Lord, before this holy Sacrament, we bow low in humble prayer.

The-last-supper

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Jesus, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, have mercy on us.
Bread of Angels, have mercy on us.
Bread made flesh by the omnipotence of the Word, have mercy on us.
Bread of our souls, have mercy on us.
Food of the elect, have mercy on us.
Refreshment of holy souls, have mercy on us.
Most pure feast, have mercy on us.
Sacrament of piety, have mercy on us.
Sacrament of love, have mercy on us.
Source of all virtue, have mercy on us.
Fountain of grace, have mercy on us.
Mystery of faith, have mercy on us.
Mystery of love, have mercy on us.
Most high and most adorable Sacrament, have mercy on us.
Memorial of that most wonderful Divine love, have mercy on us.
Holy oblation, have mercy on us.
Lamb without spot, have mercy on us.
Fountain of Divine mercy, have mercy on us.
Viaticum of such that die in the Lord, have mercy on us.
Pledge of future glory, have mercy on us.

Be merciful to us, Spare us, O Lord,
Be merciful to us, Hear us, O Lord.

From an unworthy reception of Thy Body and Blood, Deliver us, O Lord.
From every occasion of sin, Deliver us, O Lord.
From being negligent of Thy grace, Deliver us, O Lord.
Through the mystery whereby Thou didst institute this Most Blessed Sacrament, Deliver us, O Lord.
Through Thy Passion and Death, Deliver us, O Lord.
Through Thy glorious Resurrection, Ascension, and descent of the Holy Ghost, Deliver us, O Lord.

We sinners beseech Thee, O God, Hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to preserve and increase our faith, reverence, and devotion toward this admirable Sacrament, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to move us to a frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to impart to us the precious fruits of this most holy Sacrament, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That at the hour of death Thou wouldst strengthen us by this heavenly food, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to cll us to the feast of the Lamb, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
Son of God, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory be…

Thou gavest us Bread from Heaven, O Lord.
Having in it the sweetness of every taste.

Let Us Pray

O God, Who in this wonderful Sacrament
hast left us a memorial of Thy Passion,
grant us, we beseach Thee,
so to venerate the Sacred Mysteries
of Thy Body and Blood,
that we may ever feel within ourselves
the fruit of Thy Redemption,
Who livest and reignest,
forever and ever.
Amen.

God bless you Marianna!

On Saturday, May 25th, we welcomed Marianna Josephine Zemken, daughter of Donovan Zemken and Rebecca Ann (Clas) Martineau into the family of faith through the waters of regeneration in baptism. The godparents were Mitchell Zemken and Rebecca Delisa. May our Lord and Savior watch over and protect Marianna and continually fill her life with knowledge of Him and His joy.

Passiontide, Holy Week, and Easter in Schenectady

The schedule below notes all services for Passiontide, Holy Week, and Easter at Holy Name of Jesus in Schenectady. Please also remember that Holy Week is a week of fasting.

  • Sunday, March 17th – Passion Sunday: Lenten Penitential Service, Holy Mass, Anointing of the Sick, 11am
  • Friday, March 22nd – Stations of the Cross, 7:30pm
  • Sunday, March 24th – Palm Sunday: Blessing and Distribution of Palms. Service of Worship and Holy Communion, 9:30am
  • Tuesday, March 26th – Holy Tuesday: Clergy Conference and Holy Mass of Chrism, St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Cathedral, Scranton
  • Thursday, March 28th – Maundy Thursday: Holy Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament, 7pm
  • Friday, March 29th – Good Friday: Church opens at noon, Stations of the Cross at 1pm, Bitter Lamentations/Gorzkie Å»ale at 2pm, Opening of the Tomb at 3pm, Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified at 7pm.
  • Saturday, March 30th – Holy Saturday: Holy Saturday Liturgies – Blessing of new fire, holy water, baptism of Karina Leigh Weglinski, renewal of baptismal promises, blessing of food, 4pm
  • Sunday, March 31st – Solemnity of the Resurrection: Procession and Solemn High Holy Mass, 8am, Service of Worship and Holy Communion at 10:30am, Soup on Sunday and Easter Breakfast 10:30am

Our hearts and doors are open to all who wish to walk with Jesus through His trial, suffering, death, and burial so as to share in His resurrection.

Reflection for the Second Sunday In Ordinary Time

Shirt Wording Cutout

Are we going over?
Yes, yes we are.

Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

Anne Rice, writing about the life of Jesus, describes Cana as follows: “It’s a winter of no rain, endless dust, and talk of trouble in Judea. All who know and love Jesus find themselves waiting for some sign of the path he will eventually take. After his baptism, he is at last ready to confront his destiny. At the wedding at Cana, he takes water and transforms it into wine. Thus, he’s recognized as the anointed one and called by God the Father to begin a ministry that will transform an unsuspecting world.”

We have been following Jesus’ path from His birth, the visit of the shepherds, His circumcision, the visit of the Magi, and His baptism. After His baptism, John pointed out that Jesus was the One everyone expected, the Messiah. He told his followers to follow Jesus. Disciples began to flock to Jesus because some had heard the Father’s voice from heaven and had seen the Spirit descend on Him. Others followed based on John’s word. What a great build-up.

We are at Cana today. We know something amazing is going to happen. This period of build-up has to be fulfilled. We can sense it. It is like being at the top of a rollercoaster, knowing what’s coming next. Yet we are fearful. We might even wonder if we will be stuck without ever going over. Suddenly, we are rushing headlong filled with the thrill of the moment, feeling exhilarated. No fear, only joy.

The disciples were now rushing headlong. They experienced the power of God at work in Jesus. God was among them, what an amazing rush.

Church and the life of faith is more than pretending we were there or sitting on the edge. Each week we live with Jesus by our presence in the community of faith, entered by baptism.

Just as Jesus intervened to help the newly married couple He continues to intervene in our lives. In our weekly worship and Holy Communion we don’t just remember His great deeds, we don’t just retell an interesting story, we become a real and living part of that story. We are there with Him in the very same way His disciples were. We have the same pledge.

We could sit at the top of the rollercoaster with anticipation or fear. Like Ryder, who joins with us in taking that plunge off the edge into the life of faith today, we live a powerful and exhilarating life by going over. Fear is destroyed by joy. Adventure is here. We are transformed and we transform others. We are in the present with Jesus, over the edge, alive.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Baptism of our Lord

Baptism

Why should I join?
What does it mean?

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

It wouldn’t be unusual to wonder about baptism, what it means. We might also wonder why Jesus was baptized.

For us, baptism is membership in the body of Jesus, the Church – we are made part of Jesus by descending into the water, as He descended into death. With this membership we are promised that we, like Jesus, will rise again.

For us, baptism is washing. We are washed of sin. In baptism we recognize that we fall short of the glory of God. As St. Paul wrote to the Romans “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” We know that we are sinful, no one is perfect and without failings. In baptism we acknowledge our sinfulness and our reliance on God, who through Jesus’ sacrifice washes us of our sinfulness, brings us forgiveness, and welcomes us back – always, no matter what.

For us, baptism is proclamation that Jesus is the Son of God, true God and true man. We proclaim the triune nature of God, Jesus’ sacrificial death, resurrection, and ascension. In baptism we proclaim the Creed – stating definitively what we believe by faith. At Jesus’ baptism the heavens were opened. The Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. The Father’s voice is heard: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” This is God revealed, as He is, plain and simple, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Jesus’ baptism pointed to all these things. At Jesus’ baptism John publicly recognized and declared that Jesus was the One who was awaited, the Messiah, the One who would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Jesus’ baptism also showed that He identified with sinners. His baptism symbolized sinners’ baptism into His righteousness. In addition, Jesus baptism showed His approval of John’s baptism, bearing witness to it, that it was from heaven and approved by God. Later, after His resurrection, He would tell His followers that by baptizing the many they would be made His disciples. In Jesus’ baptism the reality of God was revealed in testimony direct from heaven.

All the glorious truth of the mercy of God found in Jesus Christ is on display at His baptism. We join ourselves to that glory and truth in our baptism.

In the dynamics of baptism we join ourselves to all the truth of Jesus. We proclaim that God has freed us by His grace and our acceptance of that grace. We declare with all the faith that we have – we are members of His body, and that He is our Lord and God. We are His members – and it means this: That we receive His mercy and glory.

Special Note – Events and Times for Sunday, December 16th

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out – Acts 3:19

Next Sunday, December 16th, we observe the Third Sunday of Advent, the lighting of the Third Advent Candle. On this Sunday we traditionally add to our Advent preparations during Holy Mass with a special Advent Penitential Service.

Proper Advent preparation requires that we free ourselves of sin. This is our opportunity. In this special preparatory moment we are better able to examine our conscience and put forth our best effort to make things right with God and our neighbor. These special penitential services occur only twice a year – so it is vitally important that we attend, participate, and celebrate together.

Following Holy Mass we will take time to enjoy fellowship, our Youth Christmas presentation, and join in preparing all those wonderful meatless dishes we will share with each other at our Vigil Dinner starting at 11:30am.

To allow sufficient time for our Penitential Service, Holy Mass, our Youth Presentation, and our Vigil Dinner we will begin at 8:45am with the lighting of the Advent Wreath immediately followed by our Penitential Service, receipt of the Sacrament of Penance, and Holy Mass. We are pleased to have Fr. Rafał Dadiełło from Holy Spirit Parish in Little Falls join us to administer the Sacrament of Penance and to offer Holy Mass.

St. Paul reminds us: All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation — 2 Corinthians 5:18. God gave His Holy Church the power to loose us of our sins -– come and be made free once again in the love of God who has reconciled all things to Himself in Christ Jesus. Then free, join in celebrating the coming season with each other.

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent

I can’t believe it!
I guess you didn’t not see it…

A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

If we read the caption above, we note the double negative: “didn’t not.” Writing this, my word-processing program kept pointing to my error.

Word-processing programs are a wonderful invention for someone like me who has terrible spelling skills. Either a red or green underline shows up. Red if the word appears to be misspelled, green if the grammar is incorrect.

Let’s think of John the Baptist as God’s word-processor. He went out to proclaim a wonderful gift, that people could renew their lives if they would only repent, make straight their ways. Salvation was theirs if they would take the steps to correct themselves.

Like my word-processing program, John pointed out serious errors, especially of the so-called “leaders” of the day. He put really big red underlines under all sinfulness.

His call to repentance was just like that of the word-processor. The error is obvious, its been pointed out. But now what? We have to recognize that red underline; we have to see it. Then, we have to take action to fix it. We have to correct the spelling and grammar of our lives, bringing them into alignment with God’s way.

Whenever we hear John’s cry “Prepare the way… make straight the paths… fill-in the valleys… make low the mountains and hills…make the winding roads straight… the rough ways smooth” we also begin to think like construction workers. We laugh, get me a bulldozer and a big crew and we can do it. Construction takes engineering, study, process, and hard work. John wasn’t talking about construction! He was shouting about the engineering, study, process, and hard work we have to do to make our lives right before God.

Let us be dedicated to making our lives straight, smooth, and level; getting rid of the red underlines, living lives based on God’s desires for us. Doing so, we have the guarantee of finding peace, renewal, and seeing His salvation.

The Jewish people were carried away to captivity and spent generations there. When they were freed they didn’t see it coming. We already know Jesus is returning. We do not need to foresee the moment for we know we must prepare. Prepare His way and be ready to rejoice. Stand ready to share in peace and great joy at His Salvation. Come Lord Jesus!

Reflection for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I’m locking up Jesus.
Hey, wait a minute…

“John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone forcing demons out of a person by using the power and authority of your name. We tried to stop him because he was not one of us.’”

We meet someone, and find out that they are doing amazing things in Jesus’ name what do we think. Maybe they are drawing dozens of people into their Church. Maybe they are really effective at serving others, helping them find God’s forgiveness and healing through their words and actions. Maybe they are a really great preacher. What’s is our reaction especially if they are not members of our parish or our Holy Church?

Today’s gospel shows us that the disciples’ reaction is jealousy, anger, and a desire to stop that person. Better yet, they want to use the power of God (that’s Jesus) to stop them. It sort of reminds us of how petty the disciples could be at times.

Remember, in Luke 9, after a town had rejected Jesus the very same disciple, John, came to Jesus and asked if he could call down fire from heaven to destroy the town.

Jesus tells us today that our reaction to our brothers and sisters who bear His name should be one of joy, happiness, thankfulness, and fellowship. The person the disciples saw, and the people we find, doing great things in Jesus’ name all belong to Him. Jesus isn’t claiming exclusivity for His followers, or creating one human boss over all.

Jesus did not create one human boss over all because He well knew human weakness. If the disciples couldn’t rejoice in the wonderful things being done in His name, if their first reaction to anyone who didn’t get Jesus was to destroy them, how could He trust any one of them to be the “one over all?”

It is sad and unfortunate when one Church claims such things. It makes all Christians look bad because those that do not know Jesus see a sign that says Church is a closed community – a gated community with Jesus locked up inside. It speaks of exclusivity rather than openness.

Jesus left us a sacred and holy way of life. He gave us His word. He provided us with the nourishment of His sacraments. He showed us love and welcome. He expects all that follow Him to do just that – follow Him as the “One in charge.”

When we get the urge to lock Jesus up in a gated community, to claim Him exclusively, remember today’s example. He says: You cannot lock me up. There is no “one in charge” but rather “One in charge.” All who follow the “One in charge” are blessed and welcome.

Reflection for Back to Church Sunday

I am listening.
What should I say?

“The LORD has heard my supplication; the LORD accepts my prayer.”

Did you ever wonder what the Word of God is all about? Scripture, the Bible, whatever term we use, what is its purpose, why should we read it, study it, reflect on it, or even act on it?

For many people, the bible might be something handed down from parents and grandparents, a cherished memento. For some it may have been a gift they received for their first communion, baptism, on their wedding day. Certainly, most people have access to a bible in their home, and even if they do not, it is easily accessed via the Internet, on your iPod or iPad.

It comes in handy. We tend to reach for that bible when an issue or problem confronts us, when we are not well or when someone we love is sick. We look for those words of comfort and guidance.

Some people really focus on scripture and use the bible as their guide for life. It becomes a procedure manual and a guide for everyday living. I need to go to the store – what does the bible have to say? I dropped my groceries, my car is making an odd noise, and my husband or wife isn’t talking to me — what does God have to say on the issue?

That is all well and good and has merit. Anytime someone picks up that bible God’s word goes to work in his or her life, but the Word is not really about us.

If God’s word, His revelation is not a revelation about our lives, what does it reveal?

Scripture is this – it is God’s revelation about Himself, His self-revelation. Everything in scripture points out something about God’s personality, His thoughts, His power, His mercy, His Fatherhood, and His love.

The single most important thread in God’s self-revelation is that He wants to live with us, in relationship with us. This is so important that He sent His only Son Jesus to break down the barrier of sin that separated us from God. He broke down that wall; He wiped away sin and the consequence of sin – death. He offered His life to accomplish this mission.

God wants to be in a relationship with us that much. We are that important to Him. Because of that He is with us every minute, listening to us. So when problems or issues confront us, and we reach for that bible, God opens Himself to us. He says, here I am, for you, for whatever you need, even if it is only comfort. This is who I AM. I am listening to you. Say or ask for anything because you are that important to me.