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An affirming ministry of the Divine Mercy Franciscans to ALL God's children

Faith Conquers All Difficulties: 12^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Reflection

By Rev. Bob Johnnene OFD

Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Franciscans of Divine Mercy

Reformed Catholic Church International of New England

www.missionstsergius.org
Mission_St_Sergius@msn.com
Based on the readings from: Job 38:1, 8-11, 2 Corinthians 5:14-17, Mark 4:35-41

　

“From the heart of the tempest the Lord gave Job his answer.”

These words taken from the first reading for the 12^th Sunday of Ordinary time are a reminder that sometimes in the darkest moments of our lives; God is actually trying to send us a message.

The reading from the Gospel of Mark is also a lesson we need to keep always in the forefront of our minds and it is that Faith and trust in God will overcome all trials if we believe. The story is of how a strong gale sprung up and the apostles became afraid that the boat was about to sink while Christ as asleep in the stern. The apostle being terrified; “
woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are going to drown!’ Christ woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and all was calm again. Then Christ said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? How is it that you have no faith?” Far too often in our lives we become afraid and feel overwhelmed by the circumstances that surround us. I certainly can relate to that feeling when sometimes I wonder if I am making a difference in peoples lives and actually doing the Lord’s work especially when people rarely respond and so few seem to respond to our plea for donations to support the work of the ministry. It is in those times that God always seems to send me a message of affirmation by either a phone call or an email message, letter or a donation arrives.
Faith in God is the strongest weapon to sustain one in times of difficulty.

Without faith we often sink into deep hopelessness and depression because we feel alone and forgotten. God never forgets any of us. God is always there if we call upon Him and He will always answer us in the way that is in our best interests even if we do not see it that way. We need to call to mind the words from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians; “
The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all men should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them……therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-17) Just as the apostles feared that they were about to sink and drown in the storm because they were forgetting who was with them, we also often forget that God is there beside us if we but seek Him out in our hearts using faith as the device to call upon Him.
This past weekend I had the extreme pleasure to meet hundreds of people who seemed surprised but happy to find us at the Boston Pride Festival and loved our mission’s message of; GOD LOVES ME AS HE CREATED ME. All 800 of the stickers we had made up were gone before the day was half over. One female impersonator gave Bishop Mel and me a warm friendly embrace and a sincere “Thank You” for our message of affirmation. More than 30 people signed up to receive our weekly reflections and the Mission News Letter and many offered a small donation to help us spread the word of God’s Infinite Love for ALL His children regardless of their race, creed, nationality or sexual orientation.

With faith there is Hope. With Hope there are possibilities.

For much of my life I told people that my theme song was THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM. It still is! My dream now is for a time that every human being on the face of the earth is treated with dignity and respect. I dream of a time when all Christian faiths will once again unite as one just as the early church was one. I dream of a time when all the hierarchy treat each other as equals and focus on directing the church according to the basics Christ taught in the SERMON ON THE MOUNT and as found in the CORPORAL AND SPIRITUAL WORKS OF MERCY and not on how much power and wealth they can attain.

I have FAITH that one day, more than likely not in my lifetime, this will happen because it is the will of God and in God’s time, He will bring it to be. We humans forget that our time is not God’s time. God often is patient and allows us to have our way as a test. The first reading for this Sunday was from one of my favorite books of the Bible, the book of Job. In fact at one time in my life it was the Book of Job that saved me from self destructing and led me back to God and my service as a Deacon, Teacher and now priest. The book tells of how God allowed Satan to test Job’s actual faith and trust in God. Job lost everything he had even his family but he never gave up on God. As a reward, God gave Job back 10 times what he had before. The message for this week is; HAVE FAITH AND BELIEVE THAT GOD LOVES YOU AS HE CREATED YOU and will come when you call to Him. AMEN

Friday June 19, 2009 - 12:18pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Trinity Sunday 2009 Reflection: Trinity Sunday Reflection
Based on the readings from Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40, Romans 8:14-17, Matthew 28:16-20
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFD,

Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Franciscans of Divine Mercy
Reformed Catholic Church International of New England

The first reading for Trinity Sunday from Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40 gives us the following statement supposedly from Moses; “Moses said to the people: Understand this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever” This advice, on the face of it, is straight forward and actually easy to follow so why have religious leaders over the millennia made following it so difficult by injecting man made regulations into it and therefore making it so difficult for people to know and love and worship God? The second reading for Trinity Sunday is from Paul’s letter to the people of Rome, which we are told was the chair of Saint Peter the first Pope. In it Paul tells the Romans the following; “Everyone moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory.” Romans 8:14-17 These two reading combined confirm that if we follow God’s commandments, love God, worship God that as heirs to God’s kingdom we will share in God’s glory if we practice Christ’s teachings. Exactly what was it Christ said was the greatest two commandments? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. And the second is like unto it, Love your neighbor as you love yourself” Mark 12: 29-31 In Luke 16:13 we are advised of the following; “No servant can serve two masters at the same time. He will hate one of them and love the other. Or he will be faithful to one and dislike the other. You can't serve God and Money at the same time.” This advice is what seems to have diverted so many people, including leaders of the various religious denominations, from loving and serving God, as they should. In today’s world we are facing a financial crisis which some claim would be worse even that the depression of the 20’s and early 30’s and it was brought on by GREED. People, especially corporate executives and people who had to have the most modern and costliest of homes, gadgets and luxuries often at the cost to the poorest of society. This was not the way God or Christ and saints like St. Francis, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Padre Pio or for that matter Pope John Paul I would have wanted it. The Gospel of Matthew 28:16-20 relates the story of the first things Christ had to say to his disciples after he had risen from the dead; “The eleven disciples set out to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them. When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came up and spoke to them. He said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.” Here we hear for the first time the trinity spoken of together. Here we also hear Christ telling us to observe or practice what he taught. Christ also affirms that “know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.” Christ will never leave us. We might choose to give up on believing in God and practicing our faith as we should because we feel that we are not wanted or a religious person has rejected us.
God the Father/Creator, His beloved son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, in other words the Trinity, are always with us and ready to hear us. We only have to call out to them and they will hear and answer us with what will be best for us. They will also attempt to protect us and guide us even when we turn a deaf ear to them.
The Trinity is One God in three personifications. The WORD by which creation came to be when God SPOKE.(See Genesis 1 ) THE SPIRIT as defined in Isaiah 11:2 "The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" and in Numbers 11:25 "Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied,” THE SON, God made flesh, as we read in Mark 1:10; “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased." and in Luke 1:32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." Let as resolve on this feast of God as the Trinity to give God the honor, praise and worship He deserves, as we have been instructed by the prophets, Christ and the Apostles and ignore all the man made regulations that have caused so many pain and to feel unwanted, unloved and separated from God and often prevented from His worship. AMEN

Friday June 5, 2009 - 06:48pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Commemorating Pride Month and 40 years since Stonewall: Commemorating Pride Month

A reflection on the forty years since Stonewall

By Rev. Bob Johnnene OFD, Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Franciscans of Divine Mercy

Reformed Catholic Church International of New England

Forty years ago this month I left the theater I was performing in and went to the Stonewall Bar in Greenwich Village for a drink and to chat with friends before going home after a long day of rehearsals and performing. Little did I realize that I was going to become a part of history. As I was slowly nursing my Scotch and water and chatting with an actor friend the place was stormed into by a group of police in both plain clothes and uniforms who proceeded to manhandle and abuse patrons, especially any that looked like they may not be 21.

The were doing what had become all too familiar, harassing the clients almost all of whom were homosexual. This night things became very different than all the previous times, this time the clients fought back and many got arrested but the battle continued for many more nights as the streets of the village became a battle ground but in the end things would never be the same. On that night the GLBT community claimed their rights as citizens and demanded to be treated equally. We have come a long way since 1969 but the battle continues.

The battle now is over being given the same legal protections and rights to marry the partner of our choice, to be allowed to worship our God like every other individual, to be able to be teachers, priests, nuns and to openly serve our country as a GLBT person. The battle is not to entice people into being homosexual or the Gay Agenda as some Right Wing Conservative preachers and politicians claim. God creates individuals with their sexual identity so it is not a choice. Who, in their right mind would choose to live their life with the harrasment, discrimination and violence that is often perpetrated against GLBT persons.

Yes we have come a long way, but we still have not achieved equality and justice.

We have come a long way in that Television shows have openly gay characters, sexuality is discussed and not perceived by intelligent people as being perverted.

For my part, I no longer hid my sexuality in the closet but became proud of how God created me with my sexual orientation.

1969 was the beginning of my living like a free man and not being ashamed of who I was.

As we commemorate that night 40 years ago, let us not be complacent but let’s renew our fight for equality and justice in all areas of life for all people in all countries.

As President Barack Obama has stated in his proclamation honoring the events of that night
“The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect”….My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States. These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected.”
Remember the motto our ministry has created
“GOD LOVES YOU EXACTLY AS HE CREATED YOU” or as the bumper sticker and stickers we will be distributing at the Boston Pride Festival on June 13^th on Boston City Hall Plaza for a small donation to help our ministry say; GOD LOVES ME AS HE CREATED ME.
The time is now for all people who are gay, lesbian or transgendered or have a GLBT family member, friend, work associate, or neighbor to speak out for equality and justice and therefore make this country and the world a better place for all people.

Let as gather together in our chosen place of worship and ask God to open up the hearts and minds of those who have used hate and prejudice to discriminate against GLBT persons so that they will become more accepting of the diversity of God’s creation. AMEN

Tags: gaypride, stonewall, glbt,

Tuesday June 2, 2009 - 08:07pm (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
Pentecost Reflection: Veni, Sancte Spiritus, Come, Holy Spirit, Come

Reflection for Pentecost Sunday by Rev. Robert Johnnene OFD

Mission Sts. Sergius and Bacchus/ Franciscans of Divine Mercy

Reformed Catholic Church International of New England

www.missionstsergius.org
Acts 2:1-11; Galatians 5:16-25; Psalm 103, John 15:26-27,16:12-15, John 20:19-23

　

“Come, Holy Spirit, come! And from your celestial home shed a ray of light divine!” with these words the beautiful prayer to the Holy Spirit, VENI, SANCTE SPIRITUS, begins. The feast of Pentecost is also referred too as the Birthday of the church because it celebrates the decent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.
After the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in tongues of fire when they spoke people of every race and nationality heard them proclaiming the truth of Jesus teachings in the language of the listeners present.

The word of God must be translated carefully preserving the meaning of the original writings at the time they were written and not, as has been done with Holy Scripture and other church documents, into the meaning the words have taken on throughout history.

The purpose of having the liturgy of the Eucharist, commonly called Mass, translated into English and other languages under Vatican II from Latin, was to make the liturgy more understanding to all participating, unfortunately the translations failed to meet the original meaning of the Latin and became less than a spiritual experience and more a modernized prayer service and theatrical experience in some cases often loosing reverence. God’s word was not meant for a chosen few but for all .

The Apostles were told to preach to all nations even unto the ends of the earth. In order to do this and faithfully proclaim the truth one has to know the meaning of the original Greek and Aramaic words of the first writings.

A perfect case in point is the word “homosexual” being found in translations of scripture. The word “Homosexual” was created in 1869 and references where it is being used in scripture were not referring to the sexual orientation but to group sex or sexual excesses used as a form of worship to false Gods or for humiliation of a human being which is a grave sin. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us
“No one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13)
It is in this letter that one of the most redeeming passages of scripture can be found. Paul informs us
“everyone has different gifts bestowed on them by God through the Holy Spirit.” He goes on to affirm that there are “Different forms of service, but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces them all. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” “For in one Spirit we were all Baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek, slave of free person, we were all given to drink of the one Spirit”
The Gospel admonishes us to
“Live by the Spirit”, it goes further to confirm that the desires of the flesh can cause a breakdown of the graces provided to us. Some of the “Desires of the flesh” Paul mentions, besides the obvious one of indiscriminate sexual pleasure are:, immorality , lust , idolatry ( the worship of false gods which would also include placing money or wealth or power above love of and worship of God), hatred, rivalry, jealousy, anger or fury, selfishness, and drunkenness. To elaborate on each of these today and how we might possibly cause ourselves to be separated from the Gifts He freely gives us through the Holy Spirit, would take more time than we have. Hatred, jealousy, rivalry, anger , fury, and selfishness are among those Paul mentions and usually cause more pain and hurt to others than partaking in those that involve sexual pleasure with a loved one.
It is some of those “Desires of the Flesh” that have caused the separations that exist within the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church just as giving in to those personal pleasure desires have caused the scandal that has disgraced so many. Each of these “Desires of the Flesh” affords us many ways of sinning. They are human faults that every individual has; our task is to try our best to resist their lure.

One thing that I personally can attest to is that, if we call upon God daily, or as many times as we need to in order to resist the temptations that plague us every day and ask God to send us the Holy Spirit, God will oblige.

One of my daily prayers begins with
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill my heart and kindle in in me the fire of your love so that I might be renewed” In John 16: we are promised, “The Spirit will guide you to all truth. The spirit will not speak on its own, but will speak what he hears from me and declare it to you”. The spirit speaks within us always with God’s will and teachings, we need to hearken to what we hear, even when it is opposite to popular thinking.
God is a loving, forgiving, compassionate God. Jesus proclaimed this by his words and actions so often by relating to all who came to him regardless of their race, creed or sexual orientation.

God is always there awaiting your call. He does not have an answering machine, voice mail, or a secretary. You will not receive a message
“Sorry God is busy taking a call from another special customer, please remain on the line and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received”. God is always listening to what we are saying and will respond to us according to what He feels is best for us. God always answers our prayers, just not always in the way we want, but in what will be best for us.
Many times God actually comes to us and speaks to us in our dreams, or quiet times and even sometimes while driving a car, listening to the I pod, watching TV or playing ball. Unfortunately, we are often too preoccupied to listen to what he is telling us through the Holy Spirit. I suggest that the time is NOW for us to begin to be more receptive to those calls from God. Don’t put God on hold, but take a break from what ever we are engaged in and listen with an open and receptive heart.

We need to allow ourselves to
“Receive The Holy Spirit” so that we can begin to develop a deeper and closer relationship with Almighty God and begin the elimination of the “Desires of the Flesh” that have prevented us from receiving all the gifts of The Spirit, Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. May God grant us the wisdom and understanding and the ability to hear Him when He speaks to us so we live our lives with compassion, love, charity and true Christian Brother/sisterhood toward all we encounter. AMEN

Saturday May 30, 2009 - 07:59am (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments
A Reminder Invitation: Reminder Invitation

This is an invitation to all those who receive the missions weekly reflections and News Letter either directly by individual emails or the missions postings on blogs like HI 5, Facebook and Yahoo 360.

On Saturday June 13^th from 10:0-0 AM to 7:00PM Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus, The Franciscans of Divine Mercy and clergy of the Reformed Catholic Church International of New England will be staffing an information booth at the Boston Pride Festival on Boston City Hall Plaza.

We will be greeting people and distributing information that supports the GLBT community, same sex holy unions (weddings) and refutes the often-made claims of some Christian denominations that claim homosexuality is against God’s plan.

If you will be in the greater Boston area, please plan to stop by and say hello.

Having information booths at pride festivals cost almost $600 for registration and booth space, insurance and the printing of materials distributed per festival but we feel it is important that the GLBT community and ALL people know that God loves them infinitely.

Your consideration to assist us in spreading this message by making a DONATION using a debit or credit card through the PAYPAL DONATE links on our web site
http://www.missionstsergius.org or by sending donations directly to the Missions account at MISSION SAINTS SERGIUS & BACCHUS C/O Middlesex Savings Bank, 830 Washington Street, Holliston, MA 01746, would be greatly appreciated.
All donors are added to the prayers offered for our supporters at mass daily.

Please pray for our ministry and the clergy of the Reformed Catholic Church International of New England who are in full support of the message of God’s infinite love for ALL His children just as He created them regardless of race, nationality, creed or sex.

Peace and all God’s blessings be with you every day.

Rev. Bob Johnnene OFD

www.missionstsergius.org

Tags: bostonprideday, god'sinfinitelove, , servinggod'schildren, god'slove, gay, god, facebook

Tuesday May 26, 2009 - 09:15am (EDT) Permanent Link | 0 Comments