Chaplain's Report

Christ is Risen!

Dear Brother Knights,

I would like to begin with a quote from Blessed Mother Teresa:

“In your life, in mine, in the life of each of us, God has made us to love and to be loved, so that we walk toward our heavenly home. As we carry Jesus in the world, we will be prepared to return eagerly to our Father’s house when the day arrives for us to be called.”

Dear friends, it is good to see you again after some time. I hope that you had a blessed Easter celebration and that you are all in good health. In light of Mother Teresa’s words which remind us of eternal life, I wonder how this past weekend was for you, especially Saturday, May 21, which was declared by one evangelical group in USA to be “Judgement Day”, the end of the world. It was reported that some members of that congregation sold everything and were expecting to be taken to heaven.  I read their reasoning for this event online, and it was indeed quite a strange understanding of the Bible.

Well, we as Catholics know that we need to be ready any time for Christ’s Second and Glorious coming, but there is no definite date known to us. We have to be ready always. I would like to share a meditation written by Fr. Anthony Coniaris entitled, “Watchfulness”, which presents the Catholic and Orthodox Church’s understanding of preparation for that day.

He wrote: “The whole theme of a Christian’s life is watchfulness, preparedness, expectant faith. The end is always imminent, always spiritually close at hand. We are constantly only a heartbeat away from judgement. ‘And just as it is appointed for me to die once, and after that comes the judgement. . .(Heb. 9;27).’ How well this sense of urgency is captured by the words of St. Andrew of Crete, recited each Lent in the Great Canon:

‘My soul, O my soul, rise up! Why art thou sleeping!

The end draws near, and soon shalt thou be troubled.

Watch then, that Christ thy God may spare thee,

For He is everywhere present and fills all things.’

The Lord Jesus said,

‘Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the marriage feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at the table, and he will come and serve them . . . you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect’(Luke 12:35-40).

God will one day step into history in the Person of Jesus to judge the living and the dead. ‘We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ; so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body’ (2 Cor. 5;10). The purpose of Judgement is not to make us afraid but to drive us to repentance so that we may become truly ‘His people’ by faith, hope, and love. God’s judgement is redemptive. He wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth.”

Dear Brother Knights, may the Risen Lord continue to bless you with His grace in order that we all grow in holiness, which is the prerequisite for the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom.

Christ is Risen!

The Funny Bone ....

A pastor concluded  that his church was getting into very serious financial troubles. While  checking the church  storeroom, he discovered several cartons of new bibles  that had never been  opened and distributed.
So at his Sunday  sermon, he asked for three volunteers from the congregation who would be  willing to sell the bibles door-to-door for $10 each to raise the desperately  needed money for the church.
Jack, Paul and Louie  all raised their hands to volunteer for the task. The minister knew  that Jack and Paul earned their living as salesmen and were likely capable of  selling some bibles.. But he had serious doubts about Louie  who was a  local farmer, who had always kept to himself because he was embarrassed by his  speech impediment.
Poor Louie stuttered  badly. But, NOT WANTING TO discourage Louie, the minister decided to let him  try anyway.
He sent the three of  them away with the back seat of their cars stacked with bibles. He asked them  to meet with him and report the results of their door-to-door selling efforts  the following Sunday.
Anxious to find out  how successful they were, the minister immediately asked Jack, 'Well, Jack,  how did you make out selling our bibles last week?'

Proudly handing the  reverend an envelope, Jack replied, 'Using my sales prowess, I was able to sell 20  bibles, and here's the $200 I collected on behalf of the church.'

'Fine job, Jack!' The  minister said, vigorously shaking his hand... 'You are indeed a fine salesman  and the Church is indebted to you.'
Turning to Paul, 'And  Paul, how many bibles did you sell for the Church last week?'
Paul, smiling and  sticking out his chest,  confidently replied,  'I am a professional salesman. I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church, and here's $280 I collected.'

The minister  responded, 'That's absolutely splendid, Paul. You are truly a  professional  salesman and the  church is indebted to you.'

Apprehensively, the  minister turned to Louie and said, 'And Louie, did you  manage to sell any bibles last week?'Louie silently offered the minister a  large envelope.

The minister opened  it and counted the contents. 'What is this?' the minister exclaimed. 'Louie, there's $3200  in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for the church,  door to  door, in just one week?'

Louie just  nodded.
'That's impossible!'  both Jack and Paul said in unison. 'We are professional salesmen, you claim to have sold 10 times as many bibles as we could.'

'Yes, this does seem  unlikely,' the minister! agreed. 'I think you'd better explain how you managed  to accomplish this, Louie.'
Louie shrugged..  'I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don't kn-kn-know f-f-f-for sh-sh-sh-sure,' he stammered.
Impatiently, Peter  interrupted. 'For crying out loud, Louie, just tell us what you said to them  when they answered the door!'

'A-a-a-all I-I-I  s-s-said wa-wa-was,' Louis replied, 'W-w-w-w-would y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like  t-t-to b-b-b-buy th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-bible f-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks  ---o-o-o-or--- wo-wo-would yo-you  j-j-j-just l-like  m-m-me t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read it t-to y-y-you??