Most Holy Trinity Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church

05/05/2023

PASTOR’S PULPIT OF THE GOSPEL
What is the greatest challenge facing the Catholic Church today? Perhaps it is to do a better job of revealing to a hostile world how wonderful the Church is! On one occasion, the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen stated that if he were a non-Catholic and looking for the true Church, he would seek the Church that the world hated the most. That is definitely us! If the Church’s enemies knew what we have, many would join!
Readings from The Book of Acts are helpful, because they provide an insight into what was happening in the early Church. Acts 11:19-30 informs us that the disciples of Christ in Antioch spoke to the Greeks about their Faith. They told the unbelieving pagans how wonderful it was to be a member of the Catholic Church, and many joined.
In the Gospel of John (4:5-32), we are told that the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus at the well in the town of Sychar and was converted. She then went to the people of the town and reported to them that she had found the Christ, Who had told her everything she had done. The text of our Gospel tells us that many of the unbelieving Samaritans of that town believed in Christ, because of the word of the woman, who bore witness to Him.
The disciples in the Book of Acts shared their faith with the unbelieving Greeks, who were then converted. The woman at the well shared her faith with unbelieving Samaritans and they were converted. What does this mean for us? How can we assist the Church with its major challenge: that of revealing itself to the world?
We are part of the vibrant community we call Most Holy Trinity. What can we do to make it better known so that others can enjoy what we have here? The Lord’s words, “Go and make disciples of all nations” instructs us as to what we are to do. By telling us to “Go,” we are being commanded by Him to accept this challenge! We are baptized and have full responsibility for our witness. We need to tell ourselves that this challenge is our problem. What specifically, however, are we to do?
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, was known for his great speeches. He had the ability to explain the nature of a particular challenge in very clear terms. Churchill is best known for convincing the British public to take up arms against the N***s during Britain’s darkest hour in 1940.
What is not known is that he had a speech impediment and that his speeches took many hours to prepare; generally, he would spend one hour of preparation for every minute he would speak. Early in his career as a stateman, he stood in the House of Commons to make an important speech without notes and forgot what he was going to say. Without major preparation, he was a rather ordinary public speaker.
We don’t need to be a Winston Churchill in order to evangelize. We can draw on what he did, however, to witness for the Lord. It involves simple preparation. We need to ask ourselves these questions: “Why do I attend Most Holy Trinity Byzantine Catholic Church?” What has God done for me? Why do I give God thanks?” Ask for the help of the Holy Spirit, and then share your story with unbelievers. Like the disciples in Antioch and the Woman at the well, we need to be the Lord’s voice!
I often share quotes from the Saints, but also from regular people like you and me. Jim Caviezel, the actor and pious Catholic layman, teaches us the following, ”Set yourself apart from this corrupt generation. Be saints! You were not made to fit in. You were made to stand out!”
Blessings,
Father George

04/17/2023

04/17/2023

PASTOR’S PULPIT OF THE GOSPEL
Christ is Risen! Truly, He is Risen! Have you ever met a person who has no faith? In our secular society, people who have no interest in religion are quite common. This was not always the case! When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, everyone had a church. I did not encounter my first atheist until I was nearly in college in the mid-1960s, and I was shocked!
The Gospel of St. John (20:19-31) takes up this matter of a lack of faith by means of the words spoken between Our Lord and St. Thomas. Now, St. Thomas is a great saint who was martyred for his faith in India. However, just after the Resurrection of Christ, he had his doubts.
St. Thomas stated that unless he could see the wounds in the Lord’s hands and in His side, he would not believe. The Lord confronted Thomas eight days later by telling him to see the wounds. He added, ”Do not be faithless, but believing.” Again, St. Thomas the Apostle is a great saint; however, we can learn from his mistake.
We are bolstered in our Faith by the amazing history of the Catholic Church, which has preserved the same doctrine, the same basic liturgy and the same leadership for two thousand years. We are also strengthened in our Faith by the appearance of the Mother of God at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 along with the great miracle worked there. Seventy-five thousand people, most of whom were not Catholics, all saw the sun dance. We are also supported by the example of the holy saints of the Church, some of whom are incorrupt.
During Holy Week, we were encouraged to engage in the missionary work of the Church. We heard Christ’s words in the Gospel of St. Matthew pertaining to evangelization. At the same time, however, our unbelieving society refuses to acknowledge that God even exists. Some insight into this atheism might be helpful.
There are actually several forms of atheism. The classical variety, held by Communists, for example, is that God definitely does not exist. Although there is more than one explanation for this attitude, the main reason is that if God does not exist, then the person doesn’t have to follow His rules. As the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche stated, if God does not exist, all things are permitted. Their problem is that they cannot explain the material world, which cannot create itself. There has to be a first cause for the material things in the universe and that cause is God. Clearly, this point-of-view of atheists is intellectually bankrupt!
A second version of atheism is agnosticism. Agnostics, like atheists, want to be able to do whatever they want to without God’s rules; however, they are aware of the flaws in the arguments of atheists, so they state that they do not know if God exists. To them, it is a comfortable position. No God, no rules, no explanations.
A third version is that of practical atheism. These atheists shut God out by not involving themselves with Him. They are probably the largest group of the three, involving millions of regular people. They really don’t identify themselves in any way, such as being agnostics. They just live life without any faith in God and, as with the other two groups, make up their own rules and their own reality and truth.
The challenge for us is that we are still under an obligation to reach out to these people and to share our Faith. We are bolstered in this work by the history of the Catholic Church, the many appearances of the Mother of God, and by the example of the holy saints of the Church, especially St. Thomas the Apostle, from whom we know that blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. Christ is Risen!
Blessings,
Father George

04/09/2023

Easter 2023 message from Bishop John Michael Botean

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24)

Despite the exuberance of this verse, which we sing over and over again in our
celebration of Easter, you might well ask how anyone can rejoice at all over anything,
the world being what it is. From climate change to war, from pandemics to politics,
our very existence as a species feels as if it were nothing more than one colossal
mistake, a global problem with no solution in sight, a ticking time-bomb with none to
defuse it. Individually, death is ever at our door, waiting for its moment to break in
and crash our private party.

If it weren’t for the resurrection of Jesus, indeed joy would be impossible.

But Christ is risen, and humanity is awakened from its dark nightmare to the bright
morning of His empty tomb. We would not dare hope but for the faith that is our
hope’s foundation: that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John
3:16). In Jesus, we encounter the man Who is God, whose death on the cross was the
stake in the heart of death itself, and whose resurrection puts the lie to our despair.

“And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith” (1 John 5:5). God has
given us His Spirit so that we might believe, “and through believing you may have life
in his name” (John 20:31). So it is faith that gives rise to our hope, and hope that gives
us the possibility of living a life of unconditional, Christlike love—that is, a life in
which we claim for ourselves the resurrection offered to us by our Father through His
Son.

May your celebration of Easter this year implant this faith firmly in your heart and in
the hearts of your family and loved ones. It is there you will find the joy that is
awaiting you.

Christ is risen! He is truly, genuinely, amazingly risen indeed!

04/06/2023

PASTOR’S PULPIT OF THE GOSPEL
Christ is Risen! Truly, He is risen! What do we mean when we say, “Christ is Risen?” What happened on that first Easter Sunday? Was Christ merely resuscitated into the same condition He had been in before His crucifixion? Absolutely not! After His Resurrection, Christ was in a higher form. He rose from the dead by His own power and His body was, and is, in an exalted state!
Our first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles (1:1-18), tells us that Christ showed Himself alive to the Apostles over a period of forty days after His Resurrection. His risen body by which He appeared to the Apostles is the same body as the one that had suffered and died; it bears the wounds of His torture and of His Crucifixion. At the same time, His body has the characteristics of a glorified one, not limited by time or space. He could, for example, go through walls.
We can be assured that the Lord’s Resurrection happened just as the Holy Bible tells us. Jesus truly died on the Cross and was buried! A seal was set across the huge stone, closing His tomb. A Roman Guard was posted to keep the disciples of Jesus from removing the body in order to proclaim His Resurrection. Research has revealed that a Roman guard was made up of well-trained and heavily armed men who were under a death threat if they did not do their duty. Yet, the tomb was empty on the morning of the third day. Jesus’ followers could not have stolen the body because of the Roman guard posted there. Only the power of God could open the tomb and empty it, and this happened by means of Christ’s Resurrection.
Easter is the triumph of Christ’s saving plan for our salvation! God’s self-giving love is boldly offered to all of us in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! We can see the depth and width and length of His love! Christ’s love for us is unlimited! The Gospel of John (1:1-17) tell us that if we believe in the name of Jesus, we will become the children of God. In Christ’s Resurrection, we have been given this wonderful grace!
What does the Resurrection of Our Lord mean for us personally? We know that each of us are both body and soul combined together into one person. We also know that when we die, the soul, if we are God’s friend, enters into the Heavenly Kingdom. But what happens at the end of time? For those who die in the grace of God, the Resurrection of Christ is the guarantee of our own resurrection to a glorified body.
St. Paul gives us this assurance, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Christ’s Resurrection is the model of our redemption and of our bodily resurrection on the Last Day; His Resurrection is the means by which we receive this great grace. What should be our response to His enduring love? Christ should reign first in our hearts! His sacrifice on the Cross and His Resurrection is the greatest moment in history and a great gift! We should accept this fact and turn our lives over to the Lord.
At the same time, even though we can see beyond the sufferings of Christ on the Cross in our celebration of Easter, we should not forget those who suffer through illness, those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, those who are persecuted, and those who have no faith. They should constantly be in our prayers.
Our thanks of praise and gratitude should be given to a wonderful and loving God Who has given us much even though we are not deserving. His gift is that Jesus triumphed over sin and death! Christ is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Easter Blessings,
Father George

03/26/2023

PASTOR’S PULPIT OF THE GOSPEL
As we approach Easter, we are focusing on the sufferings of Christ so we can gain a full appreciation of His great love for us! Our goal needs to be to give our hearts totally to Him.
Reading the Holy Bible helps us to move closer to God. In the Gospel of Mark (10:32-45), Jesus foretells His Passion, Death and Resurrection. Hearing this from the Lord for the third time must have been most shocking to the disciples. They had to have realized that He was very serious and that what He said would likely happen; however, the thought of losing Jesus was probably too much for them! They loved Him greatly and thought that His approaching death would be permanent.
Our love for Jesus should match that of His disciples! Our first reading from the Book of Hebrews tells us why this is so. By the shedding of His blood, Jesus secured our eternal redemption. His sacrifice is our gain! His voluntary death is the greatest love that has ever existed! It should be matched by our turning our hearts totally over to Him and by sharing our faith with those who have no faith and who have never heard of Him.
The redeeming power of Christ’s self-giving love is found in the life of St. Mary of Egypt, whom we commemorate today. She lived in the fourth century in the City of Alexandria. At the age of twelve, she left her parents and became a committed, great sinner, determined to ruin the morality of the men she encountered. Her sin was far worse than prostitution, since she took no money for what she did and was happy just to have destroyed their spiritual lives. After seventeen years of this lifestyle, she travelled to Jerusalem. While there, she tried to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but was stopped by a mysterious force.
Realizing that it was because of her impurity, she was overcome by remorse and sorrow. She prayed for forgiveness before an icon of the Mother of God outside of the Church and was then allowed to enter. Later, she received absolution and became a hermit in the desert. Having had her heart touched by the Lord, St. Mary of Egypt’s fundamental attitudes were changed for the good and she lived the rest of her life in hardship, but in glorious union with Christ, her Savior. Her willingness to repent and change and to sacrifice is a model for all of us. Her rapid conversion is unlike most; typically, the call to holiness is a gradual process requiring prayer and patience. How can the story of St. Mary of Egypt help us?
At first, St. Mary of Egypt did not use the spiritual tools given to her, but we can. Time set apart from the normal routine in order to pray is a great way to grow in holiness. If we could do so, what would be some reasonable results? First, we would want to know ourselves as individuals better. Next, we would want to know Christ better. And finally, we would want to be more like Christ. However, what is one way to do this?
Each Divine Liturgy is such an opportunity for us; every Divine Liturgy can become a little retreat that can help us to grow in faith. After the priest sings, “Blessed is the Kingdom…” we could reflect upon our sins in order to get to know ourselves better. During the reading of the Gospel and hearing about Christ’s teachings and ministry, we can get to know Him better. When we receive Holy Communion, the partaking of His Divinity, we become more like Jesus. When we witness the sacrifice of the Divine Liturgy, we can surrender and sacrifice our hearts unconditionally to Him.
All of us could take full advantage of the Divine Liturgy during Great Lent. There is still time to surrender our hearts to Him!
Blessings,
Father George

03/17/2023

PASTOR’S PULPIT OF THE GOSPEL
How do we grow in the spiritual life? We rely on the great spiritual masters of the past such as St. John of the Ladder, who remember today. A seventh century Byzantine monk, St. John of the Ladder wrote the famous spiritual work called The Ladder of Divine Ascent. As an abbot of the monastery at Mount Sinai in the Middle East, he taught that Christians should seek God by growing in virtue. His imaginary ladder to heaven had thirty rungs, thus suggesting that the process of spiritual growth for most of us is gradual. St. John’s wisdom is proclaimed in both the East and the West and he has much to offer us. How can we learn from him?
St. John of the Ladder was right when he stated that most of us change gradually. The Gospel of St. Mark (9:16-30) , in its own way, demonstrates that this is true. A boy is possessed by a demon and his father asks for a healing. Christ healed the boy, but after much resistance. First, the boy went into convulsions. He then rolled around and foamed at the mouth. Finally, he appeared to be dead. That the boy was going to be healed was never in doubt; it just took longer than some of the Lord’s other healings. And so it is with us as we seek to be holy. Usually, our spiritual growth in holiness is not immediate; it takes time. For the person who genuinely wants to set aside selfishness and to be more like God, what is needed is patience to avoid discouragement.
What helps us a lot in our call to holiness is a clear understanding of what happens at the Divine Liturgy. God has always wanted our hearts, and He had them in the beginning. Our first parents were obedient to God and they were close to Him. After the Fall from grace, however, men had to offer sacrifice of thousands of animals in a bloody attempt to reestablish the lost friendship with God. It was a useless effort!
In the New Covenant, there was only one bloody sacrifice, that of Christ on the Cross. However, after this loving act, innumerable un-bloody sacrifices have been offered on our altars during the Divine Liturgy, which puts us back on our journey to God. In the Divine Liturgy, Christ offers Himself to the Father by re-presenting what happened at Calvary, but without His death or suffering. He cannot die or feel pain, because He is Resurrected! We benefit from our attendance at the Divine Liturgy by hearing the Biblical readings and by receiving the Holy Eucharist.
A key-questions for us is, “Why have any kind of sacrifice in our age? Of course, we need the Holy Eucharist, which results from the separate consecration of the bread and the wine, an imitation of what happened on the Cross. But we attend the Sacrifice of the Divine Liturgy, because God also wants us to sacrifice our hearts to Him! We witness the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice, His giving of His heart to us. The Liturgy is our example, our model as to how to live. He wants us to commit to Him completely! At the Consecration, we should do exactly that, commit our hearts totally to Him.
Now, there are three ways to live as followers of Christ. One is to be in rebellion against God, living from sin to sin. Obviously, not acceptable! Another is to be lukewarm or indifferent to Christ. Again, not acceptable! Finally, a person can be an intentional disciple, having surrendered one’s heart to God. The Bible tells us that where our treasure is, there our hearts are, also. Remembering the gift of Christ’s love should help us on our pathway to holiness. His words, too, should be our consolation: “Everything is possible to one who has faith.”
Blessings,
Father George

03/11/2023

PASTOR’S PULPIT OF THE GOSPEL
Have you ever wondered what a priest is? That is, have you ever wondered what his main mission is? According to our first reading, from the Book of Hebrews 4:14-16, a priest is a mediator between God and human beings; he offers sacrifice for the remission of their sins; he pleads to God for them. The priest’s work is the opposite of a prophet, who is God’s mouthpiece.
St. Paul describes Jesus Christ as the High Priest and explains His work as a mediator on our behalf. First, he emphasizes the sinless nature of Christ. As we know, He was like us in all ways, except for sin. He is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, even though Jesus took on humanity, He never committed any sins. Jesus is compared to the priest Melchizedek, because in the Book of Genesis there is no mention of a beginning or an end for this person. Melchizedek is considered to be a foreshadowing of Christ, Who is God and timeless. In addition, St. Paul teaches us that Christ is sympathetic. That is, Jesus took on humanity as far as possible, accepting a human body, soul and will. He has deep compassion for us in the midst of any suffering we may experience. He has a strong connection with us, so that what we experience, He experiences. He goes through it all with us. Finally, St. Paul tells us that Christ is patient. We all live in an age of mercy. We all have an appointment with God. It is already written on God’s calendar; it will happen when we die. The only thing about it is that we do not know when that will happen. Until then, we still have time to acknowledge our sins and seek forgiveness. God waits for us to return to Him.
Today, we celebrate the Holy Cross, commemorated on the third Sunday of Great Lent. It is a sign of salvation, strength, triumph and victory! At this point in Great lent, we shift our focus to the sufferings of Christ. We do so while still getting to know our sins better. The Gospel of St. Mark 8:34-39 gives us the words of Christ, Who tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. The Lord clarifies this by saying that we should deny ourselves. This is not an easy task for us who live in a consumer society which constantly bombards our minds with the temptations of money, pleasure and power! However, the Lord set an example for us in terms of self-denial.
His very act of taking on humanity was a big comedown. He remained God, but was subject to the pain, humiliation and turmoil that we all face. St. Paul states it well in his letter to the Philippians (2:5-8), that “though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant…he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” Wow, what a priest!
Elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus asks us to be Children of the Light. What He means is that we need to seek first the kingdom. If we do this, according to the Lord, all else will be given to us. It is a matter of priorities. We need money, but don’t we need more than what is necessary for earthly life? The Children of Darkness are those who are well tuned to our world and all of its material distractions. They have to answer the question posed by Jesus, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his soul?” What can anyone of them give in exchange for his soul?
Christ our High Priest is the light of the world. May the Holy Spirit guide us during the remainder of Great Lent, so that we become children of the that great light!
Blessings,
Father George

03/11/2023