stspeterandpaul

The Pastor's Corner

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 14:46:08 GMT

Be Transformed By The Lord

The daily trials we go through and the joy that we experience are part of who we are as Catholic Christians. This renewal of our faith can only happen if we allow ourselves to be touched and transformed by the Lord.

Each of us goes through difficult times, moments of doubt, days when we feel like the sky is falling on us. Sometimes those painful moments have left marks in our hearts that bring doubts. This weekend’s gospel questions us on a deeper level. Jesus is asking each one of us who He is for us.
Sometimes, at a given moment, He is just the Son of God. God made man to come and save us.

What is the certainty of this answer when I am experiencing a dark moment in my life? Who is He when I am facing difficulties in life? Do I give the same answer every moment in my life? Do I know He is the one who can help me carry my cross and will never let go or let me down? Do I put my trust in Him no matter what life brings in any given day?

In the gospel for this weekend, we read that Jesus asks this question of his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” This question reveals doubts, uncertainties, and trust. To answer this question, one needs to know exactly the profound aspect of this question. Why does Jesus ask his friends this question? What will you feel when Jesus asks you this question? What will be your answer? What do you think He might be looking for as an answer?
To answer this question, you need to have a relationship with Him. This question is asked of every one of us almost every day of our lives.

As we go along, day after day, we learn to grow, to give Jesus the place He deserves in our lives; to say “He is the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) “He is the gate.” (John 20:9) “He is the Bread of Life.” (John 6:35) “He is the light of the World.” (John 8:12) “He is the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25-26) He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) “He is the Vine.” (John 15) If we know the place that Christ has in our life, then we can truly accept that the cross we carry is not the absence of life, even when it can be painful, on the contrary, it is the place from which faith can spring forth life.

If we truly know what place Christ occupies in our life, we will then be able, “as we go,” to enjoy more of the beautiful and good things, and to go through the most difficult moments with confidence. This trust is not so obvious, yet it is possible if we nourish our relationship with Jesus.

In our relationship with him, Christ does not ask us to check boxes, He asks us to renounce ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. In our life, there are specific occasions where we renounce ourselves sometimes even without realizing it. When we talk about self-denial, we can be tempted to think negatively. Whereas the real meaning of this is the capacity we have to love. For example, the mission of being parents, a friend, a husband, a wife is to renounce oneself.

Our testimony is based on the capacity that we have, not to endure what we have to experience, but to live it with the confidence that we will not be confused. To live it with confidence that there is an eternity to which we are called. Moreover, it is worth giving your life for a true friend! It is worth “fighting,” not for a cause, Christianity is not a cause, but for a person, Jesus. He alone is capable of transforming our ordeal into the power of life!

May the Lord give us the grace today and every day, to be renewed in our faith. May He increase our capacity to love, and may He help us to have a heart full of hope in the reality of everlasting life. We can have the courage to renounce ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him because he is, indeed, the way, the truth and the life! We are so happy to have Bishop Williams with us this weekend to celebrate the feast day of our Parish. What a
wonderful day for us!

I wish you all a blessed feast day of Saint Peter and Paul. Thank you for your support and your efforts to continue the works of all those who have been in our parish before us.

Remember it is summer but Jesus wants to see you and help you to modestly welcome Him into your heart. Yet it is a season to relax but Church remains Church, be mindful of the way we want to meet Jesus.

When Is A Weed a Weed?

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:49:20 GMT

"...that nasty, “vile weed” was useful after all."

Reflection 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

30 years ago, I became a home owner in this area, the suburbs of Philadelphia. My wife and I bought a small 2-bedroom house with just under a 1⁄4 of an acre of land, much of its rear yard wooded. My first large purchase was a lawn mower, followed quickly by a “weed whacker”. Being new to suburban home ownership I simply cut and whacked my way through that first summer and by the fall it was pretty obvious that I did not know much about maintaining a lawn. Over the following winter, I made it my mission to learn all I could to become the perfect lawn owner. I spent Saturdays, watching PBS shows like the Impatient Gardner and read books on fertilizers, insecticides, and proper watering. I spoke with the lawn care company employees that my neighbor across the street used, to get tips, as I heard he always won the neighborhood’s lawn decorating contest each year. A couple years went by and my lawn looked great and by the third year, I took 2nd place in the contest; not bad for a “city boy”, but I digress.

A year or so after my silver medal win in lawn excellence, the neighbor across the street, who always won, moved out and the new neighbor who moved in, was not as diligent in his lawn care. In fact, he discontinued the lawn service and within a short time dandelions started to appear on the once pristine 1st place lawn. This posed an interesting dilemma for me. On the one hand, with the old neighbor no longer caring for the property, I was poised to be elevated to 1st place status in lawn decorating, however, on the other, I would have to insure that I was not invaded by the dandelion spores that would inevitably be blown across the tiny street and find their way into my near perfect lawn.

Then it happened as if overnight, one evening when I came home from work, I saw the first small yellow flower, but it was just one and nothing to worry about. A few days went by before I noticed again, and now there were patches of yellow flowers in many spots of the lawn and even some of their evil cousins that spawn new ones that are blown by the wind to create even more. As I was doing the lawn care myself, I made sure to have extra of the necessary ingredients should they start to spring up on my weed free property and I was prepared with a mixture of homemade chemicals to eradicate them. So, I went to it. I spot spread my solution, which was utterly effective in eliminating dandelions all over my lawn. I saw the results, within a few hours as the pesky invaders started to wither a slow death. Weeds were going and very quickly; I was fully in charge of the weed problem.

It was the next morning that I realized how the solution was utterly effectively in eliminating all manner of living plants, as it irradiated every blade of pristine grass it came into contact with, leaving me with many dead spots in my otherwise healthy lawn.

Some of the other PBS shows that I started to watch during that time were cooking ones. They were always introducing odd ingredients into dishes, or ordinary things you would never think of. As irony have it, just after the weed incident I detailed above, I was watching one of these programs and the “secret” ingredient that week was, wait for it...dandelions, as if to mock me even further. Apparently, the dandelion, a weed to those of us lawn perfectionists, is used by many as a salad addition and all parts of the flower can be enjoyed. I did vaguely recall my grandfather talking about eating dandelions, but I thought that was just a story. Huh, go figure, that nasty (or to quote Newman from Seinfeld in his distaste for broccoli) “vile weed” was useful after all.

From our Gospel, I think about these two plants, the wheat, and the weed. Both starting out as a seed, both planted in the same soil, both with the same destiny, to grow into a mature plant. Yes, we presume, bases on our preconceived notions, prejudices, foreknowledge, that they will have different purposes. We are told that at the proper time, and we are not sure when that is , the Master , not the workers in the garden, will instruct, the separation of the two types. The Gospel should give us pause to reflect on ourselves as workers in the garden, looking out for the Master’s crop:

What use does the Master have for each plant?
Are some of the “weeds” we perceive, perceived as something other by the Master?
Is it for us to decide?
Of course, we are workers in the garden but also we are as one of His prized plants. It should have us asking deeper questions:
Can a weed really be a useful plant?
What kind of plant are we now?
Have we changed or are we in need of change (perhaps some spiritual fertilizer) before the
harvest?

Happy to be in His garden with you!

Deacon Frank Campisi

Keep Things Simple

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:42:14 GMT

K.I.S.S.

Reflection for the 17th Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year A Deacon Anthony Cioe

When I was growing up my dad worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. He was a blue-collar worker, a machinist by trade, and as best as I can recall he worked mostly on LPH helicopter ships and aircraft carriers. One of the lessons that my dad always emphasized was to keep things simple. His actual words were, “Keep it simple son.” I learned later that his philosophy was forged from the design principle “KISS” which was articulated by the U.S. Navy in the 1960’s. The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore, simplicity should be a key goal in design, and any

unnecessary complexity should be avoided.

That lesson of keeping it simple has had a lasting impact on me. In my work career, I often found people overthinking their actions and making things harder than they needed to be. As I trained or coached coworkers I stressed the need to keep it simple; state the facts; don't overcomplicate the message.

My wife thinks the same way as I do and together we’ve incorporated that philosophy in our marriage, and into the way we raised our children. These days we have the pleasure of spending lots of time with our grandson Erik who is 5-years old. We can play for hours and hours with simple things; building an office out of cardboard boxes, playing imaginary games, doing simple crafts. This simple form of play brings him, and us, great pleasure.

It occurs to me that Jesus is consistently urging us to do the same; to keep our lives, our needs, and our faith simple. The Gospel readings for this week and last week are filled with parables about what the kingdom of heaven is like. And it doesn't talk in lofty or difficult to understand terms. Jesus speaks to us in simple terms. He tells us that the kingdom of heaven is like a small mustard seed, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, it’s like yeast, like a small pearl, or like something one finds that is so valuable that they give up everything else once they found it. We do not need to overcomplicate our faith, or His love for us, or His expectation from us. When Jesus tells us that the greatest commandments are to love God and to love our neighbor, He’s essentially telling us to Keep It Simple. To avoid being distracted by those things in the world that draw our attention away from Him.

It pleased Our Lord greatly when Solomon, who could have asked for anything, simply asks for an understanding heart. Let us in the same way please Our Lord by keeping simple our faith in Him and our love for others.

God bless you

Deacon Anthony Cioe

FROM OUR HANDS

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 20:35:22 GMT

(He) broke the loaves, and gave the m to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. Mt 14:19

In our Gospel passage this week, we have a familiar scene where Jesus is presented with a large gathering of hungry followers. Putting aside His own personal grief at the death of His cousin John, He acts to fulfill the words of the prophets and because this was so important an episode, all of the gospel writers record this event. However, in Matthew’s account, we see an emphasis on the disciples’ role in the miracle that unfolds. (He) broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. Mt 14:19

As part of my diaconate formation, I did an internship at the Cathedral Kitchen, in Camden, NJ. On my first visit in late June 2011, with sweltering heat, 225 people came hungry. All ages, all races and all were fed; no questions asked. The meal that day was a hot entrée (a stew of sorts over Dutch noodles), water, milk and dessert. When the noodles ran out, the stew was served over fried potatoes, when the stew ran short, toward the end of the service, there were chicken fingers and fries. All got a take home bag with a sandwich, canned fruit, and snacks. There was extra milk and water. Chef Jonathan was like that disciple who just kept dishing it out as more came in and reclined. He was like a shepherd that day laughing with some of the sheep (most of them dirty and smelly as sheep tend to be); giving some extra to the sheep who brought their children, the littlest lambs. I was told that since it was toward the end of the month, many more people came that day, because they were running low on the public assistance that comes at the beginning of the month. Prior to COVID-19 when the Cathedral Kitchen could serve guests in the dining facility, guests were seated 12 to a table, then reduced to 6 to observe social distancing. As the pandemic and the imposed regulations evolved, so did the ability to serve the way I experienced the regular meal service. During the current pandemic, CK cannot serve guests in the dining room but is still serving 1600 meals a day to 8 halfway houses, while providing their regular guests with hot “to go” meals.T

It occurs to me, that there are many types of hunger, physical like in the readings this week, being just one of them:

Many hunger for a knowledge of Christ which we can teach, by word and more importantly by example. Speaking at work or school on what our faith teaches about the issues of the day; yet doing so with love and compassion. Our current climate, implores us to speak to the truth, ever so doing with the compassion of Christ.
Others hunger for companionship, reach out with a call or visit, of course maintaining social distancing.
Some only hunger for a closeness to God, but feel so separated for a host of reasons; so pray with and for them.
My point is that there is hunger are all around us; but the food, we give, whether spiritual, physical or emotional will not run out. God will not allow it to. We need to just keep “reaching into the basket”.
Perhaps more today than ever, after we have gone through nearly 6 months of unprecedented times, we have been given a unique opportunity to take stock of what is right around us in our own homes our own lives and I am speaking for myself as much as anyone else:
Maybe I/we have become complacent to the abundance of God’s blessings in my/our lives.
Maybe I/we need to remember, in the words of our Holy Father, the true shepherd has to interact with the sheep so much that they smell like the sheep; meaning immersing myself/yourself as a shepherd into the world of the sheep. That is sometimes the biggest challenge for some, but also the source of the greatest personal reward.

I pray we are touched by the same Holy Spirit that was with His disciples while they passed out the loaves and fish to the hungry among them. So that we will be mindful that our spiritual baskets never run out as we feed those who hunger around us.

God Bless You!

Deacon Frank Campisi

Are You A Distracted Believer

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 02:48:00 GMT

If you drive a car you have probably become an expert in identifying the telltale signs of

distracted drivers: unexpected changes in speed, drifting outside of the lanes, not anticipating

what's happening ahead. When drivers are on the phone or texting, they lose focus and begin

risking their safety and the safety of others.

Our Gospel today is not about distracted drivers, but it is about distracted believers! We are

told that Peter and the disciples were in their boat one evening. The wind and waves began tossing

their boat around and they became frightened. Suddenly, they saw a figure. At first, they did not

recognize that it was Jesus walking toward them on the water; they thought it was a ghost, which

frightened them even more. Peter was afraid but he felt strong. He told Jesus, “Lord, if it is you,

command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus did so, and Peter left the boat and began to walk

on the water toward Jesus.

But once he was out of the boat, he saw how strong the wind was, and he became

frightened. He took his eyes off Jesus and his faith began to waiver. Beginning to sink, he cried out,

“Lord save me.” It was the wavering of his faith that caused Peter to begin to sink. But it was then

that Jesus reached out his hand, caught Peter, and brought him back to safety.

Jesus is here to help us negotiate the troubles of our lives. If we can keep our eyes on Him,

we can handle whatever life throws our way... we can walk on water. But if we allow ourselves to

focus on the storms in our life and become distracted by the events that scare us, it's then that we

panic, and we grasp, and clutch, and begin to sink. If during those difficult times we can stretch out

our hand to Him, we will find that His hand is already outstretched, ready and eager to pull us back

to safety. Jesus is there for us, even in the midst of a storm.

So, what are the things that distract us, what are the things that cause us to take our eyes off

of Jesus? Is it money.... power.... addictions.... anger.... unfaithfulness.... unwillingness to forgive

others.... unwillingness to forgive ourselves? You fill in the blank.

When we are focused on Jesus, we can stretch out our hand knowing that his hand is already

there to keep us from sinking into the raging waters. As strong as those forces are, remember that

if we avoid distractions and listen closely, we will hear God speak to us, inspire us, and help us to

make good decisions which will lead us to peace.

God bless you. Deacon Anthony Cioe