In the fourth century there lived a Christian monk in the deserts of Egypt and his name was Abba Agathon. All the other monks highly respected him because of his holiness and pious life. Once a very young monk came to him and asked himwhich virtue was the most difficult to practice in life. He answered with a beautiful smile: “Prayer.” He was a man who used to pray continuously for hours and hours every day, so the other monks really could not understand why he would say that or what he meant. Abba, since he was a very humble man, said, “Yes, prayer is the most difficult virtue to be practiced.” Then he explained: “We can do satisfaction with all other virtues, but in the case of prayer it is not like that. It is a struggle to keep the mind and heart fixed on God. In between, many thoughts intrude, and the devil tries his best to turn us away from prayer. That is why I said prayer is the most difficult virtue to practice. Whatever virtue we do, we can accomplish it more or less to satisfaction, but prayer is a battle to keep our minds and hearts fixed on God. And this battle will continue until death.” Abba Agathon was a holy man; if he finds praying very hard, if that is the case with him, what about us, the common people? Prayer will be a great battle as far as we are concerned.

During the War of Independence in India, the young Gandhi wrote in his autobiography: “Prayer is my life. Prayer saved me many times; otherwise, I would have been delirious (a mad man) long ago.” In his public life he had many bitter experiences as well as in his personal life. They, all of them, had driven him nearly crazy or near despair. But he was only able to get out of it through prayer. For him, prayer was his life. It was the important weapon—the weapon he used to wage war against himself and others.

Jesus showed us the best example in His own life. He used to go to lonely places and spent hours and hours with His heavenly Father in prayer. St. Paul tells us that prayer should be the most important weapon in our lives. Jesus tells us to pray without ceasing. Jesus told the parable of the judge and the widow telling us to pray without ceasing. Never ever get weary about prayer. Keep on praying or asking God—He can never abandon you or me. The friend got up and gave bread to his neighbor not because he had pity on him, but because he continuously asked him for it.
We get peace when we unite with God through prayer. St. Paul tells us: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4: 6-7). Therefore, no matter how intelligent or active or courageous we are, we should not stop praying in our lives. We shall pray without ceasing and let us disturb our God, so that He will provide us all that we need. Ask and you will receive; knock and the door will be opened; search and you will find. Do not be afraid to kneel in prayer before God who can provide everything in our lives.

With gratitude, love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Today we celebrate the Divine Mercy Sunday for the Second Sunday of Easter. Today’s readings tell us about St. Thomas proclaiming the great truth that Jesus is: “My Lord and My God!” It was the total surrender of St. Thomas before the Good Lord. When Jesus appeared before the Apostles he greeted them saying: “Peace be with you.” Actually, Jesus came into this world to give us peace always, and the Peace which He gives us will never leave us. It is always there for us. The Lord’s Mercy endures forever. We shall pray for His Mercy which gives us peace. We pray the Divine Mercy Prayer today in devotion to the Jesus of Love and Mercy towards us. Try to pray this Divine Mercy Chaplet today and every day using your Rosary beads:

The Our Father/ The Hail Mary/ The Apostle’s Creed

On the large bead before each decade: Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

On the 10 small beads of each decade: For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Concluding Doxology (After the fifth decade, pray once, on each of the 3 beads before the crucifix): Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Let us Pray: Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen.

With gratitude, love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

I am wishing for all of you a holy and blessed Easter season. May our Beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, bless you and all your dear ones with His assured love. Thank you for all you do, all of you. You are the backbone of the parish and our parish family. Without you, we can do nothing. Each person in our parish is a part of the Communion of Saints here on earth, part of the Mystical Body of Christ, using our talents, abilities, and gifts. There are so many to thank for all that has been happening during Lent. The Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, Choir Members, Cantors and Musicians, Sacristans, Ushers, and Altar Servers who have assisted at daily and weekend Masses. You all deserve a big thank you. To those who have helped every Friday with Stations of the Cross, serving soup and the fish fry and also for Good Friday, I appreciate all you do for our Parish Family. Thank you for your participation in the 40-day, 40 Psalms program; those who worked to telecast them. Thank you to the people who participated in and conducted the Tenebrae, all who take part in the Bible Study on Thursdays, all those who participated in the Bible study “Gift” and the Lenten Mission. Thank you to all who worked hard for the Seder meal, which was a great success. Thank you to the Youth Group for the Stations of the Cross on Palm Sunday after the 8 AM Mass. A special thanks to those who worked behind the scenes to livestream the Liturgy and put it on our webpage and on YouTube. Thanks to The Queen’s Messenger staff for posting on Facebook pictures from events here at church. It helps to remind us of all that is happening in the parish and keeps those still at home in touch. In addition, thank you to all of you who helped to decorate the church during Lent for Masses and for the Easter celebration. Thank you for the teachers who prepared the Catechumens and Confirmation students. And to those responsible for the Easter baskets for the children after each Mass, thank you, and to all who prepared for the Egg Hunt for the children. Again, to all who participated on Palm Sunday, thank you. Thank you to those of you who purchased Easter flowers to decorate the church for Easter Sunday, as the beautiful flowers remind us that the Resurrection Day is a day to celebrate with joy! There are so many others who work behind the scenes that are never seen, but who do the work for the church and for all of us. I’d like to thank our pastoral council, finance committee, parish staff, all the ministry heads and all members of the ministries as well as the members of our parish for all you do to keep our church standing strong as one parish family. The good Lord knows all that you are doing and that you do it for love of Him and His people. There is nothing I can give you, only my prayers for you every day. But the good Lord will give you His reward which cannot be matched by anyone else. This Easter may the Resurrection of our Lord fill your hearts
with joy! And may Christ’s perfect Love dwell in your hearts and fill your souls with hope for all the days to come. Have a blessed and beautiful Easter!

With gratitude, love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, Holy Week allows us to walk with Jesus during His Passion, keeping our eyes on Him who loves us, seeking Him instead of the temptations on earth that take our hearts and minds away from Him.

With a prayerful heart, I invite all of you who can to join us at church during Holy Week. Please come and experience God’s great love for us.

Thank you for everything you do for our parish family and me. Please keep one another in your prayers and share your time and talents. Your prayers and service keep our parish family alive, and I thank you so much.

I will be leaving on April 29 to go home for a month to visit my family. Please keep me in your prayers as I travel to India, and know that you will also be in my prayers at the daily Masses.

This Easter season, may you find God in your heart, waiting to welcome you back with joy and peace! Rejoice in the Lord always!

Holy Thursday, March 28, 7 PM—Mass of the Lord’s Supper followed by Adoration of the Most Holy Eucharist until 10 PM.
Good Friday, March 29, 3 PM—Outside Stations of the Cross. At 7 PM—Veneration of the Cross.
Holy Saturday, March 30, No Confessions. At 8 PM—Easter Vigil Mass followed by Breaking of the Lenten Fast.
Easter Sunday, March 31, 8 AM and 10 AM—Holy Mass.

Remember always that the Peace and Joy that we wish one another at Easter is often very easily uttered, but Our Lord Jesus Christ, at a great price, brought it to us. It was at the cost of the great suffering that He endured so selflessly and so full of love for us. As St. John tells us: “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son to save us.”

I hope to see you all in this Holy Week at church.

With gratitude, love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

A story was told about King Midas in Greek mythology. Midas was the king of Phrygia. Once Midas entertained the god Silenus. As a favor for that, the god Dionysus decided to grant a gift to Midas. When Dionysus asked what gift he wanted, King Midas said: That everything I touch turn to gold. The god did not hesitate and gave the king what he asked for. Midas was greedy for money, and ran and touched everything he saw, which then turned to gold. Then here comes Marigold the king’s one and only daughter. As soon as he saw her, he jumped out of joy and hugged her. At that very moment she herself turned into gold. We can only imagine the depth of the King’s heartache at that moment. The one and only daughter became a piece of gold and nothing else.

In the Bible we hear Jesus say in Luke 12:15: “Avoid greed in all its forms. A man may be wealthy, but his possessions do not guarantee him life.” At the end of the story he says, “This night if I required your soul, then it belongs to whom?” We shall try to be rich in God’s Presence and not ourselves or of the worldly things. We must know that things in the world will never last. It will perish and moths will come and destroy. Ask ourselves: Are we rich in the presence of God or in the worldly things? Especially during this time of Lent and coming closer to Easter, we shall give up all our greed for the things of this world and always try to stand in the presence of God.

How can we become rich in God’s presence? The main way is to help those who are in need of our help. It means to share generously. The Bible says that the generous will be blessed by God always, for they share their possessions with the poor and the needy. At the last judgement also, the King will tell us: “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me. Come and inherit the place which is prepared for you by my Father.” Yes, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we shall try to be rich in the presence of the Lord always. Not in material things or the worldly things but of the things up above which are waiting for us in heaven.

God Bless you.

Fr. Charley

We must know the healing power of Christ’s redeeming love and victory which he won for us on the cross at Calvary. The Old Testament prophets never ceased to speak of God’s faithfulness and compassion towards those who would turn away from sin and return to God with repentant hearts, trust, and obedience. When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, he prophesied that his death on the cross would bring healing and forgiveness, a “new birth in the Spirit,” and eternal life to all those who believe in Him. As we know, the prophet Daniel described a vision he received of the Anointed Messiah King who was sent from heaven to rule over the earth. Traditionally, when kings began to reign, they were literally “lifted up” and enthroned above the people. Jesus explains to Nicodemus that he will be recognized as the Anointed King when he is “lifted up” on the cross at Calvary. Jesus points to a key prophetic sign which Moses performed in the wilderness right after the people of Israel were afflicted with poisonous serpents. Scripture tells us that many people died in the wilderness because of their sin of rebellion towards Moses and God. Through Moses’ intervention, God showed mercy to the people and instructed Moses to “make a fiery serpent” mounted on a pole. All who looked upon the serpent would be spared death from the serpent. This miraculous sign was meant to foreshadow and point to the saving work which Jesus would perform to bring healing and salvation to the world.

The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the wilderness points to the cross of Christ which defeats sin and death and obtains everlasting life for those who believe in Jesus Christ. God not only frees us from our sins and pardons us, he also fills us with his own divine life.

Yes, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, can you just imagine the Love our heavenly Father has towards us? He just doesn’t want to lose any one of us at any time. Before last week we heard that God spared the son of Abraham, but He did not spare His own son! God wants to show us how much he loves each and every one of us by giving up His one and only begotten son for our sake. And the Son took it up with great joy and love. So, whenever we go through the pains and sufferings in our day-to-day lives, look at Christ on the cross and see His love for us and always try to carry our pains and sufferings with great joy and love, becoming one with Christ. He is the one and only answer for everything in this world. Put our trust in Him and put our feet in his shoes and walk together with Him.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

In the First reading Moses gives the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. The Commandments offer a way of life rooted in fidelity to God. This focus leads to right relationship with all others without distortion or distraction. Yet even as Moses is receiving this law from God, the Israelites are worshiping a golden calf at the base of the holy mountain. Their impatience quickly leads them astray but God does not give up on them. He calls them back again. God also knows our impatience, our fixations and our longings. In the midst of a world competing for our attention, God calls us back.

In fact, one of God’s primary actions throughout scripture is to call us back from distractions. Our Lent began with God speaking through the prophet Joel: ”Return to me with your whole heart.” God knows that our desire is to live ultimately for Him, but our world at the same time tries to pull us from that. God knows that our distractions are linked to our deep longing for a connection to what is meaningful and holy. As we know, our desire is ultimately for God, but the problem is that our world and worldly things try to substitute for the real thing.

Put our trust in God always. He never wants any one of us to be lost. He calls us back again and again. God will never give up on us at any time. So therefore, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, this is the time for repentance and coming back. The season of Lent always reminds us that the Lord is telling us to “Repent and Come back to Me.” He came into this world in order to save us. On this Lenten journey, God invites us to recognize our distractions and our longing for holiness to put into practice.

Through his death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus has reconciled us with God and made us adopted sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. He fills us with his Holy Spirit and makes us living temples of our God. Do you recognize the indwelling presence of God within you through the gift and working of his Holy Spirit? The Lord Jesus wants to renew our minds and to purify our hearts so that we may offer God fitting worship and enjoy his presence both now and forever. Ask the Lord Jesus to fill you with a holy desire and burning zeal for his holiness and glory to grow in you and transform the way you think, act, and live as a son or daughter of God. The Lord Jesus makes us temples of the Holy Spirit. As the Good Shepherd takes care of his sheep, He takes care of us always. He will never abandon us at any time. Put our trust in Him and only in Him and follow his footsteps and pray to him always: Forgive our sins and lead us not into the temptations of this world.

God bless you all and I wish you all a happy, fruitful, Holy season of Lent.

Fr. Charley

After the disciples climb up the mountain, see the Lord transfigured, and witness the conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, God the Father finally speaks. God the Father speaks only two times in the New Testament: at Jesus’ baptism, and during the time of Transfiguration. But what he says is really quite strange when we think about it. After pronouncing Jesus once again as his Beloved Son, God the Father thundered, “Listen to him!” How strange is this?After all, what had Peter, James, and John been doing for the previous two years but listening to Jesus? That is what Lent is about, listening to Jesus. Are we giving God sufficient time to speak to us? Is the Lord asking something of us this Lent? If so, let us follow the Father’s advice, “This is my chosen Son, listen to him.”

It took the apostles a long time to get to know Jesus and the longer they were with Jesus the better they got to know him. It is the same for us. We also gradually grow in our love for and knowledge of Jesus and we also grow in understanding what Jesus is asking of us. The Collect (Alternative Opening Prayer) for Mass today expresses beautifully our hopes for Lent to our heavenly Father:

Open our hearts to the voice of your Word and free us from the original darkness that shadows our vision. Restore our sight that we may look upon your Son who calls us to repentance and change of heart.

We must pray that our hearts would be open, that we be freed from darkness, and have our sight restored. It is really a prayer that we be transformed during Lent. And listen to Jesus and understand him much better. In our prayers we often forget to include the part of listening to Him. When we pray, many times, we just ask or say all that we need or share our sufferings and worries and leave the place; we don’t wait for the Lord to speak to us. Only by listening can we transform our lives the way Jesus wants to do for us. Listening is a skill and an art. So, during this season of Lent especially, give more time for Jesus to speak to us than we speak to Jesus. Always listen to Him, then we will hear in the innermost heart what Jesus wants to tell us. Wait for the Lord and listen to Him always. I wish you a very Holy Season of Lent.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Find strength in Jesus always, who was tested.
In the Old Testament, 40 days was often seen as a significant period of testing and preparation for entering into a covenant relationship with God. Today is the First Sunday of Lent. Lent is a 40-day period which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends before the celebration of the Paschal Triduum excluding Sundays. ‘Forty’ is a number often associated with intense spiritual experiences. God caused it to rain for forty days and forty nights to cleanse the earth. The Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years. Moses spent forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai and Elijah journeyed forty days and forty nights to Mount Horeb. Jesus was anointed by the Spirit in the waters of the Jordan River, he journeyed to the wilderness for 40 days to prepare himself for the mission which the Father sent him to accomplish—to offer His life as the perfect Sacrifice for our sins.

Mark states it most emphatically: “The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert…tempted by Satan.” The word tempt in English usually means to tempt or attract to sin. The scriptural word here means test in the sense of proving and purifying someone to see if they are ready for the task at hand. God tests his servants to see if they are fit to be used by him. God tested Abraham to prove his faith. The Israelites were sorely tested in Egypt. Jesus was no exception to this testing. Satan, in turn, did his best to entice Jesus to choose his own will over the will of his Father in heaven. Despite his weakened condition, Jesus rejected Satan’s temptations. Jesus found his strength in his Father’s word and found strength in doing his will. Satan will surely tempt us and will try his best to get us to choose our will over God’s will. If he can’t make us renounce our faith or sin mortally, he will then try to get us to make choices that will lead us, little by little, away from what God wants for us.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we shall always try to stay with Jesus and especially at the times of temptations in our daily life. He is the greatest Help and model in our life to follow. Wish you all great Holy Season of Lent and prepare ourselves to take up our daily crosses without any complaint and with great love. And able to pray “Let God’s will be done in our life.”

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley

Lepers were outcasts of society. They were driven from their homes and communities and left to fend for themselves. Their physical condition was terrible as they slowly lost the use of their limbs and withered away. They were not only shunned but regarded as “already dead” even by their relatives. The Jewish law forbade anyone from touching or approaching a leper. This leper did something quite remarkable. He approached Jesus confidently and humbly, expecting that Jesus could and would heal him. No one who sought out Jesus was refused his help. Even the untouchables and the outcasts of Jewish society found help in him. Jesus touched the leper who approached him and he made him whole and clean. Jesus not only grants the man his request, but he demonstrates the personal love, compassion, and tenderness of God in his physical touch. Jesus met the man’s misery with compassion and tender kindness. He communicated the love and mercy of God in a sign that spoke more eloquently than words. He touched the man and made him clean—not only physically but spiritually as well. The Lord is always ready to show us his mercy and to free us from whatever makes us unclean, unapproachable, or unloving towards others.

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, we shall also do what Jesus did to the leprosy-affected man, showing kindness and mercy towards others and never disregarding anyone. And also, whenever we feel sick and disregarded by others in society, make sure in our hearts that there is someone on our side, Our Lord Jesus Christ. In all our discriminations and pains and sufferings, Jesus is on our side because he had already gone through all this in his own life. That’s what we are going to meditate on this coming Holy Season of Lent. During this season of Lent, let us pray to him to make us clean and to make us his own. We shall prepare well for the season of Lent. On this coming Wednesday when we come and receive the ashes on our foreheads, we shall ask the Good Lord to help us spend more time in meditating and praying to him to make us clean and pure of heart and body. We have 7 AM, 12 noon, and 6 PM Masses and Ashes. Try to make this Holy Season with Jesus and for Jesus doing more prayer, penance, almsgiving, and sacrifices in our daily lives. Try to “Imitate Christ” in our lives. God Bless you and I wish you all to have a Holy Season of Lent.

Love and prayers,

Fr. Charley