29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

     The leading theme of last Sunday's readings was the invitation to the feast of heaven, and that invitation is extended to all peoples at all times. We all want to get to heaven to the eternal feast of God's Kingdom. God never tires of showing us his mercy, love and generosity.

     In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus clears it for us as well, that we need to be involved in both realities: heavenly and earthly by stating : "repay to Cesar what belongs to Cesar, and to God what belongs to God ". It is obvious that no one is going to do our part in this life, and we need to be truly concerned with our life here on earth, so that we will merit the gift of eternal life in heaven. The key component of getting to heaven, is the way we live here on earth today. To be concerned with life as the Gospel invites us to: “love your neighbor as yourself “; “do to others what you want them do to you” is always the golden rule, it is the way to get to heaven.

     Our involvement in political life is necessary, as a part of setting up of society, that is going to facilitate our goals of faith, or is going to be an obstacle on our way. It requires our vigilance to set up just laws, that will permit us to abide by God's Commandments, and we see it clearly, that there are forces that oppose the Commandments, and want to force others to break them. It is one thing to respect everyone's free choice to choose what is good and right, but it is other thing to push others into the choice of evil. We need to respect the dignity and right to life of every human person, from conception to natural death.

       October, is the month of Right to Life awareness, when in practical ways we show our support for the Life Centers on Long Island. Life, it is a gift, partially given to us by our parents, and mainly by God who gave us the soul. We are aware how precious this gift is to us, and we want to give equally, same value to life of every other human person. If we want our life to be respected, we need to respect life of others. It is so simple, yet for the purpose of convenience people claim the right to abortion, starting to deny that the persons that are just conceived are fully human yet. As if that conceived human being needed approval or confirmation by another human being to become human. If that conceived human person is left to grow, it grows into the full extent in its proper time.

       Conceiving abortion as a "right ", it pretends to force others to execute that right by assisting in killing innocent lives. It also expands and becomes the economy issue, as if killing children was a profitable business, searching for the victims among distressed women.

         We need to see the possibility of life giving, as a great privilege and expression of true family love. That dignity of love has to be defended and fostered, and so we will have more happy couples and families. We need to have a state, that protects human dignity and life in all stages, from conception to natural death, because only than, we can be truly human and happy. Our happiness will never come at a price of someone' life, it can only come from fully supporting equality and dignity of every human person. The state, and the government can not take that away from us, and can not force us to do differently. Neither government nor individual persons we have the right to decide who lives and who dies. That right to life is given to us by God at the moment of conception, and no one has the right to take it away.

       This is why Jesus says: "give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar and to God what belongs to God ". God is responsible for giving us life, and the government is responsible for organizing the people into a society that respects everyone, without infringing on other people's lives, dignity, and faith.

       Be ready to vote in November, assuming the responsibility for the dignity of our life, to defend our freedoms and pursuit of happiness. As Jesus says: “I have come that you may have life, and have it abundantly.”

       We continue to pray for healing for all sick people, and for all those affected by the natural and man made disasters around the world. We pray for positive solutions for everyone to all immigration problems, that people have in our country.

       Happy feast day to people of Peru, and to all who venerate the image of the Lord of the miracles !!!

God bless everyone !!!!

Fr. Stan