St. Agatha Catholic Church

05/23/2024

Tune into Father Thad’s homily given at St. Agatha this past weekend. God bless you during this week!

03/09/2024

02/14/2024

God’s Blessings to you from our family at St. Simon of Cyrene Parish with our ministry sites at St. Agatha and St. Martin de Porres. I offer this reflection on the Scriptures for this coming First Sunday of Lent for your spiritual nourishment and encouragement. Before we begin, let’s take a moment to recognize God’s presence in each of us and toMy friends, every Lent give thanks for all our blessings.
(Brief pause)
My friends, the first Sunday of every Lenten Season draws us into the desert with Jesus, where he fasts for forty days and overcomes 3 major temptations by the devil who promises us status above others, power over others and abject adoration from others. This year, the year where we draw most of our Gospels from Mark, is the shortest account of Jesus’ temptation expressed in just two sentences: The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. Mark 1: 12-13 We may ask why Mark is so brief in his account. After Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan, he is compelled by the spirit to journey to the desert. Keep in mind that he has just had this incredible encounter with His cousin John who has been, for years, announcing the coming of the Messiah. It had to be incredible for these two men to face each other, bonded by blood family, but even more bound together by God’s plan for the redemption of all humankind! This encounter had profound meaning, Jesus the Messiah, ‘the “One Who is to come,” who is now present in flesh, blood and spirit In time, meeting John the Baptist and Prophet, the last prophet of the Bible, who has been preaching the two great calls of all the prophets: To repent from idolatry and turn back to God, AND to care for the poor and the needy… in the words of the Old Testament, to care for ‘the widow and the orphan,’ in Old Testament times symbolic of those who were seen as of little or no value in society. Note that widows are mentioned 80 times and orphans, or fatherless children are mentioned 44 times. Remember also that Jesus has heard the voice from the sky affirming Him as God’s beloved Son. After 30 years of growing, learning, maturing, being loved and nurtured by his parents, Jesus is ready to begin His formal ministry, yet still feels the need, after John has essentially passed the baton of ministry to Him, to go away, fast, and empty himself of all ego and temptation. But then He must allow the Father to fill Him with the grace and power necessary to reveal to others the human/ divine manifestation of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love in the world… and in essence to show everyone that we all have the capacity to do this if we are open to accept and embrace the fullness of God’s love in our lives. Brothers and sisters, every Lent we are invited to do what Jesus did, to enter into 40 days of prayer, emptying ourselves by willingly fasting from those things that hinder us from fully offering our time, talent and treasure to others, and allowing God to then fill us with the grace and power to extend God’s love to others in acts of self-denial and genuine care for the material, emotional and spiritual needs of others. NOW is the time to listen to that same voice of God that spoke to the crowd at Jesus’ baptism: You are my beloved Son or Daughter. Claim it! Embrace it! And now, my beloved, go out and humbly and generously LIVE IT!
(Brief pause)
On behalf of the Catholic Christian Family of St. Simon of Cyrene Parish, I want to invite you to join us this coming Sunday for one of our two Masses: 9:00 am at St. Agatha or 11:00 am at St. Martin de Porres, both services led by our contemporary Gospel choir. The services are livestreamed and available for viewing afterward online. We welcome your participation in our community prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Please take the time to share this video with others. It is a great way for you to evangelize. Thank you for all the ways that you continue to allow the Lord to work through you, with you and in you. And, in all things, my friends, be blessed!

02/12/2024

"A l***r came to Jesus and begged him and said, 'If you wish, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, 'I do will it. Be made clean.'" MK 1:40-41

02/09/2024

God’s Blessings to you from our family at St. Simon of Cyrene Parish with our ministry sites at St. Agatha and St. Martin de Porres. I offer this reflection on the Scriptures for this coming Second Sunday in Ordinary Time for your spiritual nourishment and encouragement. Before we begin, let’s take a moment to recognize God’s presence in each of us and to give thanks for all our blessings.
(Brief pause)
My brothers and sisters, sadly in these times the word ‘authority’ has taken on very negative connotations. Many people have rejected any institutions that claim an authority over their physical, emotional, spiritual, or political lives. They themselves become ‘the authority’ and, even worse, look to the internet, Fox News or CNN as the ‘authority’ that forms their opinions to become, in their mind, factual information.
It’s pretty much a fact that any lie repeated over and over can easily become a believed ‘fact’ by others. It’s also true, I believe, that unless we can explain the truth in a way that the hearer can truly understand what we are saying, that it is still not the truth. Which mean we need to get to know the person we are trying to convince of the truth, how best they hear and understand things, what beliefs they already have that are so embedded in them that there needs to be a compelling argument to move them to even consider a different perspective.
Which brings us to today’s Gospel… Jesus is worshipping in the synagogue when he is approached by a man possessed with demons. Jesus casts them out of the man. The people around him are amazed that He has such power, what they describe as speaking with authority. The authority they are referring to is not just focused on Jesus Himself, but refers to something deeper: Jesus has a connection with the Spirit of God that is special. They recognize Jesus, not as the authority himself, but as deeply connected to the very Author of Life. This is exactly what Jesus wants them to witness. He doesn’t desire hero-worship. He wants people to be drawn, through Him, to the Source of that power, to the One who longs for all of us to embrace the power of Love offered us by the Author of Life. It is then, God, through each of us, who brings healing, forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, and unconditional love to those we encounter on life’s journey.
We know all too well those who claim ultimate authority, who are above the law or beyond reproach. These are typically people who cling to power and prestige, who will do anything to stay in power and maintain or raise their prestige. Jesus presents the direct opposite of this. His Authority is exercised in humility, kindness and generosity. He knows both Who he is, but also Whose He is. There is little ego in Him because He knows His purpose is not about Him, but about others. His task, like ours, is to draw others to God and, through God, draw us to each other, each of us unique and special, each of us with a unique and special purpose in life. We know our demons. We know that Jesus can help us deal with them and free us to be fully who God created us to be.
Are we willing to let go and allow God’s love to remove those demons and fill the empty space with new possibilities of living and loving? Hopefully the answer is ‘Yes!’
(Brief pause)
On behalf of the Catholic Christian Family of St. Simon of Cyrene Parish, I want to invite you to join us this coming Sunday for one of our two Masses: 9:00 am at St. Agatha or 11:00 am at St. Martin de Porres, both services led by our contemporary Gospel choir. The services are livestreamed and available for viewing afterward online. We welcome your participation in our community prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Please take the time to share this video with others. It is a great way for you to evangelize. Thank you for all the ways that you continue to allow the Lord to work through you, with you and in you. And, in all things, my friends, be blessed!

01/19/2024

God’s Blessings to you from our family at St. Simon of Cyrene Parish with our ministry sites at St. Agatha and St. Martin de Porres. I offer this reflection on the Scriptures for this coming Third Sunday in Ordinary Time for your spiritual nourishment and encouragement. Before we begin, let’s take a moment to recognize God’s presence in each of us and to give thanks for all our blessings.
(Brief pause)
My brothers and sisters, In this Sunday’s Scriptures, the theme of being called and how we respond to that call is presented to us. Our First Reading has good old Jonah, a reluctant prophet who has been instructed by the Lord to go to the city of Nineveh to preach repentance to the people of this pagan city. Jonah runs as far away as he can from Nineveh, finding himself on a ship in a storm-tossed sea, having a ‘whale of a time,’ being thrown overboard where he is eaten by a big fish. After three days, even the big fish can’t stomach him and spits him out on the shore, ironically near the entrance to Nineveh.
The people of Nineveh, like those in S***m and Gomorrah, have clearly turned a blind eye to the Lord and are participating in some very sinful and idolatrous behavior. Jonah relents and proceeds to walk the streets of Nineveh, calling for repentance of the people. Amazingly, the very first day, everything changes, the people repent and the king himself calls for a time of repentance in obedience to the Lord. Jonah is not happy about this. He doesn’t think these pagan people who are not the Chosen people of Israel should be spared by the Lord.
In the Gospel, Jesus begins to assemble his apostles, the team, his homeboys, who He will instruct and form to carry on His work when He dies. The first four are fishermen. They have experience discerning where the fish are, where to cast their nets. They can read the skies, the weather, the seasons. They are hard-working, used to occasional failure, celebrate in times of ‘large catches’ and grateful for the opportunity to work and provide for their families and their kinspeople.
Jesus is going to call them now to read the signs of the times, to gauge people’s openness to hear the Word of God, to go to emotional and spiritual depths that they have never encountered, all to become fishers of men and women. Not in the sense of capturing them like fish in a net, but instead casting the net of God’s love and inviting all to be enfolded in the net of God’s unconditional, love, forgiveness and mercy.
These disciples were already disposed to hear Good News and respond to it. Jonah failed to see that God’s love and forgiveness was meant, not just for the Chosen people of Israel, but for everyone. He would not accept that and would not participate in it until he finally relented after his maritime adventure. Even then, Jonah was not pleased that the people of Nineveh had changed so quickly.
The question for all of us is, “How open to unquestioningly following the Lord as one of his disciples are we?” “Do we have ‘conditions’ for following and doing what the Lord asks of us?” or “Do we ‘question with faith and a desire to understand where the Lord is calling us and asking us to do in His name?
Our Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday is, “Teach me Your ways, O Lord, teach me Your ways, O Lord; that I may be faithful in Your sight, teach me Your ways, O Lord!” This sounds like a good mantra to begin each day… and perhaps to repeat several times during the day. The Lord longs to teach each of us, to invite each of us to be formed, each in our own uniqueness, to be the faithful disciple He longs for all of us to be.
(Brief pause)
On behalf of the Catholic Christian Family of St. Simon of Cyrene Parish, I want to invite you to join us this coming Sunday for one of our two Masses: 9:00 am at St. Agatha or 11:00 am at St. Martin de Porres, both services led by our contemporary Gospel choir. The services are livestreamed and available for viewing afterward online. We welcome your participation in our community prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Please take the time to share this video with others. It is a great way for you to evangelize. Thank you for all the ways that you continue to allow the Lord to work through you, with you and in you. And, in all things, my friends, be blessed!

01/11/2024

God’s Blessings to you from our family at St. Simon of Cyrene Parish with our ministry sites at St. Agatha and St. Martin de Porres. I offer this reflection on the Scriptures for this coming Second Sunday in Ordinary Time for your spiritual nourishment and encouragement. Before we begin, let’s take a moment to recognize God’s presence in each of us and to give thanks for all our blessings.
(Brief pause)
My brothers and sisters, what better way to enter the New Year than through these ‘call stories’ of Samuel in the First Reading and of Peter and Andrew in the Gospel. It is also appropriate that we commemorate the yet unfulfilled dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend.
Like all of us, like Jesus himself, Dr. King had to grow into his identity as the leader of a nonviolent movement not only for racial equality, but for economic equality for all. At first, he did not see himself as the person out in front leading everyone else. It was something he had to grow into, to listen intently, especially in times of incredible adversity and threat to his life and the life of his family.
Dr. King had to be open to learn from theologians like Reinhold Niebuhr and prophets like Ghandi who encouraged the consistent practice of nonviolence to disarm the forces of verbal and physical violence, very much in the model of Jesus.
In our First Reading, Samuel is not aware that the Lord is calling him. He needs the elder Eli who know the Lord to open him up to listen to the voice of the Lord calling him and the encouragement of Eli to respond to the Lord, “Here I am, Lord. Send me!”
In the Gospel, similarly, the call of Peter happens through two of the disciples of John the Baptist who hear John remark at Jesus’ passing by them, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” They respond by leaving John, probably at John’s encouragement to follow Jesus, asking Jesus “where are you staying?” This seems like a strange question and I highlight the following explanation to shed light on this request:
"Where are you staying" could be accurately translated by the slang expression, "Where're you at, man?" The disciples wanted to know where Jesus' heart was. They wanted to know "what made him tick." They weren't asking for his address. They wanted to know if they should give up everything they had and follow him.
Jesus' invitation to these early disciples is also an invitation to us: "Come and see," Jesus says. "You want to know my heart? You want to know what is important to me? You want to know how I can bless you? Come and see!" Jesus invites us to meet him through the Gospels and through other followers who have come to truly know Him. He asks us to come, spend time with Him, and learn from Him.
I encourage all of us to recommit ourselves to understand more deeply what Jesus is asking of each of us regarding our lives, our family, our community and our parish. Jesus invites us to follow Him, not at a safe distance, but up close and personal. He longs for us to deepen our commitment to live humbly and generously, to invite others through our actions and words to ‘come and see’ the presence of Christ at St. Simon of Cyrene and to feed from His words, His Precious Body and Blood, and the support and encouragement of we, who are the living Body of Christ called to manifest God’s deep love for humankind and the creation which sustains us.
(Brief pause)
On behalf of the Catholic Christian Family of St. Simon of Cyrene Parish, I want to invite you to join us this coming Sunday for one of our two Masses: 9:00 am at St. Agatha or 11:00 am at St. Martin de Porres, both services led by our contemporary Gospel choir. The services are livestreamed and available for viewing afterward online. We welcome your participation in our community prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Please take the time to share this video with others. It is a great way for you to evangelize. Thank you for all the ways that you continue to allow the Lord to work through you, with you and in you. And, in all things, my friends, be blessed!

01/07/2024

Greetings and blessings to our family in faith on this Feast of Epiphany, the Feast of the Three Kings, the celebration of Christ revealing himself to all the nations!

“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. You shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.“ Isaiah 60: 1-6

12/26/2023

Merry Christmas! Tune into Father Thad's homily given this past weekend. May God bless you during this joyful, blessed season!