OLQU 
Love of God and Love of Neighbor Go Hand in Hand
Jesus summarized the whole of the law in two great commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
We need to love God. Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength in response to His total love for us, means that we should place God’s will ahead of ours, seek the Lord’s will in all things, and make it paramount in our lives. There are several means by which we can express our love for God and our gratitude to Him for His blessings, acknowledging our total dependence on Him. God loves us wholly, completely, and perfectly for our sake—there is no limit, no holding back, no compromising on his part. His love is not subject to changing moods or circumstances. When God gives, he gives generously, abundantly, freely, and without setting conditions to the gift of his love. His love does not waver, but is firm, consistent, and constant. He loves us in our weakness—in our fallen and sinful condition. That is why the Father sent his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to redeem us from slavery to sin and its disordered cravings, desires, passions, and addictions. We do not earn God’s love—it is freely given to those who open their hearts to God and who freely accept the gift of the Holy Spirit. We need to love our neighbor: God’s will is that we should love everyone, seeing Him in each of them. Since every human being is a child of God and the dwelling place of the Spirit of God, we are giving expression to our love of God by loving our neighbor as Jesus loves him or her.
On the wall of a children’s home founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta hangs a sign which reads as follows:
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. LOVE THEM ANYWAY.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. DO GOOD ANYWAY.
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. SUCCEED ANYWAY.
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow. DO GOOD ANYWAY.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY.
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight. BUILD ANYWAY.
People really need help but may attack you if you help them. HELP PEOPLE ANYWAY.
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU’VE GOT ANYWAY.
Yes, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we shall love God as well as our neighbor as Jesus told us to do. Love of God and love of Neighbor—always two sides of the same coin. They should go hand in hand, never separate at any time, going together only.
With God’s Blessing to all,
Fr. Charley
World Mission Sunday
Most strikingly, in the Gospel reading, we hear what Jesus does when he knows he is walking into a trap. This trap presents
what could be an unresolvable challenge to personal loyalty. What is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God? In response,
Jesus speaks the truth in a simple way. He asks those around him to consider the standards by which they owe things to an
authority, in other words, where their loyalties lie. Jesus helps them—and us—acknowledge that while we owe our loyalty
ultimately to God, we often must honor that by respecting our duties toward others.
Discipleship requires us to consider to whom I belong: where my loyalties lie, and whom I must serve. Surely each of us is
called and strives to remain faithful to some duties in our own place—towards our families, jobs, neighborhoods, and friends.
But if we are to take our faith seriously, we are also concerned about others who are far away from us. These connections to
others pull on us especially when we see them in light of our personal relationship with Jesus. As Christians, we are invested
with duties of love for people we have never met and to places we have never been, which is the theme at the heart of the
readings for today, World Mission Sunday. That is part of the work of mission: to deepen the connections that already exist
between me and someone far away from me to whom I am united in Christ.
Perhaps this person is already a Christian and so we are mystically united by our common baptism. Or maybe this person is
just now learning of Christ (or desires to know of Christ) and that introduction will be made possible by the work of people
who are sent to share the Good News with them. This appreciation might even help me to find the energy and interest to
collaborate in work that I personally cannot do because I have responsibilities where I am and cannot go to those places and
meet those people. But I can be part of the work through supportive prayer and practical charity. May the grace we receive in
this Eucharist help us all to learn the truth of these loyalties, responsibilities, and connections. And going from this place of
worship may we find the energy to deepen our personal commitment to our common Christian mission to announce Christ
and his Gospel to all the world.
Let us join our Holy Father Pope Francis in praying for and sharing resources with the young, persecuted, and poor Church
in over 1,100 dioceses around the world that benefit from the World Mission Sunday collection, taken in every Catholic par-
ish today, no matter how big or small (The Society for the Propagation of Faith).
Love and Prayers,
Fr. Charley
You Are Invited
One of the most beautiful images used in the Scriptures to depict what heaven is like is the wedding celebration and royal feast
given by the King for his son and bride. Whatever grand feast we can imagine on earth, heaven is the Feast of all Feasts because the Lord of heaven and earth invites us to the most important banquet of all—not simply as bystanders or guests—but as
members of Christ’s own body, his bride the church! In the last book, Revelation, we see the same kind of invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb—Jesus Christ the Son of God who offered his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, who invites and
tells us “Come.” The Lord Jesus invites us to be united with himself in his heavenly kingdom of peace and righteousness.
Jesus’ parable contains two stories. The first has to do with the original guests invited to the marriage feast. The king had sent
out invitations well in advance to his subjects, so they would have plenty of time to prepare for coming to the feast. How insulting for the invited guests to then refuse when the time for celebrating came! Because they put their own interests above his
invitation and denied the Feast, they not only insulted the King but the heir to the throne as well. The king’s anger is justified
because they openly refused to give the king the honor he was due.
The second part of the story focuses on those who had no claim on the king and who would never have considered getting
such an invitation. The “good and the bad” along the highways certainly referred to the Gentiles (non-Jews) and to sinners. This
is certainly an invitation of grace—undeserved, unmerited, favor and kindness! But this invitation also contains a warning for
those who refuse it or who approach the wedding feast unworthily. God’s grace is a free gift, but it is also an awesome responsibility.
The opening of Heaven on earth is called Mass. During the Mass that is what happens; the whole heaven will be opened in front of
us. Every day on the altar of the Lord, the Father prepares the Wedding Feast of his own and is inviting you and me to come
and to take part in it. Do we really understand that? Do we try to make time to go and celebrate that feast together with His
Son? We are invited for it every day. When we were all little, we used to go to the church everyday no matter whether it was
cold or raining. Parents used to go for the early Mass at 5:30 AM and the kids would get up and go for the following Mass, like
6:30 or 7 AM. After taking part in the Holy Eucharist, we would go to school or others go to their jobs. The Holy Eucharist is part
and parcel of our day-to-day lives. If we don’t go for Mass, it is as if we lost the whole day. Try not to refuse the invitation at
any time. It is the Grace that we receive from that, and that Grace makes us stronger and stronger in our Faith and in Christ
Jesus.
With gratitude, love, and prayers,
Fr. Charley
O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Most Divine, All Praise and All Thanksgiving, Be Every Moment Thine
Jesus presented us with today’s parable just before He entered Jerusalem for His last time. The crowds were about to spread palms in front of Him and shout Hosanna. Shortly thereafter, He would go up to the Mount of Olives, there to weep and cry out in pain over Jerusalem and cry about the situation of Jerusalem. Then they crucified Him. We don’t like to admit it, but many times we reject God. Oh, we deny that—but in fact, we do. How many times have there been when we just could not be bothered by God. How many times does His still, inner voice call us to do something and we refuse to listen to His whispering voice within us?
The pain of rejection is horrible. That pain is made very clear and found when we take a good look at the crucifix and understand its powerful and deep message, namely our rejection of God’s love for us. That’s why there’s a human body hanging on it. It’s not an empty cross; it’s a cross loaded to the full with rejection, the worst kind of pain that any human being or even any creatures can ever experience. The crucifix presents us with God nailed and immobilized because we won’t listen to Him! There’s no defense against rejection. No words can deal with rejection. There’s nothing we can do against it—which is perhaps why Jesus stood before Pilate in utter silence. Words simply cannot deal with the reality of rejection.
So, whenever we are experiencing rejection, and when the fear of rejection is overpowering us, give some time to being alone with Christ. Come before Him in the Church; He is here for us all the time, twenty-four hours a day. He is here in the Holy Eucharist and in the Blessed Sacrament. He is here in the Church waiting for us to come and make a visit with Him. Why not pay Him a visit from time to time? When we were little, studying in the Elementary school—it was public school—even then after class got over, we would all walk to the church in lines and genuflect in front of the Holy Eucharist, and say this small prayer together:
O sacrament most Holy,
O sacrament most Divine,
All praise and all thanksgiving
Be every moment Thine
(repeat 3 times)
spending at least 2 or 3 minutes. But that was so helpful for us to make a visit at least once on a daily basis. Can we find time for this, too? Why not come to His House and spend some time with Him? He would love that—you know that. He’d love to have someone come and give him some time alone with Him, along with some words of love for Him. He knows rejection and in His infinite love and caring for us, He gives us His power to overcome rejection and know what it is to love and be loved in return. He knows how to handle all the situations of your life. He knows Joy, Happiness, and Rejection and its pains. God’s love stands over everything in this world.
Love and prayers,
Fr. Charley
Say YES to God’s Call Always
Today’s first reading is taken from the prophecy of Ezekiel 18:25-28. There, the Lord says if a virtuous man turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, then he must die because of that. The Lord adds that if a sinful man turns away from wickedness to do what is right and just, then he shall preserve his life.
Jesus is giving us a new presentation of the same Ezekiel prophecy. Through the story of two sons, Jesus makes it clear that a believer has to express his loyalty and devotion not through words but through deeds. It gives us a clear understanding of what God wants from us. A believer has to listen to the Words of the Bible and change his mind from evil to the good. We have to respond to the Word of God positively.
The word behind the phrase, “changed his mind” can also be translated as “he regretted it” or even “he repented.” Even if we are living a sinful life and if we change that way of life to good, then we will be saved. Repentance is the key to heaven. Words could be meaningless and promises could be empty if not followed by actions. Do I make empty promises? We have said “yes” to God through Baptism and official membership in the Church. Do I follow those promises through actions of love? This is really the “good news” to many of us. Even if we haven’t done God’s will so far, even if we might have made terrible and shameful choices—it isn’t too late!
We each need to lead a responsible Christian life saying “yes” to God. Each one of us is responsible to God for every one of our actions, and the just God will punish or reward each of us according to our actions. As we do not know at what moment God’s call will come to us, our only guarantee is to be in God’s friendship always, saying “yes” to God in our deeds. God is always with us to strengthen us, to pardon us, and to lift us up again when, through human weakness, we stumble on the road. God is calling us right now or inviting us to work in His vineyard, inviting us to say “yes” to Him with our words and actions. We shall surely put our “yes” into actions always. Whenever it comes to the actions, only then is our “yes” fulfilled. Words and actions should go hand in hand. Always working in the vineyard is not for our sakes but for God. He is the owner of the vineyard and we are only servants who work in the vineyard, so therefore we shall always put into practice what we say, that is “YES!” to the Lord.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, help me to desire only that which is pleasing to you in my whole life, to accept your Holy will, whatever it may be, happiness or sadness. Help me to respect your will and please give me the strength, joy, and perseverance to carry it out wholeheartedly. And always help me to say “yes” to your holy will and put it into action and find satisfaction in all that I do for you and my neighbor. Amen.
With love and prayers,
Fr. Charley
God’s Generosity Stands High Above Everything
God is generous in opening the doors of his kingdom to all who will enter, both those who have labored a lifetime for him and those who come at the last hour. While the reward is the same, the motive for one’s labor can make all the difference. Some work only for reward. They will only put in as much effort as they think they will get back. Others labor out of love and joy for the opportunity to work and to serve others. The Lord Jesus calls each one of us to serve God and his kingdom with joy and zeal and to serve our neighbor with a generous spirit as well.
The question is: Do you perform your daily tasks and responsibilities with cheerfulness and diligence for the Lord’s sake? And do you give generously to others, especially to those in need of your care and support?
Today’s parable is not about what the workers see but what they do not see. What they do not see is the generosity of the landowner. More specifically, they do not see the generosity of the landowner to themselves. They recognize that the landowner has chosen to be generous to those who were hired last, and they resent it. But they do not recognize how they have been given a job—a day’s labor—by which they can support their families. You see, today’s parable is about blindness, the blindness that so many of us have to the blessings of God in our lives. The parable warns us that we will never be able to see God’s generosity to us as long as we look with jealous eyes.
The parable is realistic. The parable tells us that if we are to be happy in an unfair world, we must focus less on what others have and more on the generosity that God has shown to us. Yes, we may not have the biggest office or the highest salary but we do have a job, a job by which we can earn a decent living. We do have friends and those friends are real. Our children may not be the brightest or the smartest, but they are healthy and we have a good relationship with them. Others in our family may receive more from our parents, but we have parents and they have given us life.
Therefore, we shall pray: Lord Jesus, fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may serve you joyfully and serve my neighbor willingly with a generous heart, not looking for how much I can get, but rather looking for how much I can give. Thank you, Lord, for all the Blessings that you give to me and my family.
Love and prayers,
Fr. Charley