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Fifth Sunday of Easter

Saturday April 27th, 2013
27 Apr 2013

Readings: Acts 14:21-27; Psalms 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:31-33, 34-35;

During the seven weeks long Easter season we have the time to reflect on those lessons Christ taught us in his passion and resurrection. Plants have to spend time outside to gradually absorb the sunlight and transform it into nutrients. Just so, our souls have to spend time basking in the light of Christ’s revelation, so that we can absorb the grace God wants to give us.
Today especially, we are reminded of the New Commandment that Christ gave us the day before he suffered. We are brought back to that Last Supper, when Jesus was gathered with his closest companions and opened his heart to them. It was the night when his heart overflowed with love as it never had before. It was the night when he revealed the secret identity of every Christian, the distinguishing mark: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples,” he said, “if you have love for one another.” And not just any kind of love, but Christ-like love: “I give you a new commandment… As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”
Being a Christian is much more than being a member of a club. Being a Christian means having an urgent, important mission in life. It means being another Christ in the world. Jesus gave his very life in order to fulfill his Father’s will and win salvation for sinners. Each one of us is called to reproduce in the unique circumstances of our lives that exact same pattern: dedicating our lives to discovering and fulfilling God’s will, and striving to help as many people as possible know, love, and follow Christ.
Today, the Church invites us to ask ourselves if we have really decided to follow Christ’s New Commandment. Sometimes we think this New Commandment is only for people who are already saints. It isn’t. It’s the path to sanctity. Sometimes we think this commandment is too difficult to be realistic. But if it were, Christ would not have issued it.
Today, let’s choose Christ; let’s make the decision, once and for all.

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Majales 3

Sunday April 21st, 2013
21 Apr 2013

Majáles 2013 je tu. Na programe je stavanie Mája, tombola, vystúpenie Stonožky, slovenské koláče, večera, občerstvenie a samozrejme zábava.
Vstupné len $10. Študenti a penzisti len $5. Deti zdarma.

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

Sunday April 21st, 2013
21 Apr 2013

Good Shepherd Sunday and “World Day of Prayer for Vocations.”

Acts 13:14,43-52; Psalms 100:1-2,3,5; Revelation 7:9,14-17; John 10:27-30

The sheep that belong to Me listen to My voice; I know them and they follow Me

(John 10:27).
Today’s first reading describes how Paul and Barnabas opted to listen to the voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd and follow him, and how, like their Master, they were rebuffed and rejected when they tried to share the good news of salvation. It also suggests that the sympathy of the early Christians for the Gentiles caused a rupture with Judaism. The second tells us where Jesus, shepherd and sacrificial lamb, leads his flock. We shall find there all the answers to all the puzzles of life.

The Gospel reading from John encourages us to listen to the voice of the Shepherd. A shepherd is one who leads his flock safely to pasture and fresh water. Jesus is the only true shepherd. His way, and what he teaches, is to lay down his life out of love. This is the theme we are called to reflect on every Sunday during Paschal time. His sheep are those who listen to his voice and have the courage to follow in his footsteps. This is the message of the gospel.
The Fourth Sunday of Easter marks the 50th World Day of Prayer for Vocations instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1964. We are especially encouraged to pray for vocations to religious, missionary and priestly vocation.

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Third Sunday of Easter

Friday April 12th, 2013
12 Apr 2013

Readings: Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 or 21:1-14 (48)

Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Do you love me . . . ?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’

Why did Jesus ask Peter the same question three times? I think he wanted Peter to understand — and he wanted you and me to understand — that it isn’t enough just to say, “I love you.” We must show our love for Jesus by showing our love for one another and caring for one another. Do you love Jesus?

Jesus was not trying to make Saint Peter squirm when after his Resurrection he asked his apostle three times, “Do you love me?” It was less an undoing of Peter’s denial and more a response to Peter’s own need to say the words and to hear himself say what he believed.

In the musical Fiddler on the Roof Tevye asks his wife, “Golda, do you love me?” She answers with a litany of all the chores she does for him and the family, but Tevye keeps asking until she finally admits, “I suppose I do,” and with both of these replies Tevye is satisfied. Words and deeds of love—both are essential. Examine your own words and deeds—do they measure up? Do you really love me?

Dear Jesus, help us to show our love for you by loving and caring for one another.

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2 Veľkonočná Nedeľa – Nedeľa Božieho milosrdenstva

Sunday April 7th, 2013
07 Apr 2013

Readings: Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31 (45)

Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the one who lives.

If you had to describe the Church to a non-believer, how would you do it? That’s not an easy question to answer. Sometimes, what is most familiar to us is hardest to define. Today, however, the Sunday dedicated to honoring God’s mercy, we are presented with a beautiful portrait that brings out the Church’s most essential characteristic: the Church is the extension throughout all time and space of Christ’s very own presence.

The Book of Acts shows how the infant Church did exactly what Christ did; it paints a portrait of the Church that is an exact replica of the Gospels’ portrait of Christ. All the Christians would gather under the marble columns of Solomon’s portico, inside the Temple’s courtyard in Jerusalem. That same portico, the Gospels tell us, was Jesus’ favorite preaching spot. Huge crowds brought the sick and possessed to the Apostles, who cured them by miracles – exactly what had happened to Christ during his public ministry. The Book of Acts goes on to describe how great numbers were added to the circle of believers – here we see the beginning of the expansion of the Church, the extension of this presence and action of Christ that will eventually reach the entire world.

The same point is made more symbolically by the Second Reading. There St John tells us that he saw seven golden lamp stands, and Christ, the Son of Man, was walking among them. In the Bible, the number seven means fullness, completeness. The lamp stands represent the numerous Christian communities throughout the world that together make up Christ’s one Church. The Church shines brightly in the world, like a lamp, with the light of Christ’s truth and precious gold of his mercy.  And where does Christ fit into this picture? He is “in the midst of the lamp stands“. Christ dwells in his Church. Wherever the Church reaches, it brings the presence of Christ.

The Gospel passage removes any doubts that may be lingering after the first two Readings: Jesus tells his Apostles: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” In other words, you – the pillars of my Church – are to be my presence in the world. This is the Church: the extension of Christ’s presence throughout the earth.

Christ was God’s redemptive, boundless mercy made visible; the Church has now taken up that baton, and will be God’s mercy continually made visible unto the ends of the earth till the end of time.

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