Message from Fr. Omar Ayubi V.F.





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        <h1>Message from Fr. Omar Ayubi V.F.</h1>
        <h2><a href="http://www.skdrexel.org/" target="_blank">St. Katharine Drexel Catholic Parish</a></h2>

        <p>Dear Family:</p>
		
		<p>First, I would like to acknowledge all Fathers today, as we celebrate
Father’s Day here in the United States. Father’s Day is a special time
to express love, gratitude and appreciation for the men who play
important roles in our lives whether they are a biological father,
foster father or a future dad. We honor their strength, selfless support
and the gifts they bring into our world with heartfelt blessings and
sincere words. If you are a father, may your life be filled with grace
and countless blessings, and may His strength help you carry through
every challenge with amazing grace and triumph.</p>
		
		<p>The New Testament, including today’s Gospel text, is clear that those
who obey God are capable of giving witness or testimony to Christ.
The first Christian community gave testimony to Christ especially by
means of their joyful and fraternal charity, their ready poverty, their
public witness in court when needed, and eventually, for some, the
shedding of their blood in the service of Christ as martyrs, sometimes
called the “supreme witnesses.”</p>
		
		<p>Clearly the witness of the apostles and the first Christian did not consist
in only making sure some fact or truth was spoken about correctly,
but in the living out of God’s command of love, and in the conviction
of God’s overall plan for the salvation of the human race. The New
Testament authors try to make clear that the Good News is worthy
of belief because it had been lived out and witnessed by many people
who had been convinced of God’s creative and sustaining action in the
world. This is solid testimony, then, which doesn’t depend on human
wisdom, but on the power of the Risen Christ.</p>
		
		<p>The power of the Risen Savior is manifested in the strong and weak of
this world, in you and me. All of us are called, like the first followers
of Christ, to introduce into the world a leaven  a small, but powerful
influence in the world - that directs attention to the realities that
are above, as Saint Paul calls them, rather than on things that are of
this earth. This is not human power at work, such as the strength of
weightlifters and marathon runners, but the power of the crucified
and Risen Lord, who calls all to himself, the good and bad alike.
“When I am powerless, it is then that I am strong,” as Saint Paul says
in his second letter to the Corinthians 12:10, because it is Christ who
supplies the necessary strength.</p>
		
		<p>We firmly believe that the Holy Spirit continues to act in the Church,
even in her bruised and broken members, born anew in the Paschal
Easter mystery, which clearly proclaims God’s love, that is even
stronger than death.</p>
		
		<p>As a result of all these marvels, giving witness to the Lord today means
speaking and living in the truth the Church has always proclaimed,
namely, that Christ came from heaven, sent by God, as the Way, the
Truth, the Life, and the Light that is intended to lead everyone back to
heaven, to the Kingdom of our God. The witness we bear is confirmed
by the Holy Spirit moving in those who are faithful to God’s call to be
builders of the Kingdom.</p>
		
		<p>The Gospel today deals with a vitally important way that Christ’s
followers enter fully into the Easter mystery and the wonders of death
and resurrection, namely, through persecution. “No servant is greater 
		than his master,” said our Lord,” as well as “If they have persecuted me,
they will also persecute you.” So the follower should not be surprised
at, or run from, persecution. “Do not fear those that deprive the body
of life but cannot destroy the soul,” we hear in today’s Gospel text.</p>
		
		<p>In other words, the disciple cannot expect to be treated differently
than Christ was, but that should not cause fear, which would be a
real hindrance to growth. The source of our confidence in the face of
persecution is God alone who is ever at our side. Grounds for courage
are given in that no one can destroy the real person, the inner self, the
immortal soul. Surrender then should be to God, who is all-powerful
and whose unlimited power should give courage to the disciple, to be
even able to face death for the love of Christ and the brethren.</p>
		
		<p>Persecution endured in this way bears fruit by revealing the evil of
sin, but even more, the eternal riches of God’s love that conquers sin.
This is the mystery of paradox. A rabbi of ancient times expressed it
this way: “It is not in our hands to understand the prosperity of the
wicked or the suffering of the just.”</p>
		
		<p>Repeated outright persecution in the history of the Church has in
many ways solidified the faith and built up the Church by creating an
invincible face to the persecutors. And persecution has another side
as well: the attitude of the persecuted becomes a sign that the hour
of salvation is at hand, that Christ’s coming is as sure as the dawn.
Persecution shows the hope of the follower of Christ that suffering is
not in vain, that no one can kill the soul, and Christ has come to lead
us from suffering to joy.</p>
		
		<p>To give our life for Christ may not necessarily include the shedding
of our blood. Nonetheless, we are called to give all in our private life,
in our families and communities, in our places of work and social
contacts, that we prefer nothing whatever to Christ, as Saint Benedict
teaches, for Christ in fact has preferred nothing whatever to us, as
Saint Cyprian of Carthage put it.</p>
		
		<p>Every Sunday is to be a proclamation of the death and resurrection
of Christ until he comes in glory. By means of the celebration of the
Eucharist, especially on Sundays, followers of Christ enter into the
dynamism of unconditional love and feel within the ability to conquer
evil, sin and sorrow, by the power given in this sacrament of the Body
and Blood of the Lord.</p>
		
		<p>The believer seriously participating in the Mass is strengthened
to proclaim and to bear clear witness to the truth of Christ and to
struggle with the support of God’s grace, against the forces of sin and
evil. May this be true for all of us, and something that grows each day
within us. May the truth of the Gospel makes us always One Body, One
Spirit, One Family!</p>
		
		<p>Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Katharine Drexel, Saint Michael the
Archangel, St. José Gregorio Hernández, Pope Saint Pius X, St. Teresa
of Avila, and St. Charbel, pray for us.</p>
		
		<p>Yours in Christ!</p>

        <p><strong>Fr. Omar Ayubi V.F.</strong><br>Pastor</p>
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