all our suffering so that we will have life in abundance. God’s self-emptying in Christ gathers all our experience of emptiness, nothingness, and meaninglessness in the face of suffering into the Cup of Jesus’ passion so that we may ever drink the Cup of new life and know that we do not suffer alone. </p><p>This day let us allow our experience of suffering to flow into the mystery of the Cup of Christ’s passion. Let us eat of Christ’s body and drink of the Cup of Christ’s blood, believing that the mystery of His self-emptying by obediently accepting death on a cross will sustain us amidst the darkness of our own self-emptying and our own struggle to be obedient to God's plan of life through death. Come to the table of the cross and share in the victory of Christ by drinking new life greater than all the forces of suffering and death. May the stream of Christ’s gift of new life in our hearts flow into the compassionate service of our suffering sisters and brothers in our communities and in the entire human family.</p><p>Let us pray. </p><p>At this difficult time for the Church, we ask for the faith to stand by Jesus and have the courage to publicly proclaim the Word of the Lord. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>During this Holy Week, we pray for the grace to reflect on the Way of the Cross and on the sufferings which Christ endured out of love for us. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>Lord, we pray for unity among all Christians and that during this Holy Week we who believe in you, who hope in you and who love you, will worship you in harmony and with the love which you demand of us. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We pray for all those who like Jesus carry a heavy cross because of poverty, homelessness, illness and bereavement. We pray also for those, who like Simon of Cyrene, help them in their moment of need. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>As we reflect on the sacrifice which Jesus suffered on behalf of humanity, we pray that our society display that same love and commitment as we struggle to overcome the Covid-19 virus and restore the lives of so many to good health and normality. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>For first responders, law enforcement, military and those in harm’s way: that the Lord be their strength and refuge and bless them as they serve our communities and country. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We thank you, O Father, for the wonder of the life and its gifts you have bestowed on us and ask that you remain always responsive to our prayers. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord. </p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Humble Jesus, who rides into our cities, who draws near to our lives, we, too, rise to greet you, to shout our hosannas, to feel life stir within us, to sense hope quickening in our hearts. For you are a great God, a compassionate ruler, a loving friend, a wise counselor. But deep in the distance, in some far corner of our being, we fear your arrival. For you gently offer us a choice, and to choose you means letting go of jealousies and resentments, our private wars against others and our timid acceptance of ourselves. Like the people of Jerusalem, we discover you are more than we first thought. Beyond loud hosannas, you ask our obedience and our worship. And we are learning, piece by piece, to turn that over to you. This is ever oh so difficult when we have a nation, not only fighting Covid-19, but also each other with acts of domestic terrorism, shootings and political fighting instead of governing. Send Your Holy Angels to help during these battles and help us overcome them.</p><p>This day, this week, move us into the deeper levels of ourselves. Let us feel again your pain of that last week. Let us touch our own wounds, trusting You. Easter is the sign of new hope for us. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>Please help if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-38492496432382182812021-03-15T06:45:00.003-07:002021-03-15T06:45:39.872-07:00The Fourth Sunday of Lent<p> March 14, 2021</p><p>The Fourth Sunday of Lent</p><p>Refreshment. Sunday</p><p>(Ephesians 2:4-10; John 6:4-15)</p><p><br /></p><p>It's Sunday. The Sabbath. Day of rest. The Lord's Day.</p><p><br /></p><p>Time for war.</p><p><br /></p><p>Getting right in Jesus' face, he screeches, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?"</p><p><br /></p><p>Hey buddy, it's the sabbath.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Have you come to destroy us?"</p><p><br /></p><p>Chill out, friend. This is our day of rest.</p><p><br /></p><p>"I know who you are," he thunders, "the Holy One of God."</p><p><br /></p><p>Okay. Time for war.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jesus reprimands and rebukes the demon, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing the man and crying with a loud voice, comes popping out like a fumbled football. Jesus exudes such authority that even demons obey instantly. Jesus possesses such poise that even evil forces know that he is the Holy One of God. Jesus is pumped up with such power that even unclean spirits know that his arrival on the field marks the end of the Super Bowl for them, the end of their season of domination over men and women.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jesus, in another words, takes control of the chaos. There's no doubt about the chaos today. Covid-19 and politics have been causing chaos for more than a year.</p><p><br /></p><p>There's chaos in the synagogue, too. A man of uncertain comportment staggers into the synagogue like a streaker running across midfield of a football game. Jesus takes control. </p><p><br /></p><p>A conversion is a life-changing event, and whether you are talking about that conversion which first crafts you into a committed disciple of Jesus Christ, or the conversion which later calls you to reorder your priorities, you probably need to do two things. First, be quiet -- and listen to the authoritative voice of God. Second, "Come out of him" -- that is, break free, let go, get rid of something. Something's always got to give.</p><p><br /></p><p>Be silent and come out of him. </p><p><br /></p><p>So often in prayer we ask for what we want. Jesus is waiting for us to ask Him what He wants for us!</p><p><br /></p><p>When we follow the command of Jesus to be silent, we spread our branches to the sun and soak up the light of God's love, forgiveness and peace. When we hear God's still, small voice, we are like silkworms spinning the silk of a sanctified life. When we listen for the guidance of the Lord -- really listen, instead of telling the Almighty all about what we are convinced we need to achieve -- we rediscover that our most precious treasure is the God-breathed soul that each of us has from the very beginning of life, a soul that we really should remember to take with us into all the splendid surprises of each day.</p><p><br /></p><p>Such insight requires a certain amount of simplicity ... and silence.</p><p><br /></p><p>But hey, don't quit after you've found quiet. Jesus goes on to say, "Come out of him!" -- meaning break free, let go, get rid of something. Something's got to give if you're going to get to where Jesus wants you to go. That is what Lent is about; breaking free and letting go of something you do not need or hinders you from getting closer to God.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nothing puts us in an "Onward, Christian Soldiers" mode faster than a threat to the health of the church. Our blood starts rushing, our wrath starts rising, and our passion starts to push us into a rampage of righteousness. But as natural as this burst of aggression is, it doesn't seem to be terribly Christ-centered. After all, our Lord is the one who broke tradition by breaking bread with sinners, who loved the one lost sheep as much as the 99 in the fold, and who came to call "not the righteous but sinners" (Mark 2:17).</p><p><br /></p><p>Jesus commands, "Come out of him!" -- meaning break free, let go, get rid of something. Break free of the natural desire to beat your enemies into submission. Better to submit yourself to God, and to let your good works show the world the awesome power of the Christian life.</p><p><br /></p><p>Let go of your craving for worldly success, a hunger for food that can never truly satisfy. Better to feast on Scripture and the still, small voice of God, and to let yourself be filled by the satisfaction of a sanctified life.</p><p><br /></p><p>Get rid of the competitive spirit that forces people to end up as either winners or losers, the victors or the vanquished. Better to welcome the Holy Spirit, who wants everyone to win by discovering and accepting the salvation of our gracious God.</p><p><br /></p><p>Something's got to give if you're going to get to where Jesus wants you to go. </p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p><br /></p><p>As we remain closed due to the Covid-19 virus, we see some hope around the corner. I encourage you to give what you can to help us keep the church alive, especially until we can open again and worship our God as Jesus dictated at the last supper! And so, we remain beggars. God Bless you all!</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-62748103910361567402021-03-07T19:45:00.002-08:002021-03-07T19:45:32.945-08:00The Third Sunday of Lent<p> March 7, 2021</p><p>The Third Sunday of Lent</p><p>This past Wednesday, one of the readings assigned for the day was Matthew 20:17-28. As we read, we can picture the mother of St. James and St. John asking Jesus to bestow the most sacred positions in heaven by sitting on Jesus’ right and left in all of heavenly glory. Of course, who wouldn’t want to be seated on Jesus’ right or left? If we are being honest, most of us would, but we are far from worthy.</p><p>Then we read the Gospel for Thursday and in it, Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man was already living in seats of great status during his earthly life, and then is upset when he dies and seemingly goes to the fiery depths of Hell and he wants a drip of water to cool his tongue. We can’t have it both ways, but oh do we try.</p><p>Jesus goes on to ask if St. James and St. John if they are able to drink from the chalice He will drink. Of course, they both say they can, but it is apparent that they have no clue what Jesus is asking. None of His followers do until much later and in harsh manner. </p><p>As Christians, we sometimes forget that the chalice is not a matter of temporal blessings or recognition, as much as we all would like it to be. To be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus says, is to be a servant of all. To drink of the chalice is to embrace values that the world despises, like poverty of spirit. Humility, in other words. </p><p>When we look around our world and its current state of things, it can be difficult to stay positive (as some of you who read my Facebook rants this past week can tell). Yet, in Christ, we indeed should be positive. Our trust should be in Him.</p><p>As I read the Gospel from Wednesday, my mind also wandered back in my thoughts of a couple periods in my life. Early on when I realized I was being called to be a priest, it was all very scary, overwhelming, and exciting all at the same time.</p><p>At first you get these grandiose ideas of the status being a priest brings. One time, while speaking to my spiritual advisor (the late Monsignor Richard Mouton) about entering seminary I asked him why he was not yet a bishop. He was a very holy man, loved by many, and he cared deeply about his flock. Very intelligent, but humble – very humble. He escorted the local bishop to the Vatican Council meetings in the 60’s. If anyone deserved it, in my mind anyway, it was him. His response has stayed with me all these years – “Robert,” he said in his thick accent, “one does not become a priest with aspirations to become a bishop. One becomes a priest to serve God and his people. To be a disciple of Christ. I do not want to be a bishop.” Thinking back on it, I suspect he had been asked to become a bishop and turned it down respectfully. </p><p>After agreeing to seminary and going through the processes etc, as time went by I felt I was being called in a slightly different direction. My heart and soul was a Roman Catholic – at least liturgically - but I simply couldn’t ascent to some of the harsh and antiquated teachings on some important topics that remain important to this day. I just could not see me as a “black and white” type of clergy. Gray areas must be applied sometimes. So, some of Roman Catholic theology I felt was far out of date and harsh. (That’s a debate for another time.)</p><p>In the end, I still wanted to be ordained, but I could not vow to teach every single dogma exactly as I would have had to do as a Roman Catholic Priest, so my superiors were disappointed, even mad to some degree, but I believed in a far more compassionate and loving God. Also, I wanted to be with the real people. I wanted to be what is called, “a worker priest,” which simply means having a secular job while having an active ministry. I knew it would seem strange to some, a cop-out to others, the easy way to still others, and even a heretic to more. But, I felt that by being out in the secular world, I could learn about people better. To learn what made them sad and what made them happy. To get to know the “real” person they are. When they come into the church, they act in the manner they think is appropriate which sometimes camouflages the “real” person and what they are going through in their life. I wanted to help them in their everyday life by living in the muck along with them. </p><p>I ended up being ordained as an Anglican Priest. I also knew I would always be second best in the vocation I felt God was calling me to. In a couple of years I found (or rather it found me) the Liberal Catholic Church and was incardinated into them. Independent Catholic denominations/churches have been around for a couple of centuries now, but Rome still labeled them as schismatic at best, and evil heretics at worst. However, I rationalized it to myself that many figures in Scripture were not always ones you would expect God to choose, and yet He did. Scriptures also had those chosen by God that were mistreated and maligned by others. So be it. This is what God wants. I can be a modern St. Vianney of Ars. – at least from the not being able to have the best seminary education and by working in less desirable areas. (I will have you know, St. Francis Chapel is hardly “less desirable.” They deserve better than I have given or could ever give!) I said, that’s fine. At least I will be around everyday normal people. It isn’t about me. It is about the Lord my God and the sheep He sends my way.</p><p>I know, Abbott Gentzsch, this sermon is too long already, so let me wind down. You’re the one who most wanted me for the next step I am about to speak.</p><p>Then years go by and I move to California, take over a small parish and in the years to come move up the ranks, so to speak. There was a need for a new bishop of our small denomination, and it seemed, everyone wanted me for that role. I thought (and still think) that I was not nearly worthy or cut out for it. Some would say that no one is worthy, but then I remember Monsignor Mouton, and I say there indeed are many who are worthy, just not me. In my many failures since, I have proven myself correct, but some still disagree, just as they did then.</p><p>So, what is my point to this self-deprecating story and missive? Sometimes we have to be humble. Sometimes we have to let others win. Sometimes we need to let others treat us poorly. Sometimes we have to do that which others refuse to do. Sometimes we have to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. Sometimes we have to drink from the chalice that Jesus drank from. </p><p>As an example, there is a story of a high school student who went along with some people from a local church to complete some service hours for his school as part of his grade. On the way it was explained to him that they normally shake hands with the homeless that they serve, but he was not obligated to do so if it made him uncomfortable. However, when he saw the friendly interactions they had, especially people who had come to know them, he was moved to shake hands with all the people he was meeting.</p><p>What enabled that student to reach beyond the chasm that the rich man of the parable never considered bridging during his lifetime and was incapable of bridging in the afterlife? He was surrounded by witnesses. Two women who, in the name of Jesus, were embracing him in the faces of his beloved brothers and sisters, and those brothers and sisters themselves, who were welcoming his love.</p><p>Those people were touched by Jesus through the high schooler and the ladies from a church. The homeless people, feeling low in life and mistreated by many, like Lazarus in the parable, were made to feel worthy! I suppose in some ways, I feel like that high school student and have tried to make my ministry to be that example to others.</p><p>When you come up to the altar during Communion and approach the priest holding the chalice with precious Blood of Jesus and the ciborium with the Sacred Body of Christ, Jesus is asking us the same thing He asked St. James and St. John; “Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” What is your response? </p><p>We occasionally hear in the news of various bishops or priests calling to deny the Eucharist to various politicians, as one example, who voted differently than the Church says they should. In those instances, those clergymen are saying that someone is unworthy. But they are more unworthy, in my mind, than the person coming to Communion. The rich man who ignored his fellow man, was unworthy. However, most of us are not like the rich man and probably not even remotely wealthy. </p><p>When we approach the communion rail and look up at the chalice, remember that the chalice is filled with Love! It is the chalice of the Sacred and Holy Blood of Christ given to you with His Body. Pure radical love. A love that cannot be matched on earth. But when we take the Body and Blood of Christ in us, we are reminded that we have drank form the chalice and must go into the world and love it just as Jesus did. He isn’t expecting us to seek the same fate at St. James and St. John; only that we share that radical love He gave us!</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>As we remain closed due to the Covid-19 virus, we see some hope around the corner. I encourage you to give what you can to help us keep the church alive, especially until we can open again and worship our God as Jesus dictated at the last supper! And so, we remain beggars. God Bless you all!</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-78860845452885270062021-02-07T17:43:00.002-08:002021-02-07T17:43:16.920-08:00Sexagesima <p> February 7, 2021</p><p>Sexagesima</p><p>(2 Corinthians 3:12 – 4:2; Mark 2:18-22 – Although these are the assigned readings for this Sunday, I have chosen to use Isaiah 40. I encourage everyone to read it.)</p><p>Feeling a little burned out on bad news? If you are, you’re not alone.</p><p>The year 2020 seemed to be a month-to-month challenge to top bad news with worse news, dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. Add to that a contentious election cycle, protests and unrest over social issues, and a host of other potential crises — like an invasion of murder hornets and the government’s revelation of UFO photos — and it’s no wonder we’re all feeling a kind of information hangover compounded by Covid fatigue. Some were staying home due to quarantine and social distancing, or in an office that currently has no other workers which naturally led to watching more news than normal just to pass the time.</p><p>Some of us are old enough to remember when news outlets consisted of three TV channels, a daily newspaper, and the radio. When Walter Cronkite told us, “That’s the way it is” at the end of every evening news broadcast, we had some time to digest what was going on. The 24-hour, multi-platform, social media-curated, constant cycle of news that confronts us today, however, allows us no time to process and seems to pile on with information that’s not only continuous, but controversial. It tends to include a lot of conflicting information that leaves us confused and stressed, often with no tangible way to respond other than to offer an opinion. </p><p>Author Neil Postman, writing in the days before the internet, was already pointing to the problem of “news fatigue” or a general malaise that leaves us feeling depressed, powerless, and distrustful of news sources that often seem superficial, sensationalist, inaccurate, or hopelessly biased. The result is that the more news we consume the more anxiety we feel or, on the flip side, the more desensitized we become to the news itself. Sound familiar? </p><p>One solution to that anxiety is to simply turn off the news, but that becomes increasingly difficult in a world where we are bombarded with news every time we go into public spaces … in person or online. Another solution might be to only focus on the good news. But neither ignorance nor selectivity would seem to be the answer in a world anxious for the kind of news that people can actually act upon.</p><p>What we need instead is a mindset that puts the current news within the context of an eternal perspective. The bad and good stuff happening now has happened before and will happen again. Rather than fret or foment yet another opinion about it all, the prophet Isaiah calls us to remember that the only news that really matters is that the God who created the world in which all this news happens is still at work and will ultimately set everything right. Many of us are praying for just this!</p><p>Isaiah wrote to a people confronted with the reality of exile — people isolated and distanced far from home in circumstances they did not choose, but that were the result of their sinful choices. In Isaiah 40:1-11, God announces through the prophet that a return from exile is on the horizon: a new exodus in which God’s people would be set free and restored. God himself would dwell with them and he would feed them and protect them as a shepherd feeds and protects his flock.</p><p>This is the news that God’s people needed to hear, and it’s the news that puts all other news into perspective. While we worry over news about the forces of nature threatening to overwhelm us, God reminds us that he is the Creator who “has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand” (Isaiah 40:12). </p><p>The glory and character of God provides us with the best news we could possibly hear. “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?” Ask the Creator God, the one who “sits above the circle of the earth” and rules over it (Isaiah 40:21-22). The natural and human-caused calamities that dominate the news cycle are not news to God. God puts them all into perspective by taking the long view. No one who makes the news will ever be God’s equal; he is the one who creates them all and brings us out of it all.</p><p>These are powerful reminders for the people of God who, like Israel, often got caught up in the news of the day and began to despair or, worse, began to be sucked into the world’s idolatry, fear and intrigue. The resultant news fatigue made them believe their plight was hidden from the Lord and that they had been disregarded by God. But that’s when God comes shouting through once again with the news that should dominate the attention of all God’s people regardless of their circumstances.</p><p>“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28). Notice the repeat of verse 12, which is a way of bringing home the point that the God who created the “ends of the earth” allows nothing to escape his notice and will allow nothing to defeat his purposes for his good creation. No matter how bad the news seems to be, God’s purposes will win out.</p><p>That’s the reason God himself does not suffer from “news fatigue.” As Isaiah puts it, “He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless” (Isaiah 40:28-29). Not only does God know the long view of his purposes in history, he offers power and strength to those who feel the fatigue of bad news in the present. </p><p>Human beings tend to busy themselves trying to either come up with solutions to every problem or offering their opinions to those who “should” be doing something to fix them. But as the pandemic has taught us, there are limits to human knowledge and ability. If we trust only in ourselves, we are bound to experience the fatigue of despair when we fail or reach the end of our ability. The energy and idealism of youth can lead to disappointment and exhaustion when the reality sets in that we cannot “fix” the news no matter how hard we try.</p><p>Rather than fret, fixate, or forego the news, Isaiah invites us to deal with our fatigue in light of the larger reality the Creator God has once again declared to his people. Instead of “waiting” on the news by constantly refreshing our screens or scrolling through a social media feed, Isaiah instead invites us to “wait for the Lord” (v. 31). That “waiting” doesn’t mean we simply sit around and do nothing, allowing the news to continue to wash over us. To “wait” means to look to God to provide us with perspective, hope, and purpose through prayer and through being immersed in God’s Word.</p><p>How much might our “news fatigue” be mitigated, for example, if we committed to spending at least as much time in prayer as we do scrolling through the news and social media? Many of our phones and devices now tell us precisely how much time we spend online every day. Spending an equivalent amount of time (or more) listening to God and bringing our fatigue and worries to him would allow us the opportunity to put those things in perspective while renewing our strength to deal with the things we can actually do something about. The rest? Well, we simply put the rest in God’s hands, knowing that his purposes win out in the end.</p><p>Countering the news with a daily discipline of time spent in the presence of God will enable us to pick up a different pace of life. Do you grab your phone to check the news first thing in the morning? That’s a recipe for starting the day with anxiety, rather than mounting up for the day “with wings like eagles” (v. 31). Instead, try beginning the day with Scripture and prayer before you even touch that phone or the TV remote. Many of you know that I, as do many priests and religious, will normally spend a certain amount of time daily in structure prayer, or Lectio Divina (read; meditate; pray; contemplate. First a passage of scripture). I do so for an hour each morning, and when I miss it, my whole day seems off. I encourage you to allow God’s Word to nourish you and strengthen you for the day ahead, to prepare you to run the gauntlet of the day without growing weary or discouraged, and to walk steadily forward without fainting under a load of bad news.</p><p>The cure for news fatigue, in other words, is to begin with the good news first!</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We have been blessed by some of you who have generously given to help us keep the lights on and the church and rectory insured - I couldn’t possibly express my gratitude enough! We are not completely out of the woods yet, so I continue to ask for donations and prayers! God Bless you all!</p><p>http://www.stfrancisucc.org/donate.html</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-19203992057412475612021-01-10T14:22:00.001-08:002021-01-10T14:22:07.050-08:00Epiphany Sunday<p> January 10, 2021</p><p>Epiphany Sunday</p><p>(Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 2:1-12)</p><p>After this past week’s events, if one thinks it couldn’t possibly get worse, we would be quite wrong. Over the years, I often would reflect how amazingly civilized our country is; we follow the rules of the road, we work in positions that help our fellow mankind and keep our lives going, we respect our neighbors, since the Civil War we have been quite unified, our democracy worked, etc. However, this has been challenged in many ways the past couple of years – and then this past week happened. Is this the same country that was founded on Christian values?</p><p>For Christmas, I reflected on the Light of Christ - the Christ child. This past Wednesday was the traditional day of the Epiphany. And I reflected on it more deeply the past couple of days, and I thought of a solitary candle set on a table outside. Let me attempt to illustrate.</p><p>I lit a candle outside when near dusk. The sky began to darken but the Sun was still shining even on the candle. The light of the candle blended in with the light of the day. The 2 lights were in harmony but then what happened? It grew dark. So, now the light of the candle was no longer in harmony with its surroundings. It no longer blended in. As the sky darkened the candle stood out more and more dramatically. It was not the candle that changed but everything around it. So, now it was shining in marked contrast to its surroundings and against the darkness.</p><p>The candle in the day, when the sun was still shinning, represents the believer who shines in the midst of a Christian civilization. Its light blends in with the surrounding culture. The culture is in harmony with the light, at least on the outside, and appears to support it.</p><p>But the candle in the night represents the believer who shines in the midst of a post Christian civilization, an apostate civilization, an Anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, anti-God civilization. Now the cultural supports as external props are removed. The light of the Gospel is no longer in harmony with the surrounding culture. The surrounding culture now stands increasingly in opposition to the light. The light cannot blend in. It must now increasingly stand out in contrast to its surroundings, and increasingly shine against the flow.</p><p>So, if you had a choice, which candle would you rather be, the candle of the day or the candle of the night?</p><p>As Christians, we must be the candle of the night. It is the candle of the night that changes the world. The candle that shines in daylight can hardly be seen. But the candle that shines in the darkness can be seen miles away. It is at the very time when it is hardest to shine the light, that it is most crucial that you do. It is then that the light is most needed. And that is when the light becomes its most powerful.</p><p>We are amid darkness in our country – a darkness that comes and surrounds us like never before. Our nation is not the nation as it was four short years ago. Sadly, while some can see what is happening and acknowledge the cause(s), others say otherwise.</p><p>We should not and cannot go back to the previous centuries that pits our races against one another, our gender against one another, who one loves against one another. This would indeed be a post Christian civilization, an apostate civilization, an Anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, anti-God civilization. So many of us claim to be faithful to our religion, yet none of the three largest faiths encourage the challenges we have been facing from our fellow mortals. They speak out against it! How can one get mad at someone kneeling during the national anthem and then storm the capital and defecate in its interior??</p><p>As people of America, we must join in prayer to our Almighty God, our Light, our candle in the darkness, to give us strength to fight back this horrid hateful path we have stubbled upon. We must beg our Lord Christ to bring His radical love into our country and our people. He can be our candle and should be. Let us not waiver to be the knights of this Light. Let Christ fill our hearts so that we may be the candles of light everywhere we go and to everyone we meet. Let us be the voices of reason and never give up doing so!</p><p>So, never fear the darkness. You are the light shining, especially into the night and you light up the world. For Christ said, “Do not fear, it is I!” (John 6:20 Paraphrased)</p><p>St. Francis has words for us in the form of a prayer attributed to him. As you join me in prayer this week for our beloved nation, finish with these words:</p><p>Lord make Me an instrument of Your peace.</p><p>Where there is hatred, let me sow love.</p><p>Where there is injury, pardon.</p><p>Where there is doubt, faith.</p><p>Where there is despair, hope.</p><p>Where there is darkness, light.</p><p>Where there is sadness, joy.</p><p>O Divine master grant that I may</p><p>Not so much seek to be consoled as to console.</p><p>To be understood, as to understand.</p><p>To be loved, as to love</p><p>For it is in giving that we receive</p><p>And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.</p><p>And it is in dying that we are born...</p><p>To eternal life.</p><p>Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We have been blessed by some of you who have generously given to help us keep the lights on and the church and rectory insured - I couldn’t possibly express my gratitude enough! We are not completely out of the woods yet, so I continue to ask for donations and prayers! God Bless you all!</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-25493734712264870942021-01-04T14:32:00.001-08:002021-01-04T14:32:26.424-08:00New Year – Second Sunday after Christmas – Mary, Mother of God<p> January 3, 2021</p><p>New Year – Second Sunday after Christmas – Mary, Mother of God</p><p>(Jeremiah 31:7-14; John 1:1-18)</p><p>Some of you have probably seen those little noise makers that are used at New Year's Eve parties. A rectangular box with knob on one side. They are also used in Judaism for the Feast of Purim. You hold the handle and you start spinning the Box around which causes a loud grinding noise. You might be more used to the less expensive aluminum version. Either way, they make a racket.</p><p>The device in Hebrew is called a rashan, which means noisemaker. It is more commonly known as a grogger, although I think noisemaker fits it the best. During the Feast of Purim when the name of Haman (sometimes called Haman the Evil), the man who tried to exterminate the Jewish people in ancient Persia (Book of Esther), is read, the groggers are turned. By using the grogger they would drown out the name of Haman. In this strange looking instrument of noise is a very profound principle that one should apply to life. Haman is a symbol of evil. The challenge is to overcome evil.</p><p>One could say, to some degree, that 2020 was an “evil” year. And how should we overcome evil?</p><p>If someone hurts you, you hurt them back? How about if someone hates you and you hate them back? You simply become bitter over what they did, so this certainly is not how you overcome evil. No. That's how you echo evil and perpetuate it. It certainly would go against what Jesus meant to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you!” Jesus meant for us to do good, not do bad. All you are doing is repeating the name of Haman. The grogger holds the secret to drowning out the name.</p><p>So, in a sense, when someone sins against you, you use a grogger. The secret of the grogger is that it deals with the sound of evil by producing its own sound, a different sound, and by doing so, it drowns out the sound of evil.</p><p>So how do you overcome evil in your life? By producing a sound, that which is not a reaction to evil, that which has an entirely other origin, an entirely different essence, and an entirely opposite spirit. You overcome evil by bringing forth its opposite. You bring forth good. You overcome hatred by bringing forth love. You overcome despair by bringing forth hope. And you overcome that which is negative by bringing forth positive. you overcome darkness by light, and by doing so you drown out all evil.</p><p>As we enter a new year, we should drown out the evil in our lives. The hatred of people with different skins tones, national origins, differing religions, different gender, different due to transgender or LGBTQ, different social class, different political beliefs – the list can go on. These hatreds should be drowned out by our groggers!</p><p>We are suffering another bad spread of Covid-19. As I write this, San Diego hospitals are at capacity due to Covid infections, yet many still refuse to wear a mask – that would not only protect themselves, but those around them. And now, there is a new strain of it that is even more contagious! Ugh!</p><p>Due to the heightened political arrogance and examples from politicians themselves, many people no longer have any common courtesy.</p><p>All of these are simply and plainly evil. We are making our own evil. We need to manifest more love, hope and positive energy. We need to be the United States again, not divided as we are. We were a civilized nation, and now we are turning in on ourselves.</p><p>For some, you may say I am being harsh. Possibly, but I do not think so. There is so much evil around us right now. It lightened for Christmas, but we need it to lighter even more. As I mentioned in my Christmas message, we need to bring the Light into our lives and that of others.</p><p>Many people make New Year’s Resolutions. Normally I don’t make them, at least not from a formal perspective, but I do look at the past year and look at things I want to improve on and try to start the New Year with those in mind. I encourage everyone to cultivate more love, hope and positive light in this coming New Year.</p><p>Take some time to sit quiet at some point the next few days, put concerns/mental occupations aside. Sit someplace quiet and alone, so as there are no distractions. Take a small journal/pad and pencil with you. Use the journal to write down things that are interrupting your quiet time, rather than dwell on the them. This works for me. My mind is now settled after writing them down, because it knows now it will not forget those interrupting items. Think of a favorite spiritual word that you can repeat quietly, it could be anything from Jesus, Mary, Eucharist, Holy, or even the Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. [Some variations have Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.] Whatever you feel comfortable with.) Some even pray the Rosary!</p><p>In whatever form you choose, take that time to cleanse out all the “evil” or negative thoughts and impulses. Allow love, hope and positive energy fill you up and resolve to bring these and the light of Christ into the life of others. Get to a quiet higher spiritual realm where you can absorb some of the Holy Spirit’s energy.</p><p>Remember also, the love of Jesus was very radical. Even in a time of turmoil like we currently live in, the radical love of Jesus can reset evil to good. His love has no boundaries. His love is for literally every single person on earth – even all the “different” ones I mentioned earlier and more. And let us pray that the New Year to come will be a fresh start (starting with ourselves being more Christ-like), for the Covid-19 to come under control and a nation on the road to healing – physical, mental and political. This is my prayer. I hope it is yours! Let us spin our groggers and drown out the evil!</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>And a Blessed New Year to you all!</p><p>++The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We have been blessed by some of you who have generously given to help us keep the lights on ad the church and rectory insured - I couldn’t possibly express my gratitude enough! We are not completely out of the woods yet, so I continue to ask for donations and prayers! God Bless you all!</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-30037364278174056592020-12-25T09:44:00.000-08:002020-12-25T09:44:01.171-08:00Nativity<p> December 24/25, 2020</p><p>Nativity</p><p>(Isaiah 9:1-6; Luke 2:1-14)</p><p>Tonight/Today will be a milestone I would just as soon not remember. It will be the first time in the last 19 years of being the pastor at this parish that I have not celebrated Midnight Mass with a congregation. Sad, to say the least, but understandable. I guess the Blessed Lord will forgive me.</p><p>It is in the Midnight Mass that the processional with the baby Jesus is led by candlelight. Last year we were able to celebrate with the lighting of individual candles for the congregation, as it was the first time we did not have carpeting in the church, and thus a safer surface for candle wax. So, this too will be missed.</p><p>Many years ago, I fell in love with the tradition of setting candles in windows. My parents were very much Christmas people – at least from the secular point of view. Decorations and festivities for Christmas were always large scale. It is a tradition I carry on to this day. I was actually so excited to have a nice house to decorate again. The last time I had a house large enough to decorate to the ninth degree was while living in Louisiana. And so today, my back and legs will tell you that my roof has some lights – modern day candles. Not Griswold style, but many all the same.</p><p>My mother had a large collection of Christmas candles fashioned as figurines of various Christmas theme. Of course, we didn’t burn these, we merely made a Christmas scene much like people do with the village scenes today. Some were quite old and others not so much. As time goes by, the candles sitting in boxes in the shed over multiple summers tend to get misshapen, and so new ones are purchased. She also used to handmake some beautiful Christmas candles herself. A craft, that as a child, didn’t interest me, but now I wish I paid attention to.</p><p>When I was younger, we had these candelabra like displays with those little C-7 orange light bulbs in them. Of course, not every window had outlets beneath, but that wasn’t something extension cords could not solve. Modern variations of these are not as plentiful to purchase, nor as well displayed in people’s homes, however they comfort me all the same.</p><p>As a youth, I remember how dark hills and roads with houses were lit by a surprising number of such candles, winking warmly at strangers and passersby along the way. I never forgot that feeling of welcome and glowing hope at such a dark time of year, and I have been a devoted user of window candles ever since.</p><p>Legend traces the tradition back to Mary and Joseph searching for a place to stay, as well as to the star that leads the Magi on a long journey through a strange country. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard not to feel as though I am also journeying through strange country, every single day in a Covid-19 laced world. Maybe feeling the same way, many folks on social media have talked about putting up their Christmas decorations earlier than usual this year, and so they did. I have seen some up on houses here for a couple months now. These decorations help against the gloom, whether it’s the shorter days, the chaos of the news, or the loneliness of ongoing social distancing fatigue. This year, decorations feel like an act of resistance.</p><p>Gloom is not foreign to the nativity story. Scripture tells us Jesus’ birth was a time not only of joy and welcome but of fear, violence, and catastrophe. We tend not to focus on those bits as we hear the story read in church. “No room at the inn” is often played as comedy rather than as a stomach-churning situation for a pregnant mother and a father. We dodge the presence of Augustus Caesar, the emperor looming in the background, or his ruthlessness and absolute power over the Roman Empire and its people. We brush by King Herod, his threats, the massacre of the Holy Innocents, and the flight to Egypt.</p><p>This year, however, all these grim and terrible plot turns are what get my attention. They sound less like the plot of a fairy tale, or a news report from another country, or what we used to call a “biblical” scenario (read fantastically unrealistic), and more like current and near-possible events. What I thought was a “civilized” nation seems to no longer be so, and now sounds more biblical (fantastically unrealistic) the past year in particular. Some protests have been less than civilized the past few months. And somehow, for me, this is heartening—because I need even more to know and feel that Jesus is with us, that these sorts of events are not shocking to God, as so much that seemed unbreakable has broken apart in our country.</p><p>The tradition of window candles should remind us of the old proverb, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” I think of Midnight Mass, and a singular candle processing in, lighting everyone’s personal candle as it signifies the Light of Christ entering the world of darkness. And I think, of course, of our Christmas reading from Isaiah 9, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light,” but also one that is not a reading for tonight from John 1, “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”</p><p>Setting out lights and decorations this year, is proclaiming the power and love of Christ, which we must try hard to continue to put our trust in. We need to feel hope. Not in the sense of having a good attitude or looking on the bright side, but hope as holding fast to the deep-down belief that God’s love is stronger than evil, violence, and death. Hope is also an action verb. As Austin Channing Brown put it last summer on Twitter, “Black folks connect hope to duty, legacy, the good fight. . . . The freedom movement can’t survive on optimism; there’s too much to mourn.”</p><p>So, I’ve placed (electric) candles in my windows instead of cursing the darkness, but that’s not all I’ll do. Window candles do not change policy, rebuild government, feed the hungry, or protect the vulnerable. But symbols and decorations have power, nonetheless. They can be prophetic tokens of resistance, inspiration to keep on keeping on, and a shield against despair.</p><p>In the Gospel of John, the most esoteric of the four Gospels, Christ commonly refers to Himself as the light and he asks His followers to walk in the light.</p><p>But in our dark times we may wonder: Why is Light (Christ) essential? Why must we seek the Light? What Difference does Light make?</p><p>In Many ways, we are aware that our dark times of doubt and despair become comfortable places. We may even grow to depend upon these down times, believing that they are insurmountable. And the longer we walk in dark places, the more distant the light can seem. We may even arrive at a place where the light itself is but a distant memory, or we may come to believe that it doesn’t exist at all.</p><p>Our journey that we take during Advent leading to Christmas reminds us that we cannot take the light for granted when Christmas does arrive. Christ is near, and God partners with us, makes covenant with us, and asks us to respond to the light that has come into the world. We may not have to move far, but God does ask us to move, to be bold enough to step out on faith and seek the light.</p><p>Even if we are in a dark place this season, Christ reminds us that we can be “children of the light.” Our faith – the expressions of our faith in word and in deed – does make a difference. When Christ is with us, we discover that the light has dawned!</p><p>We need the light of Christ most desperately. I encourage everyone to light a candle today. Like the old slogan of a motel commercial, we leave the light on for you; let us leave the light on for Jesus. Jesus will come to the door with the candle. He will come to the house that acknowledges the Light of Christ. He will come to the door and knock. Will you open the door for the Light of the World, or leave Him in the cold and darkness?</p><p>My prayer for this Christmas is that we all will feel and see the Light of the Christ Child in such a real way, that He helps the candle of each soul to bring His Light to others. It is a sad and bleak year to be sure, but when we put this aside ever so momentarily and light our candles, we glimpse the peace of God. I have about 400 lights on the roof and a few more on my windows and tree inside, in addition to the candelabras in the windows. I wait inside, near my Grandfather’s manger set, praying to the infant Jesus to fill us all with His light. It is then that the miracles of Christmas take place.</p><p>May God Bless you all and have a most Blessed Christmas! +++</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – As the epidemic continues (and even increases again) we continue to need your help. The virus keeps people away and thus donations are down, and bills pile up and insurances are being canceled! Please help, if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-56169186197358129632020-12-07T18:36:00.001-08:002020-12-07T18:36:05.445-08:00The Second Sunday of Advent<p> December 6, 2020</p><p>The Second Sunday of Advent</p><p>(Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Mark 1:1-8)</p><p>As we light the candle of Peace on our Advent Wreath, we continue our passage through a time of reflecting. We have much to reflect in our lives. We’ve had a year of life that has been challenging, to say the least. Although, we each have our own issues to reconcile for, some of those issues may very well have been our treatment of others. Some taking their cue from someone in high office.</p><p>We might pause at this time and wonder if this is where karma comes into play. Well, to be clear, Christianity is not based on this Eastern religion teaching, but it has its similarities in Jesus’ teaching that has become known as the “Golden Rule.” Jesus Himself taking it from the Leviticus. However, the Bible is filled with similar maxims. I like to think of this as Christian Karma.</p><p>However, as I try to stay away from my obnoxiousness of that, some have asked if we should be concerned with “karma.” Certainly we should be concerned with it, but not so much as it is taught in the Eastern religions and that which leads to reincarnation – traditionally a non-Christian teaching.</p><p>Of course, one does not want to return in another life as a cockroach (I am being obnoxious again, but some groups do actually teach this possibility, but fortunately not all). We do not want to have punishment that we probably deserve, especially a punishment that seems a bit much for the crime.</p><p>So, just what do we Liberal Catholics think?</p><p>Obviously, we are Catholic and Christian, but we are also open minded. Our branch of Catholicism allows for the belief in reincarnation and “karma,”, but we do not formally teach it. That is something our more theosophical brothers and sisters tend to teach.</p><p>However, let us briefly explore a Christian “karma” of sorts. Christ was clear that He had mansions waiting for us in heaven. This implies that we will not return as that dad-blasted cockroach, but that our sins – our bad “karma” - has been forgiven and thus we are not destined to repeat our wretched process over a few dozen times. Let’s face it, I would probably not be any better in another life than the one I am currently in. One could say that is pessimistic, where as I call it honesty of my sinfulness as a human being.</p><p>When Christ brought up the commandments, especially the two greatest, He wasn’t saying that if we are good we all will become trillionaires, nor if we were bad that life would be horrible. He was trying to express what our Father in heaven expected of us. Let’s face it, we have struggled with the way we treat others since we were created. God has attempted to lift us up, as any good parent, but we sometimes are simply spoiled brats.</p><p>So, in comes God’s Son as one of us, and attempts another approach with His children. He wants us all to enjoy paradise with Him. He wants us to know, that when our time on earth is over, we have an opportunity to enter a most glorious place. A place so wonderful, that no human being can possibly describe it, because finite minds cannot grasp it.</p><p>Additionally, many will remark that they are attempting to be as good of a person as they can, yet their life seems to be plagued with horrible events and continuous unhappiness. So, either karma is affecting them for their life previously, or God is working in a mysterious way and we await our reward in heaven for suffering here on earth. We cannot understand the workings of God, and sometimes we cannot explain why bad things happen to good people. No theology has resolved this dilemma.</p><p>However, Jesus joins Himself to our suffering. Not all our suffering is due to anything we have done, now, or in a “past life.” In fact, we read in the Gospel of John, “Jesus saw a man who had been blind since birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" ... Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-12) Here we see that “karma” wasn’t involved. But, indeed, God was trying to teach others! I am sure this was not comforting to the blind man, however, I am confident he was greatly rewarded in heaven.</p><p>And so, as we continue our passage through Advent. Let’s think a little bit about this Christian karma. Whether we come back or go to heaven, is just the point. We want to go to heaven or come back in a new self that is so wonderful it would beyond dreams. And so, we must put to work on our better selves and prepare for the light of Christ. The great star over Bethlehem.</p><p>We are given this time of self-examination prior to our Savior’s birth so that we can greet the Prince of Peace. We are to use this time to create some of our own peace. Can we take time to live out the “karma” and treat others as we indeed wish to be treated? Black or white, American or Russian, rich or poor, educated or not so much, liberal or conservative, young or old, woman, man or transgendered, LGBTQ or heterosexual, clergy or layman? Can we? Ultimately “karma” and the Golden Rule requires us to do just that!</p><p>Can we resolve to spend this Advent reflecting, not only on our sins of general, but especially in how we treat others? We should all want our next life, in whatever form you feel drawn, to be one that is better than the one we have now. We should all act as though there is “karma.” As Catholic Christians, we should act as though there is heaven. My faith in Christ and His teachings makes me feel great remorse that He suffered so much for my failures. But, my heart overflows with great joy that because of His suffering, I have gained entry into heaven.</p><p>This should not make me stop wanting to live out the Golden Rule or worry of Christian Karma simply because I think I have already obtained entry, but because our Lord commands it, but also so that we do not have returned evil for our evil. Not all things we do come back to us, but should we live as though it didn’t matter? No, we should live as it does indeed matter! It is not remotely a gamble I wish to take!</p><p>Join me in making an Advent journey to try to live the Golden Rule, or “karma” if you prefer, and wrestle from our hearts all ill-will and be the joy in someone else’s life if even only a moment!</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor -St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – As the epidemic continues (and even increases again) we continue to need your help. The virus keeps people away and thus donations are down, and bills pile up and insurances are being canceled! Please help, if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-9071404457222835132020-11-22T12:50:00.001-08:002020-11-22T12:50:10.858-08:00The Sunday Next before Advent<p> November 22, 2020</p><p>The Sunday Next before Advent</p><p>(1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Matthew 25:31-46)</p><p>It may strike some of us as hard to believe that one Sunday from today will be the beginning of the liturgical year – Advent. With all the turmoil we have had in this country the past year, is it surprising that we may not feel ready for the season upon us? We haven’t even got Covid-19 under control and we are nearly at Christmas!</p><p>Many a people have expressed a bit of hesitation in regard to Christmas being right around the corner. A year that has seen 1.3 milliondeaths around the globe, 250 plus thousand in our own country! Many fearing they too will get ill, all while many refuse to wear a mask – claiming it infringes on their rights. However, others have rights also – those who refuse to wear a mask are infringing on our rights by not wearing one and possibly infecting us. Systemic racism running ramped with our leader seemingly encouraging it. People are out of work or only partially employed. A new report shows hundreds of cases in which the deported parents of migrant children who were taken from their families cannot be located. The country severely divided politically – vehemently in some cases, with some even calling for a civil war. Civil war! Let that sink in if you please. I used to think we were a civilized nation, but apparently some want to revert to old western days. Divine Messiah, please come - now!</p><p>It would seem that we need to stop and examine ourselves with a pause and prepare for the season ahead of us. It is a perfect time to bring some joy into our frustrated lives.</p><p>Our Epistle reading for today speaks of the joy of having our death through Adam turned to life through Jesus Christ. We who have lived with sin and death hanging over our heads like rain clouds, can rejoice that the sun will soon appear. Christ’s birth and then death and resurrection is our hope, our salvation, and our joy.</p><p>Our current chaos will be taken away and replaced with knowledge that this too will soon die, and a resurrection will push us back on our feet. We want and need Jesus, while our children need Santa and prepare for a better year.</p><p>During Advent, the book of Isaiah becomes a beckoner of souls craving for our redeemer to come. Isaiah reminds us that God is the final word, not this world, not this virus, not white supremacists, not even manipulative politicians. God’s final word is that Jesus is the Word, and as such we can be sure of our future regardless of how it may look now.</p><p>Isaiah tells us to be ready for our savior and to, “Cease to do evil, learn to do good” (Isaiah 1:16b-17a) He goes further in the next verse, “Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Our country has struggled many times during its almost 250 years, and we have always surmounted the challenges. Let us get past the challenge to our democracy and work together to get past this epidemic in the year we will soon have before us.</p><p>This coming Advent, we can throw all of our anguish and grief onto the rugged cross that our Blessed Lord defeated. We have these little crosses in our humble chapel that we offer to anyone who wants one. They are made in Israel out of olive wood. Quiet appropriate reminder of the wood our Blessed Lord died on to defeat death and sin for us. I have frequently encouraged people to take one of these crosses and when life is filled with turmoil and sorrow, squeeze that little cross tight. Force those turmoil’s and sorrows into the cross. Jesus takes all of these and tells us, “I got you. It will be okay. Just place those concerns at the foot of My cross, fore I will lighten your load! Let me in! Let me help you!”</p><p>Advent is also a time when we remember Our Lady Mary. She knew of what we suffer, for she too suffered. Mary once said to her followers after Christ’s death, “My son did not say that we wouldn’t suffer, fore we will indeed suffer. It is not a question of whether we will suffer by following Him, because we certainly will. What is important is who do you go to when you do suffer?!”</p><p>We go to her son - Our Lord. But, let us not forget Our Lady’s power and persuasion with her son. Jesus performed His first public miracle because of His mother Mary. She asked Him to create more wine for the wedding at Cana. At first, our Blessed Lord seemed to chastise her, but she was not fazed at all. She tells the servants to do as He says. I can just see Jesus shake His head and smile a smirky type of smile and tell the servants to fill the water jars full with water. The miracle takes place. The best wine ever was made! Jesus loves His mother and will always heed her call. He will fulfill any request she makes on our behalf. In fact, He has merely given her the checkbook with a bottomless bank account.</p><p>Let us take time this week to prepare for the season of Advent. It will not be quite like Advents of the past, but not to worry, God will use this to His advantage in some way and help us find the comfort and direction we need in these turbulent times. Ask Our Lady also for help, in the person of Our Lady, Untier of Knots. She will come to help with the scent of blessed roses and many Angels in tow.</p><p>And when Christmas arrives, and it surely will, let us be like those in Whoville, even though the Grinch may have stolen the decorations, gifts and feast, Christmas morning will bring us reason to rejoice. Rejoice, because we can hand over all the tribulation from this year over to Him and have a blessed day!</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – As the epidemic continues (and even increases again) we continue to need your help. The virus keeps people away and thus donations are down, and bills pile up! Please helps, if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-91041874835301721242020-11-15T14:38:00.003-08:002020-11-15T14:38:42.207-08:00The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity<p> November 15, 2020</p><p>The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity</p><p>(1 Thessalonians 5:1-6; Matthew 25:14-30)</p><p>Once again the Covid-19 virus has shut down houses of worship. Thus, we are back to online only sermons/messages. Please keep St. Francis in your prayers and consider a donation to help keep us alive while bodies are staying away, and God bless you+++!</p><p>Today’s Gospel tends to puzzle people. Why would our loving Lord say, “For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Why would Jesus seem to indicate that the rich will get more rich and the poor more poor, when His words elsewhere seems to not favor the rich? A bit disheartening to hear!</p><p>However, we are actually not understanding His parables. If we look at another of His parables (Matthew 13:12), we learn that Jesus may be using wealth in His stories, but wealth is merely a metaphor. In the New Testament – these passages (see Mt 25:29; Mk 4:25; Lk 8:18; 19:26) – use what is considered a use of axiom of practical “wisdom.” The true meaning is that God gives further understanding to one who accepts the revealed mystery; from the one who does not, he will take it away.</p><p>So, with that in mind, let us explore a way of putting this explanation to use by using an imaginative storyline.</p><p>Imagine there was a treasure hidden a familiar field. Imagine it was worth 100 times the value of everything you owned. And the field was for sale. The asking price was equal to everything you owned. So, you sell everything you have and purchase the field. Quite a deal! The treasure is now yours. How much did it cost you to for the treasure?</p><p>You might say that it cost you everything you had, but actually you’ll be wrong. It did not cost you anything. You might respond by saying that you paid for it with everything you had. However, what you actually bought was the field, not the treasure. The treasure was beyond your ability to buy, even with all your possessions. It was, in effect, priceless. But, yet it was free. It just happened to be within the field you actually purchased at a price of one-one hundredth of 100.</p><p>The story/example I have just told you was the parable that Jesus gave of a man who buys a field in order to gain the treasure hidden within it (Matthew 13). What do you think the treasure represents? Salvation? Eternal life? The blessings of God?</p><p>All of those things would be correct and more. You can never earn or warrant God’s blessings or His salvation or the eternal life He will give. A million years of perfect works couldn’t purchase it. It’s priceless and yet it’s given freely, apart from any work, undeserved, and solely by the grace of God. That’s the treasure. But there’s another side to this story. Though the treasure is free, it causes a man to go out and do everything he can, use everything he has, let go of everything he can let go of, and give everything he can give in response to having found the treasure. Think of cloistered nuns and monks who go behind walls and see the public again for the rest of their lives. They have given all for God, and pay for the treasure!</p><p>Salvation is a treasure beyond price and yet given freely to all who freely receive it. But the treasure is so great that if you truly receive it, if you realize what you have, it will lead you to do everything you can, to use everything you have, and give everything you can give in response to having found it. If you’ve truly found this treasure, then it must lead you to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love others as yourself, to forgive as you’ve been forgiven, to give as you have been given, to make your life a gift of love, and to do all this in joy in light of the treasure that is now come into your life. If you have found the treasure that is beyond price and freely given, then live a life that is of the upmost value and of the greatest worth, and do so freely. This is the way you possess the priceless.</p><p>Now, part of this treasure is the one talent. God is well aware that we humans differ one from another. No two of us will comprehend the same. No two of us will have the same interests. No two of us will have the same drives. No two of us are the same, period. So, from this, we can further understand that God is aware that no two of us can handle the same amount of talents.</p><p>We each are given talents of wisdom to help us understand God and His kingdom. If we take this talent of wisdom and learn from it and use it wisely in our lives in seeking God, living His commandments, and loving others, we will double our talents we can offer back to God. God will bless us with more talents – more of His grace. We grow closer to our Creator and become better images of Him, just as we were created to be! And when our time on earth is done, we receive the full treasure of forgiveness and eternal life.</p><p>So, are you giving some of your time to God? Are you attempting to take the talents He has given you and increase them with more time spent with Him and His Word? Will you squander your talents, or double them? Let’s double them! Take the Bible off of the bottom shelf of your bookcase, dust it off and thumb through the pages. Time to double those talents!</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – As the epidemic continues (and even increases again) we continue to need your help. The virus keeps people away and thus donations are down, and bills pile up! Please helps, if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-35681375825082532822020-11-08T17:09:00.004-08:002020-11-08T17:09:49.559-08:00The Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity<p> November 8, 2020</p><p><br /></p><p>The Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity</p><p><br /></p><p>(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13)</p><p><br /></p><p>The power nap.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fifteen quick minutes in the late afternoon can battle back the post-lunch weariness of the busy worker, the stay-at-home parent or the student facing a term-paper deadline, especially while being cloistered in the house during the Covid-19 epidemic. While fifteen minutes is no siesta, it’s enough to restore vitality for the final push of the day.</p><p><br /></p><p>But as for real effective snoozing, look no further than the black bear. Research is beginning to unpack the amazing slumber skills of these animals. They hibernate for up to four months during the winter, without ever waking up to eat, drink, relieve themselves or exercise. And while the catatonic inactivity of hibernating bears may drop their heart rate to as low as six beats per minute, they still burn an amazing 4,000 calories per day!</p><p><br /></p><p>But what is truly amazing about these power-nappers is the ability to emerge from hibernation faster and stronger than a combat Humvee on a cold day — at almost the same level of physical strength and stamina as when they started their season-skipping siesta. Through daily regimens of muscle stimulation and contraction, bears are able to both maintain their constant body temperature and keep their massive muscles in working shape.</p><p><br /></p><p>Take a person who is sick and bedridden for two months, his muscles will have become listless from passivity. Or take a football player and ask them to execute with the same precision and ability at training camp in July as they did in the playoffs in January. No way.</p><p><br /></p><p>But hibernating bears? Their spell of complete inactivity is offset by the amazing ability to efficiently maintain their strength. So come spring, they bound out of their den at full speed ready to eat about anything in sight.</p><p><br /></p><p>Four months off and good as new. That’s a true power nap. The way life is sometimes, I wouldn’t mind having the same ability!</p><p><br /></p><p>Now researchers are hoping to learn the science behind the regenerating-while-napping black bear, hoping to apply their findings to the bedridden or to those with degenerative neuromuscular diseases. But while the deep sleep of hibernation is great for bears and may one day impact medical therapy, not all slumber is equally beneficial.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fall asleep on Jesus, and you may not emerge feeling so rested and refreshed.</p><p><br /></p><p>When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he used parables with illustrations from everyday life to make his point. In Matthew 25, he tells the story of 10 temperamental single virgins who go out to meet a prospective bridegroom. But the groom is running late, and so they all nod off for a while ... a power nap before the courting begins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Eventually the Bachelor arrived, but not every Bachelorette got a rose that night. While all were eager for the opportunity to meet a potential quality mate, only five were eligible and invited to the party.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now we know that Jesus was able to nap, even while frothy seas stormed around him (Luke 8:23). And the issue in this story is not the fact that the bridesmaids napped as well, because all 10 did so. The issue is that only five woke up prepared and ready to go in the middle of the night. Jesus is warning against bad kingdom catnaps; hibernating without remaining strong and ready to go.</p><p><br /></p><p>As Christians living 2,000 years after the first coming of Christ, it might be too easy to forget that His second coming could happen on a day when we do not expect Him and at an hour we are not aware of. Winter will change to spring, and then there will be no more time for sleeping.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, our day goes by and we assume Jesus has not come. There have been no apocalyptic fireworks, no trumpets sounding, no clouds parting. No Parousia. No pileups on the freeways. No airplanes tumbling out of the skies. None of that.</p><p><br /></p><p>But maybe Jesus came today, and we were so asleep that we didn’t notice, and if we were awake, our lamps were so dim that we couldn’t see Him.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jesus was here today. Jesus was here yesterday. And Jesus is going to be here tomorrow.</p><p><br /></p><p>So where will we find Him?</p><p><br /></p><p>If we’re awake and alert, if our lamps are trimmed to shed some light, we’ll see Jesus in the prisons, along the highways, in our schools, in our neighborhoods, at the food bank, in the soup kitchen, at the office, in the hospital, and so on.</p><p><br /></p><p>But if we’re lazy, if we’re sleepy, if we’ve lost muscle tone — there’s no chance that we’ll ever see Jesus.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jesus warned against not being ready when He comes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Five snooty virgins were ready. Five whiny virgins were un-bear like. They emerged from their hibernation and they weren’t prepared for the advent of the bridegroom. They had to run off to the market to buy oil in order to prepare their lamps for meeting him.</p><p><br /></p><p>Are we so complacent with life as we currently have it that we don’t think Jesus will come in our lifetime? How prepared are we for the coming of the Lord? Can we awake during this delay prepared to meet Him, or must we still scramble to get pretty and party-worthy?</p><p><br /></p><p>To do so, we’ve got to keep the lamps trimmed. Putting our spiritual lives in order is not something to be put off till a later day. The day to be ready for the bridegroom is today and not tomorrow.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, what is the oil we are short of? How might we scramble around to get ready for confronting Christ today?</p><p><br /></p><p>Oil in Scripture is often a symbol for the Holy Spirit. Maybe we try to spring into action without submitting our work, our intentions, our purpose to the Holy Spirit so that God’s Spirit can fill our deeds with power and effectiveness.</p><p><br /></p><p>Maybe we’re short of the oil of kindness and compassion. Maybe we’re short of the oil of patience and long-suffering. To be prepared for the party, we’re to trim our lamps daily.</p><p><br /></p><p>But aren’t we used to plenty of second chances? Kids cry out “do-overs” if they don’t like the outcome of a game played with friends. High-school students can retake the SAT to improve their scores. The delete key on our computers quickly offers the chance to “ficks meestakes” (bad spelling intentional) that an old typewriter never could. In fact, the love and grace of God offer plenty of second chances ... even seven times 70 chances if necessary.</p><p><br /></p><p>But there is an eventual end point at which these second chances are no more. Lazarus knew it. One of the thieves on the cross knew it. And Jesus obviously knew it as well. When the bridegroom does return, the opportunities to prepare for him are no longer available.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jesus sounds a loving warning: “Live a spiritual life that is already prepared for my return.”</p><p><br /></p><p>How then do we respond to this parable?</p><p><br /></p><p>We might take a spiritual inventory of our lives. What areas can we see that would be like the untrimmed lamp? What oil do we need to go and buy now? In our devotional lives ... in our workplace ... in our friendships with pre-Christians ... in the way we treat our families ... in the choices we make when nobody else is looking?</p><p><br /></p><p>The parable illustrates a deep reality for us as believers. Not only do we need to be expecting God’s call at any moment, but we also need to prepare spiritually by leading lives bolstered by spiritual works of service. Christ calls us to possess an active faith, not a passive one.</p><p><br /></p><p>Because it’s a metaphor, eventually it’s going to break down when held up to the light of other parables and teachings of Jesus. For instance, a bunch of snooty virgins not sharing and another group of whiny virgins getting locked out of the party doesn’t seem to jive with the parable of the lost sheep or the very clear teaching, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)</p><p><br /></p><p>The symbolism we already know; the bridegroom represents Christ, and the bride represents the Church (all churches). The virgins are those ready in the Church. The oil is the embodiment of good works (sacrifice, obedience, prayer, etc.). The wise virgins are Christians who have nourished their faith and bolstered the Church community by living lives characterized by good works. The foolish virgins are those who are Christians, but only intellectually. They have failed to nourish their faith with prayer, penance, and sacrifice for others. Those who consider religion as “private,” fall into this last category. Christ calls us to be active and to live and show our faith. As I have often said in the past, “Catholicism is a way of life, not just a religion.” We have to live it, not keep it private and hence not be ready.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the snooty wise virgins who won’t share their oil when the time comes; they don’t share their oil with the foolish virgins because they now can’t. When it comes to our immortal souls, each person’s salvation is his or her own responsibility. No attempt to borrow on the good works of others can make up for our lack of active faith throughout your own life. We can’t transfer some of our soul’s credit to another soul.</p><p><br /></p><p>When the busy week is over and we are getting ready to go to a party at a friend’s house, that is a good thing. It is fun anticipation. There is no motivation of panic or obligation. We look forward to the community of friends we will be with and we anticipate the festivities that we are getting ready for.</p><p><br /></p><p>Jesus didn’t tell a parable of 10 virgins preparing for a dreaded IRS tax audit. It was a party. And the party Jesus calls us to is worth getting ready for ... it will be a banquet of unending satisfaction.</p><p><br /></p><p>Although we should take a lesson from the black bear and always wake up prepared to go. But the next time someone tells you this parable is only about how we need to “stay awake,” you can perform a work of mercy and let them know it’s also about keeping our faith alive and active, not passive. It’s about living out your Catholic faith, not simply saying a private prayer here and there.</p><p><br /></p><p>Oh, and tell them they can’t borrow any of your oil! (Wink, wink)</p><p><br /></p><p>Let us pray.</p><p><br /></p><p>We are reminded in today’s Gospel that we know neither the day nor the hour when our Lord will call us to His divine presence. We pray that we always remain aware of this and be prepared to meet Him joyfully when He call us. We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>We pray that, like the wise bridesmaids in today’s parable, we keep the light of the Gospel forever burning so that we and those who come after us will see the true light and follow Jesus into the Lord’s banquet in Heaven. We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>We pray for all those who are enduring mental stress and hardship due to Covid -19 restrictions and lockdown, that in their darkest moments the love and care of friends and neighbors may bring them relief and peace of mind. We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>We pray for the people of our nation that, at this time, we are blessed with peace, tolerance and unity of purpose so that we can repair the divisiveness manifesting in our midst. We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>For newly elected leaders, especially President Elect Joseph Biden, that they may rely on God’s divine law as a source of wisdom and build a spirit of cooperation that promotes peace and healing in our country. We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p><br /></p><p>O patient and ever-present God, shake us from the slumber of apathy and routine, and awaken us to the promise of this day, fresh and full of possibility. Ground us in your presence and steadfast love; center us in the knowledge of your grace. Kindle in us a new excitement for this awesome journey to which you call us.</p><p><br /></p><p>Help our nation to accept the election results with humility and dignity and wipe away the stay of accusations, and disappointed loses. Help us to know that democracy is only successful when we exercise the rights afforded by our constitution and accept the results of our fellow Americans who voted along side of us. Now is a time to heal and grow. There is more to what guides us than divides us.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the name of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the journey, and the guide. Amen.</p><p><br /></p><p>God Love You +++</p><p><br /></p><p>++ The Most rev. Robert Winzens</p><p><br /></p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p><br /></p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p><br /></p><p>We are beggars – As the epidemic continues (and even increases again) we continue to need your help. The virus keeps people away and thus donations are down, and bills pile up! Please helps, if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><p><br /></p><p>[http://www.stfrancisucc.org/donate.html](http://www.stfrancisucc.org/donate.html)</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-55653905793618554652020-11-01T13:45:00.002-08:002020-11-01T13:45:15.694-08:00Sunday Sermon <p> November 1, 2020</p><p>All Saints/All Souls Sunday</p><p>(Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; Matthew 5:1-12)</p><p>All Saints. All Hallows Day. A Christian solemnity celebrated in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. The liturgical celebration begins at Vespers on the evening of 31 October, All Hallows' Eve (All Saints' Eve), and ends at the close of 1 November. In Catholic theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven – known and unknown (or to say known only to God).</p><p>One would need to be a saint, sometimes, to be able to tolerate life today. For all of our advances - social, political, medical, theological and otherwise - we still seem to have the same problems. Problems that saints before us fought, sometimes with their very lives, to ease or eliminate. Yet, we always seem to come full circle.</p><p>With the pending election, political wars are flowing in all directions. Many were up in arms about the latest Supreme court nominee, and with good reason. Even the Supreme Court Justices, apart from one, did not attend the swearing in of the new justice. That speaks volumes. The potential changes to abortion, same-sex marriages, health care for all, are especially heightened and divisive.</p><p>And during this period, I have been asked on more than a couple of occasions about the statement from Pope Francis that was recently revealed in a documentary of him. I found it interesting timing, given the Supreme Court rhetoric having one of those topics being the same regarding what some are up in arms about over the Pope’s alleged statement. Given I have been asked on multiple occasions the past couple of weeks, I felt maybe it was time to have a little sermon on the topic. I am sure I will get some nasty Facebook comments, but c’est la vie!</p><p>The alleged statement by Pope Francis, regarding civil unions for gays and lesbians, in which he says, “What we ought to have is a civil Union law, that way they are legally covered.” Of course, there are multiple conservative priests and bishops and laity out there who are already condemning this like they do some of the other things that this present Pope has been saying. Be that as it may, it is certainly a different direction than any previous pope.</p><p>The interesting thing for the statement he made, is if you really listen to what he said, it really was kind of a safe statement. Reason I say “safe” is because he is stating civil union which is nothing more than a governmental law. He is not talking about anything from the church in this statement. He is not speaking of doctrine change. (Though it will force discussion on it.) So, we have people in church who are up in arms over statement he was making about civil law. Not about church law. He has not changed doctrine.</p><p>Well, we are not Roman Catholic, so I really do not care if they do not change, even if I think they should.</p><p>The problem here I think is something that is not going to go away any time soon; although it would seem that we are making progress. Yet if all these nightmare stories that people are saying about the political issue with the Supreme Court, in regard to a potential challenge to same sex marriages and what have you, I suppose there is some reason for the concern.</p><p>The Roman Catholic Church has frequently stated that homosexuality is disordered. This is not overly striking. We know the church is slow to change. It is like a large oil tanker at sea – it takes time to shift course (though they have not even turned the wheel). Although, it is amazing that given the American Psychiatric Association removed it as a mental disease back in the 70’s.</p><p>Now, to answer the repeated question I have been asked since the reveal of the Pope’s alleged statement. Let me say this mostly for those people who read my sermons on Facebook, not so much here at the parish, because most people here who come every Sunday already know what our church's stance is on those of the LGBTQ community.</p><p>We do not view anyone with the same sex attraction any differently than we do someone who is heterosexual. Our church has never really had any firm stance on the topic with the exception that they are simply accepted! Our church does not treat them, or teach about them, any differently than we do about anyone else. We will always welcome people of the LGBTQ community.</p><p>I think it is abhorrent, especially in this day and age, that we still have this issue. To refer to someone as “disordered” or having an “unnatural” inclination is quite sinful, in my opinion. These people no more wake up in the morning and suddenly decide to be same sex attracted or transgendered than anyone else in the world. It is ludicrous to think they would, given the negative stigma they receive from prejudicial and discriminatory people.</p><p>We insult God by insisting on the notion, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” or that the “natural order is to procreate.” Obviously, the time of Adam and Eve is far different from our current time. Let us be clear; the story of Adam and Eve was not written as a ‘sex-ed’ class! It is merely the story of God creating our existence. Sure, He wanted us to populate the earth, but to insist sex between two parties must be open to procreation is an insult to God’s infinite wisdom and omnipotence! Do we really to need to “populate” the earth currently?! Not hardly. Some areas are overpopulated. Not to mention that His original design got a little off track after the forbidden fruit episode!</p><p>It is repugnant to listen to the religious right call same-sex couples as “objectively immoral relationships.” Let us be clear, sex trafficking, prostitution, or promiscuity may be immoral, but loving committed relationships are not.</p><p>Further still, many will use various passages to claim that LGBTQ people are going against Sacred Scripture. Although, I will not enumerate them all, as I am sure many have heard them ad nauseam, but I can gladly follow-up with passages for those who really want them. However, when it comes to this, there appears to be a problem with interpretation, theology and context, to name a few. Many of the passages used are done so in a prejudiced manner without doing some research and listening to other very valid arguments that tend to make the passages questionable to downright misinterpreted. I will explore merely one example.</p><p>In the 16th chapter of the prophet Ezekiel, The Lord says to the city of Jerusalem, “Now look at the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were proud, sated with food, complacent in prosperity. They did not give any help to the poor and needy. Instead, they became arrogant and committed abominations before me; then, as you have seen, I removed them.”</p><p>This is not the spiritual inventory that many of us would expect. Ezekiel does not even mention the specific nature of Sodom’s sexual sin. Sodom’s fate was determined before the incident with the men and the angels!</p><p>Modern scholarship, particularly in Judaism and certain branches of Christianity, has proposed that it is the inhabitants’ lack of hospitality, not their homosexuality, that gives offence to God. According to this view, the mob’s demands to rape the angelic guests reveals their deep-seated violence and inhospitality and is meant to stand in striking contrast to the gracious hospitality given by both Abraham and Lot to those same strangers. To further this claim, some cite the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:14–15:</p><p>“If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”</p><p>Here, Christ is implying that the grave sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of any towns that refuse His disciples, is that of inhospitality. Additionally, Ezekiel 16:49 mentions the inhabitants’ refusal to care for the poor despite their prosperity, which is taken as further evidence that homosexuality is not the cause of their damnation. If it were about homosexuality, surely Jesus would have made that clear – or certainly the writers of the Gospels would have. We all know that Jesus was certainly not bashful; He was more than forthright about anything He felt was a sin and we needed to change, and yet an issue that so many think has been condemned by God, was nowhere spoken by Jesus.</p><p>A final thought. I want to ask everyone here present today this question: Does God make mistakes? It is a simple question. You need not look at me strange. It is a valid question. How about, is a child born with Down Syndrome God’s mistake? How about a still birth?</p><p>Okay, now if we do not blame God for these things and we love and cherish these babies who become adults, should we blame God for LGBTQ people? Medical and psychiatric science has along ago determined that same-sex attractions are already present at birth. (Of course, given our current leader of our country and some of his followers seem to think they are smarter than the scientists, I suspect some will not agree with this logic!) If they are born this way, and it is supposedly “intrinsically disordered,” as many clergy think, then God must make mistakes! Right? Wrong!</p><p>No, all LGBTQ people are as equally loved by God as anyone else. It is not a “tendency,” or a “condition,” or an “inclination.” No one in their right mind, given the horrible treatment some churches dish out toward them, would choose to be so. That is what “tendency,” or a “condition,” or an “inclination,” implies. They do not choose to live this way; they choose to accept who they were born as. They do not wake up and suddenly feel this way any more than anyone else.</p><p>Pass this along – literally everyone – pass this along – our denomination does not and will not discriminate or ostracize any LGBTQ person. We may use an older traditional form of worship service (that I think is magnificent when you truly focus mystically during it), but we have very progressive understandings and believe in the radical love of Jesus! We may speak of “sexual” sins but being LGBTQ and in loving relationships is not one of those sins. It is not a sin at all. If anyone in this community feels their church looks down on them, treats them like pariah, will not baptize their children, will not officiate at their wedding, or whatever aspect that their church does not treat them as equal to everyone else, you tell them Archbishop Robert said they are welcome here, we will do those things for them and to join us! Amen. Praise the Lord! Let us pray!</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In today’s gospel, Jesus tells us how as Christians we should live our lives. We pray for the insight to listen to his words and in our own lives to be patient, generous, forgiving, compassionate and non-judgmental. We pray also that we love our enemies, do good to those who hate us and bless those who curse us. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>On today, the Feast of All Saints, we remember those who have lived their lives in the footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ and we pray that through following their example, we ourselves may also gain the rewards which the Lord has bestowed on them. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for all who have gone before us in faith, especially those of our own families and of this parish that they may stand with the saints before the throne of the Lamb. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray to our merciful God, that when we ourselves come before him in judgement, we too may be the recipients of his infinite love and be accepted by Him into glory with all his holy saints. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That our Lord will show us how to help people see His face and we be led to pray for those whom need our prayers. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That we be led to the ones our Lord wants us to reach, that we be shown how our church can better serve God and to organize ourselves to serve Him always and that we be allowed to be a part of what He desires to do next. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for health workers throughout the world and particularly in our own country, who at great personal risk and sacrifice are attending to the needs of victims of this devastating global pandemic. We pray that the Lord bless them with safety in their work and reward their personal sacrifices with success in their labors. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Eternal God, there is a prayer that goes like this, “From the cowardice that dares not face new truth, from the laziness that is contented with half-truth, from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, Good Lord, deliver us.” Eternal God we indeed ask You to deliver us from our unwillingness to wake up to Your truth and accept that sometimes our doctrine is wrong and needs Your Holy Spirit to breathe new life into old beliefs. We ask Your blessing on all LGBTQ people throughout Your creation. May they feel Your love and grace in their hearts and may all Your people treat them as complete equals in all facets of life.</p><p>Loving God, You surround us in a warm embrace, and in Your love teach us how to love others. In Your Spirit, we ask for guidance and remind us always of Your compassion for all humankind. Help us to keep our eyes and our lives focused on our perfect guide in Jesus Christ. Enable us to follow the teachings of Jesus above our own way and will.</p><p>Help us, too, loving God, to work for growth in Your kingdom. Sometimes it is difficult to speak a word of hope and help to those in need. With the encouragement of your Spirit, may we be faithful builders of Your eternal kingdom.</p><p>Lastly Dear Father, as we prepare for the national & local elections, in the midst of a global pandemic, may our political engagement be guided by Your Spirit. We thank you for the opportunity to have a voice in the way our government runs, while there are still countries in which peoples are not given this right. During this time of debate, diffusion, and decision-making, please have Your sovereign hand over this country. Please keep our country healthy during this season. Give us the peace that passes understanding about the vote, and the outcome. You change the times and the seasons, so You are in control of this election, we ask that our nation would see You in it. We ask all these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – As the epidemic continues (and even increases again) we continue to need your help. The virus keeps people away and thus donations are down, and bills pile up! Please helps, if you can, to keep our ministry alive and vibrant so that there is a place for the those needing respite from a troubled world! God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-27390666193868126962020-10-26T06:47:00.000-07:002020-10-26T06:47:02.848-07:00Sunday Sermon <p> October 25, 2020</p><p>The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity</p><p>(Exodus 22:20-26; Matthew 22:34-40)</p><p>Our Epistle reading from the book of Exodus lays out, in part, how God expects us to love our neighbors as ourselves. In particular, God lifts up the needs of the refugee, widow, orphan, and the poor. It is as if hurting one of these beloved ones of God is hurting God Himself. The Book of Proverbs tells us in 14:31, “Those who oppress the poor revile their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor Him.” God tells the people that if they harm another and “he cries out to Me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate (ESV).”</p><p>There’s a Texas saying, “When you boil the pot dry,” meant to refer to what’s left after all else goes away. It’s like getting to the gist of the matter, without superfluous details. “What’s the bottom line?” is another expression that captures the sentiment.</p><p>In Jesus’ day – when over 600 particular laws made up the totality of Mosaic Law, and a violation of one effectively meant a violation of the totality – the question posed to Jesus is seen as reasonable. In fact, in the context of the larger story, Jesus had bested the chief priests, elders, disciples of the Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees; and now the Pharisees themselves are ready to take another turn. One of their number, a scholar of the law, becomes their mouthpiece. It is good to keep in mind that though the question seems perfectly legitimate on its face, the scholar was asking Jesus in order to test him.</p><p>The test doesn’t seem to bother Jesus, who responds by quoting Mosaic Law, first Deuteronomy 6:5 and later from Leviticus 19:18. It’s quite likely that Jesus Himself was the first to combine these two commandments. For Him, and for His disciples, these two commandments are the foundation of the law and the prophets. It’s what we have when we boil the pot dry. It’s the bottom line.</p><p>When Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment, He quickly responds with the second half of the Shema, the great Jewish prayer that begins “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) In saying that the greatest commandment is to love God with your whole being, Jesus effectively answers the question posed to Him by the scholar of the law. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He adds a bonus answer, also saying what the second greatest commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” By pairing together these two commandments from the Old Testament, Jesus reveals how we live out the first by doing the second. To love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul can be difficult to quantify or see, but in our actions of caring for our neighbor, God’s beloved sons and daughters, we show our devotion to God.</p><p>When we love God and love our neighbor, we are fulfilling the law. All of the law, the entirety of the more than 600 particular laws (613 to be exact), are summed up in these two. For us today, we might think of something similar if one were to ask which is the most important teaching in the catechism, or which is the most important precept of the church. Maybe a comparable question might be whether it is more important to tend to a sick relative or attend Mass? The answer sidesteps all these questions by saying the most important law is twofold; love God and love your neighbor. With these as our guiding light, all else comes into focus.</p><p>Getting to the crux of the matter can be an important exercise. Pruning away extraneous detail to reveal the core issue is essential in many cases. For Christians, we recall that Jesus’ teachings were rooted in Mosaic Law and the prophets. Yet He emphasized or combined aspects of each that made them seem to come alive, or to be read and understood in a new way. All of our actions ought to flow from this twofold love. Loving God and loving neighbor go together, and they cannot be reduced one to the other or one over the other.</p><p>We cannot say we love God and remain indifferent to the plight of those whom God loves. Love God and love neighbor. These two are intertwined in such a way that we cannot do one without the other. If we truly love God, we will be compelled to ease suffering wherever we find it. And when we reach out in compassion to those in need, we are serving God, even if we do not know it.</p><p>Do Catholic piety and social Justice go together? That is a question some devout Catholics actually have. However, in light of today's readings it seems the answer is quite obvious. Catholic piety without social Justice is neither Catholic nor pious. Devotion in prayer and acts of worship without concrete works of mercy is simply abstract and empty ritualism. The greatest commandment which we hear today in the Gospel combines both; one without the other negates both.</p><p>Recall also, that Luke's version of the same Gospel passage includes the parable of the good Samaritan as Jesus’ response to the scholar’s question, “And who is my neighbor?” With the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus also makes us see that, many times, those who seem to be religious officials, or who believe they fulfill the law, are incapable of loving. It was a Samaritan, considered a heretic by the Jews, who took care of the man.</p><p>Jesus gives us a mission statement in today's Gospel for how we are to live our lives as Christians. If we truly want to follow Him, we must love God with our whole being and love our neighbors ourselves. With these two commandments Jesus tells us how to evaluate and discern between the minutiae that make up the everyday life. In all things we can ask, by doing this would I be loving God and loving my neighbor? Just as the old motto went, “What Would Jesus Do?” that I still wear as a bracelet, is very apropos here.</p><p>As with all mission statements, if we simply post it on a wall but don't act on it, it won't make any difference in our lives. The sentiments of these two commandments sound appealing, but what does this really look like when it is lived out. To love God with our whole mind heart and soul requires more than a fleeting thought every now and then. We are called to make God our top priority and to put time and effort into this relationship. We come to know God through the reading of His Word, meeting Him in the Sacraments and listening to and talking to Him in prayer.</p><p>The second part of the commandment has sometimes been read “love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” This interpretation requires that we first love ourselves before we can extend this love to others. While it is true that we can't pass on what we don't have, it does not get to the crux of Jesus’ meaning. We are called to love our neighbor asanother self. This requires us to recognize that when our neighbor is suffering, we are suffering, and if we hurt a neighbor we are hurting our very selves. Jesus has laid out for us the path of the discipleship; now it's up to us to put His words into practice.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>In today’s gospel Jesus reminds us that the greatest commandment for each of us is to love our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. We pray, that through prayer, good works and love of neighbor, we show our true love for our Heavenly Father. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for all who at this time feel isolated , abandoned and separated from their loved ones. We pray also that fractured relationships be healed, that families be reconciled and that those in need be the receivers of Christian charity and good neighborliness. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for all those rejected by our society, that our eyes may be opened and that we understand that they are children of God and made in his likeness. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for our parish, that it will be a place of welcome, where all will feel the warmth of God’s love and that this love be reflected in all our daily lives. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray that love of God and love of neighbor be the driving force of our community in combating the coronavirus pandemic. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That those who feel unwelcome, or at odds with their church’s teachings, that they be guided to our humble parish where we welcome and embrace all seeking Christ. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for wisdom as voters and for a safe and fair election. We ask that those who might try to unjustly and illegally change the outcome of the voting be removed. We pray for a huge turnout of voters who use wisdom in their decisions and to vote for the candidate that will best work for our country’s needs and will lessen political divisiveness and divisions. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>O God, you are worthy of all our praise and worship. Today we celebrate your love and our relationship with you through Jesus Christ. Thank you for expressing your love for us in so many ways. As we think of your love, we are reminded of your call to love those around us. Help us to discover that the more we give ourselves to you, the more we have left to give ourselves to others. Make us servants in your name.</p><p>Loving God, You surround us in a warm embrace, and in Your love teach us how to love others. In Your Spirit, we ask for guidance and remind us always of Your compassion for all humankind. Help us to keep our eyes and our lives focused on our perfect guide in Jesus Christ. Enable us to follow the teachings of Jesus above our own way and will. Help us, too, loving God, to work for growth in Your kingdom. Sometimes it is difficult to speak a word of hope and help to those in need. With the encouragement of Your Spirit, may we be faithful builders of your eternal kingdom. We ask all these things through Christ, our Lord. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – These turbulent times are economically difficult for many, and as such, non-profits see reductions of donations to keep ministries open. We ask, if you are able, to donate and help us keep our progressive voice active in our community. God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-7132258103289640762020-10-18T17:22:00.002-07:002020-10-18T17:22:14.587-07:00Sunday Sermon <p> October 18, 2020</p><p>The Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity</p><p>(Isaiah 45:1, 4-6; Matthew 22:15-21)</p><p>There is at least one word in the English language that has the power to elect politicians to high office, finance battleships, cause economic hardship, and get you to pull hair out of your head – if you have any hair to pull. One word. Wars have been fought over this word, nations established, and people sent to jail for not taking heed when this word was spoken. The word is taxes!</p><p>We have all heard the saying, that are only two things that we can be certain of in life, and they are death and taxes. As Christians, we know that Jesus conquered the first. But what of the second odious one we face? The Gospel seems to indicate that we are on our own and that Jesus expects us to pay. “Render therefore to Cesar the things that are Cesar’s,” says Jesus, “and to God the things that are God’s.” Had Matthew who wrote this Gospel and happened to have been a tax collector, been whispering in Jesus’ ear?</p><p>One might ask, just who started these taxes anyway? I suspect since nearly the beginning of human inhabitants on the planet, there has been some sort of taxation. Of course, they were not part of God’s order of things. Nowhere in Genesis do we read “and God levied taxes on Adam and Eve, and He saw that it was good.” Nor was Moses given a tablet of stone with the inscription, “Thou shalt pay taxes.” Taxes were levied and taxes were collected, but from the beginning they were a human invention for the necessity of human rulers, the building of temporal roads (with lots of potholes) and aqueducts, and the financing of battles of the flesh, not of the spirit. We never could seem to get along, and one wonders why our nation is in turmoil?! Anyway, back to the topic ….</p><p>Yet, God has always required a rightful share for the work of God’s dominion. The first fruits of every harvest were set aside by the early people of Israel for the Lord. (Does God even need to eat?? If He doesn’t, I would say that He is missing out on all these great fruits He created.) Even a temple tax was established and gathered by the priests for the maintenance of the religion. (I bet you thought that was just a modern invention by priests?) Is all this why Jesus seems to support taxes?</p><p>Maybe it has something to do with His birth. As God would have it, seemingly not coincidental, the Savior of the world was born where He was born because of a decree issued by Cesar Augustus “that all the world should be taxed (Luke 2:1).” If God wanted to be certain to enter the world clearly at its center, there could be no better time than at the taking of a census for the purposes of taxation. (Of course, our government posits that it is for proper representation, but I think it is taxes! After all, they must play golf!) Joseph went to be enrolled with Mary, and thus obedient subjects of Roman rule place the Christ child’s birth where God ordained and the prophets of old have promised: in Bethlehem.</p><p>Our Gospel lesson picks up where the enrollment left off, with a conversation some thirty years later that all three of the synoptic gospels record, suggesting just how significant it was. On the surface, we have a simple story. A plan devised by the Pharisees and Herodians would trap the popular rabbi from galilee. (The collaboration of the Pharisees and Herodians – representing opposite political views [something we wouldn’t know about in the modern age, would we??!!] – reveals the extreme measures taken to eliminate Jesus.) Should Jesus advise paying taxes, many Jews would consider Him a collaborator to the Roman powers. But, non-payment would be dangerous, since followers of Herod would accuse Him of sedition.</p><p>With a coin, Jesus appears to foil His enemies on both sides. Taxes are for Cesar, but those imprinted with God’s image are for God. In one master stroke, Jesus is saved from both pious accusation and political self-incrimination.</p><p>But, for those who would hear it, the Man for Others is not interested in a crafty escape from the hands of His foes. He is mindful rather of their escape from the snares of this world. As our Lord reveals again and again in His life and words, His is not a preoccupation with self but with the life of His listener. He is forever waiting and watchful for the moments of grace when He can restore us to our rightful relationship with our Creator.</p><p>The master teacher does this skillfully wherever He finds us, revealing the eternal life that is ours in the simple things of each day’s journey, be it birds in the air, wandering sheep, or kernels of grain. He lifts them up and reveals their secrets, for in them are hidden all the answers we seek. He points to rocky soil, a city on a hill, or a fisherman’s net and tells us who we are or what we can become. And today, He does it with the Roman forged coin of a day’s wage.</p><p>“Show me the money of the tax,” He says. “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” “Cesar’s” they reply. “Render therefore Cesar the things that are Cesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”</p><p>Our Lord isn’t telling us what we already know, that our taxes ought to be paid. He is not telling us that payment to God is due. He is revealing to us who we are, what we are, and what can be with a coin. This is what we work for. We have come to believe that this coin is the measure of our value, the symbol of our worth.</p><p>But the true measure of value has to do with the likeness and inscription borne on our bodies and souls. As Cesar cast the denarius in his image, God has cast each of us in God’s image. All people, not merely those of specific criteria. As Cesar sends out as wage and calls back in tax, God also sends out the bearers of God’s likeness to be the golden coinage of a heavenly realm. But God also calls us back, demanding for God’s own self the sum of our lives.</p><p>Jesus is gatherer of this tax, God’s collector of souls stamped with the Divine image and inscribed with God’s name. Come to me, He says. By your following, you will find your true self. In My words I will show you the way to the One who has made you. On My cross I will settle your debts. Lost coins are we all, and in Jesus has God invited us back to the eternal treasury.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>Jesus reminds us of our obligation to pay our fair share to ensure we have good government and that those less well off in our country are properly cared for. We pray that all in our society be honest and responsible in their affairs and fairly meet their obligations as citizens. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That we realize we aren’t “owners” of anything but merely “stewards” of the gifts God has given us. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray that we, as followers of Christ, recognize that we are missionaries and must promote His message with friends, family and neighbors through our words and actions. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That the church may find ways to both preach the word and serve our neighbor, especially during this time of separation and crisis. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For all who are on the frontlines of this COVID-19 pandemic, especially our health care workers and first responders, for all who are unable to stay at home, but must work to provide for their families, may God continue to protect them and keep them in good health. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Holy God, you are deserving of the very best we have to offer -- the devotion of our hearts, the place of honor in our priorities and the first fruits of our labors. We enter this place and space of worship, asking you to be in our midst, to speak your message of love and mercy, conviction and challenge to us. We welcome your Spirit, knowing that in so doing, we abandon control and open ourselves in faith and trust to your purposes and plan, rather than our own. Come, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, we pray and may our worship be acceptable in your sight. We ask all these things through Christ our Lord. Amen</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – These turbulent times are economically difficult for many, and as such, non-profits see reductions of donations to keep ministries open. We ask, if you are able, to donate and help us keep our progressive voice active in our community. God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-32845121096964419232020-10-11T13:19:00.001-07:002020-10-11T13:19:15.203-07:00Sunday Sermon <p> October 11, 2020</p><p>The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity</p><p>(Isaiah 25:6-10; Matthew 22:1-14)</p><p>Basically, in today's Gospel Jesus is retelling the parable of the vineyard but in the context of a wedding banquet. Why is He going over this again? Maybe He focus-grouped the vineyard parable and got some feedback about folks being put off by the concept of land ownership. Maybe Peter pulled Him aside and said, “Teacher, John's having a real hard time staying off the sauce. Can we maybe not talk so much about vineyards?” Or maybe we simply need to remember that He’s God and knows better than we do and we nick-pick readers should stop criticizing.</p><p>Have all those people who talk about Jesus being super-love-hippy-dippy-flower-power-buddy-Jesus ever read this parable? It's some really dark stuff. People get murdered in this one. Towns get destroyed. People are thrown out of parties. This isn't exactly Sunday school material.</p><p>The whole thing sounds a lot like Game of Thrones. And you just thought the parable of the vineyard was juicy?! This one has a feast, a king, a murder, burning whole towns, weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Just what is gnashing of teeth anyway?)</p><p>God-made the nation of Israel His chosen people, but they repeatedly rejected Him. Like the first folks invited to the wedding feast in the parable, the Israelites just couldn’t seem to be bothered with God's invitation. Maybe His mother needed to prod Him into making more wine.</p><p>We want to hear a nice story about God throwing the party open to everyone. We want to be ‘inclusive,’ to let everyone in. (Of course, I am using “inclusive” a little differently in this context, from that of how it is commonly used today.) We don't want to know about judgement on the wicked or about demanding standards of holiness or about weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some of us might have really enjoyed watching Game of Thrones, but we don’t seriously want that in reality. Doesn't the Bible say that God will wipe away every tear from every eye?</p><p>Yes, it does, but you have to see it in its proper setting to understand it. It doesn't mean that God will act like a soothing parent settling a child back to sleep after a nightmare. God wants us to be grown up, and part of being grown up is that we learn that actions have consequences, that moral choices matter, and that real human life isn't like a game of chess where even if we do badly the pieces get put back in the box at the end of the day and we can start again tomorrow. The great deep mystery of God's forgiveness isn't the same as saying that whatever we do isn't really important because it will all work out somehow.</p><p>The parable we hear today follows straight from a devastating story of the wicked tenant farmers from chapter 21 and rams the point home. Everyone would know what a story about a landowner with a vineyard was referring to. Equally everyone in Jesus' day would know the point of a story about a king throwing a party for his son. This story is about the coming of God's Kingdom and in particular the arrival of the Messiah. The people of Israel had been waiting for this for centuries.</p><p>Israel's leaders in Jesus' day, and the many people who followed them, were like guests invited to a wedding - God's wedding party, the party He was throwing for His Son. But they had refused. Galilee had refused, for the most part. Think back to Jesus’ sad warnings. Now Jerusalem was refusing the invitation is well. God is planning the great party for which they had waited so long. The Messiah was here, and they didn't want to know. They abused and killed the prophets who tried to tell them about it and the result was their city would be destroyed. (Think 70 A.D.)</p><p>But now for the good news - though it wasn't good news for the people who were originally invited. God was sending out new messengers to the ‘wrong’ parts of town to tell everyone and anyone to come to the party. (‘Wrong’ parts of town, at least as far as the Pharisees and scribes were concerned!) And they came in droves. We don't have to look far in Matthew's Gospel to see who they were. The tax collectors, the prostitutes, the riffraff, the nobodies, the blind, and the lame, the people who thought they've been forgotten. All the low-life type of people (at least according to self-proclaimed entitled people were concerned). They were thrilled that God's message was for them after all. Truly ‘inclusive’!</p><p>But there was a difference between this wide-open invitation and the message so many want to hear today. We want to hear that everyone is all right exactly as they are, that God loves us as we are, and doesn't want us to change. People often say this when they want to justify particular types of behavior, but the argument simply doesn't work. When the blind and lame came to Jesus, He didn't say, ‘You're all right as you are’. He healed them. They wouldn't have been satisfied with anything less. When the prostitutes and extortioners came to Jesus, he didn't say, ‘You’re all right as you are’. His love reached them where they were, but His love refused to let them stay as they were. Love wants the best for the beloved. Their lives were transformed, healed and changed.</p><p>Actually, nobody really believes that God wants everyoneto stay exactly as they are. God loves serial killers and child molesters; God loves ruthless and arrogant businessman; God loves manipulative mothers who damage their children's emotions for life. But the point of God's love is that He wants them to change. He hates what they are doing and the affect it has on everyone else and themselves, too. Ultimately, if He is a good God, He cannot allow this sort of behavior, and that sort of person, if they do not change, remain forever in the party He’s throwing for His Son.</p><p>That is the point of the end of this story, which is otherwise very puzzling. Of course, within the story itself it sounds quite arbitrary. Where did all these other guests get their wedding costumes from? If the servants just herded them in, how did they have time to change their clothes? Why should this one man be thrown out because he didn't have the right thing to wear? Isn't that just a sort of social exclusion that the Gospel rejects?</p><p>Yes, of course, at that level. But that's not how parables work. The point of the story is that Jesus is telling the truth, the truth that political and religious leaders often like to hide; the truth that God's Kingdom is a Kingdom in which love and Justice and truth and mercy and holiness reign unhindered. They are the clothes you need to wear for the wedding. And if you refuse to put them on, you are saying you don't want to stay at the party. That is the reality. If we don't have the courage to say so, we are deceiving ourselves, and everyone who listens.</p><p>So, the moral of the parable is simple. God loves everyone, even those we think He shouldn’t. He wants those who treat others poorly or in evil ways to stop and come to know His love. We are all invited to the banquet of His love, but we can’t live Game of Thrones style of living. We must live in the radical love of Jesus. Yes, we believe Jesus is a super-love-hippy-dippy-flower-power-buddy, but we can’t wear the clothes of rapists, murderers, arrogant businessmen, etc. We must wear clothes of mercy, compassion and love. Now Jesus, turn some water into wine already; we’re ready for the banquet! (Make mine root beer, please.)</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>We pray for the grace to be always worthy of the invitation of the kingdom of God and enjoy life everlasting at the table of his heavenly banquet. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for those who reject the Word of God, that the goodness and wonder of our Loving Father be revealed to them. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for ourselves, that with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we may discern what particular mission God is inviting us to, as baptized members of the People of God. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for the vulnerable in our society, particularly the sick and the elderly who continue to experience fear, loneliness and isolation during this pandemic crisis. We pray that they receive the care, support and encouragement which they need to protect their health at this difficult period. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We pray for all in our country, that they show consideration and care for themselves and for others and abide strictly by the guidelines which our governments and healthcare professionals recommend to defeat the very contagious Covid-19 virus at this time. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For a greater respect for human life. For children who are neglected or abused. For all people who confront prejudice or racism every day. For a deeper concern for those who are marginalized by society. For those who identify as LGBTQ that they may be accepted and treated the same as those who are not. For the aged and the terminally ill. May we appreciate the dignity and sacredness of every part of human life. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For an increase of vocations for our small denomination. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>God our Father, strengthen our awareness and commitment to the mission which we have inherited through your gift of Baptism. Merciful Savior, the parable of the wedding banquet reminds us of your ever-gracious invitation to be part of your family, to receive the gift of your salvation, to respond to your call to follow you.</p><p>We confess that far too often we act like ungrateful guests. We allow other priorities to crowd you out. Our addiction to busyness leaves us no time to celebrate with you. We erect other gods that require our attention and loyalty. In our vain attempts to look "successful" we polish the veneer of our lives without attending to our deepest needs and longings, including our need and longing for you. Sometimes we get caught in Game of Thrones type of lives; help us to know that You are always beckoning us and will always welcome regardless of what we have done, because You love all your children and are ready to forgive us and lead us on a brighter path. Forgive us, we pray, and restore us to health and wholeness. May we always wear the clothes for the banquet of love. We ask all these things, through Christ our Lord. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>++ The Most Rev. Robert Winzens</p><p>Pastor – St. Francis Chapel</p><p>San Diego, CA</p><p>We are beggars – These turbulent times are economically difficult for many, and as such, non-profits see reductions of donations to keep ministries open. We ask, if you are able, to donate and help us keep our progressive voice active in our community. God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2496755311539975627.post-47938840854367289172020-10-04T17:21:00.003-07:002020-10-04T17:21:55.260-07:00St. Francis Sunday<p> October 4, 2020</p><p>St. Francis Sunday</p><p>(St. Michael and All Angels)</p><p>(Revelation 12:7-12; John 1:47-51)</p><p>St. Francis of Assisi is a familiar saint for most Catholics today. How he lived his life is a worthy example to emulate. He was a radical in his time and this certainly holds appeal for the modern Catholic. It is important to remember that St. Francis’ life was one that is in radical conformity and in deep union with the sacrificial life of Christ. His life was a faithful imitation of Christ, particularly, the crucified Christ. So much so, was this, that St. Francis was marked with the stigmata of Christ that he might emulate Him completely.</p><p>How do we, as modern Catholics, follow his example of radical conformity? Christ was central in St. Francis’ life. So, too, must we make Christ central in our lives. We must put our priorities in order. The radical imitation of Christ in our daily lives should compel us to make Christ as the root or the basis of all our many decisions, big and small, every day and every moment, whether it is in our personal, public or professional lives.</p><p>Therein lies a problem - today’s society has spoiled most of us into a life of comfort, shying away from any form of pain, or selfless sacrifice. St. Francis shows us in very concrete ways how to overcome this: by embracing poverty, practicing humility, and obedience to Jesus. We must cultivate a sense of detachment from worldly possessions and attachments that push Christ out of the center of our lives.</p><p>Let me put forth some thought provoking questions – questions that would certainly be in line with Francis’ love for all of creation – in his imitation of what I frequently call the radical love of Jesus.</p><p>Do we spend too much time on the internet, social media or TV that we neglect daily prayer time with God? Are we too busy or lazy (YES, I said it!) to honor the (Christian) Sabbath and go to Mass on Sundays? Are we too busy to do corporal and spiritual acts of mercy? Are we too wimpy or self-absorbed to offer our trials and transform them to redemptive suffering by uniting these inconveniences and trials to Christ?</p><p>St. Francis’ intense and intimate union with Christ fired his missionary zeal to evangelize and save souls. He was willing to face persecution and martyrdom to share the Good News to those who have not heard or accepted God’s salvation. How willing are we to go out of our comfort zones to invite someone to attend Mass with us or share our Catholic faith? Does our lives attract or repel others to know Christ more intimately? Do we witness our Catholic faith to others with humility, love and joy as St. Francis did? How willing are we to proclaim and defend our form of the Catholic faith even if it means facing ridicule and accusations of bigotry? St. Francis received Christ’s stigmata which he bore to his dying day. Do we bear the mark of Christ with how we lead our lives and with the choices we make in every aspect of our lives, whether in private or in public? Do we have the courage of St. Francis in bearing the stigmata, the mark of Christ in our lives, in the face of pain and rejection? Are we willing and do we take a stand on social issues today – especially that of our progressive views that would seem to be out of line with our more conservative Christian brothers and sisters and support those whom they prefer to “convert” rather than accept as a fully human Christian?</p><p>St. Francis is known for his love of nature. He saw nature as God’s creation that reveals Divine glory and beauty. Do we make use of God’s creation as a means to glorify God? Do we respect nature as God’s gift to be used responsibly and for the good of others? Or do we waste or take for granted the resources we have? Do we treat our God given body as a temple of the Holy Spirit?</p><p>As we try to answer these challenging questions with humility and honesty, we realize how difficult, and yes, truly radical, the imitation of Christ is. But as St. Francis has shown us by his example, the imitation of Christ is a daily commitment that is possible only with God’s grace. All we need to do is open our hearts and invite Him to fill it with His Divine Grace, so we, too, like St. Francis, can share the Good News and renew Christ’s Church, one soul at a time.</p><p>Early writings about St. Francis tells of one of his closest companions, Brother Leo, who would get discouraged at times. Brother Leo asked Francis to write something for him that would lift up his spirits.</p><p>When Brother Leo died, a small parchment was found in his habit and is preserved to this day in Assisi. Francis wrote:</p><p>May the Lord bless you and keep you.</p><p>May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.</p><p>May the Lord show you his face and bring you peace.</p><p>The Lord bless you, Leo.</p><p>This blessing was so comforting to Leo because it reminded him of God’s presence in his life, and the peace that comes from that presence. This gift is for all of us, too.</p><p>Francis was known as the person who most patterned his life after that of Christ’s.</p><p>It was his joy to follow the poor and humble Christ. Francis was known to practice the virtue of poverty to a high degree, owning no property, living very simply, begging for his food, living among and caring for those who were ostracized from society. He treasured Holy Poverty and guarded it carefully because he wanted nothing to get in the way of the greatest possession of all – God.</p><p>Even though we are not called to follow his example to that extent, we, too, should never forget that God is and will always be our greatest possession.</p><p>Francis spent his life serving others after the example of Jesus, who said: “I have come to serve, not to be served.” He freely gave to those in need from whatever he had.</p><p>Every human life is a gift. Each of us is a gift. The world is a gift. ALL is a gift from the one primal source, God, the giver of all good gifts.</p><p>A way to honor his memory is to reach out to those in need with the gift of your time or treasure. To take on his spirit today is to see each individual you encounter as your brother or sister, with inherent dignity, created by God and deserving of your respect and loving concern.</p><p>Let us emulate St. Francis, the patron of our humble chapel, and show the radical love of Jesus as often as we can.</p><p>Before we move on to our responsorial prayers, let us recite together the Canticle of Creation which is attributed to St. Francis. (Copy is in your bulletin.)</p><p>Most High, all powerful, good Lord, Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour, and all blessing.</p><p>To You alone, Most High, do they belong, and no man is worthy to mention Your name.</p><p>Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him.</p><p>And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.</p><p>Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars, in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.</p><p>Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind, and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather through which You give sustenance to Your creatures.</p><p>Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water, which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.</p><p>Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom you light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.</p><p>Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth, who sustains us and governs us and who produces varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.</p><p>Praised be You, my Lord, through those who give pardon for Your love, and bear infirmity and tribulation.</p><p>Blessed are those who endure in peace for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.</p><p>Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death, from whom no living man can escape.</p><p>Woe to those who die in mortal sin. Blessed are those who will find Your most holy will, for the second death shall do them no harm.</p><p>Praise and bless my Lord, and give Him thanks and serve Him with great humility.</p><p>Let us pray.</p><p>For the church and for world leaders. May we produce a rich, fruitful harvest of justice, compassion, mercy and forgiveness in the vineyard of this world. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For all who have suffered rejection or violence. For those who have been hurt in any way by this pandemic and all who are depressed, suicidal or addicted. Heal our wounds; give us hope and courage. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For a deeper spirit of gratitude for God’s many gifts. May we recognize in each other all that is truthful, just, honorable, pure, gracious and lovely. May we be people of peace. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Instill in all people a greater respect for human life from the womb to the tomb. For an end to late term unnecessary abortion, the death penalty and all types of hatred and systemic prejudice. May we learn how to care more deeply for all human life, hear the cries of the poor, the homeless and the starving. Welcome immigrant families and children, and allow and listen to the protests of those treated unjustly. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>That we may emulate the example of St. Francis and care for all of God’s creation and greater tolerance of those different from us. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For our government leaders who have become ill with Covid-19, that they recover promptly and have a new respect for dealing this horrible disease. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.</p><p>We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.</p><p>Amazing God of the universe, As St. Francis learned and Your Angels know, You have called us from different walks of life. From our diverse backgrounds, You have weaved us into a family of faith and discipleship. We pray that even as You have accepted us as we are, we can learn even more how to accept and love others whose ways are different from our own.</p><p>As we open our hearts to You, show us the way to open our hearts to others. We pray, O God, that You would even challenge us to love all humankind — those we do not like and especially our “enemies.” In Your presence here, O God, may we worship together without exclusion and rejoice together always.</p><p>During this trying and challenging time, we ask that You be ever present with each of us and guide us with Your spirit, so that we do not lose hope. As we meander through life, give us direction and purpose. We ask all these things, through Christ our Lord. Amen.</p><p>God Love You +++</p><p>We are beggars – These turbulent times are economically difficult for many, and as such, non-profits see reductions of donations to keep ministries open. We ask, if you are able, to donate and help us keep our progressive voice active in our community. God Bless You +++</p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0