During the era of the great immigrations to the United States, many a destitute man left his family in Europe (or the Third World nowadays) in order to seek his fortune in the new world.  It was a long journey, filled with uncertainty and fear, and the arduousness was compounded because the man knew his family would not only continue to live in utter poverty but that they would also be deeply saddened by his absence.  Some of these stories had a happy ending in which the man, economically successful, was able to send for his family and give them a happy life in the United States.

This kind of situation plays out in the Ascension of Jesus, leaving behind his disciples.  But his journey was for their good, even though they could not understand that fully at the time.  Jesus tried to assure them that they would grieve for a time but their grief would be turned into joy.  His journey was to be a passage through the awesome doors of death.  This journey would lead him to the riches of everlasting life.  These riches he wished to share with us.  He went ahead to prepare a place for us, as did the man who left his family in Europe.

Now we are following his lead in our journey through this life to everlasting life.  We have a symbol of this journey in our Communion procession, as we walk to the altar to receive Christ.  This meeting with Christ in the Eucharist is a sign of what is in store for us when we complete our journey at the moment of death and are welcomed by Christ into our heavenly home.  As we make this journey, we do so in the hope and trust that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete whom Jesus promises, will come to reveal the truth about Christ to the Church.  This guidance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church becomes a manifestation of the promises of Christ.

The Holy Spirit directs the life of the Church and of each individual member.  He takes the Church wherever it is in any particular era and supplies its needs for a better understanding of the faith.  He is the one who moved the bishops of the Second Vatican Council in their marvelous work.  He is the one who will help us in our need for a better understanding of our religion.

Our first reading this weekend talks about the famous Jerusalem Council, as related in the Acts of the Apostles.  I will focus on this episode, since I think it reflects something of the image of the American Church today.  The apostles and all who first came to believe in Jesus were Jewish.  They did not see themselves as part of a new religion; thus they continued to follow their Jewish laws, customs, rituals and traditions.  However, there were problems when Gentiles started to believe in Jesus.  Many Jews who believed in Jesus insisted that the Gentiles had to adopt Jewish ways if they wanted to consider themselves followers of Jesus.  This conflict arose especially in Antioch, in Syria, because it was a large city and racially quite diverse.  To solve the problem, the leaders of the Church at Antioch, including St Paul, went to Jerusalem to meet with some of the other apostles.  Their decision was sent back to Antioch.  It was a major decision, affecting how the Church would grow, including how we would be living it today.

Notice how the apostles introduced their decision: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit, and ours too.”  This has always been the belief of the Church whenever the bishops gather in council together with the Holy Spirit.  It is an important concept, especially today when so many people think they can make up their own rules and do not need the Church to tell them what’s right or wrong.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus says “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”  The word “teach” really jumped out at me, as I know it will to many others.  To their credit, I’ve met many people who want to be close to God and they want to experience God, but they want it almost instantaneously.  They are looking for a shortcut to help them avoid the effort of learning and growing into what God wants of us.  They want it all right now.  But like the leaders of the Church in Antioch, this word “teach” by Jesus tells us that growing in knowing and loving God and our neighbours, growing in praying and holiness, takes patience and time and effort.  The Holy Spirit and the teaching authority of the Church will support us if we don’t wave them off.

Fr. Gabriel Wankar
Priest-in-Residence

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I feel very encouraged each time I read or hear Psalm 23: “In the green pasture you let me graze; you restore my strength; you set a table before me; only goodness and love will pursue me, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.”

Like Jesus said: ‘The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”  Christ himself is the Good Shepherd, who knows each one of his sheep, who gives his life for them and snatches them from the jaws of the marauding wolf.  He is the true shepherd who fulfills Ezekiel’s prophecy, foretelling for Israel a shepherd who will deliver his people.

Christ’s sheepfold is the Church.  In the Church, he bestows on us his life in the sacraments, his word in the teaching that she gives us, all the riches of his grace to light up our way and uphold our steps as we go forward to our heavenly home.  Through her, he acts as the shepherd of our souls.  Appointed to lead the flock, Peter gave his life for those entrusted to his care, and ever since then the priestly ministry has assured the continuous presence in the Church of him who remains the true shepherd of our souls.

Fortunately, with the providence of God, we have always had many good shepherds in our Catholic Church from generation to generation.  Namely, popes are the representative of Christ in the world.  The Lord Jesus Christ has worked through them and with them in the Holy Spirit, for Jesus promised his disciples: “I am with you until the end of times.”  Thus, Jesus is really present in our daily life; He is controlling the order of the universe.  Why don’t we come and worship God, the Creator and the Good Shepherd.  As St. Augustine said: “My soul shall be at rest only in God.”

I would like to invite you all: Firmly recognize the kingship of Jesus; confidently accept the Lord – our Good Shepherd – and trustfully follow Jesus, who leads us to eternal life.

With love,

Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen, Pastor

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In our experience of life, when we sin, we feel a distance from the Lord.  Like the Prophet Jonah, we try to get as far away from God as we can.  But like Jonah, we run into God no matter where we go.  Like Psalm 139 questioned: “Where can I go from your Spirit?  From your presence, where can I flee?  If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I sink to the nether world, You are present there!”  Nevertheless, if we insist on it, the Lord will let us finally escape from Him.  This place of escape is called hell, or eternal damnation, where we can separate ourselves from God forever.

When we run away from God by sinning, the Lord will try to flesh us out of our hiding place.  As He did with Adam and Eve in the Genesis, the Lord will call to us: “Where are you?”  If we turn back to Him, He will meet us much more than halfway.  Indeed, our Heavenly Father will run out to meet us, throw His arms around our neck and kiss us as in the parable of prodigal son.

However, the Lord will not force Himself on any of us.  We must repent.  Like in today’s Gospel, when Peter distanced himself from Jesus by going back into the fishing business and rejecting Jesus’ call to be a fisher of men, Jesus reached out to Peter and give him another chance, another catch.  Peter took this opportunity and immediately said, “Yes” to Jesus.  Then he met Jesus in the miraculous catch of fish.  He repented and jumped back into the mercy of Jesus: “Jump down into water and put on clothes to meet Jesus.”

Thus, in God’s love for us, Jesus will travel all time and space to be close to us.  Through repentance, we must cover a few yards to get to Jesus.  In this Easter season, we should ask ourselves this question: “How close are we to Jesus?”  If we have distanced ourselves from Him, let us repent and jump into God’s mercy, where Jesus will meet us.

Happy Easter Season to you all.

With love,

Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen, Pastor

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are in the Season of Grace, the Easter Season, in which our Lord Jesus is risen from the dead and invites us all to have new life with Him.  In addition, our Blessed Pope John Paul II established for us the Divine Mercy Sunday, which he asked the whole Catholic Church to celebrate on the second Sunday of Easter.  This is the one of greatest gifts for us in the 21st century.

In our world – and especially in our society – everything must be quick: instant coffee, instant noodles, fast food, quick drinks, quick cash, quick pay, even quick falling in love and quick separation, quick Mass, etc…  And with the scientific advances, the computer can do a lot of things – quickly.

For these reasons, I believe that our Blessed Pope John Paul II introduced the brief prayer: “Jesus, I trust in you!”  In fact, this is the shortest and quickest prayer in our Catholic Church.  And why do we need to say this prayer?  It is the easiest way to pray, and the quickest way to call upon God: “Jesus, I trust in you.”  Everyone can pray it, because these are only five-letter words.  We can say this prayer anywhere and in any place, and especially when we are in an emergency, when we cannot remember any other form of prayer and when we are near death.

Needless to say, this prayer is very powerful, because Jesus directed to St. Faustina to say it a few decades ago.  When we say this prayer, we confirm our faith in Jesus, and we acknowledge who we are: fragile human beings, sinners, unworthy and undeserved of anything.  We are nothing, but with Jesus, whom we trust and with His mercy, we are something and someone: sons and daughters of God again.

My dear friends, like Thomas in the Gospel today when he encountered Jesus, let us proclaim: “My Lord and my God!”  We aren’t fortunate enough to see Jesus with our naked eyes, but we can depend on His mercy; then we can trust in Him.  I would like to invite you this whole week to practice this quick and, but powerful prayer: “Jesus, I trust in you!”

Happy Easter season,

Fr. Thuong Hoai Nguyen, Pastor

On the morning of the resurrection (Easter), Jesus greeted the women: “Peace,” he said.  Then he went on: “Do not be afraid!”  That is the great Easter message from the risen saviour.  As people who have participated fully in the mysteries of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, we no longer need to be afraid as we journey through life, because we believe Jesus has overcome the great obstacle of death.

As the soldiers crucified Jesus, the Jewish and Roman authorities thought that was the end of it; the disintegration of human life, human plans, human hopes.  But it wasn’t.  Nothing had ended.  And because of that, everything changed.  The women found an empty tomb and a messenger with a word of life.  “He is not here.  He has risen.”  A life in Christ cannot be fruitless or buried.  Faithfulness cannot be shut up in a tomb.  The worst that life can hold for a human being – weakness, infidelity, betrayal, suffering, even death itself – all of that has lost its sting and its ability to terrify the Christian.

Dear friends, may our faith in the resurrection shatter all in our lives that seem to be a tomb –  joblessness, family challenges, sickness, betrayal from life partners and friends.  May these “tombs” become empty in the face of Jesus’ resurrection, as he opens new opportunities for us.  And as Jesus does this for us, may we, like the women, go out to tell others of this power in the resurrection so that they too can rise out of their fears, desperations and their sense of hopelessness.

“Peace! . . . Do not be afraid.” 

Happy Easter

Fr. Gabriel Wankar
Priest-in-Residence

We celebrate Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem to accomplish the Paschal Mystery of his death and resurrection.  Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey.  In a society like USA today, that doesn’t seem so dignified, but that’s the way most people travelled in those days − unless they walked.  Horses were generally used for war.  Even the kings in Israel and Judea, who lived before Jesus, rode on a donkey, and that is how Jesus entered Jerusalem – as the long-awaited king of Israel, the messiah.  Since there probably wasn’t a red carpet nearby, the people spread branches and cloaks to mark Jesus as a VIP.  They shouted “Hosanna,” which literally means “save us.”  They wanted to have their own king who could save them from the oppressive power of the Romans (which they hated).  This made both the Roman and Jewish authorities nervous, and so they put Jesus on trial for claiming to be king.  Jesus does not deny his kingship, but does not give a direct answer to Pilate’s question: Are you the king of the Jews?  This is a question we must all answer during this week.  Who is Jesus to you?  Or, as Jesus put it to his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is?  And you, who do you say I am?

Are we like the Jewish leaders who judged him to be an imposter?  Do we see Jesus as someone who imposes on our freedom and the way we want to live?  Are we with the crowd who acclaimed him as king and messiah when it was the popular thing to do, but who later deserted him?  Do we only remember God when we face challenges or it’s convenient for us?  Are we with his disciples who were looking for someone to rescue them from oppression and suffering?  Or are we with those few faithful disciples who were willing to follow him, even to Calvary?

This week offers us a golden opportunity to reflect on who Jesus is, and especially who he is for us.  If for the past 40 days we have not been able to follow Jesus in his passion, this is the time for us – at least this week – to offer him the opportunity to come into the temple of our hearts and cleanse them, so that we can have a new life at Easter.  Let us give him a chance to cleanse us, at least in this Holy Week.

Fr. Gabriel Wankar
Priest-in-Residence