A mission of the Franciscans of Divine Mercy. We are a welcoming and affirming faith community to all who feel disenfranchised, unwanted, and rejected by Faith Communities. We welcome all persons who believe Christ was the redeemer and savior. The mission pastor is Rev. Robert Johnnene OFD
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Thursday, December 06, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
Thursday, November 01, 2018
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Wednesday, October 03, 2018
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Thursday, September 06, 2018
Friday, August 31, 2018
Homily for Sunday Sept. 2, 2018
Living
According to Christ’s Word
By
Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM for Sept. 2, 2018
Throughout all of history we
humans have treated Almighty God as though he were human, and therefore desired
the same things as we human’s desire. Clergy dress in fancy clothes, maintain
homes that the average person cannot afford, Engage in elaborate liturgies with
all the trappings of royalty. Trillions have been spent to build beautiful
palaces as monuments and places of worship to God although Christ did most of
His preaching under the open skies of His Father‘s cathedral. What I believe
God wants, is for us to live our lives with compassion for others, being mindful
of the needs of others and not just our own needs and edification.
In today’s Gospel Jesus
tells us; This people honors me with
their lips but their hearts are far from me.” The same could very well be said of many
so-called Christians today from clergy, government leaders and the average
citizen.
Certainly, we need a place
to gather together safe from the elements of nature, a simple plain building
with the necessary space for people to gather, where we can celebrate our love
and honor Almighty God and partake in the Eucharistic Feast He has given us
through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Simple cups just as I am certain Christ
used at the Last Supper, would be proper instead of the golden bejeweled ones
so popular in many churches. Yes, we need to be able to travel to visit His
faithful who are unable to gather at the place of worship, but we do not need
fancy cars only reliable and simple transportation that will get us from one
place to another safely.
Somehow over the 15 years of
my ministry has grown slowly, from nothing to reaching people every week all
over the globe via our TV show and locally more than 200 that I serve with Mass
and Eucharistic visitations without any of the things mentioned above.
I manage to get to visit
those in need who are local, or I counsel them via the telephone or internet.
I have learned that God will
provide what you need just as we are told in Matthew 6:25-27 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not
sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?” If we were to take all the Gold,
Jewels, let's not forget the Billions of actual cash that religious
denominations have and use it to Feed the hungry, Give drink to the thirsty,
Welcome the stranger Clothe the naked, Visit the sick, Visit the prisoner, Bury
the dead. (Matthew 25:31) what a difference it would make in this world.
If all people who proclaim
they are followers of Christ, or Buddha, or Yahweh, or Muhammad would practice
the basic teachings of their religions faithfully, all of which preach peace
and brotherly love, and find a way to work together toward living in peace many
of the worlds ills would cease to be.
The time has come for us to
realize that we all worshiping the One God and creator of all that is, by whatever
name HE/SHE is called, and that that God desires His children to care for each
other as He cares for them.
If we could just achieve
this we would have no more wars, people would not be dying of Famine and
plague. Our Seraphic Father, Saint Francis, realized how little the riches of
the world meant compared to the riches of eternity. He stripped off all His
fancy clothes and donned the clothes of a peasant. He shared his simple loaf of
bread with the poor on the streets. Mother Theresa realized this. Padre Pio and
Martin De Pores did also, as did many others who tried to show the way and were
rewarded with sainthood but their message seems to have been ignored.
The world has kept on with
their elaborate shows of excess as a means of praising God. For some reason, we
just can not seem to grasp God's wishes and keep allowing our human thinking
and desires to color our way of living the Word of God. Looking at the Christ's
list things that defile and comparing them against the way people, leaders of
nations and Religious denominations are living today, Always seeking the upper
hand and control in all things, seeking to gain profit at the expense of the less
fortunate who barely are able to maintain a decent living, desiring material
trappings rather than having compassion for those in need, using deceit, lies
or religious domination to justify war, indulging in indiscriminate sexual
behavior rather than committed loving relations, promoting sensuality and
narcissism to sell unnecessary products to increase the bottom line and the
profit margin for select individuals.
One has to ponder where we
are headed and how God is looking upon all this and what He might feel is
needed to open our eyes and hearts to begin to live according to His teachings
as proclaimed by His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
I believe the time is now
for us to take a good hard look at the way we are living and make a concerted
effort to change our ways and begin to live the Gospels not just preach them.
AMEN
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Homily for Sunday Aug. 12, 2018
I Am the Bread of Life
Reflection for August 12, 2018, 19th
Sunday of Ordinary Time
By Rev. Bob Johnnene OFM
Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Order
Franciscans of Mercy
Readings: 1 Kings 19:4-8; Psalm 34:2-9;
Ephesians 4:30-5:2; John 6:41-51
Divinemercyparish@msn.com
On Wednesday, I will be celebrating the 15th
anniversary of my ordination which gave me the very special gift to consecrate
the bread and wine into the body and blood of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ.
This honor from God, of being among the few
chosen ones to carry on the instruction to the apostles “As often as you do
this you do so in commemoration of me” is both humbling and awe-inspiring.
Because this gift means so much to me I have
chosen today, to reflect on that reading from the scripture readings for
Sunday, to enumerate on just how special the Eucharist is for sustaining us in
our relationship with God and the need for us to avail ourselves of every
opportunity to partake of it.
Christ, Himself has said; “I myself am the
bread of life, no one who come to me shall ever be hungry” The bread of life is
the Eucharist, given to us by Jesus Christ at the Last supper when Christ
celebrated the Passover Feast with His apostles. Christ took the bread and with
His eyes raised up to heaven blessed it saying, “Blessed are you, Lord God of
all creation. Through your goodness, we have this bread to offer which earth
has given and human hands have made, it will become for us our bread of life.
Blessed be God forever” then He took the cup of wine blessed it saying;
“Blessed are Lord God of all creation. Through your goodness, we have this wine
to offer, fruit of the vine and the work of human hands. It will become our
spiritual drink. Blessed be God forever”
Christ then tells us “This is my Body, This is
my Blood, take and eat” If we accept that Christ came to give us a new covenant
other than that which God had given to Moses. What better day, than the
celebration of the Passing over of the angel of death and the covenant made at
the time to Moses, to make know the new covenant.
Today’s gospel continues the story of Christ’s
visit to the temple in Capernaum where Jesus had just told the apostles and the
crowd “You should not be working for perishable food but for food that remains
until life eternal, Food which the Son of Man will give you, it is on Him that
God the Father has set His seal”. When asked “What must we do to perform the
works of God?” Jesus answered “This is the work of God, have faith in the one
He has sent”.
Have faith, in other words believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the son of God made man, who came among us to give us the way to
gain eternal glory with God. “I myself am the bread of life, no one who come to
me shall ever be hungry”. Jesus went on and tells the crowd that even though
they have seen all He had done, they still did not believe. Unfortunately, today
so many of us still question and have doubts. There are even some who say that
This is all a myth conjured up by individuals to achieve power and wealth. Some
even claim that there is no God at all. Then, as now, people murmur and say the
same things as those recorded in today’s gospel, “HOW CAN HE CLAIM TO HAVE COME
DOWN FROM HEAVEN”. To even allow this thought to enter your mind let alone
express it indicates that you do not believe that all things are possible with
God.
“I am the Living Bread which comes down from
heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread
which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51) This gift
of the Eucharist which Jesus left us is perhaps the most precious gift we could
ever have. It is sad that so many choose not to partake of the gift at every
opportunity. Christ has promised us “Let me firmly assure you, whoever believes
has eternal life”
By participating in the liturgical celebration
of the Eucharist we are given that extra boost to be able to ward off the
forces of evil that surround us. The Eucharist is like a vitamin from God,
which strengthens our defenses and brings us closer to God. Everyone who
believes in God and Jesus Christ as the son of God should be able to partake of
this God given gift to us.
To deny someone this gift, not because they
have committed a grievous sin, but because they have been divorced from an
individual who was abusive or a philanderer or because they were created by God
with a sexual orientation toward a member of the same sex, is wrong. If
anything, these individuals need that
extra boost to find God in their hearts and to
live a life that is pleasing to Him.
It saddens me that I, at this time, am limited
in how many I can share the bread of life with because of not having a
permanent chapel or place of worship. But I a humbled to have been chosen as
someone who is able to consecrate the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of
Our Lord, THE BREAD OF LIFE.
I urge all to take advantage of this
life-giving gift and to partake of it at every opportunity. It is a very
precious gift and one that we should not waist. In these very chaotic times, we
need to turn to Almighty God for strength to endure them and to partake of all
the channels available to us.
Prayer alone is not enough; we need to live our
faith by our actions and fully participate in all the opportunities to
strengthen that faith. The Eucharist will give us the endurance to carry on
until we are called home to the promise “Let me firmly assure you, whoever
believes has eternal life”
AMEN
Thursday, August 09, 2018
Saturday, August 04, 2018
Sunday Aug. 5, 2018 Homily
Feast
of the Transfiguration, Monday August 6, 2018
By
Rev. Bob Johnnene OFM from Readings: Daniel 7:9-14, Psalm 96, 2 Peter 1:16-19,
Mark 9:2-10
Mission
Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Order Franciscans of Mercy
Tomorrow is the feast of the
Transfiguration of the Lord and I know that sounds embarrassingly magical. In
the reading from Peter, he even remarks, “It
was not any cleverly invented myths that we were repeating when we brought you
the knowledge of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; we have seen
His majesty ourselves. He was honored and glorified by God the Father, when the
Sublime Glory itself spoke to him and said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; he
enjoys my favor’. We heard this ourselves, spoken from heaven, when we were
with him on the holy mountain.”
Think about this, Jesus goes
up onto a mountain and his clothes become dazzlingly white. Prophets appear and
talk to him. And then it is all over and Jesus tells his disciples to say
nothing until he has gone to the father. Why should we believe the absurdity of
this incident? Why was this even included in the approved gospel texts? What
purpose and what gain could the church have from having this in the Holy
Scriptures?
It changes in no way what
Christ taught. A story like this would make any skeptic laugh. There is only
one reason to put it in the Gospel, and that is because it happened. It is a case of the evangelists recording
events they had witnessed down, even though they knew people would think them
daffy which Peter acknowledges in his letter.
The true miracle of the
Transfiguration is not the shining face and white garments, or the appearance
of the prophets of Old or the voice of God thundering from the heavens, but the
fact that from that time until after Christ had ascended into heaven, Jesus hid
his glory so well.
The first recorded
celebration of this feast is in the fourth century in the Armenian church
around the tenth century the Roman church adopted the feast and in 1456 it
became a feast for the Universal church to be celebrated on August 6th.
The words of Almighty God,
heard by the Apostles present, “This is
My beloved Son, Listen to Him” might be the real reason that this relation
of events is important. Almighty God is
proclaiming to the world that what Jesus had taught is what He, God, wanted
people to do.
It was, possibly, God’s way
of proclaiming a new order, a new covenant. God may have been telling us that
all the rules and teachings that had preceded Jesus birth were meant to prepare
the world for his coming and guide them in leading a good life.
Think about it! If we “Love the Lord, our God, with your whole
heart, mind, soul and body and love our neighbor as ourselves” what else is
there to do?
To love God completely means
that we live our lives in such a manner as to have respect for everything that
Almighty God created. We would take care of God’s creation and not destroy it.
We would try to see God in every person we meet, even those who are not in
agreement with us.
By living he Second part of
Christ message “Love your neighbor as yourself” we would not condemn a person
because they were divorced until we know all the circumstances, or because they
were created by God to be attracted to people of the same gender and had fallen
in love with someone.
We would not disparage a
person because of their national origin, or the color of their skin, or because
they chose to worship Almighty God in a church other than ours. In short, we
would have respect for all people of good will.
As for those individuals who
would do us harm, or are full of anger, hate, jealousy, and greed, who steal,
murder, cheat and do all manner of evil things, we need to pray for them and
ask God to drive the power of evil from them as Christ drove out the demons
from those possessed.
To Transfigure means to
REFORM, CHANGE, REVOLUTIONIZE, and UPDATE. Perhaps, that is another reason why
the story in included in the scriptures, God inspired the evangelists to
include it because He was trying to let them know that through Christ a new age
had come. Through Christ God was teaching us a new way of thinking, God was
reform all that had come before and showing us the way to Eternal Salvation
with Him.
If that was and is the case,
how sad that so many years have gone by with our stubbornly holding on to the
old ways and only accepting that part of Christ’s message that suited our own
agendas and political purposes.
On this feast of the
Transfiguration, let us contemplate on this and what the event meant and why it
was included in Scripture. Was it included just as another story of Christ’s
life and events, or did God inspire the writers of the event and the hierarchy
and those involved in making the decisions about what was “ORTHODOX” scripture
and what would not be admitted to include that story in the hopes that at some
time we might contemplate on it and seek the meaning.
I do not purport to know the
answer, I just think it might be worth more knowledgeable people to think about
it and the ramifications it could have on our current way of thinking about how
we will achieve everlasting life with Almighty God as promised by His son Jesus
Christ our savior and redeemer. AMEN
Wednesday, August 01, 2018
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Believe and the Lord will Provide
A Reflection for 17th Ordinary Sunday
July 29, 2018
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM
www.missionstsergius.org www.orderfranciscansofmercy.org
Listening
to the news today is so depressing, Battles over immigrants, wars rage in the
middle east, natural disasters are occurring all over the globe, people in
Africa are being devastated by hunger,
I have heard many say, “What is happening in
this world, people are so self-concerned and don’t seem to care about anybody
but themselves” “The way things are in
the world today, my heart is full of fear” “Why is there so much chaos,
tribulation in the world ?”
My
answer to them is the theme of today’s reflection, “Believe in God,” “Put your
trust and Faith in God”, “Turn toward God and work hard to live as Jesus taught
us” “Trust in God and He will take care of You”
In
this Sunday’s gospel, the story of the miracle of the loaves and fishes, is an
example of what is possible when you trust in God.
The
five loaves of bread and two fish were enough to feed a huge multitude of
people who had followed Christ. After all had eaten their fill there were still
twelve baskets leftover.
This
story is an example of what is possible if we put our trust and faith in
Almighty God.
In
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he is entreating the people to “Lead a life
worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and
meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the
unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace. Live according to the call God
has given you and accept it with humility and meekness and patience with others
always seeking the gifts of The Holy Spirit to sustain you.
“In A
Bond Of Peace” As long as individuals, governments, church denominations and
nations cannot live in a Bond of Peace we seem to be destined to continually
bring on ourselves the troubles we are experiencing.
As
long as we continue to be focused on our own personal needs and not expand our
horizons to actively take an interest in the needs and concerns of all God‘s
children, as long as we fail to extend outreach to those in need and
demonstrate compassion, as long as we fail to turn to Almighty God and live
according to the commandment given us by Jesus Christ “Love the Lord, your God,
with your whole heart, mind, soul and body and love your neighbor as yourself”
we will continue to see strife and discord running rampant through the world.
Strife,
jealousy, greed, and discord are the tools the Evil one uses in his attempt to
gain dominance over Almighty God and gain followers to His evil intent of
becoming greater than Almighty God.
Today,
we desperately need to turn our focus toward the teachings of Jesus Christ and
begin to put our faith into action. We must begin to be more accepting of God’s
diversity. We need to put an end to all discrimination based on a person’s
marital status, sexual orientation or race. We need to share the blessings that
God has provided us with those less fortunate. We must stop being self-centered
and greedy and more generous. In short, we need to believe and trust in
Almighty God, Turn to Him pleading for justice for all His Children.
Jesus
has said: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me,
though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and whoever lives and believes in me shall
never die.” (John 11:25-26)
The
letter of Paul to the Ephesians ends with the reminder “There is one body and
one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM, ONE GOD and father of us all, who is above
all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)
I
implore each of you as you go forth into the world today and every day to put
God first and foremost in your daily actions. Treat everyone in the same way as
you yourself want to be treated. Let God know that you accept His will totally
and completely even when it does not fit your agenda.
I
believe that if each and every one of us were to actually live this way and
allow God’s grace to flow through us to all we encounter, we could actually see
changes for the Good in the world.
If we
put our total trust in God, I know, from personal experience, that He will
provide us with all that
we
need, when we need it and in proportion to how much we need.
Go
forth and Believe in God totally and He will Provide. AMEN
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Friday, July 20, 2018
Homily for Sunday July 22, 2018
Oneness
and Peace in Christ
Reflection
for July 22, 2018 by Rev. Bob Johnnene OFM
Mission
Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Order Franciscans of Mercy
Based on
Ephesians 2:11-19
Ephesians 2: 11-19, One of the readings for Sunday twenty second of
July is one of the moat affirming and welcoming passages that a person who
might have doubts or questions could reflect on. It begins by reminding people
that we were all considered outsiders. Today we find more and more people
withdrawing into smaller and smaller groups and differing with others over
petty and truly insignificant things. The world is being torn apart because of
national, political, racial and religious differences. Churches are being torn
apart because of same sex unions, homosexuals, woman and married priests, and
families are being torn apart because of infidelity.
We need to call to mind that this is not something new as Paul reminds
us with the following; “Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders
by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who
were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and
not their hearts."
This is something that we should keep in mind.
Throughout history and in our everyday life, one group or another is or has
been looked upon as an outsider by other groups or nations. I believe we all
have experienced the feeling of “Not being one of the accepted ones”. Every Day
we read about some group or another being excluded because “they are
different”. This passage lets us know that the followers of Christ themselves
were considered such, and today many still are because they do not conform to
the manmade rules.
Paul reminds the newly converted of Ephesus that those things only
affect the body and not their hearts. It is our hearts and souls, the way we
live that determines if we are outsiders or part of the accepted crowd.
The important thing to remember is that, if you totally accept Jesus
Christ as your Redeemer and Savior and you live a life according to His
teachings, you are not an outsider, at least not in God’s eyes. And isn’t that
what really counts?
“But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away
from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of
Christ.”
“He has
broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us.”
This part of
the message is also very enlightening, and important in light of the events
taking place in the Middle East. It explains Christ mission here on earth and
as followers of Christ we are called to continue His purpose. “His purpose
was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new
person from the two groups.“
I feel that
possibly that part of the message might have been left for us to fulfill. In
fact I feel certain that it is our responsibility as followers and believers of
Jesus message to work toward bring peace to all of God’s children, Muslims,
Jew, Arab, Asian, Latino, Gay or straight, man and woman and all Who proclaim
to believe in Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately,
the next part of the message seems to not have come to fulfillment, “
Now all of
us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit
because of what Christ has done for us.”
The next
part of the letter of Paul reminds us that Our Bodies become a Temple for the
Lord.
“So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are
citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family.
We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And
the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined
together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are
also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”
If we are temples for the lord, then why do we defile that temple by
prejudice, hatred, violence, war, and discrimination. If we are temples of the
Lord, why do we allow people to suffer because of poverty, lack of medical
attention, loneliness‘, inadequate affordable housing?
If we are truly the temples of God, then we need to be open to all as
God is open to all. We need to stop separating ourselves into one of the groups
that look upon others as outsiders and start living as one group. We need to
come together as one family, the family of Almighty God, brothers and sisters
of Jesus Christ. We need to accept the differences that exist in each
individual, group, denomination, just as Jesus accepted all different people
and groups.
We need to begin to live as Jesus instructed us. Jesus is called; THE
PRINCE OF PEACE, we need to work for and in him to achieve that Peace in each
of us and between all the various groups, nations, and churches. AMEN
“God's love is everlasting and infinite and His mercy and compassion is
unlimited.”
AMEN
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Thursday, July 05, 2018
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Friday, June 15, 2018
Wednesday, June 06, 2018
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Thursday, May 03, 2018
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Thursday, April 19, 2018
Friday, April 13, 2018
Thursday, April 05, 2018
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Monday, March 26, 2018
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Thursday, March 01, 2018
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Thursday, February 08, 2018
Thursday, February 01, 2018
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Saturday, January 06, 2018
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