Should I Stay Or Leave?

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 26, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Jos 24:1-2A, 15-17, 18B / Ps 34 / Eph 5:21-32 / Jn 6:60-69
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Every day of our lives we make decisions. It could be as simple as deciding whether to eat a bagel or a muffin for breakfast, to drink tea or coffee. But some decision-making is more complicated than others. Those decisions may even cause you a sleepless night, like for instance, deciding whether to accept a job offer which would require you to move to another state or perhaps even another country, but with a promise of higher pay and a greater chance of promotion. Or you may just continue doing the same job you currently have where you experience the comfort and joy of being surrounded always by longtime friends. Perhaps you are trying to decide where you will be spending the rest of your retirement years. (more…)

Christ: Our Hope

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 5, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Ex 16:2-4, 12-15 / Ps 78 / Eph 4:17, 20-24 / Jn 6:24-35
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

When I went home to the Philippines for my yearly visit, I was pleased to learn that there are now two priests in our town’s parish church. This meant that my help would not be needed as it usually was during my vacation, and I could just attend Mass and spend more time with my Mom. But then, Fr. Romy, the Parochial Vicar, told me that the Pastor was away, so they still need me. And so I did help out. (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…)

What Is Unseen Is Eternal

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 10, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Gn 3:9-15 / Ps 130 / 2 Cor 4:13-5:1 / Mt 3:20-35
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

When we gather together here in Holy Name of Mary, we know that we are not in the company of strangers. We pray with the rest of our brothers and sisters who are also members of the mystical body of Christ, the Church, of which we are all a part.

In the gospel that we have just heard, Jesus, while looking at the people around Him, said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” As we celebrate together this holy sacrifice of the Mass, the Lord is giving us an assurance of these same words, for we are all members of His family. (more…)

Our Shepherd Is the King of Love

Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 22, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Acts 4:8-12 / Ps 118 / 1 Jn 3:1-2 / Jn 10:11-18
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Not too long along, when I was celebrating Mass at one of my former parishes in the Tidewater area, a church with about eight thousand members, we all heard a child crying in the church’s nursery. It is a huge church, so there is a nursery during the Mass. Now almost immediately one of the mothers in the congregation got up to see her child. In less than a minute, the crying stopped. (more…)

Hope for the Living Dead

Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2018 – Year A Readings
Readings: Ez 37:12-14 / Ps 130 / Rom 8:8-11 / Jn 11:1-45
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

The Spring 2018 issue of Discover Smith Mountain Lake magazine has an article titled “Taking the Sting Out of Death.” (The article is posted on the parish bulletin board, and the magazine is available for free at the Bedford Welcome Center.) It is good reading during the season of Lent.

The writer, Kate Hofstetter, interviewed two men of God, as she put it, about their experience ministering to the dying. Both of these clergy said that a strong faith in God and the spiritual support of their loved ones takes the sting out of death for those who are about to be born into life eternal. (more…)

Power, Authority, and Faith

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 28, 2018 – Year B
Readings: Dt 18:15-20 / Ps 95 / 1 Cor 7:32-35 / Mk 1:21-28
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Since the first of January, a group of fifteen men here at Holy Name, including me and Deacon Eddie, embarked on a spiritual journey called Exodus 90. There are also nineteen women in our parish who are doing Nineveh 90. These two groups are doing the same type of spiritual exercises.

Here are a few of the things we do for ninety days that might be of interest to some of you. In addition to weekly prayer meetings, we also do daily meditation, spending at least an hour a day on personal prayer, and fast twice a week. (more…)

Promise and Fulfillment

Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 24, 2017 – Year B
Readings: 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8B-12, 14A, 16 / Ps 89 / Rom 16:25-27 / Lk 1:26-38
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Thirty-two years ago, when I was preparing for my ordination to the priesthood, my bishop in the Philippines assigned me to a church with a very wise pastor who was asked to mentor newly ordained priests. His name was Father Douglas. He was named by his parents after General Douglas MacArthur who, even today, remains quite popular in the Philippines. When MacArthur left the country during the Japanese occupation of World War II, he promised to return. He did indeed return, and liberated the more than seven thousand islands of the Philippines from the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. That was certainly a promise well kept. (more…)

Watching, Reflection, and Hope

First Sunday of Advent
December 3, 2017 – Year B
Readings: Is 63:16B-17, 19B; 64:2-7 / Ps 80 / 1 Cor 1:3-9 / Mk 13:33-37
by Rev. Dan Kelly, Guest Celebrant

It’s the First Sunday of Advent, and this year we begin a new set of readings. As you know, this is the so-called “B” cycle. All last year we were reading from the other set of readings, the “A” cycle.

Here we have advice from the Lord in the very brief gospel reading. “Be watchful, because you do not know the day.” It sounds rather ominous and like bad things are going to happen. On the other hand, it is more than a warning; it is an open, generous, and warm counsel that our Lord gives us. (more…)

Safely Home

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 3, 2017 – Year A
Readings: Jer 20:7-9 / Ps 63 / Rom 12:1-2 / Mt 16:21-27
by Rev. Salvador Añonuevo, Pastor

Last Monday, as flood waters were rising in northeast Houston, three brothers and two of their friends set off in a small boat to rescue anyone they could find. In their two trips, they brought two families to safety, but on their third rescue trip, they didn’t make it. Two of them, Yahir Vizueth and Jorge Perez, died in the process of helping save lives. (more…)