Monday, March 26, 2018
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Sunday, January 7, 2018
Epiphany Sunday Homily
Reflection
for Feast of Epiphany 2018
January 7, 2018
By Rev. Bob
Johnnene OFM
Mission
Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Franciscans of Mercy
Readings
from: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72, Ephesians 3:2-6, Matthew 2:1-12
If
you look up the word EPIPHANY in a dictionary you find it has more meanings
than just the feast we celebrate on January Seventh this year.
One
of the meanings is “manifestation of a
divine being”; the other meaning is “A
Sudden intuitive leap of understanding or faith, especially through an ordinary
but striking occurrence”.
The
feast of The Epiphany fits both definitions.
God made His son known to the world through the Three Wise Men’s visit
after they had followed a star that they, as astronomers and astrologers,
believed foretold of the birth of the king of all kings.
The
Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the feast as the baptism of Jesus Christ.
The
event certainly fits both definitions; a
manifestation of a divine being and an intuitive leap of understanding or faith
through an ordinary but striking occurrence, for that is exactly what
happened.
The
three wise men believed an astrological sign and followed a star which was not
one they knew, and which seemed to be a beacon traveling through the sky to
Bethlehem to behold the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.
The
birth of such a child had also been prophesized not only in Jewish writings but
in the writings of other religions, probably those who trace themselves back to
Abraham.
In
Hispanic and Latin cultures and some places in Europe, the feast day is known
as Three Kings’ Day. Epiphany
marks the end of the Christmas Season and the Twelve Days of Christmas, which
are usually counted from December 25th until January 5th. In many traditions,
the day before Epiphany is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, the evening of
which is called Twelfth Night.
This
is an occasion for feasting in some cultures, including the baking of a special
King's Cake as part of the
festivities of Epiphany. Polish people
celebrate the feast by marking the initials of the three Kings, (Casper,
Melchior, Balthazar) over their door with the numerals of the year in the
following manner; (20CMB18) which they believe will bring them good fortune
throughout the year and their dining table upon which they feast is covered
with straw under a linen cloth to simulate the manger where Christ was born.
What
we need to reflect on is the wonderful manifestation of God’s only Son, who
came to us as a poor infant human with all the characteristics and difficulties
of humans and what that should mean to each of us.
God
in His goodness and wisdom made himself visible to us in Jesus Christ. Prior to
this all the recorded manifestations of God to humans were in tongues of fire,
a burning bush, a cloud, but never in human form. In fact, the Jewish people and even the
prophets believed that looking directly at God would mean death which is not
exactly the picture of the infinitely loving, merciful and forgiving God St.
John speaks of in his gospels.
In
the Gospel of John 15 verse 5 St. we read; “I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Jesus came to teach us the way to live so that we could attain
everlasting life.
In John 14:15-21 Jesus states the reason for his being sent to
earth. God was not a disjointed voice booming out of clouds or in a burning
bush, He was flesh and blood. He said: “If you love me, obey my
commandments. And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. I will send The Holy Spirit, who leads into
all truth. …When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my
Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments
and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father
will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” The manifestation of God in the person of Jesus Christ that we
celebrate on the feast of Epiphany came about in an ordinary way, not as a
sudden appearance but in a natural birth that followed the nine-month pregnancy
of Mary, the Theotokos (God bearer).
The pronouncement of the birth of the King of Kings by the Wise
men to Herod and how they came to be in Bethlehem certainly was a striking occurrence.
In this time of trouble throughout the world each of us needs to
acknowledge Christ and love Him and through Him, the Father who sent Him.
We need to look to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for our
deliverance from the worlds troubles and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit for
ways to end the divisions have caused so much pain and distress between nations
and Christian denominations. We need to express our love for God and open our
hearts to forgiveness and mercy.
We need to seek self gratification less and practice generosity
and compassion. On this feast of
Epiphany, let us reflect on Christ’s teachings, take time to offer thanks to
God for the things He has given us and give God honor and praise by living our
lives according to Christ’s example and teachings. If we practice our love of God through good deeds
and by embracing the diversity God created in people and things I can think of
no better way of praising God and celebrating God’s decision to send us His
beloved son to live among us as a human and show us the way, the truth and
light the way to everlasting life in heaven. AMEN
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Monday, December 18, 2017
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Friday, December 8, 2017
Friday, December 1, 2017
Friday, November 24, 2017
Friday, November 17, 2017
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Reflecting on God and 82 Years of Life
Reflecting on 83 years
A reflection for Sunday November 12, 2017
By Rev. Fr. Bob Johnnene OFM
Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus/ Order
Franciscans of Mercy
This coming Thursday
November 16th, I enter my 83rd year of life.
As I look back and count
the numerous blessings that God has bestowed upon me I realize how truly
blessed God has been too me.
Today’s first reading from
Wisdom, chapter 6 tells us; “Wisdom is
radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is
found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who
desire her. He who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for he will
find her sitting at his gates. To fix one's thought on her is perfect
understanding, and he who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from
care, because she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously
appears to them in their paths, and meets them in every thought.”
Throughout my entire life
I have attempted, by asking God in prayer, to gain the wisdom and knowledge I
needed to know God’s will for me, and I still continue to seek that gift from
God in spite of realizing that he has provided me the insight as I traveled my
highway of life.
To begin with, when I came
into this world, according to my mother, there were serious doubts I would
actually make it, since she had lost two
other children before and even when I was born, I was dehydrated to such a
degree that the first 6 months were questionable, but since then I have been
blessed with relatively good health and blessed by God to overcome, so far, the
four cancers I had.
My most difficult thing
today is the effect on my body of the Accute Stenosis which makes walking or
standing for long times painful and stressful.
I was blessed to have parents
and family that exposed me to the arts especially music and theater, and who
traveled.
I was at the 1939 World’s
fair, saw the original production of THE KING AND I with Gertrude Lawrence.
By my 13th year
I had traveled and visited 44 of the contiguous states.
I received an excellent
education from devoted nuns and priests and eventually entered the seminary in
my junior year of High School.
I was on the verge of
being ordained a Josephite priest in 1957 when they recommended that I take
some time off to be sure of my vocation, so, I followed my second love,
Theater.
I never became famous, but
I did get to work with people like Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Hal Prince,
Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Montgomery and got to write, produce and direct a show
that was on Broadway.
It was during this time
that I met the woman who would become my wife and the mother of my three
children.
God always kept me
centered whenever I was thinking the gifts He gave me were my own talents and He
did something to get me back on track.
The desire to serve as a
religious was never too far from me and I kept up on my theology, the changes
of Vatican 2, while teaching in Catholic Schools often serving as a Director of
Religious Education.
Sometimes when the rug was
dragged out from under me and I became
very upset and depressed God would save me from doing something drastic and lift
me up.
On one of those occasions
when I was at the bottom, I tossed open the Bible and read the page that it
opened to and there was an answer. It was in the book of Job.
I realized that if we keep
our trust and faith in God and not give up and blame Him, He will lead us to
where He wants us, and He did.
I prayed the following
prayer; “God, what is it you want from
me? I am not good on subtle hints God, I need you to push me, no shove me where
it is you want me” and he led me back to teaching and parish ministry eventually
being ordained a Deacon in 1980.
In 1986 Cardinal Roger
Mahoney founded a ministry within the Diocesan offices to the GLBTQI community
and Divorced Catholics and began working with it as well as my teaching &
parish ministry.
In 2001, at age 67, I
decided it was time to retire and move back to Massachusetts to be near my
family.
I returned home to
Massachusetts finding that there was not much being done in ministry to the
LGBTQI and Divorced Catholics community in New England and so I felt inspired
to found one.
After my mother was called home to the Lord in
1987 I had been submitting application too various religious orders but always
received rejections because; “You are
over our age limit for admission” or some other excuse but I continued my
quest.
I began Mission Saints
Sergius & Bacchus in 2002 without any church sponsorship after discovering
the Saints while on a retreat and felt it was God’s who was inspiring me to do
so.
Much to my surprise, I
received a letter from the Servant Franciscans of the Immaculata which since
has become the Franciscans of the Annunciation of the Infinite Love of God.
They had reviewed my records and transcripts, conferred with my references and
decided that I was worthy to be a member of their order and to be ordained a
priest.
On 8/15/2003,
the feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, I was ordained and now I am in
my 15th year, the 6th year of the REFLECTIONS TV show.
As a child, I often
visited the Franciscan church here in Boston. I even remember a Franciscan
Priest Fr. Fulgence, guided me when I had serious doubt and questions about
God’s will for me.
Now here I am, entering my
83rd year of life, realizing that everything in my life had been a part of
God’s plan, that I probably would not have the faith in God that I have now if
I was ordained back in 1957.
I realize that my entire
life before my ordination in 2003, was God’s way of giving me the wisdom I
would need to be a good servant to His children.
I pray that whatever time
God has left for me on this earthly plane, I totally give myself over to serving
him and those children He places in my path.
This Thursday as I begin
another year of life I pray that in some way, with the continued help and
Wisdom of Almighty God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit I may be able
inspire, all those who have felt rejected unwanted and alienated from God and
the Church by the dictates of mere men who are prone to make mistakes, back
into the Mystical Body of Christ the Church.
I enter my Autumn days of
life with prayers asking forgiveness for the mistakes I have made along the
highway of life and Pray that anyone I may have hurt along my life’s journey will
forgive and pray for me.
May God’s wisdom
continue to guide me in all I do so that I serve God with my entire being.
Please Pray for me. Amen.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Friday, October 27, 2017
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Sunday October 1, 2017 Homily
Acclaim Jesus as Lord
A Reflection for the Twenty Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 1, 2017
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM
Mission Sts. Sergius & Bacchus? Order Franciscans of Mercy
In the first reading
for this Sunday we hear Ezekiel telling us “When
the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live.
He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he
shall not die” (Ezekiel 18:28) What a wonderful affirmation for us, to know
that we are guarantied forgiveness of our transgressions, which as humans we
are bound to commit, if we but ask God for forgiveness.
In Paul’s letter to
the people of Philippi Paul tells us that LOVE is what binds us together as
Christians. “ if love can persuade at
all, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness and sympathy, then
be united in your convictions and united in your love, with a common purpose
and a common mind.” Paul goes on to
say; “Always consider the other person to
be better than yourself, So that nobody thinks of his own interests first but
everybody thinks of other people’s interests instead. In your minds you must be
the same as Christ Jesus.” … “Being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to
accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the
name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth
and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every
tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1 – 11)
In Paul’s letter we are advised to emulate Christ and be considerate of
others and not just of ourselves. Paul goes on to describe how Jesus, even
though he was divine, humbled himself and took on human attributes even to the
point of accepting the ignominious death of a criminal on the cross just so we
could have complete forgiveness of our sins and have everlasting life in the
hereafter with His Father , himself and all the heavenly elect.
The Gospel reading ends with Christ telling the chief priests and the
elders that; “I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are
making their way into the kingdom of God before you”. .. “John came to you, a
pattern of true righteousness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax
collectors and prostitutes did” (Matthew 21:28 – 32)
The lessons to be learned from these readings, I believe, is that no
person will be denied acceptance and the promise of everlasting life if they
repent for their sins and seek God.
Seeking God means to live our life in a manner that extends love to ALL
those we come in contact with and being considerate of their needs rather than
our own self interests.
In these days of turmoil in our world and financial turmoil in our
country it would be very easy to forget about others and only look after our own
self interest. If this is the road we choose to travel, we become no better
than the Chief Priests and the elders who professed to be servants of God yet
rejected God’s messengers John the Baptist and Jesus Himself.
Sometimes I feel that some of our professed Christian leaders have
followed the same path as the Chief Priests and Elders in that they have failed
to live in a manner consistent with Christ’s teachings and example. They
promote things that will insure them popularity and financial security and
power rather than a spirit of welcoming and Love for ALL God’s Children.
This past week I have been given a great opportunity to witness and put
into action Christ’s teachings. I will not go into details but I tried to
comfort and put at peace a grandmother whose grandchild had been murdered. I was also blessed to be able to assist a man
who has suffered the loss of much of his muscles and has difficulty eating by
preparing food in a way that he could swallow it and would gain nourishment. I
considered this opportunity a gift from God because it brought home to me the
knowledge of how many blessings I have been given throughout my life.
The key to receiving God’s blessings, I believe, is to be willing to
accept all that God sends you without grumbling and willingly as Christ did and
to put your entire life in God’s hands.
We need to open ourselves up to God’s will and stop trying to analyze
God’s intent. God has a reason for all that He has done. God creates people as
they are for a reason and it is not our place to reject any of God’s children
or to deny them the same rights and privileges as every other citizen. We need
to have compassion for those who are sick and the poor and do all in our power
to ease their suffering so that they will know that someone cares for them and
by that action we can bring them to know of God’s infinite love.
By living our life for others and not ourselves we then “Become united
in our love” not only for God but for all God’s children and in so doing we “acclaim Jesus Christ
as Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
Let us go forth
proclaiming our love of God through our actions and by exhibiting God’s love by
our love toward all God’s children we encounter in our daily lives. Let us be
more aware of the needs of others so that we become less self centered and more
generous toward those who God has given to us for that purpose. AMEN
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Friday, September 8, 2017
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Friday, August 4, 2017
Friday, July 21, 2017
Thursday, July 6, 2017
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Friday, June 23, 2017
Thursday, June 15, 2017
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Saints Sergius & Bacchus
Patron Saints of Mission
Fr. Bob Johnnene OFD
God's Love Unlimited and Everlassting
