Where IS Jesus?

 

Where IS Jesus?  Jesus IS found in the Eucharist.  Jesus IS found in the Holy Bible.  He IS found in our hearts – and some believe that crucifixes and even painted Icons carry a sacred image of Jesus.  But none of these places is Jesus’ “primary residence.”  Where is Jesus?  Look at the reading from Matthew’s Gospel.  “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”  Jesus is living on the streets.  Jesus is in soup kitchen lines.  Jesus is waiting at the Salvation Army to get a coat.  Jesus is in the hospital, or more likely, suffering and sitting, because He cannot afford to go to the hospital.  Jesus is in prison.

 

Don’t blame me.  I didn’t say it.  Jesus said it.  There’s no way we can misread what this Gospel account says.  “Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”  In other words, wherever people are in need, wherever people suffer, wherever people do without their basic needs, Jesus is there.  And He’s not just there to comfort those who suffer.  He is suffering right along with them.  That’s where Jesus is.

 

I live in a small farming community whose wells have gone dry. My next-door neighbor Maggie and fifty-five neighbor homes have gone without water during this summer because their wells have run dry.

 

Maggie’s neighbors in Bethany have trucked 1500 gallons of water in pouches for the past six months and they will need to do this throughout the winter months. Maggie is a frail senior living on social security and SSI with no truck, no able-bodied relatives, no Genesee County grant assistance, and no water.

 

Susan brings twelve gallons of water in milk jugs every third day so she can boil water to wash dishes, cook food, bathe and drink.

 

Tragically, Maggie has three choices. Move out of her home, get her neighbors to bring her water or dig a new well. In reality, due to the drought conditions in her county, there is no guarantee that her land has any more water. But she told Fr. Matt, “I want to die at home.”

Maggie made her decision to stay in her home and signed the well digger contract last week with an estimate over $10,000 depending how deep they have to go to find water again. Prayers are needed that they find clean and drinkable water.

The final words of Jesus to the people of Divine Mercy in Vegas, the farmers of Holy Family in North Java, the people at Holy Mother of the Rosary in Lancaster and to my neighbors in Bethany is how we are to live our faith on this earth: “clean water, warm clothes, plenty of food will come to everyone on the planet when those of us who have surplus of any kind live fully moral lives, namely when we accept that is it not right to have surplus while other lack necessities:

Giving drink to the thirsty, clothes to the homeless and food to the hungry involves looking at these principles with more moral courage than we have up to now.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and give thanks for you all.  I give thanks that Jesus rose from the dead and lives today.  And I give thanks that He still needs and wants us to meet Him in everything we do and every place we go.

 

 

Blessings on Thanksgiving

 

My favorite holiday of the year is Thanksgiving. It’s the one day of the year we formally celebrate being grateful. If it were up to me, we would have Thanksgiving on the calendar once a month. Other than loving God and your neighbor as yourself, there is nothing more important than practicing gratitude. Meanwhile, thank you, Lord, for your many blessings, and help us to be mindful that every day should be a day of thanksgiving. 

"Thanksgiving Table Blessing"

Heavenly Father, as we gather around this table, we lift our hearts in gratitude for Your bountiful blessings. We thank You for the gift of this nourishing food, for the hands that have prepared it, and for the love that brings us together. Bless our time of fellowship, and may our conversation and laughter be pleasing to You. 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends sitting at a festive table with family and friends and especially for those home alone with their pet companions by their side. May we pray together in gratitude for all of God's good gifts. Fr. Matt

Glitter Glue with Jesus

 

BATAVIA NEWS published November 16, 2023

NORTH JAVA — Holy Family Parish in North Java has made great strides to achieve a new look in its Sunday School room as it continues its community outreach efforts.

Renee Bagwell took over as the Sunday School teacher at Holy Family last year in December. As she approaches one year of teaching Sunday School at the Polish National Catholic Church parish, there are now about 14 children who attend the class, ranging from 4 to 12 years old.

“It is going amazingly well,” said Bagwell regarding her first year of teaching. “I had some trepidation about volunteering to do it because of the importance of the role but since I can easily harness my inner 9-year-old who still loves stickers, glitter, crayons and googly eyes, it has been fun and rewarding.

“It helps that the children are amazingly well behaved and love the interaction,” she continued. “There have been some learnings on my part from mishaps that luckily the parents have not come after me for with pitchforks and torches, like using washable markers to decorate Styrofoam cups to hold Mother’s Day flowers, which resulted in very colorful palms when carrying the cup back into church to present to the moms.”

Bagwell wanted to create a more inviting environment for children to learn in, so she did just that.

“Sunday School is about helping raise kids to be good humans, with empathy, understanding and integrity. Most importantly, Sunday School has to be fun, so that they want to come,” said Bagwell.

Holy Family Parish at 4316 Rt. 98, North Java welcomes residents with open arms during Sunday Mass each week at 10 a.m. Children are encouraged to attend Mass and Sunday School at the parish.

After Fr. Cory gives absolution and the starting prayer, the children and teacher go to the front of the church for a blessing and then head to the schoolhouse for Sunday School. Bagwell wants children to get the most out of the class each week.

“Kids love colorful spaces, fun activities and glitter glue,” said Bagwell. “The parents may not be as big of fans of the glitter, but they are a fan of the updated Sunday School room.”

Since becoming the Sunday School teacher, Bagwell has implemented some changes including making the program more fun and interactive with less use of booklets. Though there is no formal Sunday School held during the summer, Bagwell still tries to get the children together during Mass to spend time on the playground or work on some projects at the picnic table.

In September, Bagwell and her helper, Ron Eddy, spent a week transforming the Sunday School room from drab and dreary paint colors into a colorful and fun space for learning.

“The wainscot under the windows and chalkboard were painted a pastel rainbow scheme,” Bagwell said. “Besides the cheerful colors, the rainbow also ties into the lesson of Noah’s Ark when after the great flood, God placed the rainbow in the sky to remind us of his promise to never flood the whole world again. The walls were painted sky blue with inspirational quotes placed throughout the space, along with a few small stickers hiding here and there that kids have fun looking for, such as a mouse reading a book or a fairy playing with butterflies.

“To finish the room, the 66 books of the Bible were painted around two sides of the room perimeter with handmade stencils,” she said.

In addition to Sunday School, Holy Family also offers religious education from 10:40 to 11 a.m. starting in April that continues for eight to 10 weeks depending on how well the children learn the material.

The opportunity is available to children 7 or older to achieve their First Communion. Last year, according to Bagwell, seven children achieved their First Communion.

“My main hope is that during these highly charged times they [children] learn that God loves absolutely everyone, even those who you fundamentally disagree with,” Bagwell said. “I want them to learn empathy, patience, understanding and to be grateful for what they have and not so worried about what they don’t have.”

In addition to the changes to the Sunday School room, the church also rents out the schoolhouse for events. There is also an outside pavilion and playground use patron to rent and utilize for birthday parties.

For more information about Holy Family, visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HolyFamilyPNCC or on its website at holyfamilyncchurch.org.

The church also hosts a Sunday Social on the first and third Sunday of each month. All are welcome.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends at Holy Family in North Java. Miss your smiles, compassion and love for God. Spread the word on Facebook that Holy Family welcomes all God’s children with open arms to enjoy the glitter glue and fun. Fr. Matt & Spinach

 

Can You Help Maggie?

 

“This is Maggie, can you bring me some water…”

Susan, my spouse, received this voicemail from our next door neighbor on Saturday that broke my heart.

 

 “This is Maggie, can you bring me some water…” Sadly, Maggie lives in East Bethany where currently over fifty homes have gone without water during this summer because their wells have run dry.

 

Maggie’s well went dry five weeks ago. She hired a water pump contractor who delivered 1500 gallons of water into her well. He returned several times to repair her plugged water pump. However, last week he returned again and told Maggie: “there’s no more water in your well and you need to dig a new well.”

 

Maggie’s neighbors in Bethany have trucked 1500 gallons of water in pouches for the past six months and they will need to do this throughout the winter months. Maggie is a frail senior living on social security and SSI with no truck, no ablebodied relatives, no Genesee County grant assistance, and no water.

 

Susan brings ten gallons of water in milk jugs every third day so she can boil water to wash dishes, cook food, bathe and drink.

 

Maggie signed a contract with a well digger who heard her plight and he said: “we can’t let that lady be without water.

 

Tragically, Maggie has three choices. Move out of her home, get her neighbor to bring her water or dig a new well. In reality, due to the drought conditions in the GLOW area, there is no guarantee that her land has any more water. But she told Fr. Matt, “I want to die at home.”

So Maggie made her decision to stay in her home and signed the well digger contract last week with estimate over $10,000 depending how deep they have to go to find water again.

 

Maggie’s home was built in 1945 and she has lived in this home all her life. Her father hand dug the well that has provided water until a month ago. Prayers are needed that they find clean and drinkable water.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who find themselves in desperate situations, no water, no job, no health and look to You for courage and strength. Give this lady and all her neighbors good drinkable water again. Let me know if you have any thoughts on how you or your church can help Maggie.

 

 

 

 

All Puffed Out

I received a kind invitation to offer a blessing prayer for Holy Family’s newly remodeled school of religion classroom. Renee worked to refurbished the classroom into cheerful, happy place where children come to learn how much God loves them. So, I brought along my puppet Spinach and together we shared the following lesson based on this Sunday’s gospel story.

“Everyone who makes himself great will be made humble. But the person who makes himself humble will be made great.” Luke 14:11 

 

 

This morning I have a balloon with me actually their teacher had bought ten balloons in the shape of different animals. A balloon is a simple toy, but it brings a lot of pleasure to people of all ages. There are so many things you can do with a balloon.

You can use balloons for decorations at a party or you can bat them around in the air like a ball. If you have a long, skinny balloon, you can even make it into the shape of an animal. Yes, a balloon can bring a lot of happiness, but it can bring sadness and disappointment too. If a you pop the balloon, the sudden noise can make you scared and cry.

You and I are sometimes are like a balloon. We sometimes get all puffed up and think we’re better than other people. We start blowing up the balloons.

Sometimes we may think we’re better than other people and we expect everyone else to think so too. (The kids blow into their balloons). Maybe we think we’re smarter than the other kids in our class. ( The kids blow more air into their balloons). Or maybe we think no one is as good as us in sports (They keep blowing more air). Or perhaps we think we are a better singer than anyone (They keep blowing). Sooner or later, if we keep getting puffed up by thinking we’re better than others, something will happen to burst our balloon. Some of the balloons began to deflate and some pop!!!

"Everyone who makes himself great will be made humble. But the person who makes himself humble will be made great.” Luke 14:11 

 

 

Jesus teaches us not to be too proud and think we’re better than other people. Jesus says we are to be humble and realize that when we are good at something, it is because it is God blessing us with special gifts.

From now on, when you see a balloon, I hope it will remind you that we should not become too puffed up and think we’re better than other people.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine friends especially the children, who have come to learn how much you love them. Help us be humble and not think we are better than other people. Remind us that whatever abilities we have are a gift from you and that you are the one who deserves the praise!