God Never Gives Up

The Nativity of the Lord – Christmas
December 25, 2018 – Year C
Readings: Is 9:1-6 / Lk 2:11, Ps 96 / Ti 2:11-14 / Lk 2:1-14
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

On December 6, a young mother from Orlando was taking her eleven-month old daughter to one of the children’s hospitals in Philadelphia. As was standard practice, the airlines allow families with babies to board first, that is unless you are in first class. First class always boards before business or economy class.

The mother was at the back of the plane trying to arrange her carry-on bags, along with the oxygen her daughter had to have at all times. She wasn’t even finished arranging her things, when the stewardess told her that there was a man in first class who wanted to give her his seat. He would then take her seat. The stewardess told her that there was more room for her things in first class. The mother was more than happy; she was in tears. (more…)

Discerning Your Role

Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 23, 2018 – Year C
Readings: Mi 5:1-4A / Ps 80 / Heb 10:5-10 / Lk 1:39-45
by Rev. Mr. Eddie Craig, Permanent Deacon

If you go to daily Mass, and you were at daily Mass on Friday, you should be experiencing a little deja vu. The gospel today is exactly the same as the gospel we had on Friday, and Bishop Barron had a wonderful reflection on it. No, I’m not just going to read you his reflection, but it got me thinking, and sent me down a different path than I was planning to go. I will share with you a little bit of his reflection.

Bishop Barron writes, “I’ve always been fascinated by Mary’s haste in this story of the Visitation. Why does she go with such speed and purpose? Because she found her mission; her role in the Theo-drama.” (more…)

Moral Scope Creep

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 30, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Nm 11:25-29 / Ps 19 / Jas 5:1-6 / Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
by Rev. Mr. Eddie Craig, Permanent Deacon

Many of you know that I actually earn my living as a mechanical engineer; that’s my nine-to-five job. You may not know that the way I exercise my engineering degree is as a machine designer. I build custom machines. Customers come to the company I work for with a problem; we put together a solution; they give us a purchase order; and then we build a machine to solve their problem.

But invariably, during that design process, we’ll stumble across something that really wasn’t included in the quote. Maybe it’s some little problem that we didn’t foresee when we were preparing the quote, or maybe it was something that the customer didn’t convey fully to us. Quite often, these are just small things, maybe a fifty-dollar sensor and a five-dollar bracket takes care of the problem, and we just do it. (more…)

Showing Our True Colors

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 23, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Wis 2:12, 17-20 / Ps 54 / Jas 3:16-4:3 / Mk 9:30-37
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

At 9:54 last night, we officially began the season of Fall. In just a few days we will begin seeing the beauty of God’s creation here and in the glorious mountain area. The different colors of leaves will remind us that our God is indeed almighty.

We know that leaves don’t change colors during autumn. Because of the change in temperature, the lack of sunshine, and other environmental factors, the leaves are no longer able to produce chlorophyll, which gives them their green color. Because of this seeming deficiency, the leaves will be showing their true colors, as the Lord God created them to be, and they are beautiful. (more…)

You Will Know Him

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 16, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Is 50:5-9A / Ps 116 / Jas 2:14-18 / Mk 8:27-35
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

The song, “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” which was first released in the early seventies, has sold millions of records and CDs worldwide and been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times on iTunes and Google Play. Even Carrie Underwood sang this song when she joined America’s Got Talent.

But scripture scholars would attest that the Lord Jesus would never have said or implied the words of the refrain: “If you don’t know me by now, then you will never, never know me.” (more…)

You Have a Great Capacity to Love

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 29, 2018 – Year B
Readings: 2 Kgs 4:42-44 / Ps 145 / Eph 4:1-6 / Jn 6:1-15
by Rev. Paul O’Donnell Duggan, Guest Celebrant

It’s hard to believe that it was almost sixty years ago. I was working in London then, and, in the premiere of probably one of the most famous musicals ever, appeared a very young Julie Andrews and a very young Christopher Plummer. The musical was Sound of Music.

I guess if you ask twenty people, you might get twenty different favorite songs. I love all the songs. In this beautiful time of year, hopefully a restful, peaceful time for most, it’s a time I look to nature. Coming up on Friday on Route 220N, coming up through the mountains, the forests, I wish I could have stopped the car and just absorbed the beauty of God’s creation. My favorite song is Climb Every Mountain. Usually the Mother Superior sings that song, and I’ve never heard it sung badly. (more…)

Go, You Are Sent

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 22, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Jer 23:1-6 / Ps 23 / Eph 2:13-18 / Mk 6:30-34
by Rev. Dan Kelly, Guest Celebrant

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah the prophet is addressing two groups of people. First, he’s addressing the leaders of Israel, who have abandoned their people and sought their own way, avoiding God’s commandments. The people, as a result, were also forgetting what God’s commandments were. Jeremiah is also addressing the people themselves, who have been led to follow foreign and non-believing peoples from other nations.

We’ve heard that story before in the scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, when God promised and sent someone to renew His people. God promised, through Jeremiah, that He would raise up new leaders for the Jewish people, who would bring them back to their faith. That is the first connection with the gospel: leadership. (more…)

Lessons in Discipleship

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 15, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Am 7:12-15 / Ps 85 / Eph 1:3-14 / Mk 6:7-13
by Rev. Dan Kelly, Guest Celebrant

About seven hundred years before the coming of Our Lord, the kingdom of Israel was divided into two nations: Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Amos was ordered by God to go to Israel, to prophesy there, to tell the people how to change. What was going wrong in Israel was that Israel had won a great battle against its enemies. They were quite content, feeling pretty good. The economy was really going up; they had many extra workers coming in from other places to work. So things were looking pretty good, and they were beginning to relax their own personal moral life. They were even forgetting God, just going through the motions, as it were. (more…)

Shedding Light

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
June 24, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Is 49:1-6 / Ps 139 / Acts 13:22-26 / Lk 1:57-66, 80
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Yesterday, as I was greeting the people who attended the Mass at our sister parish, Resurrection, a young man whom I was meeting for the first time there was trying to communicate with me through sign language. Apparently he was unable to speak. I tried to understand him, but I could not figure out what he was trying to say. From the look on his face, I would say he was as frustrated as I was. In desperation, he just shook my hand and waved to me on his way out, the only message I understood. (more…)

Planting the Seed

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 17, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Ez 17:22-24 / Ps 92 / 2 Cor 5:6-10 / Mk 4:26-34
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Not too long ago, I visited a former parishioner in a rehabilitation center/nursing home in Virginia Beach. On my way to his room, his youngest son met me in the hallway to thank me personally for the spiritual support I’ve given his dad and for being a personal friend of the family. I’ve met the son a few times in the past and have often congratulated his parents for raising a very fine Catholic gentleman. This young man is not only a very successful architect in Boston, but he and his whole family are all very active in Church ministry. (more…)