St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

Someone might ask, “Why should I pray when God already knows what I want?”  The response to this is that prayer is not about informing God what our needs are.  God already knows our needs and does not need our prayers to keep Himself updated on what is happening in our lives.  Instead, prayer is for our sake, not for God’s sake.

Sometimes we pray for what we want and instead, God gives us what we need.  What we need is not always what we want, but God in his providential mercy gives us what we need.  What is this telling us?  Prayer in this sense summons a way of discerning God’s will and not a way of intimating with God only in time of crisis and need in order to get what we want from God.  God’s answer may not be exactly what we ask for or expect.

In the “Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus is teaching us that prayer should lead us to recognize God’s will as the determining factor in our Christian life.  Submission to the will of God is a way of life.  Thus understood in this light, prayer becomes a way of life, always seeking to discern the will of God, the way our Lord Jesus does.

Yes, we do pray for our needs in our daily life.  And we know of the willingness of God to match our requests with grace and kindness we can never measure.  But praying for our needs is only part of our relationship with God.  Our whole life is to be a way of prayer to God, because our whole life is about following Jesus, being a disciple of Jesus.  If we only pray when we are in a crisis, are we truly Christian?  Prayer is not a magic formula to be recited to bring about the desired results.  Prayer is also a way of living.  It is following Jesus on the road, constantly seeking to fit our daily exercise of life into the purpose that God wills for us.

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar

Dear Friends,

In this weekend’s reading, our Gospel brings us to the context of the Martha-Mary narrative.  This is a story that makes a point about attitudes and behaviors, foundational to understanding our call to discipleship.  It begins by telling us of the visit of Our Lord Jesus, to which both sisters respond differently.

The comparison and contrast between the sisters’ responses is very significant.  Both of them are hostess and they love Jesus equally as their Lord.  However, Martha, on the one hand, behaves as a hostess who is fussing around, worried, bothered and distracted by all the preparations that have to be done.  On the other hand, Mary, not engaging in the preparations to be done, sits at the feet of the Lord and listens to his story.  “Sitting at the feet of the Lord” is important to discern because it signifies a Jewish tradition of being a disciple.

Looking closely at the story, Martha’s work was certainly important.  Only she is worried about all the things that have to be made.  Her service drags her attention away from Jesus.  Our Lord did not condemn Martha for serving but admonished her for being so distracted with serving that she neglected “what is better.”  Mary, in contrast, sitting at the feet of Jesus, has chosen “what is better.”  “What is better” here simply means listening to Jesus.  Thus, the most important response of a hostess (or host) is to receive Jesus’ word.

Reckoning this from the perspective of discipleship, the Gospel in this Mary-Martha story is intimating that Mary is a disciple, and as such, her behavior is to be emulated.  To be a disciple is to determine priorities, and the highest priority must be to listen to the Word.  It is like setting a priority to our Sunday obligation to listen to the Word of God amidst the weekend’s distractions.

The gospel is a reminder that it could be very easy for us to focus on less-essential tasks, assuming that these can produce more effective results.  Yet we need to be very careful with our “busy-ness” that distracts us from the real business of hearing Christ.  It is always good to remember that through the Word, Christ renews our lives and builds our Church.  Let us be aware of our worldly concerns that divert us from the priority of the Word.  Amidst the “busy-ness” of and in this world, do we find time to “to sit at the feet of the Lord?”

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar

Our Gospel this weekend tells us a story about a good Samaritan, a story which raises a question, “Who is a neighbor?”  The answer to this question is a matter of perspective, and requires a certain way of seeing.

In the story, there was a wounded man in the ditch who needed help because he was robbed.  A priest passed by.  And so did a Levite.  Both just passed by, unheeding of the need of the man who was robbed.  Then there came a Samaritan, who took care of the needs of the man.  In this situation, a question re-echoes, “Who is a neighbor?”

Simplifying the meaning of neighbor will shed light here.  The word neighbor has a basic meaning in Greek which means “to be near.”  Coming back now to the question, “Who is a neighbor?” the answer certainly has to be the third person, the Samaritan.  The other two stretched the gap between themselves and the man in the ditch.  They would not come near to him.  Definitely, they would not be a neighbor to him.

The story may have happen in our parish life, too.  Perhaps one may say, “I am willing to love my neighbor as myself.  I want to go near to everyone in need, for we are all in need when we come to the church.  But please don’t get me involved with the wrong neighbor.”  Hey, there is nothing wrong with one’s neighbor inside the church, but perhaps one gets his or her neighbor wrong because the other is seen not as of one’s same color, race, ethnic group, culture or language.  One can easily fall into this trap of seeing a neighbor in a wrong way.

The story of the good Samaritan, then, provides us a perspective of seeing a neighbor.  To see a neighbor is to look at the other in good faith.  To be a neighbor is “to go near” to the one needing help and act according to their need instead of acting with grabbing over the other.  To be a neighbor is not a matter of who and what we are in our status to others, but who and what we are on the basis of our actions, responding and doing unselfishly the good for others.  Neighbor love knows no boundaries.

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar

Dear Friends,

Our Gospel reading this weekend purports that the kingdom of God is an inaugurated reality.  It is unfolding upon us.  This inauguration signals the sending of 70 disciples to do the proclamation; thus, the purpose of commissioning.

In inducting his disciples to a mission, Jesus begins by employing the farming metaphor, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  By these words of commissioning, the disciples know that they, like Jesus, must be on their way.  They have a great task to do, that is, a kingdom to proclaim.

The disciples’ task is ours, too.  As Catholics, we continue the mission to actualize the Kingdom of God, especially and locally in our own parish.  This is very urgent in our parish.  Aware of the dwindling amount of attendance in Sunday Masses, we need “laborers” to bring “harvest” to our Church.  To “labor” for the “harvest” in our parish is everyone’s task because we are all commissioned to make disciples by virtue of our baptism.  It is my hope and prayer that we all act with a sense of urgency in carrying out the task toward the actualization of God’s Kingdom in our midst as our parish mission.

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar

Dear Friends,

If there is a very significant birthday we want to remember in the month of June, it must be the birthday of the one in whose life we pattern our parish identity… St. John the Baptist.  Our Catholic tradition continues to echo the celebration of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, the Voice crying out in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Word.  We want to perpetuate the memorial of this feast in our parish.

I am of the opinion that we do disservice to our parish if we forget to honor our Patron Saint, with whom we affirm our community.  It is my great wish that the Feast of the Voice be given primary accent and pronouncement among other feasts that we celebrate here because we want to be faithful to our identity; that is, to what we are as a parish, “Church of St. John the Baptist.”

In the tenor of unanimity in celebrating our feast, let us rejoice with resounding spiritual joy and re-echo the Voice that exclaimed, “My joy is now full.  He (Jesus, the Word) must increase; I must decrease.” (John 3:30).

Fr. Bart
Parochial Vicar

Dear Friends,

Do you remember “The Godfather?”  There is a beautiful line of dialogue in this movie of a godfather to his son.  He says, “Sonny, do you spend time with your family?”  The son replies, “Yes, father.”  And the godfather continues, “Good, because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family isn’t a real man.”

Yes, time with the family is what makes a dad a real father to his family.  While honoring our dads on this day we call “Father’s Day,” we wish our fathers to consider contemplating the greatest gift they could give to their children: the gift of time.  I have read an article that said the greatest fathers in our era don’t find time for their kids.  They MAKE time.

Father’s day therefore offers a gentle reminder to our dads – that a crisis of fatherhood is a result of the crises of time which eventually results in a crisis of faith in our family.

As a tribute to our dads, let us pray for all of them today that they may be more faithful to their duties in the family in giving their time of fatherhood. Let us pray to God to give them the moral strength to become good role models that their children can always look up to. And it is my special prayer for all kids who lost their fathers, that the heavenly Father may show Himself to be their father in such a palpable way so as to fill the void left by the absence of a visible father.

Dear Friends,

Making a gratitude letter for all of you seems to be the best way we could celebrate new life with our beloved pastor upon his passing away.  Together with the staff of St. John’s rectory, I want to say my heartfelt “Thank You” for all the efforts, talents and gifts that you shared with Fr. John.  Since I arrived here last year, I have witnessed with increasing awareness how your love and care gave Fr. John the assurance to live longer amidst the chain of events of his struggle with leukemia and other related medical conditions.  We cannot leave unheeded the nurturing environment you created for him, with him, and in him.  In Fr. John’s missionary desire to serve the parish much longer with full measure of dedication, you surrounded him with a tremendous web of loving support and kindness.  There was no question that all of you carried him through with your unceasing prayers to the time until he finally joined and rested in the loving embrace of our Almighty Creator.

With this open letter, we, the staff of St. John’s rectory, wish to express our profound gratitude. Thank you so much!

Father Bart

Parochial Vicar

Dear Friends,

I have here a very familial message for all of us.

We like to belong to our family, parish, and community. We make great efforts to belong and we want so much to belong. But do we know that the desire of our hearts to belong is answered by what we celebrate today – the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity?

The celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity offers us a window to see God as a family of Trinity, Father Son, and Holy Spirit totally united in love for each other, a family inviting us to belong to the very life of love they share. God invites us to belong.

The invitation happens firstly when we were created in the image and likeness of God and secondly when we were baptized. Since our baptism, we share and are drawn into the love and beautiful relationship at the heart of our Triune God. We were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We were adopted by God as sons and daughters (brothers and sisters) on the day we were baptized. Indeed, through our baptism, we belong to a new family, the family of the Trinity.

Our belonging to the Trinitarian life is God’s message for us that the life of the Trinity does not exist in solitary individualism but in a community of love and sharing.  For this reason, God wants us to overcome every tendency of division and isolationism. In the act of our belonging, God wants us to be true to the universal family we belong to, a catholic family, a family rooted in the life of the Trinity.

Fr. Bart

Friends,

Happy Birthday!  Today, our church came to life when the Holy Spirit came down on the followers of Jesus, and our church came to life.  The Holy Spirit invited everyone from all over the world to join in this great event.  We are children of that first Pentecost.  Our little church on San Pablo Avenue reflects that wondrous diversity, and we support and love one another in our cultural differences, but especially in our love for Jesus and our commitment to our parish.  Once again: Happy Birthday, Church.

Medical update. A week and a half ago, I developed pneumonia and spent four days in Alta Bates Hospital.  The great medical care given by the staff took care of the pneumonia, and I was able to be with our 12:30 First Holy Communion group of children and parents last Sunday.  God blessed me to be here, even though I am out of breath and rather fragile.  I deeply appreciate your prayers and love.   God is so good.  I can never thank God enough.

Peace,

Fr. John

Friends,

In the liturgy today, we remember that Jesus left for heaven: the Ascension.  However, Jesus did not leave us orphans.  He promised to send the Holy Spirit to lead and guide the church and to develop our understanding of God.  Jesus called the Holy Spirit our “ADVOCATE,” or attorney, who pleads our cause in spite of our sins.  And this advocate is still at work in each one of us and especially in our church.  Our church really needs a lawyer/advocate in this era of child abuse, abused victims, litigations and tons of money.  It is painful to read about both old and new allegations.  “Holy Spirit, Advocate, we need you to guide us.”

Another point: I got a wonderful email from Fr. Emmanuel, and he sends his love and prayers.  He enjoyed his ministry here in our parish and he grew as a priest. …  He mentioned that as he re-inculturated himself, he found that he must build his mother a home.  Now, Fr. Emmanuel has a vow of poverty and has no money.  He said that his uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces all considered his mother their mother also.  He would ask them to help build the home, which cost $1,000.  If you would like to help him, make a check out to St. John’s and put Fr. Emmanuel’s name in the line at the bottom.  We will get your love offerings to him and report back to you.

Peace,

Fr. John