Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

The Holy Week and Easter celebrations went so well because so many volunteers were willing to lend a hand.  The Liturgy Committee made up of Sr. Catherine Cappello, Anne Kearney, Eileen Miller, Bro. Dat Nguyen & Fr. Mike Quinn helped plan these celebrations.  At Holy Thursday’s celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we had 3 volunteers process in the Oils that were blessed by the Archbishop and the priests of the Archdiocese at the Chrism Mass.   Eileen Miller, who volunteers as a RCIA team member, brought in the Oil for Catechumen that we use for those preparing for initiation into the Church.  Dr. Brad Angeja, a physician, brought in the Oil for the Sick.  8^th grader Sean O’Driscoll, who was recently Confirmed, brought in the Sacred Chrism.

In addition, 6 parishioners volunteered to have their feet washed.  They were CJ Arenas, Bev Baptista, Gary Giabini, Joe Jovero, Lucille Kovash & Samantha Miller.  But more than that, they in turn washed someone else’s feet.  Each person who was washed, in turn stayed and washed someone else.  It was truly beautiful to see.  In one instance, a 2^nd grader, John Francis Kosewic, whose foot was washed, stayed and washed the foot of an older gentleman, LTC. Walter Farrell (USAF, ret.), which is what Jesus meant when He said to “do this in memory of me.”  He didn’t simply mean to celebrate the Eucharist, but to imitate His self-giving and service to one another.  I’m grateful also for Dianne Marquez and the choir who enriched the Last Supper Celebration with their gift of music. 

The Environment Committee also needs to be thanked.  Pura Lippi, her sister Aurora and Ninh Lawhon helped decorate the hall downstairs, which we used that evening as the Altar of Repose.  After Jesus had the Last Supper with his friends, he went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray.  So the Blessed Sacrament was processed out of the Church and taken down to the lower hall where the faithful could “stay and pray” with Jesus.  The Blessed Sacrament was not brought back into the tabernacle until the Easter Vigil.

On Good Friday, we were fortunate to have Bishop William Justice lead us in the Noon-3pm Meditation. We began with Stations of the Cross at noon, followed by a meditation and concluded with Liturgy and Veneration of the Cross.  On Good Friday Evening, Sr. Catherine prepared a meditation on the Stations of the Cross for those who were unable to attend the earlier services. 

On Saturday morning, the Environment Committee with a host of angels, helped transform the Church into a beautiful place to celebrate Easter. I’m grateful for all their hard work, as we were there from 9am until close to 2pm. 

The Easter Vigil was also spectacular as we began in darkness.  With lighted candles, we held vigil for the resurrection of our Lord.  Kumiko Jovero, Nicholas Stevens & Jennifer Sullivan were baptized at that mass, Wesley Powell was welcomed into the Catholic Church, and Madeleine Conui received Confirmation (along with the others). I’m grateful to Sr. Rita Chen, the RCIA team and the Sponsors who helped prepare these candidates to become full members of our Church. 

I’m grateful also to our Sacristan, Jaime Longa, to all the Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, Musicians and Altar Servers who volunteered to serve at these liturgies.  And to the Under 5 Committee, thank you for organizing the Easter egg hunt following the 9:30am mass.  To Wil Bucoy, I thank him for setting up Close Circuit TV (CCTV), so the overflow crowd could participate in the liturgy down in the hall.  Approximately 30 people were able to make use of this technology.  I regret not being able to mention everyone who helped, but what’s more important, is whether our names are written in the Book of Life.  Nonetheless, know that I am grateful for your ministry that makes St. Brendan great. 

Happy Easter!

Fr. Dan

Reflection of Our Parochial Vicar

Divine Mercy Sunday

When I was in seminary, I learned so very much more about the depth of our faith.  One of the new lessons  I obtained was about Divine Mercy Sunday, the chaplet of Divine Mercy and how to recite it and what it meant for me/us. This did not occur in a vacuum as I will relate and it caused me to give increased attention to it. We had exercises of different spiritual methods and approaches each semester and one included reciting the Divine Mercy chaplet, which was a devotion founded by Sr. Faustina Kowalski (1905-1938), using a Rosary. She reported visions of Jesus and conversations with Him which she recorded in her diary. She became known as “the Apostle of Mercy.”  The three main themes of the devotion are to ask for and obtain the mercy of God, to trust in  Christ’s abundant mercy, and finally to show mercy to others and act as a conduit for God's mercy towards them.

    The devotion places emphasis on the veneration of the Divine Mercy Image, first seen by Sr. Faustina, which depicts a stream of blue color and red color coming from Jesus with His arms outstretched.  We

    have such an image in the vestibule of St. Brendan’s Church and it is to depict the water and blood of    Christ that Jesus shed for us in His Divine Mercy to us. The image is displayed and venerated by Catholics on its own, and is solemnly blessed during Divine Mercy Sunday.  The devotion includes specific prayers such as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

    In the year before I came to St. Brendan’s , I served as a deacon at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in San     Francisco where Bishop Ignatius Wang is in residence. I enjoyed my time at Holy Name and became     friends with Bishop Wang and the priests, deacon and good people of Holy Name.  I learned first-hand    that Bishop Wang had been the presiding Bishop at Divine Mercy conventions held throughout the Bay Area and I was privileged to accompany him as his deacon for Mass.  Some of my best conversation have been while driving. Bishop Wang who explained that the image of God’s Divine Mercy is made public to us in the sacrifice of His Son, a  total and complete sacrifice as Jesus shed his last drop of blood and water signified by the blue and red streams of light from the sacred heart of Jesus.  We discussed that it did not matter that it really was the last drop of Jesus’ blood or not, but that we should appreciate the totality of  the sacrifice of Jesus in the Paschal Event – the suffering, death through crucifixion, and glorious Resurrection in Christ. He added that that is what made him attracted to the Divine Mercy of God, the contemplation of the totality of God’s life giving sacrifice.

    I thought about that for a while and measured my giving to God as in need of a “boost.”  I evaluated , at    that time, that while I had done much to trust in God by sacrificing to enter seminary, I had not done it     with the last ounce of my conviction or every fiber of my being. I believed myself to be like most of us    who hold back just a bit and reserve dedication to God and appreciation of God’s plan for us and the

    sacrifice of Jesus, even if less than we used to, with concern for earthly matters. One of my concerns at     that time was what parish would I be assigned to as a new priest. I decided after that car ride to completely trust in God’s plan for me.  As we all know, that plan involved me coming to St. Brendan’s parish, a “dream assignment” that I have enjoyed beyond words. Trusting in God’s mercy means  trusting

    completely. It is a wonderful experience that is rewarded always. Try it!!!!

   Fr. Mike

A (Christian) Easter Message

 Last Easter, British comedian Ricky Gervais, in a Wall Street Journal article “An (Atheist) Easter Message,” expressed why he was not a Christian.  He wrote that it is not because Jesus’ teachings would not make this world a better place, but rather how Christians failed to live up to His teachings.  Measuring himself against the 10 commandments, he felt himself better than many who called themselves Christians.  That may very well be true and we certainly know Christians who are bad examples to others.  We may have been guilty of it ourselves.  However, living the ethical life is not the essence of our Christian faith.  The heart of our faith is God’s love for us.  We are invited to respond to that love, by living according to His way: the way of love, faithfulness and mercy.

We are also taught to have faith and hope, even when darkness seems to overwhelm us.  Daily we hear of murders, abductions, never ending wars and natural disasters.  How can we have hope, when everything around us seems headed for destruction and death?  However, what we celebrate at Easter is that the overwhelming power of death cannot conquer life and love.  Through God’s grace, even the scars and wounds we bear from our losses and pain will not be with us forever.  In fact, with faith and love, they can be turned to strengths.  We can learn from our failures and tragedies, to build a better world because we are an Easter people. 

What we rejoice at Easter, is that we do not have to be perfect to be loved by God.  God could have easily destroyed us all when sin entered the world.  However, God chose to come Himself to heal and restore us.  Whenever we entrust our situations over to God, the God of mercy and forgiveness will help us.  He desires to give us a full and abundant life, even when we prefer to stay where we are, alone and in the darkness.

We have done nothing to merit God’s graciousness, but God bestows His love freely upon us simply because we belong to Him.  We are His, even when we deny Him.  We are loved, even when we choose to go our own way and ignore Him.  We are blessed with life and beauty, even when we do not believe in the One who created it all.

However, to those who have learned to see the goodness and beauty of God, and have expressed our appreciation through good deeds done for others, I imagine God smiling, winking an eye and nodding in appreciation.  I imagine God saying to us, “Thank you!  For you I have given my very best.  For you, I have delighted to show you my love.  For you, I have paid the price for sin, so that you do not have to live in fear.  Rejoice!  Celebrate the life I have given you and share my joy and love with those around you.  Be merciful as I have been merciful with you.  And when the time comes, do not be afraid to come home.  I’ll leave the Light on for you, to lead you safely back home.”

  

Yes, in spite of the chaos and destruction around us, what we celebrate

today, Easter, is that life is also all around us.  Author Clarence W. Hall once

wrote, “If Easter says anything to us today, it says this: You can put truth

in a grave,but it won't stay there.You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in

windingsheets and shut it up in a tomb,but it will rise!”Thank God He cared

enough to show us a way out of darkness. In the end, darkness will not

prevail, but Love, Light and Truth will. As St. Augustine once wrote, “We are

an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.”

  

With best wishes for a Blessed Easter Season from all of us at St. Brendan’s,

  

Fr. Daniel Nascimento

Pastor