Beloved,                                                                           
                                                                          Metanoia Now!
 
“But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Lk 13:5). Those were the words of Jesus to the tragic events that bedeviled Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifice and the eighteen people who died when the tower oat Siloam fell on them. The lesson to be learned from these Galileans' sudden, tragic death is not the punishment due to their sin or being worse sinners than those who narrated the news of their death to Jesus. Instead, the lesson for us is the urgency to repent and cease to resist God’s mercy and kindness in offering us forgiveness of sins repented.
 
Now, today is the day for us to make a U-turn from our sinful ways to a life of grace. Now, not later, tomorrow is the time to repent, to do penance, to be open to the transformation of consciousness. Today is the time to embrace a new way of thinking, a renewal of mind, a change of vision, and attitudes. This shift in mindset is what the New Testament Greek calls Metanoia. It is an urgent request; we can’t afford to push it to another day.
 
Seeing the tragic death of children and innocent ones in Ukraine and our own country due to violence makes us call to mind the bad things that can happen to good people. Sometimes, it is the suddenness and unexpectedness of the good. This is why Jesus is giving us, as he did his Jewish listeners, the wake-up call, a warning not to procrastinate. God is patient and lenient, but the period of grace of mercy is not forever; there is a time limit. The parable of the fig tree illustrates this. If we are not productive of the good fruit of repentance within the time given us, we may miss the opportunity. Why delay? Why put till tomorrow what you can do NOW? Metanoia Now! Repent of sin now, not later. Time to change perspective and consciousness is not limitless—this season of Lent is the defining, kairotic moment.
 
Will you do a Holy Spirit-inspired examination of conscience today and go to confession this week? Additional opportunities are provided during Lent in our parish to receive the Sacrament of healing, confession, reconciliation, and penance. Repent, or perish. Metanoia Now!
 
This third Sunday of Lent, we hold First Scrutiny for our parish Elect, Sadie Fleming. Please offer prayers for Sadie as she prepares for the reception of the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.
 
Don’t forget to celebrate the Annunciation of the Lord this Friday by attending mass.
 
In His Mercy and Compassion,
 
 Fr. Bernard

 
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
                                                                      Grief and Glory
 
As I write this message, the entire globe focuses attention on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian military force's violence upon Ukrainians reaches us via television and social media. But, as with Ukrainians, it is with many other people in other climes that we don’t get to see on TV and social media. Griefs and sorrows attend to a great swath of humanity as we speak. Equally, on personal or individual levels, we know of sorrows and griefs consequent upon our experiences of suffering and pain. Jesus’ disciples also had this notion of suffering. Before the account in Lk 9:28-38, Jesus had instructed his disciples about the need to carry their crosses daily and follow him. Before explaining the cost of discipleship to them, Jesus revealed in verse 22 of Lk 9 that “The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” The prognosis of sufferings, sorrows, and grief must have drained the hope and confidence of his followers.
 
The manifestation of his glory to his closest disciples, Peter, John, and James, on the Mount of Transfiguration is not only a fulfillment of the Law and the prophets; it was also meant to boost the faith and hope of his followers whenever they experience misery in life. The manifestation of God’s presence on the mountain is designed to strengthen Jesus himself when he faces his agony from Gethsemane to Golgotha. It is also to boost the hope and faith of his followers when they experience suffering and tragedy in the course of living their faith in God. As St. Leo the Great wrote, “The principal aim of the Transfiguration was to banish from the disciples’ souls the scandal of the Cross.” Jesus provides a source of consolation for them amid their sorrows due to the cross they will be called to carry.
 
In whatever condition of suffering, no matter the woes and griefs that we may experience in life, we are reminded of the great manifestation of Jesus’ glory. When we remain with him, and in his presence like Peter, John, and James, Jesus will console us and strengthen our faith. Staying in His presence is what we should aim to do more during this Lent- find and dwell long in the consoling and strengthening presence of Jesus. Praying to him, especially in His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, is a unique way of beholding his divine glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. In His heavenly glory, we retrieve his grace to live through whatever grief we may experience in life due to the suffering and tragedy that is our human lot.
 
Will you spend quality time with Jesus and experience His glory in Eucharistic Adoration? When we come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we are on a kind of mountain of Transfiguration where like Peter, we say to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here….” Come to Jesus; it is good to be in his presence. Come to adore his glory in the Holy Eucharist. Let him restore your hope and faith amid miseries that may be turning your lives upside down. In the glory of his presence in the Eucharist, we draw hope and faith to see us through the sorrows and sadness life throws at us. Jesus’ love and life outlast any sadness and grief. Come walk with him during his passion as we pray the Stations of the Cross on Fridays in Lent at 7 pm. I invite you to come to stay with Jesus.
 
In Christ, 
 
Fr. Bernard, O.P.
 

​Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
 
                                   The Temptations of Jesus
 
 I love "The Temptations." Yes, you read me correctly. I am a fan of The Temptations, an R&B musical band from Michigan. To be precise, I love their brand of soul songs not only because I consider one of their well-known songs, "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me," a secular version of Solomon's Song of Songs. Also, I am fascinated by the band's name without the article "the": Temptation. Why would I love temptations? Who loves to be tempted? We have all been tempted to do what we know we should not do, and as Christ's Faithfuls, we often wish we did not have to go through temptations and pray against falling into them when we say the Lord's Prayer. Yet, I love temptations for this reason: Jesus Christ was tempted by Satan in the desert. Jesus' temptations in the wilderness after fasting for forty days and his victory over them cast my daily temptations in a new light. Temptation is a test of my love for God, and I love the fact that Jesus was tempted and successfully resisted his temptations which helps me see that my temptations are opportunities for me to live in the light and power of Jesus Christ. Temptations and victory over them are indications of God's sufficient grace in bearing testimony to our love for him over anything he created. 
 
 Jesus was tempted. Like us, the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the incarnate God experienced temptations. He was not only tempted at the end of his fasting and prayer but also at other times. We recall, for instance, his agony in the garden of Gethsemane when thoughts that were against God's will passed through his mind (Matthew 26: 36-56). Jesus' temptation offers us an excellent place to begin our lent. Many of us fasted and abstained from meat on Ash Wednesday, not without temptations. We are often more prone to temptations when we are weak. We are bombarded with thoughts and situations that threaten our will and resolution to make sacrifices in the biblical way to aid our spiritual campaign and conversion to God. 
 
 Why did Jesus allow himself to be tempted? What are the lessons to be drawn from his temptation in the desert? When his fasting and prayers were over, the gospel, according to Luke 4: 1-13, tells us that the devil tempted Jesus in the areas of hunger, worship, and power. So how does Jesus' experience of temptations instruct us on how to face and overcome our temptations to sin? According to St. Thomas Aquinas in part 3, Question 41 of his Summa Theologica, there are four related reasons and lessons derived from Jesus' temptation:
 
1. His temptation strengthens us against the temptations that will inevitably assail us post-baptism. 
2. By his temptations, he lets us know that no matter how holy and pious you are, a Christian will never be spared the hardship of temptations.
3. He makes himself a mediator in overcoming our temptations by providing us with his example.
4. Jesus' temptation was aimed to "fill us with confidence in His mercy." 
 
 How do you fight temptations? Will you commit more intentionally to fasting, Scriptures, and prayers as ways of overcoming temptations during this year's Lent? 
 
 In Christ,           Fr. Bernard, O.P. 

 
 Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,       
                   
                                                        Celebrating Our Patron Saint: St. Peter
 
 
There is a sculpture to the right of the sanctuary of the historic church celebrating the feast of the Chair of St. Peter and a stature in the narthex of the church on the hill highlighting St. Peter the Apostle holding the keys of heavenly authority given to him by Christ. These images of our parish Patron Saint, St. Peter remind us of his role as a shepherd with teaching authority. His confession of faith in the divinity of Jesus was the occasion for Jesus declaring him as the rock on which he will build his church. We are privileged to have the blessed Apostle Peter as our parish patron saint and propose we celebrate him by seeking his unique intercession for our parish and universal church at large. On February 22, the feast day of the Chair of St. Peter there will be two masses offered for this purpose at 8 am in the historic church and 6 pm at the church on the hill.
 
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI said in 2012 that the Chair is "a symbol of the special mission of Peter and his Successors to tend Christ’s flock, keeping it united in faith and in charity." The following is a more detailed reflection on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter culled from Catholic News Agency:
 
The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter celebrates the papacy and St. Peter as the first bishop of Rome. St. Peter's original name was Simon. He was married with children and was living and working in Capernaum as a fisherman when Jesus called him to be one of the Twelve Apostles.
Jesus bestowed to Peter a special place among the Apostles. He was one of the three who were with Christ on special occasions, such as the Transfiguration of Christ and the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was the only Apostle to whom Christ appeared on the first day after the Resurrection. Peter, in turn, often spoke on behalf of the Apostles.
When Jesus asked the Apostles: "Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?"  Simon replied: "Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
And Jesus said: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you: That you are Peter [Cephas, a rock], and upon this rock [Cephas] I will build my Church [ekklesian], and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven". (Mt 16:13-20)
In saying this Jesus made St. Peter the head of the entire community of believers and placed the spiritual guidance of the faithful in St. Peter’s hands.
However, St. Peter was not without faults. He was rash and reproached often by Christ. He had fallen asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane instead of praying, as Jesus had asked him to do. He also denied knowing Jesus three times after Christ’s arrest.
Peter delivered the first public sermon after the Pentecost and won a large number of converts. He also performed many miracles and defended the freedom of the Apostles to preach the Gospels. He preached in Jerusalem, Judaea, and as far north as Syria.
He was arrested in Jerusalem under Herod Agrippa I, but miraculously escaped execution. He left Jerusalem and eventually went to Rome, where he preached during the last portion of his life. He was crucified there, head downwards, as he had desired to suffer, saying that he did not deserve to die as Christ had died.
The date of St. Peter's death is not clear. Historians estimate he was executed between the years 64 and 68. His remains now rest beneath the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. (CNA).

Have a happy feast day of the Chair of St. Peter on February 22nd.                           

  Fr. Bernard, OP
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
 
                                            In God We Trust
 
Inscriptions on the ten-dollar note I pulled out of my wallet to pay for a cup of a tall coffee at Starbucks yesterday inspired my reflections on the readings for this Sunday’s mass. To be precise, the inscriptions “We the People” and “In God we Trust” on the front and back of the legal tender respectively instruct on the theme of virtues of humility and trust. My research reveals that through the act of Congress and the president's approval, “In God We Trust” was declared the national motto of the United States in 1956. Although the motto, “In God We Trust,” first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin, it wasn't until 1957 that it made its first appearance on paper money. The recognition of God’s protection and lordship over America during the Civil War inspired this decision. In other words, America came to an awareness of their faith, hope, and trust in God’s love and mercy as the reason for the nation’s existence and sustenance through the turmoil it experienced. It is not just because we, the people of America, are the only exceptional people on the face of the earth- all God’s people are unique in their way; instead, our greatness comes from our trust in God.  
 
The phrase “We the People” begins the 52-word paragraph preamble to our constitution. Enshrined in the paragraph are promises and principles that define our nation. But it also contains a potential for a prideful turn to self, what St. Augustine calls “curvatus in se,” that is, to turn in upon oneself. We can become self-dependent to the extent of denying our reliance on God’s grace. We must avoid the danger of trusting in ourselves or relying solely “on human strength,” as Jeremiah says to us in the 1st reading. This turn to self or ego leads to idolatry. We may start thinking that the world revolves around us because we lack the virtue of humility. When we rely on the Lord, in humility, Jeremiah says the Lord will bless us “like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its root to the stream” (17:7-8). In this regard, Jesus’ beatitude and woes in Lk 6 make sense. The inversion of shared understanding of what brings us happiness- from health, wealth, prosperity, power to weakness, sickness, poverty, and humiliation- teaches us to trust in God and not ourselves for true happiness. You are blessed when you are poor, hungry, and despised if you trust in God and center your lives around him.
 
The biblical understanding of Greek “Makarios” and Latin “Beati” is the root of the unique blessedness we experience when we trust in God. This blessedness is an enduring one, an eternal one. The joy from this blessedness is not transient or temporal; it is realized fully in heavenly reward. Jesus has reversed our understanding of the source of true and lasting joy. It flows from the absolute reliance on God and not on human strength. This new and different way of looking at life leads us to ask ourselves, what or who do we depend on for our ultimate joy and happiness? God or self? As for me and my household, in God we trust.
 
We celebrate World Marriage Day today and Valentine’s Day tomorrow. Therefore, I take this opportunity to impart God’s blessings on all married couples and lovers. May your love for each other be rooted in the love of Christ crucified.
 
 

 Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
 
                                                                       Send Me, Lord!
 
Jesus invites us to follow him and spread the Good News of the Kingdom. He says, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4:19). Jesus sees and meets us where we are and offers us the opportunity to share in His divine mission of saving souls for God’s Kingdom. He finds and calls Peter and his companions at their profession, they are fishermen. He gets into their boats. This is indicative of grace invading their human and natural space. Despite the humanly impossible scenario, he and his companions have tried all night to catch fish without luck, Peter nevertheless obeyed Jesus who commands him to “put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” The miraculous catch that they made as a result of his faith in Jesus made Peter fully aware of his unworthiness in the presence of Jesus.  “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8), Peter says. Just like Isaiah in the first reading of today’s mass when his sinfulness became clear to him in the presence of the Holy One and confesses “Woe is me, I am doomed (Is 6:5), and like Paul in acknowledgment of his unworthiness at being called to be an apostle admits, “For I am the least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle”  (1 Cor 15:9), so Peter also sees only his wretched state in the presence of Jesus.  
 
Don’t we all feel that way? Isn’t it the case that we feel unworthy of the call to preach or evangelize? We often call to mind our sinfulness and imperfections when we are reminded of our baptismal call to be prophets, to share the joy of knowing Jesus with others. Aren’t people going to refer to our human failures and flaws when we propose the life of faith to them? I do feel that way as a priest and preacher. On many occasions when I carry out divine missions, my human imperfections flash before me and I weep in sorrows at the recognition of the holiness of the one who calls and sends me, Jesus Christ, my Lord and friend.
 
The good news is that God still wants and still chooses to work with and in us despite our human weaknesses. It is His grace that perfects our imperfection. All that is required of us is to trust and obey his commands: “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch” (Lk 5: 4). All Jesus asks of us is faith and submission to the grace he provides in abundance to supply for our inadequacy. Search for souls to draw into the Kingdom, respond to Jesus’ bid to preach the Gospel in words and deeds, and do it in creative and consistent spirit. Jesus is the perfecter of our faith. He is the one who actually wins souls for the Kingdom, we are his instruments.  Like Jesus, the Church calls us to the New Evangelization. What are the ways in which Jesus is calling you today to fish out souls for His Kingdom? Who has Jesus brought recently into your path to invite into His Kingdom? Is there someone waiting to hear you share your faith with them and you have been hesitant to act because you feel unworthy? Just remember this, it is Jesus who calls and sends you and he knows you are not perfect but seek perfection. All you need to do is say, I know I am a sinner but send me, Lord!
 
In His Service,
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

 
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 
 
                                                                   Love is the Greatest
 
In 1963 at the age of 21, Mohammed Ali (still known as Cassius Clay at the time) brags about his boxing skills and personality in the poem, "I am the Greatest." I am a fan of Ali's humor and boxing skills but have always been a little unsettled about his seeming self-worship, a turn to self, and in another term, self-love that I considered "unchristian." In the same way, I always feel a little uncomfortable with some lines of my favorite Whitney Houston song, "Greatest Love of All." It is my go-to song for karaoke, but I get a little hesitant to sing the part where she says, "The greatest love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself. It is the greatest love of all." Is loving yourself not contrary to love as Christ did and as St. Paul says in his hymn of love from 1 Corinthians 13? Is the love Jesus and St. Paul call us to embrace self-love?
 
What is the theological virtue of love? Is it not to love God through our neighbor? St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast we celebrated on Friday, January 28 in his Summa Theologica, defines love/charity as "the friendship of man for God" (ST, II-II, Q. 23. art. 1). Each time I pray the three Hail Marys after the Creed at the beginning of the recitation of the Holy Rosary, I dedicate each to the theological virtues of faith, hope and love respectively. But I always intensify my meditation on love because it is a supernatural grace experienced on earth and in heaven. Through faith, we know God; through hope, we express our longing to be with God and place our trust in him to aid us; through love or charity, we come to love God for his own sake and love him in our neighbors. Love is the greatest because "Love never ends" (1 Cor. 13:8). When we put love into action, like in the fourteen descriptive verbs in St. Paul's hymn (1 Cor 13:4-7), love makes faith and hope come alive and results in spiritual joy, brings peace, and leads to mercy.
 
Is there room for self-love in living out our love for God and neighbor? Is there some truth to Whitney Houston and Mohammed Ali's expression of self-love? Properly distinguished, Yes! Self-love is the basis of love for others. Our love for another is based on and derived from our love for ourselves. The love of self inclines one to the love of others. St. Thomas Aquinas taught that rather than being opposed, they compliment each other. The love of self finds its fulfillment in the love of others. There is room for self-love if it is not egoistic and does not see its relation to others as ends and means. Love is willing the good of the other, and it originates in pure self-love.
 
In the Gospel of today's mass (Lk. 4: 21-30), the people of Nazareth reject Jesus; they reject love. So our efforts to love the other would sometimes be rebuffed, and we can't force it. Love is not coercive; love invites the other to respond. Do we give up loving because of rejection? On the contrary, we must continually cultivate love in faith and hope. Tina Turner sings, "What's love got to do with it?" Everything. If we want to make it to heaven, we need to love because love is the greatest theological virtue that enables it.
 
Let's love,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
 
                                                                               Dear Theophilus!
 
Two technical but related interpretative tools for biblical analysis are exegesis and hermeneutics. In the exposition of Scriptures, we attempt to explain biblical passages based on the direct meaning intended for the readers. An explanation of a biblical text depends on knowledge of the people and period's language, context,  culture, and history. Once we are well-grounded in the literal experience narrated, we can then apply the message or the transformative idea or principle behind it to our present-day witness to the faith. The interplay of exegesis and hermeneutic is the way Jesus used the scriptures of the Old Testament from Prophet Isaiah about the past to himself in the present in the Gospel of today's mass. Jesus makes meaningful and effective here and now his understanding and interpretation of the Old Testament texts from Isaiah.
 
Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah 61 handed to him in the synagogue and declared that his life fulfills the prophetic words of Isaiah in a new way: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor...." (Lk 4:18). So then, applying the biblical methods of exegesis and hermeneutics, Jesus said to his audience, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing" (Lk 4:21).
 
In dedicating his account of the life of Jesus to "most excellent Theophilus," Luke also addresses contemporary Christians reading the New Testament texts he wrote in "an orderly sequence." We, too, are Theophilus, lovers of God and beloved by God, and we can make sense of our life and get direction for our Christian living by drawing from our study and careful interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures.
 
On this Sunday of the Word of God, a day devoted to studying the word of God, we need to acknowledge our needs to grow in knowledge and love of the Bible. So, as Ezra read out the book of the law to the assembly of believers in Nehemiah 8:2-10, let us make it a daily devotion to read and meditate on Bible passages and make them our own by applying them to our life. In doing so, we will come to know that God loves us and grow in the love of God: Theophilus (Greek for, lover of God).
 
Will you take up the challenge to grow in your love of God by joining a bible study group? Will you promise God to read and meditate on His words daily, beginning today?
 
May St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast we celebrate this Friday, January 28,  obtain graces of understanding of the word of God for us as we take up seriously the daily devotion of Bible study.
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 
 
                                                                 Wine and the Wedding Feast 
 
 The Epiphany trilogy concludes this Sunday with the wedding feast at Cana (Jn 2:1-11). Reflections on the theme of manifestation of Jesus as the Savior and Redeemer of the world began on the feast of Epiphany with the story of the visit of the Magi, followed by Baptism of the Lord last Sunday when the Father declared that Jesus is his beloved Son. Now, this Sunday, we see Jesus perform the first of his seven signs in John's gospel, turning water to wine at the wedding feast in Cana, showing his divine personhood in the very act. God reveals his plan for our redemption to us in the three-fold symbols of the Magi bearing gifts to Jesus in worship, the water of baptism, and wine at the wedding, respectively. Worship, water, and wine, all point to the manifestation of His glory. 
 
 Wine is essential for a successful wedding feast. Hence, when the wine ran short at the wedding feast in Cana, we can imagine the fear and sadness that must have overcome the wedding host and guests. "They have no wine" (Jn 2: 3); Mary informed her Son, a special invitee to the wedding. The lack of wine points to something more profound, an absence of joy. It takes the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, to turn an inadequacy into an abundance. The wedding banquet at Cana is a foretaste of the wedding banquet God has prepared for his people. In Jesus, we have a marriage of divinity and humanity. The union of Jesus to his body, the Church, further illustrates this marriage. The marriage of God to his people expresses the love of God for his people. Christ's love for his church is celebrated in this banquet. When this union lacks Joy that the wine symbolizes, sadness and sin are prevalent. Jesus restores that abundant joy by his presence and the sign he performs.  
 
 Wine is the symbol of divine life, the Spirit that sustains our union with God. It is the life of the party. It is what facilitates the joy of the guests at the wedding banquet. We cannot afford to run out of wine at this feast. We need a constant supply of fine wine. Jesus provides not only an abundance of wine, one hundred and eighty gallons in all, but he offers the best quality wine, superior to what was provided at the beginning of the feast. Wine here is divine life. As Jesus says in Jn 10: 10: I have come that they may have life in abundance." The abundant life happens at the wedding banquet in Cana. Life without this Sacred Wine is equivalent to being immersed in sin and enslaved to sin. But Jesus is the source of this superior wine, and he is present with us. Mary, his mother, and our mother play a vital role in intercession. She continues to appeal to her Son on our behalf: "They have no wine." And Jesus reveals his glory by supplying an abundance of divine life to sustain our union with him by responding to his mother's appeal. 
 
 Have you run out of wine of joy? Then, turn to Mary, and Mary will appeal to her Son, "They have no wine," and Jesus surely will provide an abundance of wine to sustain the life of the wedding banquet, a symbol of our union with Jesus. 
 
 In His Joy, 
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

 
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
 
                                                                          Who is the Christ?
 
We must know who Jesus Christ is. It may appear silly or stupid to raise the question about the identity of Jesus Christ, yet it is a profound question that demands an answer. Jesus Christ is the beloved Son of God. At the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, the heaven opened up and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descended upon him and the Father’s voice came from heaven, addressing Jesus: “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22). As the Only Begotten Son of the Father, Jesus embarks on the mission of redemption. Through Jesus’ baptism in the Holy Spirit, he is anointed and empowered to do good and bring healing to “all those oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38), “to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness” (Isaiah 42:7). This is good news. Now that we have answers to the question: who is the Christ?, let us advance into the new year with courage and faith because we have been baptized in him “with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Lk 3:16). Knowing who he is, the anointed one and Son of God, we know ourselves better;  adopted sons and daughters of God. Let us live out our identity; we are beloved sons and daughters of the Father. Reflect deeply about your baptism and its implication on this last day of the Christmas season.
 
As we come to the close of the Christmas season, I want to seize the moment to say THANK YOU to all of you who have made the season a joyful one. In addition, I am indebted to many of you who created time to bring the Christmas joy to live in the parish: thanks to the team responsible for the decorations in the historical church and the church on the hill, thanks to the extraordinary minister of the Holy Communion, lectors, altar servers, ushers, money counters, the choirs, and the musicians. I also extend my appreciation to the various parish groups that helped create the Christmas spirit in the parish: St Vincent de Paul Society, Men’s Club, Council of Catholic Women, Knights of Columbus, and others that I may have failed to mention.
  
I am grateful for all the Christmas gifts I received from you: parish societies, families, and individuals. Our Father in heaven will reward your generosity. I extend to you the promise of Jesus Christ, the Father’s Only Begotten Son: “whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42).
 
In His Love,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 
 
                                                                He Shines His Light Upon All 
 
Today the Church celebrates the manifestation of Christ’s divinity upon all people. The visit of the Magi to Jesus, bearing gifts, in fulfillment of the oracle of Prophet Isaiah 60:1-6, is a sacred moment that celebrates not only the incarnation of Christ but also the extension of the Light of Redemption to the gentiles, that is, all nations other than Israel. All peoples are now part of God’s covenant of love. 
 
Prophet Isaiah sees into the future when the light of grace will shine upon all God’s children, Jews, and all nations alike. All distant peoples, represented in the Astrologers from the East are now sharers in the grace from the Creator of all. As Psalm 72 says, “every nation on earth will adore” the Lord. St. Paul in his letter to Ephesians makes a similar proclamation that the mystery of God’s grace has now been “made known to people in other generations,” “Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Ephesians 3: 5-6). The Magi, following a special star, are led to the place where the child Jesus was and on seeing him “prostrated themselves and did him homage” (Matthew 2:11). 
 
In the spirit of the Magi, let us be filled with joy that we have been invited to share in the grace of God. We have been called to be sharers of the Good News, we have been called to be sons and daughters of God, and we have been called to use all our treasures, our time, talents, and wealth to serve and worship him. Let us be more driven this new year in our worship of the Lord of Lords. Like the Magi, let us joyfully offer ourselves to Jesus, making him the reason for our existence. Whatever God has in store for us in this new year we should accept with gratitude and trust in his love for us. Love of God is communicated to us in the divine word, let us embrace that love and allow the love to inform our worship and adoration of God in this new year. 
 
May the Light of Christ which shone upon the entire world at his birth spread into the heart and soul of every one of us as we begin the new year 2022. It will be a year of Divine Light that will scatter all forms of darkness that exist.  
 
 May you have the Merriest of Christmas and a joyous New Year! 
 
Fr. Bernard, OP 
 

​Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

                              A Functioning Family of God is Divinely Structured Merry Christmas!

We celebrated the birth of Jesus yesterday. Jesus, the redeemer of the world was born into the family of Mary and Joseph. The incarnation took place within a human family, a holy family. What a great insight is unveiled for us to see today-holiness is found embedded in the human family. Within the divinely ordered structure of the family- dad, mom, and children, a human interrelationship, a life ordered to the glory and reflection of God’s familial relationship is made manifest. This is good news. Merry Christmas! Reciprocity and co-responsibility are germane to the internal relationship of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This inter-dialogue and inter-relationship are sewn into the structure of the human family. As Sirach (3: 2-6, 12-14) and Colossians (3:12-17) reveal to us in the liturgy of the word, fathers play roles that are different from roles played by mothers, and children have specific responsibilities toward their parents. Each one is ordered to a particular, yet similar role based on the Christian principle of love and respect. With love comes responsibility. Once each member of the family is aware of the responsibilities it owes others, a family is on its way to holiness. Holiness as I said in the first instance is established within the human family with all its imperfections. The holy family of Jesus, Mary and Jesus is not without its own stress. In the Gospel account according to Luke 2: 41-52, we hear the story of the holy family in Jerusalem to attend the feast of Passover when Jesus was twelve. After the celebration, Jesus was found missing and the distressed Mary and Joseph found him after three days. “Son, why have you done this to us?” Mary says to Jesus after finding him in the temple. There are many occasions parents have said something similar about their children when they fall short of their expectations. Families going through periods of difficulties, be it on account of failed parenting or marriage, misbehaving or wayward child, let it be known that the holy family had its several moments of hardships and disappointments. Holiness is not without difficulties. Raising your children and making your home a Christian home is not a guarantee of freedom from moments of frights and worries. Those stress-filled moments are part of the ingredients that make up the holy family. With the example of the Holy Family as a guide, let us make it our goal to structure our family on the principle of faith, love, and responsibility to one another. Let us take our family problems to God in prayer, asking for the intercession of the Holy Family.
​
Merry Christmas to all families of St. Peter.

Fr. Bernard, OP

 Dear brothers and sisters, 
 
                                                        Blessed Are You Who Believed 
 
As Advent draws to a close, it is time to lift our minds and hearts in watchful hope for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Mary is our advent guide to faith in God who keeps promises. Mary travels in haste to the house of Zecharia, to a town in Judah, led by faith in the message revealed to her by angel Gabriel concerning Elizabeth. Greetings are exchanged between the two women, the infant leaped for joy in the womb of Elizabeth, two women of faith attest to God who fulfills his promises. Mary is blessed among women because of her faith, because of her fiat- let it be done to me according to your will. It is through Mary’s yes to God that God took flesh in our world. Elizabeth and the child in her womb, John the Baptist, came to this recognition. The hope of Israel is fulfilled. God has visited his people because Mary believed in God and acted on her faith. 
 
As Christmas draws near let us pray for the same faith that Mary had, faith that opens our “lives to the Spirit of God.” Let us pray for our hearts to soften and open to the word of faith that is proclaimed to us. The word of life that took flesh in Mary’s womb because her mind and heart were disposed to God’s promise. Because Mary believed, the word took flesh in her womb, and she is honored as blessed. At mass, Jesus will take flesh and in the Sacred Host will come into our body just as he did in the womb of the Blessed Mother. We need the same faith that Mary had to accept the presence of the true body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus takes life in us when we receive him with total faith and abandonment in the Eucharist.  
 
During our Advent mission this Sunday evening, titled Advent’s Journey of Hope, Mark Forrest will be using his gifts of inspirational voice and prophetic words to guide us to saying yes to Jesus, welcoming his reign in our lives, and helping each of us say, “Behold, I come to do your will, O God” (Heb. 10:7). PLEASE ATTEND! 
 
In His Heart,           Fr. Bernard, OP 
 

                                                                        The Three Advents
                                            Fr. James Conner, OCSO (continued from last week)

Let it enter into the bowels of your soul. Let it pass into your feelings and into your routines…. If you keep God’s word like this, you will surely be kept by him. When we keep the Word of God, God himself dwells in us. To eat the Word of God is first to absorb it into the depths of our own being by obedient and loving faith; then to let the power of the Word (the Holy Spirit) express itself in our works of love and good habits. It is this divine action within us, enlightening us to receive him in his revealed Word, which is the heart of the “sacrament of Advent.” If we fully and actively receive this Word of God into our heart and life, then we have nothing to fear from the third Advent of the Lord. He himself has told us this in Matthew 25:31-40: “Whatever you did to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.”
 
All three Advents are dependent on him who comes: first as a little child and a Man like us in all things but sin; then as the hidden One coming within our hearts but also in every person we encounter and every event of our life; and finally in the glorious Lord, for “God has put all things in subjection under his feet…. And when that subjection is complete, then the Son himself will become subject to the power which made all things his subjects, so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:27-28, Knox). Paul tells us that “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:22-24, NIV). In this way we see that Advent is much more than simply a preparation for Christmas or even an introduction to the liturgical year. The mystery of Advent is the mystery of God coming to us at every moment. As the poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) says: “He comes, comes, ever comes.” Our God comes to us to claim us as his own in order that we might fully share in his own divine life, and in this way to realize the purpose of our creation.
-Fr. James Conner, OCSO
 

 
                                           The Three Advents
    Fr. James Conner, OCSO (continued from last week)
 
Paul reminds us: “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Just as Jesus Christ was conscious that he received all from the Father, so the heart of his disciple must be conformed to the humiliation of his heart. That is why he told us: “Learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). Because of our fallen state, because of our sinfulness, the heart is deeply ambivalent. The heart is the place where we are brought face to face with the power of evil and sin within us. Yet the heart is also the place where we encounter God. It is the locus of divine indwelling, as Paul says: “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6). The heart is both the center of the human person and the point of meeting between the human and God. It is both the place of self-knowledge, where we see ourselves as we truly are, and the place of self-transcendence, where we understand our nature as a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is here that the mystery of Advent is realized. It is here that life and prayer become one. And it is here that we discover our profound oneness with all the rest of creation.
 
Bernard sums up the three Advents by noting that in the first Advent, Christ “was seen on earth and lived among human beings,” who either accepted or rejected him. But in the third Advent “all flesh will see the salvation of our God [Isaiah 40:5].” We live in a moment between those two Advents that is an opportunity to welcome Christ, the Word of God. Bernard explains, The intermediate coming is a kind of path by which we travel from the first to the final. In the first Christ was our redemption. In the final he shall appear as our life. In this one…he is our rest and consolation. …Anyone who loves me will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him [John 14:23].… Where then are [God’s words] to be kept? Doubtless, in the heart…. Is it enough to keep them in the memory alone? The Apostle will tell anyone who keeps them in this way that knowledge puffs up [1 Corinthians 8:1]. Then, too, forgetfulness easily wipes out memory. “In this way, keep God’s Word,” Bernard of Clairvaux counsels. “Let it enter into the bowels of your soul. Let it pass into your feelings and into your routines.” In this way, keep God’s Word: Blessed are those who [hear the word of God] and keep it [Luke 11:28].
 
(To be continued)