Holy Trinity Byzantine Catholic Church

06/08/2026

06/06/2026

Second Sunday after Pentecost

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.

Matthew 4:19

Jesus called all types of people. Andrew was a simple fisherman like his brother Peter. Andrew was present when John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus was “the Lamb of God” and they followed Jesus to learn more about Him. After spending the day with the Lord, Andrew told his brother Peter: “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41). Tradition has it that perhaps John was the unnamed disciple with Andrew during his first encounter with Jesus (John 1:35). These two men were actively searching for God and responded to Jesus’ call with enthusiasm and obedience.

The first disciples were not extraordinary people. The original twelve included several fishermen, a tax collector, and at least one who was a political activist. The power of Jesus transformed all but one into men whose lives were dedicated to the preaching of the Gospel and the proclamation of the message of salvation to all peoples. Old prejudices, divisions, and ways of thinking were laid aside as they listened to the Lord and followed Him.

Jesus calls us to serve Him in this same way. He calls us just as we are - faults, strengths and weaknesses notwithstanding - to a life of holiness. “We have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Perhaps during these upcoming days we can go to our Church or to a quiet place in our homes and make a short retreat with the Lord to examine our lives. How have we responded to the call of Jesus over the year just passed? If we see that we have fallen short of the Lord’s plan for us, let us repent and know the forgiveness of Christ. If we see areas where we have grown stronger, let us try to make further progress in them this year. God wants to work marvelous things in our lives because He loves us and is faithful to His promises. We, in turn, can offer our lives to Him as we announce to the world: “We have found the Messiah!” (John 1:41).

06/05/2026

Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. (Matthew 4:19-20)

On this upcoming Sunday we will witness how Jesus called His disciples. The Gospel reading is from St. Matthew 4: 18-23. How they left immediately, left their nets, and they didn’t look back. They left with many weaknesses. We can see them.

The question for us to focus is: Have you left your nets? Our Lord called James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and straightway they left their nets. The “nets” are the “world”, in this context. The spiritual, the inner meaning, of the nets is this: all the things which entangle us. Have you left your nets? Or do you still keep nets around?

The lesson for us on Sunday is an eye-opener: Don’t be entangled by the world! Look around you! The world offers you nothing. The world pushes you to the abyss, and then you fall off. Have the courage to leave your nets. And then you’ll be like the saints.

06/04/2026

06/02/2026

Happy Anniversary to the Priesthood Fr Nate!! May God grant you many blessed years!

05/30/2026

The Sunday following Pentecost is dedicated to All Saints, both those who are known to us, and those who are known only to God. There have been saints that have come from every corner of the earth. They were Apostles, Martyrs, Prophets, Hierarchs, Monastics, and Righteous, yet all were perfected by the same Holy Spirit.

The Descent of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to rise above our fallen state and to attain sainthood, thereby fulfilling God’s directive to “be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44, 1 Peter 1:16). Therefore, it is appropriate to commemorate All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost.

The commemoration of Saints is one of the most beautiful aspects of our tradition. We look to them as examples, we pray to them for their intercessions, and we gather with them during Divine Services to worship God.

05/30/2026

We prepare to celebrate the Sunday of All Saints. All those who have heard Christ speak, whose hearts and minds have been set afire, and went out into the world to bring to the whole world the good news. The news that God has so loved the world, that He has entered into it never to leave it, and that in His Resurrection He has taken all that is the world - in His Flesh the whole visible world, in His soul all the human world - and has established it on the right hand of the Father.

This is not only the glory of the Church, it is a call addressed to each of us. On this journey of faith we are called by the Gospel, we are encouraged by the Epistle, so to love God as to become truly His disciples, and that means that our faith in Him must be and become, day after day, more truly faithful, so that seeing us, seeing how we live, seeing who we are, people could believe that Christ has come to save the world and is worth following as a Master and as a Friend.

St. James, speaking to people of his time said: “If you want to show me your faith without your works, I will show you my faith by my works…” Let us then go into the world to bring to a world which is in great misery now, in distress that it has lost its way, the good news. Not only the news that God has come and is in our midst, that He has shown us the way, that He is the way and He has given an example for everyone to follow, not in a slavish way, not as a hireling, but with the joy that following this way means that we are fulfilled and that life is deep in us and it can flow on to others.

This is the message of the Sunday of All Saints. During the summer months make time to read the life of a saint. Become familiar with the ones that came from our Byzantine Catholic Church. Like the Bishop-martyr Pavol Gojdič, Bishop-martyr Theodore Romža, Bishop Basil Hopko or priest-martyr Methodius Trčka. What about the saints glorified in our own country? St. Elizabeth Seton or St. John Neumann, - people of our blood, our flesh, our kin. Let us think of them and let us try to live in such a way that they may rejoice, that they have a following worthy of Christ, and worthy of their lives. Amen.

05/25/2026

Happy Pentecost! Yesterday, we got to celebrate our patronal feast together as a parish followed by Kneeling Vespers for Pentecost. We took this time to honor our high school graduates and second-grade class of first confessants. Thank you to all who made the celebration possible, especially Teresa Kennis, Cathy Crawford, Michele Yamrick, and Julia Kennis!