Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, September 14, 2025

This weekend we celebrate The Feast of The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This Feast was established in the 7th Century to commemorate the discovery of the True Cross in 326 by St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine. More recently, this Feast is an opportunity to celebrate the victory of the Cross over the sin and darkness of the world. Today portions of the True Cross may be found in various churches, particularly at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Basilica Church of The Holy Cross in Rome.

In the 1st Century, crosses were used to cruelly punish the worst criminals. Imagine if we “exalted” other methods that we have used and continue to use to punish criminals or even put them to death. Yet, the Cross of Jesus Christ is today the universal image of Christian belief and of the love of Jesus, “Who, though in the form of God, emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. This is the glory of the Cross of Jesus!” (Pope Francis).

The Priests are often asked, “Father, can you bless this cross?” as people pull a cross from around their necks or from their purse or pocket. Often, the cross is attached to a chain or a rosary. Among Catholics, most of the “crosses” are actually “crucifixes” because they bear the crucified image of our Lord Jesus Christ. Artists and jewelry designers have turned the cross into a thing of both beauty and great value. Crosses, both large and small, are made of gold and decorated with precious gems. However, for the first Christians, crosses had no beauty. They stood outside many city walls, decorated only with decaying corpses, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome’s authority by following Christ.

As we celebrate this Feast, our primary focus is God’s infinite love and boundless mercy shown to us through the perfect Sacrifice of His Son on the Cross. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday, God transformed the greatest act of cruelty ever known into the greatest act of mercy ever bestowed upon the world. The fact that the Cross is now the symbol of God’s perfect love magnifies His love, showcases His infinite power, and reminds us that “for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). Lift high the Cross!

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, September 7, 2025

WOW!! Talk about a great party! Last Saturday evening over 800 people attended our 75th Anniversary, “Faith+Family+Food” celebration. Thank you for supporting the event. It truly was a festive and joyful evening.

Events like this don’t just happen. We had nearly 100 volunteers and at least 10 staff members who made the event a reality. While I can’t name all of them, there are several who went above and beyond the call of duty in the days leading up to the event and throughout the evening.

Our volunteers were exceptional! The Knights of Columbus cooked burgers and hot dogs, ran the “pub,” created and prepared pulled pork sandwiches, and generally filled in when and where needed. Guillermo Ibarra, Jake Knutte, and Gif Himmelright cooked and prepared nearly 100 pounds of pork butt and a huge quantity of coleslaw. Dozens of members of the San Felipe de Jesus community worked together to prepare elote (Mexican street corn) and fruit. A special shout out to Jeanette Galasso and Galasso Bakery which generously supplied nearly all the rolls that we needed for the event. Mickie and Dave Schinderle along with Gerry Holbert provided invaluable assistance in mixing 90 pounds of ground beef into meatballs, making sauce, and assembling and serving the meatball sandwiches.

On the staff side, Lupe Ojeda, Gloria Turnbull, and Pauline Tran worked for weeks to advertise the event, track registration, make signs, organize volunteers, design and order Stedwear. Suzanne Edwards, Diana Wehbe and a host of young volunteers took on the responsibility of making the event fun for children. Johnny Oskam and his band, YAGO, entertained all of us with terrific music. Our maintenance team, Ruben Mayorga, Efren Oviedo, Victor Fernandez, and Israel Ruiz, worked tirelessly to set up the hall and the plaza, to break it all down, and provided continuous clean-up throughout the evening. Finally, Tom Leeman pulled double duty overseeing the event as both Business Manager and KofC Deputy Grand Knight.

In this weekend’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about how we should be intentional in planning our relationship with God which must be our most important priority - more important than our relationships with fathers, mothers, material possessions, etc. After we have placed God firmly at the center of our lives, we can more joyfully celebrate with one another as we did last Saturday.

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, August 31, 2025

For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

This weekend, both Sirach and the Gospel extol the importance of humility. Humility, which is a virtue, is the opposite of pride, which is a vice or sin. Someone once said that, “humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but, rather, thinking of ourselves less.” Humility drives us to focus on the accomplishments, hurts, or needs of others. We commit the sin of pride when we focus on ourselves or believe that we matter more than others.

Pride hurts relationships in every aspect of our lives. Whether it is our marriages, our business relationships, our parish relationships, or our sports teams, pride blocks our ability to enter fully into those relationships. When my son was playing baseball and football, I often told him that his personal success was not as important as the success of his team. In other words, being humble means that, “It’s not about YOU!” This is especially true in our relationship with God. The reading from the Book of Sirach reminds us that, the more we humble ourselves, “the greater [we] are, and [we] will find favor with God.”

Jesus challenged the religious leaders because they thought that their leadership positions were about them and their accomplishments. They were so proud of their positions that they forgot the needs of others and the importance of serving others. Jesus led in a very different way. Long before leadership experts coined the phrase, “servant leadership,” Jesus was the ultimate example of a servant leader. He said so Himself, “I came to serve, not to be served.” He acted humbly as a servant and put the needs of others first. His life and teachings show us how important it is to lead with love, compassion, and a servant's heart.

We are all called to follow Jesus’ example of humility and become servant leaders at home, at school, on our sports teams, in our offices, in our parish, and in our community. We do not need “official” leadership positions or titles. We can lead quietly, by inspiring others around us. We can become great leaders and great Catholics by showing compassion and creating a culture of respect and collaboration. Leading with love and humility makes a positive difference.

Fr. Mike