Come to Me

December 11, 2013 2:17 pm

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest”. (Mt 11, 28)

It is strange for so many to think that prayer is the best idea for “all who labor and are burdened.” It is so easy to think that watching television is the best for rest.

I found it so many times in my life that even a short visit before the blessed Sacrament is much better than any other idea of something which will give us rest.

It is such a simple recipe: “Come to me… and I will give you rest”.

God's will

December 10, 2013 1:27 pm

“It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost” (Mt 18:14)

The God’s will.

Sometimes when people think about God’s will, they think about doing something special, difficult, and quite often connected with some penance and self-denial. But God’s will is so simple. He is a God who is Pure Love, so His will is – love each other. He came to give us example. Like a good shepherd: “In his arms he gathered the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care” (Is 40:11).

We are in His arms. Specially, during the Holy Mass. We can invite Him to our hearts and take Him to our homes, streets, neighborhood. We can put our loved ones, our difficulties, problems and worries into His arms. 

We are His little ones. Stay close to Him.

Fr. Jay

Immaculate Conception

December 8, 2013 10:48 pm

When St. John of the Cross was a little boy, he was drwoining in a swamp. At that moment He saw a beautiful Lady who held out her hand to save him. He refused, because his hand was dirty.

It was Our Lady. She is the Immaculate Concepcion. And we have no idea how beautiful She is. And Her beauty and immaculacy let Her recognize how much sin is against God and our dignity. We are God’s children, and even when we fall, we are still His children. And She is our Mother. She is among us every day and if she sees our sin, She holds out Her hand to help us.

When we sin, we want to hide from God in our guilt and shame, but the moment we turn to go away, we fall straight into God’s arms. Because when we sin, we need His grace most, and this is where He meets us with His love to lift us up. The same with Mary: She’s there to restore beauty in us when we’re hurt by sin.

Little John didn’t want to make Her dirty, because of Her beauty.  So she sent him someone who helped him. And She also, as a Mother of Church is here to help us through the Church. Of course I am thinking about Liturgy and sacraments, with the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the first place, but also about you. What you can do to imitate Our Lady and Her great concern about other people’s relation with Christ and His Church. 

St. Paul reminds us today: “think in harmony with one another…Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God.” You won’t save anybody by becoming judgemental and taking place of God to judge the others. Espaecially because God doesn’t judge, but welcomes His beloved children with mercy and lifts them up from sin.

Our Lady is so happy when she sees us praying for one another, helping each other and welcoming each other. We can help so many people when we pray for them, when we fast and  share what we have with the others.

Our Lady of Immaculate Concepcion, pray for us sinners and help us be example for others how to be close to You and Your Son. Amen.

Fr. Jay

The Kingdom of heaven is at hand

December 7, 2013 10:37 pm

“Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest”.

Why? “His heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like a sheep without a shepherd”.

The couples who suffer from infertility or lost a child during pregnancy know how difficult life is – they are troubled and abandoned. And the worst – there is no one who can tell them why.

God, who is the Creator of life, who gave couples “the extremely important mission of transmitting human life” (HV, 1) has never abandoned them. Neither those suffering from infertility, nor those unable to conceive another child. His heart didn’t change when He went to Heaven.

Today He reminds us to ask the master to send out laborers. You are among them. He touched your hearts and invited you to join His harvest. Through your work He wants to show that He takes care of the troubled couples and that He is near their problems.

Today you have finished the first step and you will soon start helping other couples. This is not only your mission. First of all, this is His. He is the Master, He is the Creator of Life, He is the Redeemer and He is the authority (and has the power) to cure every disease and every illness. Connect your knowledge with prayer and proclaim the Good News – “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand”.

He touched their eyes

December 6, 2013 10:14 pm

He touched their eyes. (Mt 9, 29)

A touch full of faith. “Do you believe I can do this?” “Lord, we do.”

When people have blind eyes they can only see what they have in mind. My vision, my understanding, my conception. So they can see everything only from their own perspective. Like this famous face of a young and old woman at the same moment in optical illusion. What I see is what really is. I know better.

young-woman-old-woman-illusion-218x300

So we can’t the see other people’s perspective because we are so sure that ours is the only one. The way how we see things is so important. Probably every wife has her own vision of her husband. Probably every husband has his own vision of his wife. And in every other area – we know what priests, bosses, children (especially not ours) should be like.
Faith changes our style of how to see things.

When we ask Jesus to touch our eyes, we can start discovering the world from a different perspective. Faith allows me to see every person as created by God with all His love. So when I see another person, he or she is like an invitation from God to recognize in her/him the beauty of God’s creation. It is like an everyday adventure to see the beauty of creation like those two blind.

Could you imagine seeing the world every day after Jesus has touched your eyes?

Tangible, solid, unfailing

December 5, 2013 3:00 pm

“Everyone, who listens to these words of mine and acts on them” Mt 7:24 

When Jesus asked people to listen to His words, He didn’t promised them that they would have wonderful life without any harm. No: “The rain fell, the floods came and the wind blew”. In both situations. The only difference was that one collapsed and was completely ruined and the other did not. “It had been sat solidly on rock”.

Not many people are used to listening to His words daily. (The most simple test – finger test –  how important is Bible in your daily life is to put your finger on the top of your Bible and move it from one side to another. If your finger is clean, tha means … it’s not bad with you.)

Maybe it’s because the Bible looks like any other book. It has a cover, many pages, the same paper, print. The only difference is the content. The Bible contains His words. And we remember that HE IS THE WORD: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” J 1:1.

So when you are taking the Bible in your hands, it is like touching Him. You are in His presence. You don’t only look at Him, He also looks at you.

And if you have a really hard time, and you will feel totally alone, abandoned, misunderstood and everything will be difficult for you, just take the Bible in your arms, hug it tight and let Him talk directly to your heart.

He is the rock in your life.

Fr Jay

From seven loaves to seven baskets

December 4, 2013 3:00 pm

“Then He took the seven loaves… gave thanks… gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds… They picked up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over… ” [Mt 15:36 – 37]

Between seven loaves and seven baskets there was one simple action: giving thanks. When He gave the bread to the crowds He used what He received from his disciples. The only difference between what he received and what he gave was – thanks.

This action could change everything. This is a solution for all hunger in our world: hunger for food, for love, for health…

When a husband is thankful to his wife, her heart is moved. And it fosters her ability to love him more and more. Because her gift was respected. And she was respected.

In the Holy Communion we will receive the Bread of Life. How fruitful this Bread will be in my life depends on thanksgiving. How fruitful will be my marriage – depends also on giving thanks. 

With grateful prayer,

Padre J.

The Brussels Sparkle keeps twinkling

December 2, 2013 7:38 am

In the so called “heart of Europe” this time we
greeted Father Darek. This was a beautiful and fruitful
time, a big thankyou! As usual, we had also a lot of fun:
children played around on mountains of mattresses and
pillows, they visited goats and played on the playground.
Meanwhile, adults discovered the ancient art of eating
without (forgotten) cutlery and of making a grill on a
completely rusty grate. It was a bit like the story of five
loaves of bread and two fish – we gave what we could give
and God has done the rest.

I wonder what culinary adventure
we will have next time? One thing is certain – there’s a
spiritual adventure coming…

Agnieszka and Rafal from Brussels

Happy New Year!

December 1, 2013 12:13 pm

We’re beginning a New Year.

Advent is the time of waiting.

This is the time of Our Lady. She accepted Jesus first in her heart and then in her womb. Looking at Her we can see how we should change when we invite Lord Jesus into our hearts. To czas Matki Bożej.

When a new life begins in a woman, everything slowly changes in her. She walks, wakes up and lays down differently. She is aware of a new life that other may not yet see. But this new life shapes her and turns her into a Mum.

Likewise, we during the Advent invite Jesus into our hearts so that He can change them and all our ways completely, so that we are full of His presence.

I pray for this for us all in this first day of the Advent and on the third day of our novena before the celebration of the Immaculate Conception. Let she ask for the grace for us so that we are full of Jesus’presence in our lives.

With my prayer

Padre J.+