Hall Update
Work on the hall is progressing smoothly after a slow start caused by unanticipated boulders that required removal by a jackhammer. There have been a few unexpected expenses such as the heating system in the hall not working that may require a new replacement. We are still aiming to complete the hall by early October, and hopefully it won’t take longer than mid-October.
Copper Downspouts
As many of you may have seen or heard, some of the downspouts around the School and Church have been stolen. Apparently, it is happening all over the city in public schools as well. Parishioners Bryan Birmingham, a contractor, and Adrian Duggan, a plumber, have suggested that in place of plastic downspouts, we use cast iron to match the décor of the building. Six downspouts were stolen from the School and the Church buildings. But there are an additional 16 downspouts around the other buildings, so hopefully our insurance will cover all the replacements.
Back to School
As our parents and children begin a new school year, we want to welcome our incoming Kindergarten class and their families. Joining them this new year, will be Mrs. Laura Nusbaum who will be the new school counselor. Mrs. Megan Rabbit, who had been teaching 2nd grade and was on maternity leave, will return this year and take Mrs. Bev D’Angelo’s afternoon kindergarten class. Mrs. D’Angelo retired at the end of last school year and we wish her well. Mrs. Sonia Ino, who was substituting for Mrs. Rabbit, is now the regular 2nd grade teacher. We continue to be blessed with good and talented faculty and staff that will help us maintain the high standards the Dominican Sisters have set for us. You are all invited to the opening school Mass on Friday, September 2 at 8:15am.
Seminarian Dat Nguyen
Along with new staff at the school, we will also have a Seminarian stay with us this year. Mr. Dat Nguyen is from Epiphany parish in San Francisco. He attended high school in Orange County, CA and Pittsburgh, PA. He graduated from Duquesne University in 2004, majoring in Chemistry with a focus in pre-medicine. He will be doing his pastoral year with us, which is like an internship, so that he can get some practice and experience in the life of a parish priest. He will stay with us beginning September 1st. Welcome, Brother Dat!
Summer Break
It is nice to have capable staff and volunteers, like Fr. Mike, Flora Sinajon and Linda Miles, take care of the parish so I can leave with no worries. During my break, I spent time with my brother and his family here in the city. He has 4 sons and 1 daughter, ages from 15 to 3. We’ve done many day trips, from playing softball in the Marina green, boating on Stow Lake, visiting the Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, to enjoying the rides in Santa Cruz Boardwalk. I’m finally back at work to get some rest. Hope you all had a wonderful refreshing Summer too.
Peace,
Fr. Dan
Friday, August 26, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Reflections of our Parochial Vicar
“But Who do You Say that I Am ?”
Jesus asks the question of his disciples in this weekend’s Sunday Gospel that He asks of us. What is our perception of Jesus? How do we describe the working of God in our life? Do we desire to know and love Him more ? Most probably we have never thought of this question directed to us before. But this is the question we must all answer. The answers will be numerous and have great variety. But Peter responded from his heart with a sense of wonder and awe when he said “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This answer predates the learned treatises of the Trinitarian God. This was said without the illustrations we have enjoyed in life either in book, film, news or further education. This was done without the libraries full of books that are intentioned to help us respond. This was a response of faith - a felt present tense sense of God.
I was fortunate to attend a retreat day sponsored by the Archdiocese for principals, and administrators and parish priests on August 10, 2011, in preparation of the opening of the 2011-2012 academic year. The theme of one of the guest speakers was “Do less; Live More!” suggesting that within our lives and particularly for school leadership positions, they would shortly be tugged in many directions from the many people and interests they serve. His message was essentially that we should seek to do what we can - which is not everything - as well as we can, and to honor and cultivate a sense of the “present moment.” How true this message is for us all ! We need to allow time for ourselves to enjoy the love of God and of each other in the present moment, to enable us to respond to Christ’s inquiry of each of our descriptions of God to us.
The retreat speaker noted that within our American society we have a tendency to walk right by our life within the present to a place we think we should be. He noted that we needed to “make sacramental” the present moment. Extrapolating his message and applying it to this weekend’s Gospel, I believe that it is within the paradigm of appreciating the present that we can most readily be aware of God. I believe that if we are always in a state of getting to know God better through endless and hurried activities so that we might answer this question with technical precision, we miss the mark. As Christ asks His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” There is a suggestion that there is no right or wrong answer. He is speaking to how we feel about him within our hearts not just our heads. St Augustine said it best in his Confessions- “Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eyes of the heart whereby God may be seen.” From this perspective we can ready ourselves to respond to Jesus with our sense of who Jesus is to us.
What I believe is tragic is the answer- “I’ve never thought much about who You are to me.” This carries with it the inference that the task of getting to know God personally just was not that important or seemed so daunting that we did not try. The first alternative is a rejection of God’s love and the second is to choose to use all of our precious time on earth effectively avoiding appreciation of God. Either of these two answers is equivalent to rejection of God’s offer of friendship and love. Let us try and find God’s working within our everyday life and find how loved and gifted we all are! Let us know God well!
Fr. Mike
Jesus asks the question of his disciples in this weekend’s Sunday Gospel that He asks of us. What is our perception of Jesus? How do we describe the working of God in our life? Do we desire to know and love Him more ? Most probably we have never thought of this question directed to us before. But this is the question we must all answer. The answers will be numerous and have great variety. But Peter responded from his heart with a sense of wonder and awe when he said “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” This answer predates the learned treatises of the Trinitarian God. This was said without the illustrations we have enjoyed in life either in book, film, news or further education. This was done without the libraries full of books that are intentioned to help us respond. This was a response of faith - a felt present tense sense of God.
I was fortunate to attend a retreat day sponsored by the Archdiocese for principals, and administrators and parish priests on August 10, 2011, in preparation of the opening of the 2011-2012 academic year. The theme of one of the guest speakers was “Do less; Live More!” suggesting that within our lives and particularly for school leadership positions, they would shortly be tugged in many directions from the many people and interests they serve. His message was essentially that we should seek to do what we can - which is not everything - as well as we can, and to honor and cultivate a sense of the “present moment.” How true this message is for us all ! We need to allow time for ourselves to enjoy the love of God and of each other in the present moment, to enable us to respond to Christ’s inquiry of each of our descriptions of God to us.
The retreat speaker noted that within our American society we have a tendency to walk right by our life within the present to a place we think we should be. He noted that we needed to “make sacramental” the present moment. Extrapolating his message and applying it to this weekend’s Gospel, I believe that it is within the paradigm of appreciating the present that we can most readily be aware of God. I believe that if we are always in a state of getting to know God better through endless and hurried activities so that we might answer this question with technical precision, we miss the mark. As Christ asks His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” There is a suggestion that there is no right or wrong answer. He is speaking to how we feel about him within our hearts not just our heads. St Augustine said it best in his Confessions- “Our whole business therefore in this life is to restore to health the eyes of the heart whereby God may be seen.” From this perspective we can ready ourselves to respond to Jesus with our sense of who Jesus is to us.
What I believe is tragic is the answer- “I’ve never thought much about who You are to me.” This carries with it the inference that the task of getting to know God personally just was not that important or seemed so daunting that we did not try. The first alternative is a rejection of God’s love and the second is to choose to use all of our precious time on earth effectively avoiding appreciation of God. Either of these two answers is equivalent to rejection of God’s offer of friendship and love. Let us try and find God’s working within our everyday life and find how loved and gifted we all are! Let us know God well!
Fr. Mike
Friday, August 12, 2011
Reflections of our Parochial Vicar
Faith in God Involves Trust and Perseverance
There is a lesson, a very necessary one, for all of us related in this Sunday’s Gospel in the example of this woman’s faith in Christ's public life. It is the necessity of perseverance in our prayers of petition. Prayer is an essential part of our Christian life, and depicts our relationship with God. Types of prayer include adoration and thanksgiving, and prayers of petition - generally the more typical of our daily prayers. We have so many spiritual and temporal needs, needs which we cannot provide by ourselves. Christ himself has told us to ask him for these needs: "ask and you shall receive."
I witnessed the faith of a woman of faith from our parish recently, who, when receiving the Sacrament of the Sick and anointing, happily extended her hands for the Eucharist, the last food to pass her lips. She had faith in the promise of Christ and depended upon that promise, just as the woman of today’s Gospel. Both women persevered in faith. The reason I wish to share this with all is that a person with hours left to live has the inclination to shed false values and to esteem that what is of greater value including faith in God and hopefully sharing last moments and words with loved ones.
My father used to tell me that of persons in the end stages of life, he had yet to hear of a person asking for another hour of work, job title or public accolade preferring instead to be with loved ones, including God.We have faith in those we love. I propose that an enduring, persevering and hope-filled love is one of our greatest values. We are asked to invite Jesus into our lives and trust in that love for us.
The Canaanite woman exemplifies for us that deep-seated faith and trust in Christ's power and Christ's goodness. Even though Jesus seemed to ignore her and initially refuse her, she persevered with a faith and trust that did not waver. He granted her request.
We must imitate and learn from this pagan mother. Her love for her child made her ready to undergo every hardship or suffering for the restoration to health of her loved one. When we turn to Christ in our needs is our faith in him as sincere and unwavering as was this woman's? No doubt it often is, and yet we do not get the desired answer. As Christians we know that our particular request may not always be for our good, or for the final good of the person for whom we are praying. In that case, the good God will not grant what would be to our eternal disadvantage. If our prayer is sincere and persevering - we shall always get an answer, and one that is better than what we asked for.
It is only when we get to heaven - and getting to heaven is our purpose in life - that we shall see how our prayers, sincere and persevering, were answered by God and why. For now we must learn to trust in God.
Fr. Mike
There is a lesson, a very necessary one, for all of us related in this Sunday’s Gospel in the example of this woman’s faith in Christ's public life. It is the necessity of perseverance in our prayers of petition. Prayer is an essential part of our Christian life, and depicts our relationship with God. Types of prayer include adoration and thanksgiving, and prayers of petition - generally the more typical of our daily prayers. We have so many spiritual and temporal needs, needs which we cannot provide by ourselves. Christ himself has told us to ask him for these needs: "ask and you shall receive."
I witnessed the faith of a woman of faith from our parish recently, who, when receiving the Sacrament of the Sick and anointing, happily extended her hands for the Eucharist, the last food to pass her lips. She had faith in the promise of Christ and depended upon that promise, just as the woman of today’s Gospel. Both women persevered in faith. The reason I wish to share this with all is that a person with hours left to live has the inclination to shed false values and to esteem that what is of greater value including faith in God and hopefully sharing last moments and words with loved ones.
My father used to tell me that of persons in the end stages of life, he had yet to hear of a person asking for another hour of work, job title or public accolade preferring instead to be with loved ones, including God.We have faith in those we love. I propose that an enduring, persevering and hope-filled love is one of our greatest values. We are asked to invite Jesus into our lives and trust in that love for us.
The Canaanite woman exemplifies for us that deep-seated faith and trust in Christ's power and Christ's goodness. Even though Jesus seemed to ignore her and initially refuse her, she persevered with a faith and trust that did not waver. He granted her request.
We must imitate and learn from this pagan mother. Her love for her child made her ready to undergo every hardship or suffering for the restoration to health of her loved one. When we turn to Christ in our needs is our faith in him as sincere and unwavering as was this woman's? No doubt it often is, and yet we do not get the desired answer. As Christians we know that our particular request may not always be for our good, or for the final good of the person for whom we are praying. In that case, the good God will not grant what would be to our eternal disadvantage. If our prayer is sincere and persevering - we shall always get an answer, and one that is better than what we asked for.
It is only when we get to heaven - and getting to heaven is our purpose in life - that we shall see how our prayers, sincere and persevering, were answered by God and why. For now we must learn to trust in God.
Fr. Mike
Friday, August 5, 2011
Reflections of our Parochial Vicar
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Trust in Jesus
I once read a business book, Lions don’t Need to Roar, and the author discusses how to make a positive first impression and to maintain a lasting positive impression with others through everything from proper posture and proper language to proper humor, intelligent questioning and all in an effort to present an impressive professional appearance at all times. This book came back to me as I reflected upon the tremendous effort we expend on trying to live up to the perceived expectations of our brothers and sisters in every circumstance on earth.
Mothers and Fathers try to be good moms and dads and many work themselves to the point of exhaustion at home, at work, at social gatherings and in the busy schedules they maintain. Single people are equally busy and ever ready for that right other person who just might become their life partner in marriage. Our children go to camps and schedule themselves for club sports as well as school sports, social activities and school. Many priests are mindful of the needs of their parish and want to inform the people sometimes of bad news, (like a leaky roof ), in as diplomatic terms as possible. Alas, it is the human condition!!
In today’s Gospel, we find Jesus there at a time of need, (when the boat was being tossed about by the waves and winds of a storm), calmly approaching and extending his hand to offer help. I believe Peter represents the faithful, who turn to Christ mindful of their human circumstance, yet ready to trust in the Word of God delivered by Jesus. I further believe that just when deliverance from the storm seems at hand, those old worries come clamoring back into our heads causing us to doubt in complete deliverance by Jesus.
We might be troubled by considering our loved ones who are ill. We might be troubled by weather or traffic. We might be troubled by the economy either of our nation or of our personal finances. There are numerous things we might worry about. But there is an alternative. We can turn to God in whatever storm we are enduring in our lives and present our needs. We might dismiss the notion of “How we might look” to substitute it with “How I might have hope.” For us, this means to turn to Christ with our circumstances and concerns regardless of how we appear on the surface. Jesus judges our hearts and motives and responds to that construct. Perhaps after finding that our trust is well-placed
in Him,we will find not only comfort but the enduring realization that we will be judged by more than surface traits and the realization that our God walks with us and is always willing to love us if we but ask.
Fr. Mike
I once read a business book, Lions don’t Need to Roar, and the author discusses how to make a positive first impression and to maintain a lasting positive impression with others through everything from proper posture and proper language to proper humor, intelligent questioning and all in an effort to present an impressive professional appearance at all times. This book came back to me as I reflected upon the tremendous effort we expend on trying to live up to the perceived expectations of our brothers and sisters in every circumstance on earth.
Mothers and Fathers try to be good moms and dads and many work themselves to the point of exhaustion at home, at work, at social gatherings and in the busy schedules they maintain. Single people are equally busy and ever ready for that right other person who just might become their life partner in marriage. Our children go to camps and schedule themselves for club sports as well as school sports, social activities and school. Many priests are mindful of the needs of their parish and want to inform the people sometimes of bad news, (like a leaky roof ), in as diplomatic terms as possible. Alas, it is the human condition!!
In today’s Gospel, we find Jesus there at a time of need, (when the boat was being tossed about by the waves and winds of a storm), calmly approaching and extending his hand to offer help. I believe Peter represents the faithful, who turn to Christ mindful of their human circumstance, yet ready to trust in the Word of God delivered by Jesus. I further believe that just when deliverance from the storm seems at hand, those old worries come clamoring back into our heads causing us to doubt in complete deliverance by Jesus.
We might be troubled by considering our loved ones who are ill. We might be troubled by weather or traffic. We might be troubled by the economy either of our nation or of our personal finances. There are numerous things we might worry about. But there is an alternative. We can turn to God in whatever storm we are enduring in our lives and present our needs. We might dismiss the notion of “How we might look” to substitute it with “How I might have hope.” For us, this means to turn to Christ with our circumstances and concerns regardless of how we appear on the surface. Jesus judges our hearts and motives and responds to that construct. Perhaps after finding that our trust is well-placed
in Him,we will find not only comfort but the enduring realization that we will be judged by more than surface traits and the realization that our God walks with us and is always willing to love us if we but ask.
Fr. Mike
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