Pastor’s Corner — March 31st, 2024
Special Divine Mercy Sunday Service: Next Sunday April 7 at 3pm
Next Sunday, the eighth day of the Easter octave, the Church celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday, on which the Church honors and celebrates in a special way God’s infinite mercy toward us in Christ. On this day, the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence, which is the complete remission of temporal punishment due to sin.
In addition to the usual conditions of a sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and a prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father, a plenary indulgence is granted to faithful who, on Divine Mercy Sunday, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin (even a venial sin) simply recite the Our Father and the Creed, and also adding a devout prayer (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!).
At 3pm next Sunday, April 7, we will be having a special Divine Mercy Prayer Service in the Church where we will hear about the life of St. Faustina, and sing the Divine Mercy Chaplet to finish our novena.
Because God is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer
In the faith and science series I facilitated this winter, we talked a lot about the big misunderstandings about relationship with science and faith. As Catholics we have no fear of science as science confirms and develops out a biblical worldview properly understood. At the root of so much of the confusion and interplay between faith and science, is a breakdown of philosophical reasoning about science and faith themselves. Therefore, humbly approaching the truths of faith and science on their own terms helps us to be in awe and wonder at God’s creation, a creation that reveals a Creator who has revealed himself in Scripture and Tradition.
In our study, I recommended a book called Because God is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer by Peter Kreeft. Kreeft, a former atheist, is one of the most prolific Catholic philosophers in the English language. In this popular level book, he responds to the various attacks against the faith and shows how reasonable our faith is. While this book was written for high schoolers, I believe most adults would benefit reading it for two reasons.
First, it will strengthen your faith by confirming for you how reasonable our faith is in light of an increasingly secular culture. Second, it will help you grow in confidence as you help young people, who likely have never heard compelling answers to their questions about God and the faith. Here are the questions Kreeft answers:
Why are questions good? Why do I exist? Why is faith reasonable? How can you prove God is real? Why believe the Bible? Why is Jesus different? Why be a Catholic? Why go to Church? Why be moral? Why is sex so confusing? Why do we have families? Why are there virtues and vices? Why pray? Why aren’t we happy? Why is there evil? Why must we die?
God is real. Increasingly, young people aren’t sure about this. What would happen if more Catholic adults took seriously the questions young people are asking? What if we knew how to answer these questions? Perhaps more young people would be saved from entering an unnecessary crisis of faith that causes them to leave the faith. Perhaps some of them even might come back.
Happy Easter!
The Resurrection of Jesus actually happened. It’s a historical fact. Let that sink in for a moment. If Jesus is alive, then he is who he says he is: He is God. Think about the ramifications. If Jesus is the Son of God, then what he says about God the Father is also true, and what he says to us about who we are is true: God loves us! God is for us, not against us. And this love is stronger than our rebellion, sin and death! He’s come to heal us and set us free! And if that’s true, then we have no real reason to be afraid in this life. Yes, there is suffering and evil in this life, but all of this pales in comparison to the love of God offered to us in our Risen Lord! The Resurrection of Jesus ensures us that His love is real and so is the prospect of living with this God of love forever in heaven.
Yet, our incredibly good Father, who reveals himself as Love, is looking for a response from us. He will not force us to love him, since that wouldn’t be love. He wants us to open our hearts and our lives to allow the truth of his victorious love to influence how we look at ourselves and the world. The response that Jesus looks for is repentance and faith. Without repentance and faith, we end up putting other things above God and worship them as gods: money, status, pleasure, and other earthbound goals. The problem, of course, is these false gods are not alive, they do not love us and they cannot save us from sin and death. Without faith in God, we have no hope.
So since God will not save us without our free response of faith and love, it’s critically important for each of us to ask ourselves this question: If Jesus is alive, then what priority is he in my life? If he’s not the top priority then I encourage you to come back to him and his Church. He’s here for you. There’s nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
May we never cease to praise our God who is victorious over death! No matter what’s happening in our lives, we can always walk in confidence and hope because each passing day in this life means we are one day closer to living with our Risen and Victorious King in eternity. Happy Easter!
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias