Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Lent 2025

‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’

As we have discussed, God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us. We will continue this study of God’s imagery throughout the Great Lent. 

May God’s imagery help us to achieve the vision He has for us and help us to arrive at Easter no longer ash, but light.

In last week’s reflection we concluded by praying that our Lenten disciplines strengthen us for the work we must do in the chaos, bringing light to overcome darkness.

This week God’s set of images call us to the charge of overcoming barrenness.

Jesus begins by issuing a set of very stark warnings, and the warning slightly hidden in the parable of the fig tree.

These kinds of warnings concerning consequences are the subject of vast theological and philosophical dances. We might regularly hear pastors saying – Well, Jesus didn’t really mean that, He was actually saying…

People tend to shy away from the idea of consequences, from the idea that they have to lie in the bed they made, that we can set aside God’s justice and take His mercy for granted. It is the very reason the word sin and the concept of hell are rarely if ever brought up – especially in churches.

In Jesus’ parable, the owner of the fig grove is God. He arrives expecting results and when He finds the tree that produces nothing, He orders it cut down – literally cut off from life.

The picture of barrenness is a stark one. Today’s image of the barren fig tree is not the only occasion for Jesus addressing a tree’s failure to produce. In Mark, Chapter 11 we see Jesus cursing a fig tree for failing to bear fruit even though it was out-of-season.

God expects us to bear fruit and to do so both in and out of season, to always be at the top of our game, in the action.

The other message we receive today is the assurance of help in the process. The owner, God, has waited for fruit for three years. He agrees to wait yet another year. The gardener, Jesus, will provide the tree with His grace by tending it, cultivating it, and fertilizing it. But there too we must take care not to take that grace and time for granted. Jesus’ tending, cultivation, and fertilization must be taken into ourselves so we may reach the result He wants.

The image of barrenness and death is juxtaposed with God’s image of life and fruitfulness. Which image we reflect is up to us.

March 2025 Newsletter – Lenten Leadership

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Leadership requires action and example. A good leader (and remember, we are all leaders) sets a vision and then engages with others to meet the vision. Consider what bad leaders do. They say: ‘Do this and do that’ but merely sit back and watch. They are not alongside in working to accomplish the vision. They take a lais·sez-faire approach. Even worse, they sit back and criticize when they think you’re not doing it right. We can rightly say: How can we do it right without leadership?

Jesus is the good and perfect leader. He placed His entire self on the line for the vision His Father had set, the establishment of the Kingdom. He led and taught others the how and why. He set out clear goals and worked to get there – He alongside His disciples. He corrected His disciples when they went astray, but did so in a fair and evenhanded manner.

On the First Sunday in Lent our Epistle is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Church at Rome. Paul is doing two things. He is contrasting the Law of Moses with its legalistic claim against the free gift of salvific grace offered through Jesus. St. Paul tells the Church that they have the Word of God and that if they confess Jesus as Lord and believe fully in Him they have salvation. They need not offer animal and grain sacrifices or carry out other precepts of the Law to obtain forgiveness or salvation. It is already theirs in Jesus’ sacrifice.

So too for us.

From there, Paul calls on us to lead by our proclamation. This was a call to bold leadership because to confess Jesus as Lord was quite hazardous then. For a Jew it could mean being cast out of family and community including great economic sacrifice. For a Gentile the penalties could include not only separation from family and community, but also arrest and prosecution, later even martyrdom. That’s not too far from reality today. Yet, lead we must without fear. Let us engage and through our Lenten action and example draw many to Christ trusting the assurance that no one who believes in Jesus will be put to shame.

Welcome to our March 2025 Newsletter. We enter Lent on March 5th with Ash Wednesday. Lent provides us with apply opportunity to practice the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and sacrifice. Join in our Directed Giving program to provide food resources in our local community. Looking forward, we are preparing for our Seniorate Lenten Retreat on April 5th and our Basket Social on April 27th. Looking back we announce the winners of our Valentines Raffle. Congratulations to all who participated. You support the faith development of our youth. Read up about CarePortal’s Love Day 2025. What we do really matters. We announce upcoming Ordinations for three of our brothers, Tonsure, and Minor Orders for another five. God bless them! All that and a reflection on the Orthodox Hymn “Open To Me The Doors Of Repentance.”

Read up on all this and more in our March 2025 Newsletter.

Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Lent 2025

Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.

As we have discussed, God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us. We will continue this study of God’s imagery throughout the Great Lent. 

May God’s imagery help us to achieve the vision He has for us and help us to arrive at Easter no longer ash, but light.

Last week we encountered the tremendous set of images where we saw with the eyes of our heart the fasting Jesus, tired and hungry in the dessert. There He was put to the test by Satan. We saw the rocks – would they be turned to bread, the mountain top with a supernatural view of all the kingdoms of the world, and the parapet of the Temple high above Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Today, the eyes of our heart are taken to another mountaintop, Mount Tabor, where Jesus is Transfigured, appearing in all His glory, and standing between Moses and Elijah. The Patriarchs and Prophets give testimony to God’s Son come among us.

The three Apostles overwhelmed seek to react. We might have the same thoughts they did – what can we do and how will we do it.

Wait, let’s build three dwellings right here, then we can stay here with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. Indeed, it is good that we are here. I will leave everything else behind just to remain.

The linchpin in the Gospel is the statement: they spoke of his exodus. Jesus’ path is made very clear. He is going to Jerusalem where He will be arrested, tortured, and killed, and on the third day rise.

The apostles wanted none of that bad stuff. How much better to stay on this mountain then to descend into the coming chaos.

Brothers and sisters, in this place, in this church, we ascend the mountain, and we commune with Christ Jesus. We experience His glory and are safe from the chaos out there. How lovely it would be, and I often picture this, to remain here, to rest here, to be in the Lord’s presence continually. Lovely yes, but not God’s will for us.

St. Paul, as he always does, makes it real for us. We must go out into the chaos filled with the grace we have received here and be those who thus conduct themselves according to the model [we] have in Jesus and His Apostles.

Through our Lenten disciplines let us strengthen ourselves for the work we must do in the chaos, bringing light to overcome darkness.

Reflection for the 1st Sunday in Lent 2025

When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

This past Wednesday we entered the Great Lent. I pray that the Pre-Lenten season has prepared each of you for this journey we are now on together.

As we have discussed, God uses imagery so we might clearly understand His intent for us, the picture He envisions for us. We will continue this study of God’s imagery throughout the Great Lent. 

May God’s imagery help us to achieve the vision He has for us and help us to arrive at Easter no longer ash, but light.

We see a tremendous set of images in today’s Gospel. Jesus, having fasted for forty days and nights is put to the test by Satan. You see, all Jesus must do is give in just a little to gain bread for His hunger, power in the world, and ultimately provide a show for Satan by throwing Himself off the parapet of the Temple.

In resisting Satan, Jesus quotes Scriptures, “One does not live on bread alone.” and “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him alone shall you serve.”

In the third temptation, Satan quotes back two consecutive verses of Psalm 91, verses 11 and 12. In resisting Satan, Jesus recalls the next verse of that Psalm, verse 13: ‘You can tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the lion and the dragon.’ By resisting, by not giving in just a little, Jesus is victorious over Satan’s temptations. As the Gospel tells us, Satan will wait for another day.

Temptation is very real, and it gets redoubled during this holy season of the Great Lent. 

Think of the many small compromises we may be tempted to make. Consider still more how we might use Holy Scripture to justify our compromises and forego our disciplines.

Lent calls us to an enhanced level of care in our lives.

In our first reading from Deuteronomy, Moses speaks about the obligation of the Israelites to worship, to bring the first fruits of the soil, recognizing that they were given to them by the Lord, and to literally recite out loud the history of salvation. This wasn’t a mere exercise. It kept before the people of Israel the true center of their lives – God and His saving power.

The power of evil in this world calls us to forget God, to give in, to backslide, justify, and place God on the back back back burner – out of sight.

This Great Lent calls us to overcome all that. We are, like Jesus, to resist and persevere. Ultimately, Psalm 91:14 gives us assurance. If we cling to God, if we resist giving in just a little, we will be delivered, we will be set on high with Jesus.

Reflection for Ash Wednesday 2025

“Jesus said to his disciples:
When you give alms…
When you pray…
When you fast…”

As I have mentioned over the past several Pre-Lenten weeks, God speaks to us in images. We see Jesus setting out very clear pictures as to what good and worthy almsgiving, prayer, and fasting look like.

It is interesting that society at Jesus’ time and to our day see these virtuous activities as difficult, a chore, or as perhaps a way to earn cheap kudos from others. They and we tend to miss the point of these exercises.

Certainly almsgiving, prayer, and fasting work against the worst of sins. Almsgiving fights against our tendency to greed. The habit of prayer – having conversations with God whether in formal or informal words – brings the grace to resist pride, envy, and wrath. Fasting trains us for, and is a direct counter, in the fight against gluttony, lust, and laziness. Those are practical remedies. But consider, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting more importantly as an intimate experience of God being with us as we work to become more like Him.

Jesus, in telling us to go into our rooms to pray and in His other directives concerning fasting and charity sets a picture of a place where we and God commune and work together in the fight against sin. Jesus is telling us that these practices are a real occasion for joy – because in them we work toward victory.

There is a beautiful Orthodox Hymn sung at this time of the year: “Open To Me The Doors Of Repentance” It is short, and the lyrics as follows:

Open to me the doors of repentance O Lifegiver; for my spirit rises early to pray towards Thy Holy Temple, bearing the temple of my body all defiled. But in Thy Compassion purify me by the loving kindness of Thy Mercy. Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Lead me on the paths of Salvation O Mother of God, for I have covered my soul in shameful sins and have wasted my life in lazy acts. But by your intercessions, deliver me from all impurity. Have mercy on me O God according to Thy Great Mercy and according to the multitude of Thy Compassions blot out my transgressions. When I think of the many evil things I have done, wretched I am, I tremble at the fearful day of Judgement, but trusting in Thy loving kindness, like David I cry to Thee. Have mercy on me O God, have mercy on me O God, Have mercy on me O God according to Thy great Mercy.

The picture drawn here is of one who seeks God, who is self-aware of their failings, and the true darkness those failings entail. It shows that one approaching the Temple of God – the Holy Church – and with the help of our Blessed Mother’s intercession placing their full reliance on God’s mercy.

As we begin this journey let us rely on our true Lifegiver. As we take these ashes, a sign of where we are right now, let us rely on Him Whom the hymn calls the Lifegiver for that is Who our God is. We pray that He open to us the Doors of Repentance to us so that with the help of His mercy we receive the full and joy-filled benefits from our almsgiving, prayer, and fasting this Lent and arrive at Easter reflecting the image of what God has called us to be – no longer ash, but light.

Lent in Schenectady

All are welcome to come and join in our Lenten observances at Holy Name of Jesus. Located at 1040 Pearl Street in Schenectady.

Ash Wednesday

We begin Lent Wednesday, March 5th with Holy Mass along with the blessing and imposition of Ashes at Noon and 7pm.

Stations of the Cross

Journey along with Jesus as we pray through the Stations of the Cross every Friday at 3pm.

Bitter Lamentations / Gorzkie Żale

A sung devotion originating in Poland in the 18th century. The devotion is a reflection and meditation on the Passion of Christ from the perspective of and through the sorrows experienced by the Blessed Virgin Mary. The devotion consists of a three-part cycle. One part of the cycle is held on each Sunday at 3pm. The entire devotion is sung on Good Friday.

Sunday Holy Mass

Come join in weekly worship every Sunday at 10am or Noon. Jesus’ community gathers each week to learn about His life and mission, His teachings, and to show Him proper worship. We also have weekly School of Christian Living classes for children and youth. Investigate the claims of Jesus with us as we strive to grow into His image. Whether you are working, studying or living in the Schenectady area or throughout New York’s Capital Region, we look forward to welcoming you.

Lenten Retreat

We will hold a Lenten Retreat for local parishes and open to all on Saturday, April 5th starting at 11am.

Lenten Charity

The practice of Lent motivates us to expand our charity towards our brothers and sisters. Holy Name is participating in a Directed Giving program for Lent. Food and gathered items are delivered to Schenectady area food programs:

Our Directed Giving Program suggested offerings:

  • Ash Wednesday Week, Mar. 5-8, LET’S DO LUNCH Tuna and Mayonnaise, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Soup and Crackers.
  • 1st Week of Lent, Mar. 9-15, FEELING FRUITY Canned Peaches, Pears, Fruit Cocktail, Pineapple or Applesauce, 100% Juice in Cans.
  • 2nd Week of Lent, Mar. 16-22, VEGGIE MANIA Canned Corn, Canned Peas, Canned Beans, Canned Potatoes, Canned Sweet Potatoes.
  • 3rd Week of Lent, Mar. 23-29, DINNER IS SERVED Canned Beef Stew, Canned Pork and Beans, Instant Potatoes/Stuffing Mix, Macaroni and Cheese, Spaghetti or other Pasta, Canned Spaghetti Sauce.
  • 4th Week of Lent, Mar. 30 — Apr. 5, SCHOOL NEEDS Pencils and Pens, Folders and Notebooks, Crayons, Tape and Elmer’s Glue.
  • Passion Week, Apr. 6-12, BABY MAKES THREE Disposable Diapers, Baby Wipes, Liquid Formula, Jars of Baby Food.
  • Holy Week, Apr. 13-19, SPECIAL NEEDS DIET Low Sodium Soups, Canned Fruit in Juices (not syrup), Canned Tuna in Water, Low Sodium Crackers, Natural Applesauce.

Fast and Abstinence

During Lent we also abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. This small practice of denial helps us in regulating our minds and bodies. We need to practice for all endeavors, whether sports or hobbies. So too spiritually. If we practice small denials we are better prepared to reject things that are truly harmful to us.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Institution 2024

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower… Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.“

Welcome on this Solemnity of the Institution. We take a brief break from Lent yet continue in our Lenten theme – struggle. As I mentioned on Ash Wednesday, struggle is in the very motto of our Church. 

We consider the stories of struggle engaged in by our forefathers and mothers. Through today’s stories of struggle, we realize that the struggle for righteousness in our lives is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our Holy Church and in each of us. The Holy Spirit moves to guide and gifts us. Jesus walks with us as we continue in our holy journey toward victory.

In preparation, I reviewed news articles concerning the organization of our Holy Church.

Here, as in Scranton and other places the people wanted a Church where they had a say in the life and matters of the Church; where their voice mattered and where their dignity was protected. The people wanted a Church that was the society Jesus intended to establish, where their lives would be bound together in the one great mission of Christ and where we would be connected one to the other as a rule of life, not just for a Sunday occasion. We have such a Church.

We know our Church was organized on March 14, 1897. Even before that, a September 1896 news articles tells us that a third delegation went to their bishop so their ideas might be heard. They were told to wait. A protest took place subsequent because requests remained unheard (lay representation in parish management, and an end to verbal abuse from the pulpit by their pastor). They were castigated by their bishop, men and women were arrested. Their pastor excommunicated them.

June 1911 – a man shows up at an outdoor Women’s Societies meeting wearing a clown outfit mocking Bishop Hodur and blessing the women with a broom and a pail of dirty water. Other men join him and two woman and two men from the Church had their heads cut open by cobblestones. Bishop Hodur has stones thrown at him. Nineteen-year-old Helen Palinski and three other young women tell the Press. “We would die for him.”

The word Catholic could not be used because of threats. February 1912, lawsuits are used to prevent Bishop Hodur from conducting services. January 1916 George Greizor was shot and killed protecting the church in Dupont. One woman describes three men hanging across a fence dazed by club blows. November 1926, Bishops Hodur and Bonczak are attacked and beaten in Poland. May 1951 Bishop Padewski is martyred in Poland.

We have been pruned, and continue to be, so we might bear much fruit from the struggle and to the victory of the Kingdom in ourselves and in the world. Amen.

March 2024 Newsletter – The Love Response

If I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.

In the second version of the Stations of the Cross, at the Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the Cross, we pray: ‘if we ever saw this for what it truly is – a compelling demonstration of how far You would go to prove Your love for us – then we…’  

Then we would what? There are many answers to that. 

We might break down in sorrow over our sinfulness, our betrayals and failures in living up to Jesus’ gospel way. We might reform of those things. We might enter into contemplation – reflecting on the great mystery of Christ Jesus, trying to grasp the great love that propelled Him to suffer and die for us. We might rejoice in our redemption, acknowledging that Jesus’ sacrifice has freed us from sin and eternal death. We might be more thankful and faithful in our daily lives. None of these is a bad thing to do and all have value. Indeed, each of these and other faithful practices should be central in our life, not just an occasional or Lenten thing.

It is not just in the nailing to the Cross that we are reminded of all the compelling things Jesus did for us. A quick survey: He was bound that we might become free. He was crowned with thorns that we might be crowned with eternal life. He fell that we might rise. He was stripped that we might become clothed in glory. He died that we might live. He was buried to show us that the grave is not the end. In these many ways Jesus’ love is proved in its fullness. The question remains, what is the one necessary response.

In our Eleventh Station prayer we go on to say: ‘then we would be so moved and touched that we would eagerly give You our love in response.’ Jesus seeks a love response from us. Then we must declare in every moment of our eternal Easter lives, I will love as Jesus loved. Jesus says that He will draw all to Himself from His being lifted up on the Cross. If we see the Cross as what it truly is – the full-on intensity of God’s love for us, then we will live the love response Jesus seeks.

Welcome to our March 2024 Newsletter. March is racking up to be quite a whirlwind. We go from the third Sunday in Lent to Easter all within the month. Check out our Lenten offerings and our Holy Week and Easter schedule. We share the Lenten and Easter poetry of Rev. Walter Hyszko. We are preparing for our annual Basket Social (the 20th anniversary) coming up on Sunday,April 21st starting at noon. Do you get God’s Field? We offer various ways from online to subscriptions. In college or taking music lessons? Scholarships are available. All this and more in our March 2024 Newsletter. Check it out.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Lent 2024

He knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

Welcome on this Third Sunday in Lent. We continue in our theme for this Lent – struggle. 

We are considering the stories of those who have struggled to the point of giving up on God. We see in these stories people who, in the end, were fortified because of their struggle. We may not see them ever fully overcoming their struggles, but still committed to overcoming as God has asked. Through these stories we realize that our struggles are evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves in us and because of that we struggle against the things that separate us from God. We are never abandoned by Him.

Today’s gospel focuses on conflict. Jesus drives out those doing evil in His Father’s House – with a whip. Jesus is angry at the mockery and self-serving going on under those who were supposed to serve God and care for His Temple.

First, let’s allay any confusion we might have. We can all agree that Jesus was meek and humble, that He welcomed sinners, and that He cured and healed even to the point of raising three people from the dead. He was in touch with the grief others felt and He felt it with them. That said, He did not come to just leave things as they are, but to reveal His Father’s will for all of us, and the way to His Father through repentance and belief.

Today we see Jesus’ righteous anger at sin and profanity. Yes, righteous anger is a thing we are allowed to have when we see wrong. Yes, Jesus loved sinners – and so He never left them in their sin. Listen to Him saying – “go and sin no more.” Again, and again repeating – repent, turn away from your sin.

I want to relate a current struggle that one of our potential seminarians is going through. Let’s call him Jay. 

Jay comes from a Christian background and is entering into the Catholic Church with us. He is studying at a Christian college right now. He let everyone know about his desire to be Catholic and a Catholic priest. For this he is being ostracized by his fellow students and the Dean and Chief Pastor of the college went before the entire school and publicly condemned Jay. Of course, Jay was hurt, and is struggling.

Once again, the Temple is being profaned. In the struggle Jay’s solution is to remain resolute, to be a true Christian example walking in Jesus’ footsteps following God’s law and committed to prayer for God’s strengthening grace in the struggle. Pray for Jay. 

Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Lent 2024

Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

Welcome on this Second Sunday in Lent. We continue in our theme for this Lent – struggle. 

We will consider the stories of those who have struggled to the point of giving up on God and faith in Him. We see in these stories moments where people may have given up for a time, and who, in the end, were fortified because of their struggle. We may not see these people ever overcoming their struggles, but still committed to overcoming. 

Through these stories we will realize that our struggles are evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. The Holy Spirit moves in us and because of that we struggle against the things that separate us from Christ. We are not abandoned.

Let us consider our readings and gospel. 

Imagine the struggle of Abraham as he journeys to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his only son as God had asked him. Abraham’s faith is sorely tested. Each step of the journey a torture and a consideration of the ultimate loss. Imagine Isaac’s bewilderment as the realization of what is to happen sinks in. Yet they are there. They are there in a supreme act of trust. In the end, their faith is reaffirmed and rewarded – but the process of getting there impossible struggle.

Imagine the struggle of those three disciples on Mount Tabor with Jesus. They are given a glorious vision of Jesus, the Son of God. It is meant to strengthen their faith amid the impossible struggle coming up in Jesus’ arrest, torture, death, and burial. As they descend the mountain the specter of death is before them, and they live in confusion from that day forward. After Jesus’ arrest and death, they forgot the lesson of the Transfiguration including God’s voice: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” All but John went into hiding and would not stay with Jesus.

St. Paul reminds us of the power of our God amidst our struggles. He tells us what he knew by experience, by the salvation he received on the road to Damascus. If God is for us, who can be against us?

God carried out what He stopped Abraham from doing. He did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all. God gave His all for us and in that we have reassurance amidst our struggles. We can proclaim with Paul that God will give us everything else along with Jesus. Because of that we are free and secure even in our struggles.