Teaspoons Not Allowed!

Ninth Sunday of the Ordinary Time is the opportune time for our parochial community at St. Kazimierz in Kraków's Grzegórzki to give thanks to the Lord for the wonderful spiritual journey of our parochial week-long retreat which ended last evening. In front of us three special days of preparations for the visitation of the Sacred Image of Divine Mercy accompanied by the holy relics of the greatest Apostles of Divine Mercy - Saint Sister Faustina and Blessed John Paul II. I spoke about the importance of these three days in my today's homily, asking people to open up completely in trust to Divine Mercy. Divine Mercy is not a syrup which we drink in teaspoons. Nope. If you want to please the Lord, come to Him with trust the size of largest bucket you can afford to carry. The text of the homily in Polish below. Use Google translator on top of the right sidebar to read in your language, please. Have a blessed Sunday!

Diaconate

I have been waiting for this day for many many years. When I arrived to Tanzania, and then to Kiabakari, I met this tiny altar server Agostino Barageti Masamaki Mapambano, a third grade primary student (if I remember correctly). I watched as he grew in years, faith and wisdom. And now, twenty two years later, he received diaconate along with his classmate from Musoma Cathedral, a person very close to my heart, whom I met in the cathedral some ten years back and it happened that at that time William Bahitwa chose to join the formation year and then major seminary...

Two Small Coins

“Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."” (Mk 12:41-44)

A couple of weeks ago a letter came for the youth of Musoma Cathedral who asked me for a retreat here in Kiabakari, in the diocesan shrine of Divine Mercy. Some of those youth I worked with back in 2002-2006 when I was a pastor there. The letter brought back memories of that period and one particular moment of it, when the youth group of Musoma Cathedral asked me for a retreat day for them. I complied and we had a recollection day in the cathedral...

The Avenues Of Love

November is my favorite month. The mystery of the Communion of Saints fully relived and experienced anew by the whole Church. All Saints Solemnity congratulating our sisters and brothers for passing the exam of holy life, worthy of God's accolade and acceptance in Heaven. Asking our champions to keep a watchful eye on us walking together towards the gates of Heaven...

Such Faith

The Gospel of Saint Luke, chapter 7, verses 1 to 10, is read today. It is all about a simple yet powerful faith in Jesus and His tender merciful Heart, which is touched by the people's misery. It is all about Jesus' praise of such faith and His rebuke that He did not find such faith in the Children of the Chosen Nation:

A Quiet Day?

Yeah, it was supposed to be a quiet day. An office routine day. As I am recovering from amoeba and fluctuating blood pressure, I wanted today just to stay home and be available to people coming to the office. And sure, they did come!

Liturgical Calendar In Songs

So Sad

Read carefully the Gospel of tomorrow's Eighteenth Sunday of the Year B. The follow up of last Sunday's Gospel. But this time we do not ask ourselves if we follow real Jesus or prefer to create a fake Jesus according to our expectations or convenience. This time we ask - what are we looking for in our life of faith? Do we look for Jesus and the truth He revealed to us? Or we follow Him because He gives us something - food, money, things we desire... "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled."

The One Who Knows

Saint James Apostle, the first among Apostles to shed his blood for his Master, whose liturgical feast we celebrate today, is one of the three true 'Illuminati', the chosen ones among the Apostles, who were allowed by the Master himself to know Him best and participate in the full account of His life, teachings, mysteries and actions...

Dunes

I had no time to reflect upon the last Sunday's Gospel. As it touched me deeply, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on this. Since I am homebound and sick with flu, this is an opportune time to fulfill my desire...

Why?

Why is it that among all holy women and men of the Catholic Church, only Saint John the Baptist's birthday is celebrated solemnly in the liturgy of the Church? Of course, apart from Our Lord and Blessed Virgin Mary birthday celebrations. Not even Saint Joseph got his own birthday noted and celebrated in the liturgy. Weird. This speaks volumes about the importance of the life of Saint John the Baptist in the history of salvation. Apart from the birth of Jesus himself and his Mother, the birth of John the Baptist is the third most important birth in the scheme of redemption...Wow.

To The Mountains

Time to pack again and leave to the Tatra mountains, to the small rural parish where I will help pastorally during the Holy Triduum. I am very happy to be able to reconnect again with a friend of mine, the parish priest of that parish, who happened to work in my home parish years ago, when I was still a seminarian. Being able to visit him again and serve the local parochial community in this holy time is a really exciting prospect which I am looking forward to very much. As the parish is small in terms of statistics, but big in spirit and faith, I will immerse myself in this divine and human realm and draw from the fonts of loving waters in the liturgy and my private adoration, meditation and prayer. As always, I will take you all with me in my heart, continuing my prayer for all of you and all intentions dear to your hearts. God bless us all in this wonderful Holy time of Lord's Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Naaman's Skin

"But his (Naaman's) servants came up and reasoned with him.
"My father," they said,
"if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean". (2 Kgs 5:13-14)...

Rainbow

The First Reading of tomorrow's First Sunday of Lent Liturgy speaks forcefully about God's love and commitment to us and our salvation:

Eight Routes Up The Mountain

As the majority of solemnities of the liturgical calendar which occur on weekdays are moved to the nearest Sunday in Tanzania, today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. The Gospel of today's liturgy speaks of Eight Routes up the mountain of God (The Eight Beatitudes).

The Grave

A few days ago a man came to my office asking for advice what to do in a case when the family members of a deceased elder decided to renovate his grave paying their respect to him. The man was buried 28 years ago in a family plot adjacent to the Divine Mercy Hill, just on the other side of the road that runs around the hill...

The Connection

The liturgical commemoration of St. Martha is celebrated annually on July 29th. Today. The connection between St. Martha and Christ, the High Priest of the New Testament fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament, struck me particularly hard this morning when I was celebrating the weekly Mass at sisters' convent...

Green, Green, Green!

Celebrating the Holy Mass this morning, for the first time since before the Lent season started. I like to vest in green chasuble after Christmas and Easter seasons. It is such a symbolic gesture and the color full of deep meaning. Reminding me of my duty to take care of blessings and special graces I was granted by God in His Holy Church in the just-passed festive season...

Orphans

Two keywords of this Sunday Liturgy of the Word - "The Spirit of Truth" and "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you"."The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live." (from today's Gospel of Jn 14:15-21)

Heart Warming

It started innocently, just like that... At first I noticed first graders stopping in their tracks on their way to our school as I was celebrating morning Masses in February, when the first grade class opened at that time... Some of more curious and inquisitive children would stop initially near the school and just stare wondering what was going on up the hill in the bright lit chapel in such an early hour of daylight...