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Parish of the Month: St. Claire's Church, Roseville, CA (March 2015)

Today, I was at St. Claire's in Roseville for a Deacon Continuing Education Day.

There were about 75-100 deacons with many of them with their wives.  I told one of the deacon wives who interviewed me almost 6 years ago how things were going, and she said that I was doing too much for the parish.  I told her that I would pass on her comment to my wife.  Perhaps I will blog about her one day.  A wife of a deacon is the deacon's first bishop.  And even though the topic for the day was ecumenism, her lesson for that brief few minutes I spent with her was the best lesson all day!

But the main reason why I wanted to blog this day was because, right above the altar, there was a picture of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary.  I wasn't sure of the significance since St. Claire is typically not associated with the Hearts of Our Lord and Our Lady.  In any event, the designers of this parish church designed the Hearts into the sacred art.  So I wanted to highlight this parish here.

Here's the photo:





The other notable aspect of the parish is that the handicap parking outside also included pregnant mothers.  I thought this was very welcoming of life. 

The sign stated, "Courtesy Parking for Seniors or Expectant Mothers."

Great sign!  I hope some silly high school senior doesn't end up parking there.

Concerning the first picture here, I am impelled to highlight parishes that feature the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  My own home parish has a (removable) picture of the Immaculate Heart.  Perhaps I can do something like "Parish of the Month" or "Parish of the Week" whenever I encounter a parish with Mary's Immaculate Heart.

Her Heart, after all, is very, very biblical.

* * *

 



Actually, with this post, I am instituting a "Parish of the Month" recognition system.  Let's see if this catches on this blog.  :)

Congratulations, parishioners of St. Claire's in Roseville, California.  For your beautiful portrayal of the Twin Hearts of Jesus and Mary above the holy sanctuary, your parish is hereby awarded (the first of hopefully many awards for) the "Parish of the Month Award" for March 2015. 

Congratulations!

Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb (Outside Mass)



[Credit for all photos/videos on this blog page: Arman Jorelle Nati]



Homily #25

 
Vallejo, California, USA

 March 9, 2015

 

 

 Prayer of Blessing (for the child in the womb)
 

 

God, author of all life,

bless, we pray, this unborn child;

give constant protection

and grant a healthy birth

that is the sign of our rebirth one day

into the eternal rejoicing of heaven (RBCW 19).

 



  

 

 Prayer of Blessing (for the mother)

  

 

Lord, who have brought to this woman

the wondrous joy of motherhood,

grant her comfort in all anxiety

and make her determined

to lead her child along the ways of salvation (RBCW 19).

 



 Prayer of Blessing (for the father)

Lord of the ages,

who have singled out this man

to know the grace and pride of fatherhood,

grant him courage in this new responsibility,

and make him an example of justice and truth for this child (RBCW 19).



 Prayer of Blessing (for the family)

 

Lord, endow this family

with sincere and enduring love

as they prepare to welcome this child into their midst (RBCW 19).

 

 

 

 

RCIA: Apostles' Creed is Like "I Love You"

Homily #24


RCIA Retreat
San Damiano Retreat Chapel
Danville, CA

Second Friday of Lent
March 6, 2015
8pm


Elect: Shelly
Candidate: Grace

With about an hour to prepare for a homily, this is how my notes looked like:

 

 





State of the Blog (By Country)

In the first 8 months of operation, I have averaged 215 page views per month from these top ten countries:



Pageviews by Countries

 

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Light of the Transfiguration

10am Mass (Version #1 - slower)

 

8am Mass (Version #2 - faster)

 

 

So, in summary, let us remember:

1.)  The Transfiguration is a foretaste of victory.  (We are not fighting for victory, but we are fighting from victory.  The battle has already been won.)

2.)  The Transfiguration encourages in the face of suffering and death.

3.)  The Transfiguration helps us to get back up when we have fallen into sin.

4.)  The Transfiguration can be celebrated by going to Confession and praying the luminous mysteries of the rosary, especially during Lent.

 

* * *

HOMILY #23: The Light of the Transfiguration

Second Sunday of Lent

March 1, 2015

8am & 10am Masses

(Total assembly: 1,500 parishioners from 2 Masses)

 

Over the past few days, I was involved with giving my first funeral homily and vigil homily for one of my godmothers.  She died on Ash Wednesday.  At the hour of her death, the local parish priest was actually present at her house.  This was indeed a great blessing because the priest said that he had about 10,000 parishioners and visitors come and go at his parish all day for the Ash Wednesday liturgies.  After giving her what would be become her final Sacraments, he then started to impose ashes on her forehead.  And after she had ashes imposed on her forehead, she passed away quietly and peacefully. 

 

 

 In a somewhat similar story, at the final moments of my baptismal godmother’s passing from this life, I was told that my godmother in her suffering had even moments of panic facing death; however, she eventually had her eyes fixed on a picture of the Divine Mercy of Jesus which greatly consoled her while looking at that picture.  Her last words were, “God, I trust You” before passing away peacefully.
 

 These are dramatic examples of not just any deaths, but they are Christian deaths.  Even with the fear they may have experienced, their faith in Jesus, their receiving the last Sacraments, and their use of sacramental pictures strengthened them by giving them a foretaste of the glory of the next life in their final moments on earth. 
 

 And here is the first major point of what is called the Transfiguration in today’s Gospel: The Transfiguration is a glimpse of glory and a foretaste of victory while on the way to the Cross.  (Repeat: The Transfiguration is a glimpse of glory and a foretaste of victory while on the way to the Cross.)  Jesus’ face and clothes become dazzling with a great light.  The Transfiguration is a mystery of light or a luminous mystery.  How many of us who have a difficult, unpleasant task to do are strengthened even if just a little bit when we call to mind a quick thought of the joy of completing that unpleasant task?  In a somewhat similar way, Jesus in His Transfiguration discloses, reveals and gives us a foretaste, a brief snap shot, a type of teaser, of his victorious Resurrection and glorious Second Coming (when he will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body) (cf. CCC 556).  The Gospel today ends with the line that the Apostles questioned among themselves what rising from the dead meant, so Jesus gradually reveals the glory of his resurrection in the face of his bloody crucifixion and death.
 

 The second major point is this: Knowing that he will eventually face his death in Jerusalem, and knowing that his Twelve Apostles would be severely tried by his crucifixion, Jesus in His Transfiguration strengthens and encourages those who know they must endure suffering and the scandal of his death.  Peter, James and John were witnesses to the Transfiguration.  In Byzantine Catholic liturgy, the priest prays, [read slowly] “You were transfigured on the mountain, and your disciples, as much as they were capable of it, beheld your glory, O Christ our God, so that when they should see you crucified they would understand that your Passion was voluntary, and proclaim to the world that you truly are the splendor of the Father.”  The scandal of the Cross that the chosen witnesses Peter, James, and John would undergo would be removed from their hearts.  We, like them, may be going through something drastic right now – whether our health, our jobs or finances, our loved ones, or something else that is worrying us – and in these moments that scare us to death, go up briefly with Jesus on the mountain.  Do this especially at Mass.  Yet, even if we want to stay on the glory of the mountain like Peter who wanted to pitch a tent, we must eventually, at some point, come down from the glory of the mountain and endure the Cross.  But we do so with some encouragement from Jesus.
 

According to Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German mystic nun who bore the stigmata – the wounds of Our Lord – and had visions of the Passion of Christ, stated that Peter, James and John were three chosen witnesses because they who experienced the glory of the Transfiguration would later experience the disfiguration of the Son of Man in the Garden of Gethsemane.  They would be not in a cloud of glory but rather in a cloud of desolation and agony.  Jesus’s disfiguration in the Garden would have scandalized the Twelve Apostles, and later it would be Peter’s, James’s, and John’s role to in turn strengthen the others after seeing the Transfiguration.  Perhaps this is why Jesus told them to keep what they saw to themselves until later.

 

And here is the third major point on the Transfiguration.  For us today who are in the second week of the 40 days of the Lenten discipline, for us who may have fallen from our Lenten resolutions, or for us who have relapsed into old habits of sin, today – today – is a good day to get back up and to not get discouraged if or when we have failed in our efforts in prayer, fasting, and the works of love.  Following Jesus is not just about the glory of the Resurrection but it is also about picking up our Crosses after falling.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to suffer for Him and with Him.  And to die for Him and with Him at the end of our lives.  “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones,” as we sang from the Psalms today.  We see this today in Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia where Christians are being killed for their faith by ISIS.  [At 10am Mass, I departed from the prepared homily text and spoke of the Catholic Church as a champion of human rights, of the poor, the oppressed, the voiceless.]  There is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus (and during Lent, the devil will intensify his efforts against us.  Just like Jesus in the desert, Satan will try to chip away at our relationship with Jesus.  He will tempt us to compromise with our Lenten resolutions and even leave Jesus or leave the Church.  But know that this is not from God).

 

[For 10am Mass: In a particular way, I turn to our catechumen preparing to become Catholic (and to our candidate preparing for Confirmation).  During the season of Lent, the devil will increase his activity and hatred against you.  If you’ve had thoughts of not undertaking this life-long commitment you are making to live a full Catholic life, know that that is not from God.  Before the glory of Easter, we must experience the trials of Lent.  Be faithful, as Abraham was faithful in his testing, as we saw in today’s First Reading.  Let the words of the Lord to Abraham console you, “I swear by myself…that because you acted as you did….I will bless you abundantly”.  If we have taught you about the Cross, and how to carry it with all its heaviness in love, then we have taught you well the wisdom of the Cross.  As we prayed in the Responsorial Psalm, “I believed, even when I said, I am greatly afflicted.”]
 

Finally, there are two ways to live out the message of the Transfiguration and the Cross during Lent.  One really excellent way we can experience the glory of the Transfiguration is to go to Confession at least once during Lent.  In this Sacrament of Reconciliation, we experience the transforming love and mercy of the Father who, like Abraham, did not spare his own Son, as we heard proclaimed in Paul’s Letter to the Romans in the Second Reading.  Remember, we don’t just offend God with sin, but we offend our neighbor; so, too, we are reconciled to not just God, but reconciled with our neighbor and to the Church.  It was His voice that said, "This is my Beloved Son.  Listen to him."

 

 

Another Lenten exercise is to pray the Transfiguration in the rosary, especially on Thursdays.  The Transfiguration is the 4^th Mystery of Light or the 4^th Luminous Mystery.  The Mysteries of Light or the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary are, first, the Baptism of Jesus; second, the Miracle at Cana; third, the Announcement of the Kingdom; fourth, the Transfiguration; and the fifth luminous mystery is the Institution of the Eucharist.  (Repeat if time allows.)

So, in summary, let us remember:

1.)  The Transfiguration is a foretaste of victory.  (We are not fighting for victory, but we are fighting from victory.  The battle has already been won.)

2.)  The Transfiguration encourages us in the face of suffering and death.

3.)  The Transfiguration helps us to get back up when we have fallen into sin.

4.)  The Transfiguration can be celebrated by going to Confession and praying the luminous mysteries of the rosary, especially during Lent. 

Like my godmother who breathed her last after ashes were imposed on her forehead and my other godmother who had the name of God on her dying breath, let us too at the end of our lives share the victory united to our Beloved Jesus and, not just at the end of this Lenten journey but even at the end of our very lives on earth, faithfully carry our Cross to the glory and victory of the Resurrection in the life of the world to come.  Amen.

Credit: www.catholicmannight.com