Mission Appeals at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Brodheadsville, Harrisburg Diocese in Pennsylvannia

Last weekend, May 25th - May 26th, I was in Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Brodheadsville, Harrisburg Diocese, Pennsylvania. The warm reception by the Pastor, Fr. Michael and the Associate, Fr. Sean tells something already about the Parish. It is a Parish of happy people. I pray for these two priests and their parishioners, thanking God for their generosity and their hospitality.

It was Trinity Sunday, when we celebrate the Solemnity of the Godhead-Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three distinct persons, equal in majesty, and are all One God. I was trying to explain it to the understanding of a child; someone can be your mother, and that same person is a teacher, and that same person is also a pilote. Though not distinct persons, it explains the fact that the mother, the teacher and the pilote are all one person; call that person Mary: Mother, teacher, pilote = Mary.

Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Brodheadsville, Harrisburg Diocese in Pennsylvannia (Pray for us)

People are seeking the Lord and finding him by donating to the help of the neediest children in other parts of the world. Someone unknown to the children and to us is helping them  to go to school. Please, join us and help at least one child to go to school, help a village to get water, help a village to get a hospital, help a village to get a church. Thank you all.





Mr/Mrs Neva Mattheiss of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Baltimore.

When I celebrated the tenth anniversary of  my priestly ordination on April 19th 2011 in the Church of the Immaculate heart of Mary, two people were particularly touched by my story, Maura Ford, and Mr/Mrs Neva Mattheiss. Maura was an altar girl, and she pledged to give her own help for Kumbo kids which she substantially did. Mr/Mrs. Neva Mattheiss did not only help, but have continued to be of help till now. On Tuesday April 23, 2013, I received a substantial donation from them. 

 

 I therefore extend the best wishes of those children whose lives have changed to Maura and Mr/Mrs Neva Mattheiss. The children have promised their relentless effort to pray for you and to study harder so that at the end, they too will be of help to others.

 

I equally acknowledge the regular support from Mr. Andrew Gutierrez, 6042 Wood Pass San Antonio, TX 78249.  Andrew has pledged a monthly support, whic he has faithfully kept. May God replenish your effort with plenty.

 

 Good and gracious Lord, bless and reward these people for their kindness.

Our Christian life and Our Public Life

I would like to underscore certain pressing issues in society today. The killings that we hear about everyday in our society are like a boomerang for the exclusion of God in our public life. I believe that an individual is created to serve his Creator, and when he/she fails to do this, he/she pays allegiance to nothing or to something/somebody else rather than the Almighty God. The true God is  "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," and most especially the God of Jesus Christ. We are supposed to be free to worship God the way we want, and when the worship of God is impeded by a set of rules that prevent citizens from expressing their faith freely, freedom is tampered upon, and the consequences are disastrous - hatred, killing, promiscuity, intolerance, lack of forgiveness, and in fact, a total degeneration of moral values.

When children prayed in school, there were less killings. Religion should teach us love, forgiveness, dialog, peace, honesty, solidarity, unity, patience, kindness, politeness, respect, justice, equity, equality, sympathy,etc. These values will go contrary to violence, hatred, revenge, abuse and so on. When children learn from childhood to be respectful, they grow with that in mind. Things will be different when our entire life respects the Creator. We may not be able to stamp out evil, but we will reduce it to the bearest minimum.

The human being is one single individual with all his body parts in tact. The spiritual separation of "pray in private and not in public" disintergrates man. Such a separation does not bear upon the love of God; it is man's desire to control and manipulate the underprivileged, and to give room to the atheists. The atheist has the right not to pray or say anything about God. His right is protected when we ban spiritual activities from public institutions. We promulgate laws that defend the freedom of the atheist. What about promulgating laws that defend the freedom of the believer? Praying or carrying out spiritual activities in public institutions does not disrupt the freedom of the atheist, because he is not forced to take part in such activities, but banning prayer in public life infringes in another's freedom - the christian.

I  will teach children to respect God in public and in private. Society will become better when we realize these values and make good use of them. When people learn the values of Christianity and live by them, the society becomes more loving.

Dear God, help world leaders to know and honor you as the One, True God, living and true for all eternity. Amen.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012, AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013

I wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2013. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, the beginning of the history of our redemption. Since time immemorial, God had promised through the lips of prophets that he would send us Emmanuel, born of a Virgin. In him, our salvation would be guaranteed. That promise reaches its realization at Christmas when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary.

It is very easy to answer the question, "What do we celebrate at Christmas?" at a very peripheral level. True, we celebrate the birth of Christ, but much more, the incarnation - God becoming man. We also celebrate, in anticipation, the Second Coming of Christ. The first coming, that is, his birth, already took place, but we await the second coming with eager expectation, when Christ will appear in his glory to judge mercifully, and save all those who have answered his call faithfully.

Since we await Christ's coming, we celebrate now, in commemoration, his birth which already took place. This celebration expresses our faith, our love, our unity and solidarity with God's people all over the world. We come together as families and friends to share our peace and joy which Christ brings. Through the exchange of gifts, we commemorate Christ who gave himself for us all, by shedding his own blood on the Cross for our salvation. Christ's gift to us is the gift of himself that brings peace and joy.

In order to receive Christ in our hearts, we need to be a peaceful people ourselves. Christ is our peace. Let us have peace so that we can be able to give peace to others. But how can we give peace to to others when, first, we are not at peace with ourselves? Second, we are not at peace in our homes? We must always find  reason to forgive and accept apology in order to have peace. May this Christmas period be a fruitful one for all of us as we seek to be a peaceful people.

I wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2013. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas, the beginning of the history of our redemption. Since time immemorial, God had promised through the lips of prophets that he would send us Emmanuel, born of a Virgin. In him, our salvation would be guaranteed. That promise reaches its realization at Christmas when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary.

It is very easy to answer the question, "What do we celebrate at Christmas?" at a very peripheral level. True, we celebrate the birth of Christ, but much more, the incarnation - God becoming man. We also celebrate, in anticipation, the Second Coming of Christ. The first coming, that is, his birth, already took place, but we await the second coming with eager expectation, when Christ will appear in his glory to judge mercifully, and save all those who have answered his call faithfully.

Since we await Christ's coming, we celebrate now, in commemoration, his birth which already took place. This celebration expresses our faith, our love, our unity and solidarity with God's people all over the world. We come together as families and friends to share our peace and joy which Christ brings. Through the exchange of gifts, we commemorate Christ who gave himself for us all, by shedding his own blood on the Cross for our salvation. Christ's gift to us is the gift of himself that brings peace and joy.

In order to receive Christ in our hearts, we need to be a peaceful people ourselves. Christ is our peace. Let us have peace so that we can be able to give peace to others. But how can we give peace to  others when, first, we are not at peace with ourselves? Second, we are not at peace in our homes? We must always find  reason to forgive and accept apology in order to have peace. May this Christmas period be a fruitful one for all of us as we seek to be a peaceful people.

THANK YOU

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mary Ann Sorra and Jack Reybold. We often speak of God as if he so distant away from us. Sometimes, we even pray and expect God to stand infront of us and offer the solutions to our problems. We forget to know that God, who became man in Jesus Christ, acts in and through his people. God answers our prayers mostly through other people, but sometimes we fail to listen to their  good advice, and in so doing we fail to listen to God.

Mary Ann Sorra and Jack Reybold have been there for me. I see my dreams coming true because of people like this. They are an answer to my prayers. They go an extra mile to help even when they have their own problems to solve. Lord, bless and reward them with their hearts' desires. Amen.

The existence of this blog is their effort. They continue to stand behind me to see that all I do is successful. My prayer is that all those who would read this blog would be touched by the stories therein.

Twin Celebration:Birthday and Graduation

I felt really privileged that the arrangement of the graduation date fell on my actual birthday. I see the 'hand of God' in all these and wonder how many people had such a privilege as I did. Thursday, May 10th is a day for me to remember. At 7.30pm the ceremonies of graduation commenced with such grandeur that words cannot adequately express. My almost two years at St. Mary's Seminary and University yielded great fruits in my life. I graduated with a Licentiate in Sacred Theology. I can only knee down and thank God for his kindness.

I am equally grateful to those who could make to the graduation, those who prayed at a distance, those who offered material, spiritual and moral support; may God abundantly reward you. I could not have everyone come because of the restrictions. I hope you all do understand.

Pray for me as I continue to search for a school to do the PhD program. Once more, may God bless all of you out there. I still continue to ask for your support so that I can be able to help the numerous children out there who aren't going to school.