Monday, March 30, 2020

Mar 30 - 5th Week of Lent - Monday


+ Today we have the very familiar story of Jesus freeing and forgiving the woman caught in the act of adultery. The Law of Moses was clear about such matters, but the “law of compassion” and “love” is meant even to supersede it at times. And the case of comparing one sinful person with another is one such time: “let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”



We are all sinful people who have no right or business judging, condemning and executing one another—as the golden rule even would also prompt us to do.



If God is willing to forgive, as is demonstrated by Jesus’ own actions in the passage; then who are we to show God his business.



The first reading tells of another woman, Susanna, saved by another young prophet appointed by God, Daniel, who obviously prefigures Jesus who came to save us. Let us today, like the two women, be saved, let us today be pardoned, let us today rejoice that we are so regarded and favored by God – and let us not be so proud as to withhold such mercy and forgiveness to others.



Especially now, as we are forced into “close quarter” living – for our health and safety - due to the coronavirus – this is a choice and excellent time – to grant mercy and forgiveness to others – over things which might look a lot different now in this new unfamiliar territory we are all forced to adapt to; and we can even ask for mercy and forgiveness for ourselves: remember that no one is perfect, no one, and that we are meant to somehow get along with each other – in very positive, helpful and compassionate ways: now, if only virtually!



The feast of our redemption is drawing near, let us enter more than at any other time, into its mystery of just how life, comes after death, light comes after darkness and healing comes after great suffering -  with a grateful heart and a willing spirit.



The Lord is kind and merciful!

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

LIVE STREAMED DAILY PRAYER HOURS

Tune in to my FACEBOOK PAGE -  (Friend Search)   FrWilliam Steven Dinga  and watch my 4 LIVE STREAMED PRAYER HOURS EACH DAY - of course as you may know: I am also Fr. Peter Anthony, JSC Co-founder of the Group - 

9AM EDT - Daily Mass and Homily

11AM - Liturgy of the Hours - Midday Prayer

3PM - Devotional Prayers - Short Rosary / Divine Mercy Chaplet / JSC Litany of Hope 

5:45PM - Liturgy of the Hours - Evening Prayer (Vespers)

Join us, pray with us, be with us, and invite you loved ones and friends to do the same!   

Friday, March 20, 2020

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY in the Light of COVID-19

Peace be with you, my friends - and HOPE and JOY - even in the midst of unprecedented circumstance in the history of our country, if not, even the world.

We are all now challenged as not only Americans, but also as Christians to at last live out "the Golden Rule" on both accounts. We must each and every one live now "for the other" rather than for ourselves - and the more successfully we do that the healthier literally physically we will become once again, and spiritually we will grow by leaps and bounds.

IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE! But, it's always been that way! There is only One Creator - who is UNCREATED LOVE - and he generously CHOSE TO CREATE out of his ESSENCE - the whole universe INCLUDING US - YOU AND ME! We are constituent parts of the very fabric of the universe, and which means of GOD, and OF ONE ANOTHER! YES WE ARE OUR NEIGHBOR'S KEEPER! We always have been - but now it is acutely critical that we really believe it, and live it out.

To that end I, as Abbot-Guardian (Protemp) of the Joyful Servants of the Cross - a fledgling group of nearly 15 years - will Live Stream as many of our daily prayer periods as possible - beginning with daily 9AM Mass. GOD and JESUS have chosen to nourish us in two ways at Mass: by the spiritual food of WORD! and Sacramental food of Transformed Bread and Wine. As a duly ordained Priest of the New Testament (45 years on May 3), I am empowered and commissioned to "confect" "make really present BOTH - as if God and Jesus were actually doing it themselves.

I hope that as you visit FACEBOOK daily you will stop in at 9AM  -  11:00AM  - 3PM  - and 5:45PM - as we (both Br. Richard, who is in heaven now, and) I make public our private prayer times for the spiritual good of us all!

It may take me a few days to get the technical glitches worked out in the broadcasts - so be patient!

Thanks again, and May God Abundantly Bless and Protect You and Yours this holy day!

Father William Dinga (or religiously Father Peter Anthony, JSC)

Mar 20 - 3rd Week in Lent - Friday


­­+ What amazing readings we have on this third Friday of Lent.  Fridays in Lent are always geared remotely to the events that take place on Good Friday – which will be three weeks from today! This particular Friday, we see the inner workings of the very heart of God the Father – the Fatherly tenderness that yearns for his people’s return and repentance. He is always poised “like a mother lion” to come quickly to the aid of her errant children – but they must make the first move because they have free will. If they freely chose to walk away from her (Him in this case, God the Father), then it is they who must of their own free-will and desire turn and face the other way: the way that leads back to him: but he is there in a flash to aid them and welcome them every step of the way:

and so the book of Hosea tells us:



It is God who speaks:

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God; you have collapsed because of your guilt. Take with you words (of repentance) and return to the Lord. ….. Then, later, I will heal their defection, says the Lord, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them. I will be like the dew(fall) for Israel, he shall blossom like the likely; He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar, and put forth his shoots.



What an amazing story, a love-story unparalleled.

And what an unparalleled time in the history of the world, do we find ourselves in today – in these the beginning stages of a global pandemic that has already brought much of our country to a hunkered down standstill. Perhaps this is an excellent time, in this Lent that will probably be like no other, for us to pause, sit, be silent, letting God’s Holy Spirit of Consolation and Comfort fill us, and then ponder our past, (or even current) ways, repent and return to the Heart of God the Father, and experience his unparalleled sense of well-being, health, and wholeness no matter what is going on in our household, our city, our state, our country, our world.



And we must be clear – that God does not punish, he does not get angry, he only loves, he only soothes, he only heals, he only inspires leaders across the board on how to resolve situations – especially the most serious ones that we are now facing. And so the Old Testament readings like the one mentioned above is not about God retaliating or getting even with us because of our sin – but it IS about, his willingness to untangle whatever messes our sins may have gotten us into.



In the gospel passage we have enumerated the life-style of those who truly “get it,” get the message and meaning of being a disciple of Christ, a member of the new people of God, a partaker in the redemption wrought and available to those who to this day pause, reflect on the direction of their lives, and who choose to follow the standard of the Cross, rather than the deceptive and dangerous standard of the world – based on lies, and perjury and chaos, and start marching in the correct direction: to the Bridge that leads across the River Chaos and Catastrophe, and into the new Promised Land of Joy and Peace.



Yes, the Kingdom is to come, yet it is already here – and it dwells primarily for us, deep inside of us – who are members of his Mystical Life, his Mystical Kingdom, his very real, risen, glorified Mystical Body – so that we can appreciate and act on helping others, and help others to do the same.



Amen.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Mar 18 - 3rd Week of Lent - Wednesday


+ It is essential for us as Christians – especially because of our Jewish spiritual roots – to be conscious of our participation in the Law of God! While most everyone gets a negative feeling when the word “law” is mentioned: actually, as far as God intended it, “law” is not meant to produce such an effect: in fact, it was meant to produce quite the opposite one. For the Jewish person was meant to understand law not as a restriction, but as a boundary for free positive action! It was not so much to be a restrictive regimen as a framework so that the people could know they were doing right, good and proper things to show their love for God: God gave us this gift, then, so that we would always know how we stood with him!



Because this was the intent of the Law, when Jesus came he made it very clear that he had not come to abolish it, but to fulfill it: to show by his own life and works exactly what it all entails – especially the joy and the peace and the forgiveness that can come from it. He did this by summarizing it all in one word: LOVE! Law is love! Love me! Love my Father! Love one another as we love you! Lay down your lives for one another – in ways great and small as I [will do] for you – and you will not be worried about “rules, regulations and prescriptions” – you will simply be experiencing a fullness of life, and a freedom that you never thought possible!



May we today find happiness in knowing that law leads to life and love and freedom and joy and peace – and that obedience to it (in all its manifestations) is the absolute best way to glorify the Giver of it – the One who loves us all so very, very much! God our heavenly Father!



As we proceed into another day of bracing ourselves for the full effects of the Corona Virus Disease – 2019 may we “follow the law (that is already deep in our hearts) and let it lead to life, love, freedom, joy and peace as we reach out – now paradoxically – to help others by NOT being physically near them, by following the “laws of the land” in this time of turmoil – and by embracing this time that God is giving us to “go deep inside ourselves” to find God and peace, and joy, and freedom, and love and life, that has always been there pure untainted and bubbling forth with protection, safety and HEALTH! It’s time to learn how to be Mindful, to Meditate, and to be truly silent and still in order to find the God who is always searching for us!



Your words are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life!

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Mar 17 - 3rd Week in Lent - Tuesday


+ In our gospel passage today, Jesus shows his complete understanding of human nature: he knows that it is a very difficult thing for people to get along with one another; that is, people who are still very much “slaves of the concupiscence of sin” – there just seems to be something inborn that is antagonistic and antisocial.



This is exactly the state of being human that Jesus came to redeem, renew and transform (at the price of his own death on a Cross).  And so, in the passage, he commands us to be kind to one another, thoughtful of one another and forgiving with one another - as we try to live productive lives.



But for us, this must be taken one step further. We are the redeemed, we are the forgiven, we are the transformed and so because of our baptism and sacramental membership in the one body of Christ (the Church) it ought to be really unthinkable for us not to forgive one another and love one another and be the instrumental cause of transforming one another into the very holiness of God!



Especially this in the beginning stages of a very frightening world health epidemic!



Jesus says then in the passage forgive your brothers and sisters – from the heart – as many times as they sin against you (just as God forgives you the same way); and then do not hold their transgressions against them (as God does not hold yours against you). This is difficult for humans, because part of the brokenness that still endures in us, is our not-so-envious ability to remember every tiny, insignificant detail – when it pertains to something done against us! But just as God casts our sins into the depths of the ocean and forgets about them; so we must do the same for one another – we must pray for the grace of “forgetting.”



Be patient with us Lord, as we continue to try to deal compassionately and lovingly with one another, after your own example!



Remember your mercies, O Lord.


Sunday, March 15, 2020

Mar 15 - Third Sunday of Lent


+ Our gospel passage today is rich in both descriptive symbolism and a great reality! The symbolism is of “water welling up” – the reality is that this water IS the eternal life that God offers to those who believe and love – and the source of this reality is the pierced Sacred Heart of the Crucified Christ!



God puts into all hearts – all people, everywhere – an initial drop of this water – just as a primer to get us to want more and more of it! We all come into the world with a “spark of the divine life in us!” It is up to us to do all we can to keep that flame alive: and believe it or not – it means that we must douse it with the spiritual water of God’s grace – what a flame that produces! To those without faith, this makes no sense; to those with faith, it eventually makes perfect sense!



The woman at the well (in the gospel passage) – being a Samaritan, a cousin to the people of Israel, who believe in many of the same things – had the “spark,” but needed a “bucket of spiritual water” thrown on her by Jesus – which he did, very gently! In the dialogue that ensued, the woman ended up developing her conception of Jesus’ three-fold in a matter of  minutes! First, she saw him as a Jewish man sitting at well, tired and thirsty! Then, after Jesus – who initiated the conversation – started telling her about herself and her personal life: she promoted him to Prophet! This man is a true seer! He may have an interesting handle on “truth!” Everyone, even back then, as is the case today, is searching for TRUTH! real Truth! (And the truth is none other than that we are invited to be God’s children.)



After more dialogue now about religious matters – the contrast between the Samaritan and Jewish take on things – Jesus reveals himself (promotes himself) as the Messiah who is to come, the one called the Christ who will tell all truth to everyone! The tables are turned and the woman says:Oh yes, I know that such a one is coming!” Then Jesus promotes her to believer by telling her outright: “I am he, the one speaking with you!” Her heart must have leapt for joy in her now complete act of faith in Jesus! I can see her bowing low in adoration!



What does this have to do with us? It means that first, we must see if we have completed the stages that the Samaritan woman has; do we need to open ourselves up more and more to Jesus telling us about ourselves and himself so to make a very large and generous act of belief and a promise to love as he demonstrated?



Then, we need to imitate the whole encounter, with other people! Evangelization is bringing Christ the Truth, and the truth of Christ to others – others who are at the wells of our own day and age: the wells of the water coolers at work, the wells of the sewing circle, the wells of our family meals and gatherings, the wells of pilates classes, the wells of study groups and parish reads – wherever others need to be doused!



It ought to be our goal – with Jesus and his Spirit working through us - for people we encounter to say, as did the inhabitants of Samaria, who received the woman’s testimony: We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world!

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Mar 11 - 2nd Week in Lent - Wednesday


+ Our gospel passage today challenges us all quite a bit: first, Jesus tells the Twelve that he must go to Jerusalem to suffer much and then to die by crucifixion and then be raised again on the third day. [Usually when Jesus says this: they hear the suffering part, but just don’t quite understand what this “resurrection” is all about – but they will learn – they will learn!]



In the next paragraph however, Jesus makes it clear to the mother of James and John that if suffering and even death was a part of his lot, so too would it be for those chosen to be his best friends and emissaries in the world! In fact, James would be the first of the Twelve to die a martyr’s death as a witness to the new-born faith! But as for sitting next to Jesus in the kingdom – that was not even up to Jesus to assign – but his heavenly Father: who is in charge of everything anyway!



This all means that we, as members of Christ’s Body, the Church, need to be willing to suffer and even to die for him as well, in many ways, small and great: because it is the way modeled by Jesus, it is the way recommended by Jesus, it is the way that has truth and life-everlasting attached to it!



My trust is in you, O Lord: I say, “You are my God.” In your hands is my destiny; rescue me from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors.


Monday, March 9, 2020

Mar 9 - 2nd Week of Lent - Monday


­­+ Again the message of the readings for this Lenten Weekday Mass are straightforward and to the point. IF we live our day today through the lenses of FAITH and LOVE – then we will be compassionate (as our Father in heaven is compassionate – and that is a whole lot of compassion to bestow on whoever God will put in our path today), we will not judge others and their situations which we can never understand completely, we will not condemn, we will grant pardon and seek after peace in all our dealings, beginning with the people in our own households. We will GIVE, in some cases beyond the point of no return, beyond what we think our human limits are, beyond our wildest imaginings – but then the amount of reward, the amount of happiness, the amount of joy, the amount of peace, the amount of HOPE, poured back into our laps: will be uncontestably awesome.



All it takes is BELIEF that someone came from God to demonstrate exactly how this is all to work, JESUS, who is God’s Very Speech (stories about how it all works and operates) – Made Flesh – made into a human being – who quite sadly was murdered by the very people he came to free!



The first reading reminds us that it is our SHAME to NOT LISTEN to this eloquent SPEECH OF GOD MADE FLESH – His integrity always remains the same – but our SHAME INCREASES daily – the more we do not LISTEN TO THE SPEECH, listen to JESUS, listen to his Church, listen to him as he cries out to us from the underdog, the poor, the marginalized, the helpless and the abandoned. Look around they are all over the place – in various dress, fashion and even disguises.



O Lord, please do not treat us according to our sins – our willful acts of non-listening but grant us your forgiveness – and help us to pass it along today to all who also need it very badly!



Amen.


Friday, March 6, 2020

Mar 6 - 1st Week of Lent - Friday


+ Above all Jesus came to be a reconciler - and when we participate in reconciliation we not only further his cause, but we participate in his very life! That none of us is perfect is nothing new – that all of us are called to constant conversion and willingness to reconcile and “get past things” – can be very new – so new that few are truly willing to try it.



When God reconciles and forgives – he also forgets; but when men reconcile and forgive, we rarely forget; and this is sadly detrimental to any progress in interpersonal relations. The point of the readings today is that it is not only possible to forget [with divine aid] but also of paramount importance. Why drag around unnecessary baggage in our dealings with one another; why defeat the whole purpose and power of reconciliation that God can bring about because of our narrow views and prejudices.



While we can never condone evil, and while we must do all we can to bring the sinner to repentance, we also ought not hold his iniquities against him once he turns to God in his heart – which is a private matter anyway – which we have no right to judge at all.



In any event, we must remember that the gift we offer at the altar each time we come to mass is only as pure and as valid as the forgiveness we hold in our hearts for all our brothers and sisters…and may we not incur the wrath of God for being any less merciful than he is.



Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit...and then it matters not what anyone says of us, or thinks of us!

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Mar 3 - First Week of Lent - Tuesday


+ In our first reading today we have mention of the word “word” – that “comes down from heaven (as do the rain and the snow) and does not return there, until it achieves the end for which I sent it.” This use of “word” certainly has to do with the general carrying out of God’s will! It applies to us – who are called to be discerners of and doers of God’s will. But the reference is also quite readily made that the “word” is the “Word” – the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity who came down to earth to accomplish his Father’s will – which included his own Passion and Death on a Cross and subsequent Resurrection from the dead. The point we make is that Jesus embraced fully his Father’s will – so that none of his life was left unoffered to God – or returned void! Jesus told us many times: I have come down from heaven to do the will of the One who sent me! May we vow to do the same!



The amazing “words” that the “Word” Jesus taught us as a formula for prayer is the perfect prayer! It is a summary of the whole Incarnation all in itself. The translation used in St. Matthew today is not in keeping with the spirit of the “new translations” of Scripture – but it remains not only in this passage, but also when the prayer is used in the Mass. This translation actually originates in the 7th century from Northumbria, England. Therefore it has the “art” and the “hallowed” and the like. Somehow it stayed intact for many centuries. During the Protestant Reformation, it was kept when they split – and now – it remains as is –  as a powerful hopeful ecumenical tool to draw many back to the One faith!



A more contemporary translation came out briefly in the 1970’s, which hopefully, one day could be promulgated again for English speaking Catholics: it goes like this:  Our Father in heaven, / Holy is your Name. / Your Kingdom come, / Your will be done on earth as in heaven. / Give us today our daily bread; / and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us; / and lead us not to the test; but deliver us from evil. / Amen.



May we continue our Lenten disciple of silence, to better hear God speak (His words) of love!

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Mar 1 - 1st Sunday of Lent


+ The last thing we celebrated before we began Ordinary Time in January, was the feast of the Baptism of Jesus (the last feast of the Christmas cycle); scripturally though, the next gospel passage after the one for that day is the one for today’s Mass: the First Sunday of Lent.



The Spirit had just come down upon Jesus in the form of a dove as he came up out the waters of baptism; the Father’s voice was heard thundering: THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED – LISTEN TO HIM!



The next day the same Holy Spirit whisks Jesus away into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Why would he do that? Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus to temptation?  So that we could see that everything Jesus did was not for Himself but rather for us and for our salvation! Jesus did not need to be baptized, but he submitted to it in order to show that someday it would be something that we need to do – all of us! Jesus did not have to be tempted by the devil, he never sinned, nor would he; he submitted to it again as an example for us to know what to do when we are likewise tempted. But just knowing what to do is not enough, Jesus accomplished by his death on the Cross the real, true, active grace that we need in order to overcome temptations to power, pleasure and prestige, when they come to us! With his grace, we really can overcome any temptation!



May this be our Lenten desire: to invite the overflowing river of God’s grace and mercy into our lives to abound where once there was sin!

Be merciful, O Lord, for [in our dealing with temptation]

we have sometimes sinned!

Happy New Year 202

  A Happy New Year to you all! I hope and pray I am able to keep this blog up to date now that we are entering into the New Year! I would li...