Sunday, April 28, 2013

The New Commandment




If we are accused of being Christians, will our actions prove us guilty of that charge?  Last month I wrote a blog trying to come to grips with the teaching of Jesus about forgiveness. 

Peter asked Jesus, “‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’  Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21.  And, in His early teachings, Jesus reaffirmed that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. 

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear that, at the Last Supper, Jesus amplified that teaching when He said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you are also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciple, if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34-35.  

How do each of us live up to this reading and this new commandment?  Jesus says that love for one another will be the way we are known to be disciples of Him.  Not by our words will be known as Christians but, primarily, by our love for one another.  So, as to this love for one another, Jesus sets a really high standard for that love.  Not just in the prior Judeo teaching of measure as we love ourselves.  But, the measuring bar is raised in this new commandment to the level of loving one another as He loved us! 

In the measurement ‘as we love ourselves,’ we would not sacrifice ourselves for ourselves, would we?  In the new commandment, on the eve of His suffering and death, Jesus is giving us the measurement for loving each other to be as He loves us.  He, then, goes on to his suffering and death on the cross for us.  So, under this new commandment, we should be willing to love one another even to the sacrifice of our lives.  Are we really really ready, willing and able to live up to this commandment?  In light of this new commandment Jesus gives us at the Last Supper, the standard for forgiveness that He gave us and His prior reaffirmance of Jewish teaching of love for one another seem small and paltry.  It can simply but  humorously be viewed by the joke about who sacrifices more for us for our breakfasts - the chicken or the pig? The chicken just gives us the eggs but the pig gives his life so we can have our ham or bacon with those eggs! 

The reality of this new commandment is its difficulty to live and to deal with people who have wronged us and for whom we have held or still do have long-time grudges.  We can humorously think that it was easy for Jesus because, after all, He is God!  But, it is Jesus who proclaimed this new commandment on the eve of His suffering and death for all of us and for our sins.  Tough gig, isn’t it.  He didn’t not give any exceptions for neighbors who do or say things we do not like.  It is a broad, universal command by Him. 

Going around preaching how much we love Him, praying to Him, and telling other people to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior is meaningless unless we are first convicted as Christians by our own actions of loving each other as He loved us in his new commandment.  This sure tests our commitment to Jesus - will we only go part way and just donate eggs or go all the way in order to fulfill  his charge to us?  Remember, also, Jesus did not say this was a new suggestion.  He said it was a new commandment.
 
Pray for me in my quest to succeed in loving you and everyone by this standard in the new commandment and I will pray for your success. 

Now, you know what I think and I would very much like to know what you think about this.   

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

Ray Makowski, Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Monday, April 22, 2013

Coping With Terrorism Again




Last week at this time, the annual Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day occurred. 
A normally happy event was shattered by a couple of bombs being exploded in the crowds and killing several people and injuring several hundred.  After the shock of this event occurred and our prayers for the dead, the injured, the runners, the spectators and their families, we all thought who did this, why did they do it, will they be caught and brought to justice.  That began an intense week of pursuit and the involvement of over 4,000 law enforcement officers.  In a few days, a couple of suspects were identified and they were caught or killed within a a few days.

The initial speculation was whether Al Qaeda or Muslim terrorists were involved.  And, then, there was all the speculation that goes along with the implications of this idea.  It, also, brings forth all the ugly thoughts about jihad.  How should we deal with this, is our question including how should we feel and deal with Islamic terrorists?

Our Bishop, Felipe Estevez, properly asserted in his  9-11-2012  message that we, Catholics, reject extreme ideologies while embracing all people of all faiths.  How should we view and deal with Muslims when they seem to embrace terrorism against us?  Let me start with the teaching from our Lord, Jesus, that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  So, despite how difficult this can be, let’s start our approach to Muslims from a prayerful love for them. 

Second, we should learn more about Islam and its followers.  We will learn that there are 2 major divisions of Islam, of which you probably heard, called Sunni and Shia. There are other minor divisions as well. Fortunately, 90% of all Muslims are Sunni which is the more the peaceful adherents to Islam.  The Shia, from my rudimentary understanding of this, believe that provoking an apocalyptic event will bring back the return of the Twelfth Imam and the ultimate rule of Islam.  Iran, to no one’s surprise, is an Shia theocracy and you hear its leaders speak of the return of the Twelfth Imam.  In addition, virtually all middle eastern Muslims have developed an antagonism to the West and to the United States specifically because of our support of the state of Israel and the Jews residing therein.

We now know that these misguided brothers were influenced by Muslim terrorists.  We will learn more as time goes by.  Meanwhile, we should learn more about Islam and the various different divisions and deal with all Muslims with prayer and love.  Yes, that is counterintuitive to our natural desires but, as followers of Christ, keep in mind His teachings about love.  And, remember to forgive, as He teaches, 7 times 70.

These are my thoughts.  Now, please let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!
                                       
REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Rewards from Joyful Giving





The theme of the Queen of Peace Radio spring 2013 share-a-thon that just ended was joyful giving based upon the idea that we should give with a joyful heart.  This was the same theme as the fall one.  We did not want to use guilt techniques to get people to give, to talk about such ideas as “your fair share,” or to induce people to give because there was a tax deduction.  Not at all.  We, also, encourage donors to give electronically via electronic transfers from their bank accounts or their credit or debit cards.  We wanted to follow up on the ideas from my last blog about giving because the listeners believe in this ministry.
Jerry Webster, George Barletta, Terri Micillo, Anne Webster
help appeal to listeners during on-air Shareathon.
Not only are we very grateful to our listeners and donors, we are, also, very grateful to the volunteers who help with these share-a-thons.  They are authors, business executives, entrepreneurs, some highly educated and intelligent as well as all of us from all walks of lives including mothers, students, retirees, unemployed, immigrants, cradle Catholics, revert Catholics, and non-Catholics - a real richness of the range of the composition of our Church and community.  What a richness!  During the slow periods, we had very enriching discussions about theology, history, the new pope and what his new papacy may bring, and what is going on in the contemporary church and in society in general.
Anne & Jerry Webster, Diane Herbert answer phones and talk with listeners.
All the volunteers, not only were they financial donors to Queen of Peace Radio but, also, they were giving of their valuable time and talent.  Interestingly, they were not there to get a take-away from their help but they were there because they believe in this ministry and knew of the value and impact that it has on them as well as other listeners.  In the process of giving, we all had an incredible unintended reward from God - we were all enriched by each other and the experience of our involvement of being in the process of soliciting money for this ministry. We heard from our listeners who told us wonderful stories about how this Catholic radio station brought to them messages to help their faith from all ranges of belief, Catholic and non-Catholic alike.
George, Diane, Ray, Tom in studio talking about the value of
knowing your faith and the value of Catholic radio.
So, everyone came away with rewards of immeasurable value - not in money - but of a great and deep spiritual richness. 
Chris Williams, George Barletta, Tom Moran, and Ray Makowski
with award from Catholic Radio Association / EWTN for 15 years
of evangelical zeal for souls. 
For this, we thank God and we, the Board of Directors of Queen of Peace Radio, thank everyone who participated in this share-a-thon and, in particular, we, again, give special thanks to Tom Moran, our General Manager, who always overcomes the obstacles to produce another successful share-a-thon as he did again this past week.

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Monday, April 8, 2013

Gratitude




Thank you.  Thank you for your support of this lay Catholic radio ministry!

In the next few days, we will be having our semi-annual share-a-thon to ask you again for your financial support to keep this ministry on the air.  This is not a capital campaign where we can show you the fruits of your donations.  It is a campaign to ask you to pay for the bills such as utilities, payroll for one employee, the monthly mortgage payment and the other many bills such as our contract radio engineer who keeps our signal going out to you and the maintenance expenses.  All of these add up quickly and significantly but, nevertheless, we run a lean and mean operation that is often cited to others around the country on how to run a high-quality Christian Catholic radio ministry on the cheap.  Come to the station during the share-a-thon this week to see for yourself. 

We have now been doing this for over 16 years and are very grateful for your support.

The results or ROI (return on investment) are amazing and miraculous.  And, this last statement comes from a critical and analytical person as me who will always ask “prove it” or “where’s the beef?”  The results are not financial but are inspirational and soul-saving.  We can not measure the number of people who daily get spiritual comfort from our ministry not to mention the converts and reverts that we have had.  It does not measure the many people of all faiths who listen.  And, we know that because many of these people have told us by calling in or by writing to us.  And, most of those have also contributed to our support.

I, with all the hats that I wear for this ministry, do not ask you to contribute to sacrifice, to get tax deductions, to shame you or to guilt you.  But, you will hear me ask, implore, and beg of you to contribute because you believe in it and because of your faith and your firm conviction to spread it - to evangelize your faith.  A reading this weekend was from James 2: 14-18 from which I partially quote “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works?...So, by faith itself, if it has not works, is dead.”  

Therefore, I ask you to support this ministry with your time, talent and treasure.  Come to help us during these share-a-thons or in other capacities to joyfully assist us.  And, of course, we welcome your financial support.  

Please show your belief in this ministry and your faith by making a contribution.  For each of you listeners and supporters, we appreciate you and treasure you very much and we are very much grateful for you and what you do.

Let me know what you think.

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

REM (Ray Makowski) Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer

Friday, April 5, 2013

Divine Mercy




This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday which celebrates the divine mercy of our Lord.   It culminates the Novena of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  The story behind both is one of my favorite miracle stories. 

In the 1930s, there lived in Poland a very humble nun whose name was Helen Kowalska.  She had very little education but was determined to become a nun and, after pleading her case, was accepted into the convent and was named Sister Maria Faustina. She usually performed the most menial of jobs.  But, she did so with a joyful heart because of her love for the Lord. 

Jesus started to appear to her and to speak to her.  He commissioned her to have a painting made of him in His Divine Mercy. With great difficulty, she was able to have an artist do so.  Jesus, also, directed her to keep a diary.  She objected as she did not think she was literate enough to do so.  But, she did at the direction of Jesus.  He, also, gave her the prayer for His believers to say.  It is called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  And, he directed that there should be a novena of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy beginning on Good Friday and ending on the first Sunday after Easter which should be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Well, we all can imagine how impossible it would be for an heretofore insignificant nun from Poland to consider persuading the Church to follow the directions given to her by Jesus.  Ah, yes, but that is the miracle, isn’t it!!!  She died in 1938 but not before telling her priest confessor everything and leaving behind her diary and the painting of Jesus.   Less than a year after her death, the Nazis attacked and conquered Poland and put it under a reign of terror until liberated in 1945 which was followed by the dictatorial rule of Soviet communists.  However, during this time the fame of Sister Faustina became well known in Poland as did the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  It spread to a man who studied the priesthood during the Nazi regime.  The man was Fr. Karol Wojtyla.  As you know, this priest is well known to history as Pope John Paul II.

In 1959, the Church put a lid on all of this until it could be thoroughly investigated.  In 1968, Sister Faustina’s cause for sainthood began.  After an investigation, the papacy of John Paul II lifted the ban on the prayers of Divine Mercy.  He later declares that the Sunday after Easter be known as Divine Mercy Sunday.  In 1999, a second miracle occurred that is attributed to Blessed Faustina and  on Divine Mercy Sunday in April 2000 she was declared a saint.  Interestingly, Pope John Paul II passed away on the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005.

This is the fascinating and miraculous story of the prayers of Divine Mercy.  As you can see, these happened recently and in the lifetimes of so many of us. There is much more to this story but this is a thumbnail account for the purpose of this blog to get you thinking about it.


I might add as a point of interest to some that I really am a believer because I had a miracle as a result of the Chaplet and of St. Faustina.  But, that is a story for another day and time.

Now, you know what I think and I would very much like to know what you think about this subject.   

Let the light of our Lord shine upon you!

Ray Makowski, Co-Founder, Director and Secretary-Treasurer