2nd phase of our new stained glass windows

Dear Friends in Christ,

When you look up to the choir loft or toward the front doors of the church you will see clear glass. This is part of the preparation for the second phase of our new stained glass windows. These windows will complement the bronze doors which depict the baptism of Jesus. Since the Lenten Season is a time of preparation to renew our Baptismal promises, I thought you might like to hear how the new stained glass windows can relate to our spiritual journey.

The large central window behind the choir will have the traditional symbol of the Holy Spirit, the dove hovering in flight. The Spirit is the Sanctifier, Who anointed Jesus as the Christ and prepared Him for His public ministry. At our Baptism the Holy Spirit fills our souls with sanctifying grace and prepares us for our life’s journey toward the kingdom. The stained glass will show rays of light emanating from the Holy Spirit. Above the Holy Spirit, at the top of the window, you will see a symbol of God the Creator. A hand extended downward evokes the Person of the Father Who opens the heavens and announces Jesus as His own beloved Son. His creating hand reminds us that with the coming of Christ the new creation has begun.

At Baptism we become the beloved sons and daughters of God by adoption. Christ, our head, welcomes us into the family of His Church. We are joined to the great family which includes the saints in heaven and the holy souls in purgatory. We prepare to enter the new creation which Christ has established by His saving sacrifice on the Cross. Alongside the bronze doors the windows portray a continuation of the scene of nature with the water and the river banks, reminding us of Baptism.

The new windows are scheduled to be installed in May, during the Easter Season. By then we will have welcomed about 30 new Catholics. They will be washed in the saving waters and will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at Easter. We will renew our own baptismal promises at Easter to remind us of the Spirit’s action in our lives. As we see the preparations continue and the new windows installed, may our hearts also be prepared and decorated with virtues. Let this Lenten Season be a time of spiritual renewal with prayer, penance, and works of mercy, so that the Easter celebration will bring true joy to our hearts.

May God bless you and may you have a fruitful Lent

Fr. Hildebrand

Our Lenten journey

Dear Friends in Christ,

How has your Lenten journey been so far? Does Easter seem a long distance away? Are you already losing spiritual steam? Here’s a true story for you that will hopefully restore your energy.

As I write this letter Mauro Talini is nearing the end of a 9000 km bicycle trip which began on November 29 in La Paz, Bolivia and ended at Cape Horn (southern tip of South America). Who is Mauro Talini and what was the purpose of this long journey? Mauro Talini, 36, is an Italian cyclist from Viareggio. In 2007 he cycled from Italy to Nordkapp, Norway (northern limit of Europe). Is this a long distance Lance Armstrong? You might think he would qualify for the Tour de France or the Olympics, but that is not his goal. Mauro Talini is diabetic and insulin dependent. His bicycle tours are called “Diabetes No Limits”. He is out to prove that the human spirit is greater than physical obstacles. But his South American tour has another important goal, a spiritual goal, which is the real purpose of his long bike ride.

This time Mauro has adopted an important cause for his bicycle tour, raising funds for the “City of Hope” in Riacho Grande, Brazil. This project is directed by the Father Kolbe Missionaries of the Immaculata (a Catholic secular institute of women missionaries). The Fr. Kolbe Missionaries have been working among the poor of South America for more than thirty years. The City of Hope is currently under construction in a very poor area near Sao Paolo where the Missionaries have an apostolate. Mauro’s trip “1 Bike, 1000 Dreams” hopes to raise money to complete the “city” which will include a welcoming center for children, classrooms, a sporting field, and other buildings. If you would like to check out Mauro’s odyssey and learn more about the project, here are some links (they’re mostly in Italian) www.Maurotalini.it (blog); www.gpsweb.it/talini; www.aipkolbeonlus.org.

For Mauro the bicycle tour is also a journey within, a journey with the Lord. He carries with him only his insulin, a light tent (at times he had to camp out in the Argentine desert), and funds for food. He depends on people along the way for his lodging. His is a journey of hope, for those with physical limitations, for those with spiritual limitations, and especially for the poor of Riacho Grande. He is an example of faith in divine Providence and the power of God that works through grace. Now, did you think you had a cross too heavy to bear? Mauro has a cross too, diabetes, but that doesn’t stop him from making strenuous and long bike tours. Our journey to Easter seems long, but day by day we have God’s promise that He will provide what we need. We only have to ask for it, …and keep pedaling!!

Happy Lent to all.

Fr. Hildebrand

Message from the Holy Father

The Christian Good News responds positively to man’s thirst for justice, as Saint Paul affirms in the Letter to the Romans: “But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from law … the justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (3, 21-25).

What then is the justice of Christ? Above all, it is the justice that comes from grace, where it is not man who makes amends, heals himself and others. The fact that “expiation” flows from the “blood” of Christ signifies that it is not man’s sacrifices that free him from the weight of his faults, but the loving act of God who opens Himself in the extreme, even to the point of bearing in Himself the “curse” due to man so as to give in return the "blessing” due to God (cf. Gal 3, 13-14). But this raises an immediate objection: what kind of justice is this where the just man dies for the guilty and the guilty receives in return the blessing due to the just one?

Would this not mean that each one receives the contrary of his “due”? In reality, here we discover divine justice, which is so profoundly different from its human counterpart. God has paid for us the price of the exchange in His Son, a price that is truly exorbitant. Before the justice of the Cross, man may rebel for this reveals how man is not a self sufficient being, but in need of Another in order to realize himself fully. Conversion to Christ, believing in the Gospel, ultimately means this: to exit the illusion of self-sufficiency in order to discover and accept one’s own need – the need of others and God, the need of His forgiveness and His friendship. So we understand how faith is altogether different from a natural, good-feeling, obvious fact: humility is required to accept that I need Another to free me from “what is mine,” to give me gratuitously “what is His.”

This happens especially in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Thanks to Christ’s action, we may enter into the “greatest” justice, which is that of love (cf. Rm 13, 8-10), the justice that ecognizes itself in every case more a debtor than a creditor, because it has received more than could ever have been expected. Strengthened by this very experience, the Christian is moved to contribute to creating just societies, where all receive what is necessary to live according to the dignity proper to the human person and where justice is enlivened by love.

Dear brothers and sisters, Lent culminates in the Paschal Triduum, in which this year, too, we shall celebrate divine justice – the fullness of charity, gift, salvation. May this penitential season be for every Christian a time of authentic conversion and intense knowledge of the mystery of Christ, who came to fulfill every justice. With these sentiments, I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope

Dear Friends in Christ,

Recently two different persons asked me about “St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope” and so I will use this letter to respond so that all of you can understand the Church’s official position. In my role as pastor I am obliged to protect the flock from error; it is in this spirit that I write this letter.

First, we should be clear about public Revelation, that it ended with the death of the last Apostle. Since then any private revelations have to be approved by the Church Christ founded. Apparitions and revelations of our Lord, our Lady, and the saints over the past centuries have all been investigated. Some of these have received Church approval; some are still under investigation (Medjugorje for example) and some have been explicitly declared to be in error. Such is the case for the following.

St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope, which is located in Brea, claims to be a source of private revelation from God to the late Frances Klug. Purported divine messages began coming through Mrs. Klug back in 1967. In 1980, after an investigation into the revelations, Monsignor Joseph Pollard, theologian for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reported that the messages were certainly heretical. Here is the conclusion of Msgr. Pollard’s report:

The teachings of the organization “St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope-City of God” are, in their key doctrine, heretical (orginal emphasis). In ancillary teachings, there is an avoidance of the mens ecclesiae (mind of the Church). On both counts I find the “revelations” to be spurious.

In 1981 the bishops of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Orange all signed a document declaring:
This organization, its properties, its activities and its teachings are independent of the Roman Catholic Church, its jurisdiction and its favor. Financial or moral support of this organization by Catholics cannot be construed as support of the Church.

In particular, the President of “St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope – City of God” enjoys no commission from the Church to teach, counsel, or conduct retreats. You should not make donations for building projects for this organization. Nor should you accept literature from them. In spite of what may seem to be authentic teaching, they come from a very dubious source. Remember that even the devil knows how to quote Scripture.

As you know, there are excellent sources of authentic Church teaching which are readily available to all. Highly recommended are the Catechism of the Catholic Church or its shorter Compendium. A book that claims to be Catholic should have the Imprimatur or Nihil Obstat or some other official Church approval. With regard to Bibles, I have often cautioned people that many Bibles in book stores are not Catholic; they are published by non-Catholic companies and omit certain books of the Old Testament that were removed in the 1500’s by the Protestant reformers.

Catholic Bibles will usually say “Catholic edition” or will have the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur. If we remain faithful to the Church’s Magisterium (Pope and Bishops) we can be sure we will not be led astray because Christ promised to be with His Church “to the end of the world”. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, seat of Wisdom, guard us and protect us always.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand