Is there a difference between a tourist and a pilgrim? To be sure both are on a journey, but a tourist is on a journey to merely satisfy the senses, such as tasting the local food and enjoying the sites. A pilgrim, on the other hand, has a clear mission, and a purpose. He or she is on a quest for the truth, so much so that a pilgrim is willing to withstand any obstacles that come his or her way to achieve the very purpose of why he or she came. Every move a pilgrim makes, therefore, is sacred. A pilgrim protects his or her time for the spiritual objective of the journey. A tourist’s itinerary, on the other hand, need not be protected. It can be flexible. He or she can be distracted or preoccupied with anything that merits exploration. A tourist can even decide to waste his or her time enjoying the experience. In the gospel, Jesus acknowledges that his hour to face his passion has come. He is aware of how intense this hour will be, but he’s undeterred because he has clarity of the very mission and the purpose of why He was sent by His Father: He was to die so that He would conquer death once and for all that all of us will eternally have the wholeness of life. God created us to have the fullness of joy of being a whole person just as God is whole. Often, however, we are distracted by pleasure, convenience, and immediate gratification of our wants and desires. We often avoid any form of pain, suffering, or trials. We refuse to die to our desires and wants that only satisfy our senses. For that matter, there remains a sense of incompleteness in our lives that we try to constantly fill. We find ourselves in a never-ending search for wholeness, for the happiness that we often experience fades very quickly. Unless we die to our attachments to pleasure, convenience, and immediate gratification of needs, we remain incomplete. But, if we die to all these, we will reach our ultimate goal. In the context of your call to be spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally whole, are you a tourist or a pilgrim? What do you need to die to so that you may bear much fruit?
Congratulations! We have exceeded our goal by 8%! Thank you to all those who participated in our ADA campaign in one way or another! Any pledges or donations that we get from hereon will go to the parish 100%. If you have not yet turned in your pledges or donations, please do. Together we can do a lot in continuing our mission and it will go a long way in taking care of our church. As we approach the Sacred Triduum and Easter Sunday, I invite you to make the most of the Holy Week experience. Come to the Taizé Prayer on Wednesday, March 27, from 7 pm to 8 pm. Experience a deep sense of God’s presence in a candle light environment with repetitove chants, scripture readings, and sacred silence. Holy Thursday Mass is on March 28 at 8:00 pm. Spend an hour or so before the Blessed Sacrament after Mass in the Altar of Repose at the Community Center. The Seven Last Words is on Good Friday, March 29 from 12:30 pm—2:30 pm. We have invited William King, a lay Catholic evangelist to lead us in the reflections. This is followed by the Good Friday service at 3 pm. Easter Vigil is at 8 pm. It is the Vigil of all vigils! Easter Sunday Mass celebratoons are at 9:30 am (one in the church and the other in the Parish Hall which is for children) and 11:00 am. Easter Egg Hunt is at 10:45. There will be food truck, games, and prizes! Free face painting, bubble twisters, and magic bubbles are also available for kids to enjoy! Everyone is welcome!
Doctors have this caduceus emblem. The caduceus is a staff entwined with two serpents and bearing a pair of wings at the top. In a profession that is supposed to save lives, it’s strange that they would have an emblem of two serpents. Serpents or snakes are usually associated as a symbol of evil, an image of something deadly. Snakes, however, can shed their skin. It symbolizes transformation. Doctors are in the business of helping patients transform from being ill into being healed. In the same way, when Jesus compares himself to the serpent that Moses lifted in the desert that saved the Israelites from death, He tells us that anyone who looks to Him as one’s Savior will experience a healing transformation. We are all broken. We each have wounds that remain fresh. Over the years these wounds develop strongholds of lies and judgments about ourselves and others thinking that these can insulate us from the pain of our wounds. Examples of these lies are “I am not loved; I am not good enough; or, people are not trustworthy, they are out to hurt me; things are never going to change, there is no hope.” These beliefs distort our true identity as beloved by God. Consequently, these strongholds lead us to sins of anger, pride, envy, fear, greed, gluttony, and sloth. As we continue to anesthetize ourselves, we become more ill emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, and even physically. We cannot rely on our power to heal our wounds. Today, Jesus reminds us that only by when we allow him to enter the very depth of our wounds and allow Him to heal them can we be truly healed and transformed. Get in touch with the root of your sin. What past wounds are triggering these sins and irrational beliefs about yourself and others? Invite Jesus to reveal these to you and allow Him to enter that wound, touch it, and heal it. Lent is a good time to do this, as Lent is a season of transformation.
To date our total pledges and donations amount to $124,947.13. We have reached about 99% of our goal. We are almost there! Thank you to those who have given their donations and pledges. If you have not participated yet in the ADA 2024, please prayerfully consider giving what the Holy Spirit is inspiring you to give in gratitude for the many blessings God has given you. Your donations will not only help the Diocese in the pursuit of its pastoral goals but will also help meet ours. Whatever amount that we collect that is beyond our ADA goal goes back to our Parish in the form of a rebate. This rebate will help our Parish in many ways. The Holy Name Society of St. Joseph of Cupertino will again host a Crab Feed near St. Patrick’s Day. This year’s Crab Feed is on Friday, March 15. Tickets will be sold before and after Mass at the Saturday, 5pm Mass and the two Sunday morning masses.
The free ballroom dancing classes will resume in April.
Why would Jesus, who is known to have a gentle heart, use a whip to drive the moneychangers out of the temple? What is it that caught the ire of Jesus? To be sure it wasn’t the business transactions going on where people needed to exchange coins to buy animals that they could use to make offerings. Rather, it was where these people were doing business. It was in the outer court of the temple which was supposed to be set apart for the God-fearers who were not Jews to worship and venerate God. How can these people pray amid oxen, sheep, or goats bleating? These people were being robbed of their sacred space to worship! What can this mean for us? Our hearts are set apart for God. It is a place where the Holy Spirit dwells so we can encounter God. We cannot venerate God in our hearts when it is full of noise like what we hear in a marketplace. If there is a lot of stuff going on in our hearts robbing us to hear God speak to us, then like the moneychangers, we are desecrating what God has set apart as His sacred place. How can we spend hearing God in our hearts when many times we spend our time on Sundays, the day that God set apart for Him, doing all sorts of activities but rest and meditate scriptures, or reading spiritually inspiring books? Just as we cannot pray when we are amid the noise of a marketplace, we also cannot pray and be with God in silence when our hearts are full of noise. Our hearts have been occupied already with noise from Monday to Saturday. We ought to give at least one day, Sunday, as a day set apart for God so we can quiet down, and He can meet us and speak to us. As you prepare to meet Christ in the Eucharist in His true Body and Blood, you do well to reflect, what are the marketplace-like noises in your hearts that are robbing you of the opportunity to rest in God and hear Him? Allow God to whip these out of your heart so that He can again sanctify your heart as a sacred space for Him.
Incidentally, we have a Lenten reconciliation on Friday, March 8, 2024, in the church from 7:00 pm—8:00 pm. Take this time to reconcile with God and ask Him to remove all the noises in your heart.
We have reached about 83% of our goal for the ADA 2024. We’re almost there! Any amount that we collect that is over our goal will return to the parish as a rebate. I want to thank all those who have already participated. If you have not yet given your share, please prayerfully make an offering of gratitude for the many blessings that God has given you and help not only our Diocese but also our Parish. Any amount will make a difference! Make an online donation by scanning the QR code, by mail, or drop your ADA envelope into the collection basket.
The Holy Name Society of St. Joseph of Cupertino will again host a Crab Feed near St. Patrick’s Day. This year is on March 15. Tickets will be sold before and after Mass for the next two weekends at the Saturday, 5pm Mass and the two Sunday morning masses.
The free ballroom dancing classes will resume in April.
In today’s Gospel, Peter is overwhelmed by the experience of seeing the radiance of Jesus, the presence of Moses and Elijah, and the voice of God from heaven. Peter is ecstatic so much so that he wants to prolong the feeling indefinitely. Wishing to preserve the glorious experience, Peter asks the Lord to build three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Peter does not want to back to the reality of life which is full of difficulties and challenges. Don’t we find ourselves also desiring only the good life? We want to avoid trials in life. We like to keep things comfortable, pleasurable, and easy. Our faith journey is likewise. We stick with God in faith until things begin to become tough. Hence, we only perform the barest minimum demanded by our faith. Just as Christ reminded Peter, so does Christ reminds us that the Cross is fundamental to our faith. Embracing challenges and difficulties is part of our faith journey. May we ask Jesus for the grace to accept and embrace our crosses as we look forward to experiencing the joy and glory of Christ’s resurrection.
To date, our ADA 2024 has reached $91,992.13, which is 73% of our goal of $126, 643.00. We are almost there! If you have not participated yet, please prayerfully consider donating whatever the Holy Spirit inspires you to give. Every penny counts! Please note that whatever amount that goes beyond our goal comes back to the Parish in the form of a rebate that we can use. Thank you in advance!
Stations of the Cross are every Friday during Lent at 6:00 pm until March 22. Soup supper follows in the Fr. Greg Ng Kimm Community Center. All are invited.
For March, the bible study with Fr. Sebastian Carnazzo, Ph.D, will be on Saturday, March 2, from 10:00 am through 11:00 am in Fr. Greg Ng Kimm Community Center.
The 4th Date Night Series is this Saturday, March 1, from 6:00 pm through 8:00 pm. Date Night Series is a marriage enrichment program designed to draw couples closer to each other.
Parents are invited to come to the seminar-workshop, Parenting: The Love and Logic Way. Learn practical and effective parenting skills like putting an end to arguing, back talk, or balancing homework, extra-curricular activities, and family life. This will be on Mondays from February 26th—April 8, from 6:30 pm—8:30 pm. See posters or visit the Parish’s website for more information, and to register.
Have you ever wondered why, when we experience issues with our computers, we sometimes must unplug a modem or router and wait for 10 seconds before plugging it in? Like any computer, rebooting your router or modem clears its memory, ends all tasks, and re-loads the router’s operating system. Waiting 10 seconds ensures that any remaining power stored in the router has a chance to dissipate and clear the RAM away. We usually do this in case there is a bug causing a memory leak, or maybe the CPU is overheating, or perhaps panic has taken down the entire system. Hence, we need to disconnect and unplug. The same thing with us. There are times when we need to unplug and disconnect from our busy lives because our mental and physical health, our relationships, and our spiritual life are getting burned out. Lent is a time for healing. We do this by exactly following what Jesus does in the gospel today. He retreats to a desert where he can be with His Father and reboot. God is inviting us to come and meet Him in our desert. A desert is a place where we are disconnected from all worries and just be with God in contemplation, embracing solitude and self-examination; or in discernment where we can recognize the different spirits at work in our lives and distinguish between the influences that lead toward God and those that pull us away from Him. It allows us to again find God in all things that we have taken for granted because we are always busy. May this season of Lent allow us to appreciate the importance of prayer, discernment, and the capacity to find God in all things. May these allow us to self-examine, resist temptation, and discern God’s hands at work in our lives. Only then can we experience transformation. Perhaps, it’s about time to unplug.
Our Lenten Recollection is on Wednesday, February 21, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm in the Fr. Greg Ng Kimm Community Center. Fr. Christopher Bennet, pastor of St. Christopher Parish, will lead us to the desert and listen to God’s voice. Take time out from your busy life and allow God to speak to you.
Stations of the Cross are every Friday during Lent at 6:00 pm until March 22. Soup supper follows in the Fr. Greg Ng Kimm Community Center.
Our Lunar New Year celebration today is on Sunday, February 25. The celebration begins with a Mass at 11:00 am where ancestors will be honored. This is followed by a lunch reception in the Parish Hall where the celebration will feature some cultural shows, and dragon dance by the Buukimtu Lion and Dragon Dance Association. Of course the celebration will not be complete without a course of Chinese food! If you plan to come to the lunch reception, please register at the parish website. We want to make sure there is enough food for everyone. I want to give a shout out to Kenny Lee for taking leadership in coordinating the preparation of the Lunar New Year celebration, and a host of volunteers. Kudos to all of you!
Parents are invited to come to the seminar-workshop, Parenting: The Love and Logic Way. Learn practical and effective parenting skills like putting an end to arguing, back talk, or balancing homework, extra-curricular activities, and family life. This will be on Mondays from February 26th—April 8, from 6:30 pm—8:30 pm. See posters or visit the Parish’s website for more information, and to register.
I’d like to write about the Annual Diocesan Appeal Campaign, Supporng our Mission Together. Last year we met our goal by 172%. We used up our rebate to cover the shortfall that we had in our collection goals. We also used up the rebate to improve our sound system in the Church. I am confident that we will again exceed our goal this year. Our goal for this year is $126,643.00. At this point, everyone who is registered with our Parish should have received their ADA materials in the mail. This package should have included an ADA brochure, a letter from our Pastor, and your personalized pledge form. If you did not receive these materials, please be sure to pick up these materials today. They can be found in the pews in front of you or at the entrances of the church. The Annual Diocesan Appeal provides support for our Diocese’s common services and programs to our 53 Catholic parishes and missions. These services ensure the vitality and growth of our Church. The ADA supports these programs and offices including the Office of Evangelization, the Institute of Leadership in Ministry, Parish Services, Stewardship and Development, Communications Services, and the Tribunal. As disciples of Christ, we are called to share our many blessings with others. The ADA appeal provides over 50% of all Diocesan revenues. We need the commitment of everyone to reach our ADA goal. Any amount that we collect that is over our goal will go back to our Parish in the form of a rebate. This year, in consultation with the Parish Advisory Council, we plan to use the rebate to cover the cost of replacing the air-conditioning units in the rectory and replacing the vandalized lights in the Meditation Garden. We need the commitment of everyone to reach our ADA goal. I am asking each parish household to prayerfully consider making a donation of whatever amount that you feel God is inspiring you to give. Thank you.
This Wednesday, February 14, is Ash Wednesday. While it is not a holy day of obligation, I invite you to come and begin your journey through the desert of coming face to face with Jesus with our vices by having ashes imposed on your foreheads. Masses will be at 8:30 am and 7:00 pm. Ashes will be distributed during Mass.
Stations of the Cross begins on Friday, February 16 in the Church at 7:00 pm. It will be followed by a Soup Supper in the Fr. Greg Ng Kimm Community Center. All are invited.
Our Lenten Recollection will be on Wednesday, February 21, from 6:30 pm – to 8:30 pm in the Fr. Greg Ng Kimm Community Center. Fr. Christopher Bennet, pastor of St. Christopher Parish will be our speaker. He is a great animated speaker. Participants will gain a lot from his reflections.
I would not be surprised if many of us find ourselves drowning in the ocean of tasks to accomplish. We are always in the midst of a very busy life. Some parents, for example, find themselves trying to juggle a lot of things. In addition to meeting their deadlines or sales quotas, they have to bring their kids to school, fulfill a lot of required service hours, attend many school meetings, and do house chores. It just never stops! But if you take a look at it, almost everything will work again when you unplug it for a few minutes. That includes you. Self-care means giving ourselves permission to pause. Self-care is what keeps our motor running. We cannot run on an empty fuel tank. In today’s Gospel, Jesus always make it a point to retreat from a busy ministry to take care of Himself. Amidst the tsunami of daily concerns, which I can imagine is very exhausting, Jesus does not seem to get tired. That’s because He knows how to take care of Himself. He is always found praying in a secluded place before He begins His ministry, and after a day’s ministry. While he unplugs Himself from the cares of the world, he never unplugs Himself from the Source of His energy, His Father. Prayer is our important lifeline. It is our fuel. When we are constantly running, there is no time for being. Where there is no time for being, there is no time for living. And when there is no time for living, we find ourselves dead. We can no longer go on. Within each one of us, there is that sanctuary to which we can always retreat at any time to refuel, and that where God meets us. God is the source of our energy. Take some quality time to recharge with Him.
This Sunday is the 2024 ADA kick off. Our Parish goal this year is $126,643.00. As we have exceeded our goal last year by 143% (based on total collected pledges and contributions), thanks to all of you who have contributed in any way possible for its success, I am confident that we will again exceed our goal this year, perhaps even more! I ask that all of us participate in one way or another in our 2024 ADA. Your participation may be in the form of pledges, contributions of any amount, or prayer for the success of our campaign. Please prayerfully consider your gift to support the many ministries in our Diocese. Please note that any amount that exceeds our goal comes back to our Parish in a form of rebate which we can use to support the Parish's programs, activities, and day-to-day operations. This year, we plan to use our rebate to replace the airconditioned unit for the upper floor of the Rectory which housed our associate pastors. During summer, our poor priests get toasted by the heat as the current A/C in the second floor has decided to retire. If there was still some money left, we plan to use the rebate to install lights in our Meditation Garden. The path lights of our Meditation Garden were vandalized last year; since then we have not replaced them as we are short of funds.
Watch your mailboxes for more information regarding this once-a-year appeal. For information on the work of the Diocese, visit www.dsj.org/ADA.
I thank you in advance for your support.
“All tithes of the land, whether in grain from the field or in the fruit from the trees, belong to the Lord, as sacred to Him.” Lev. 27:30.
One thing that is striking about today’s Gospel is that the unclean Spirit knows who Jesus is. Here we get an insight that knowing Jesus is far from loving Him. We can very well know who Jesus is, like, we can recite the Creed perfectly well; but loving him in our heart by the way we live, how we speak, what beliefs or values we hold to guide our everyday decisions is a different story. When we do not live our faith, our faith is dead. Is there a disconnect between your knowledge of Jesus and how you live your Christian life?
St. Joseph of Cupertino Garden Square. You probably notice something different in the Meditation Garden particularly that area fronting the Grotto. It is now paved! The area will become a place where we can have hospitality together to meet new friends and catch up with old ones. It can also be a place where we can have other social events, or a place where people can just gather and relax. There is still a few more work to be done but it’s getting there. I am grateful for the generosity of Zenaida Bailon, one of our parishioners, for providing the funds to convert it into our St. Joseph of Cupertino Garden Square. Thank you so much, Zenaida!
“If you have nothing to die for, what are you even alive for?” These are lyrics from one of the songs of the movie on Netflix, “A Beautiful Life.” The title of the song is “Hope this Song is for You.” It was sung by Christopher Lund Nissen, a Danish actor, composer and singer. Many people nowadays live life merely to exist, to survive and be successful in this world without really having a sense of a higher purpose for living. Today, Jesus invites us to think of the reason to be alive. And that is to die for His sake, to work under His flag. As Jesus says, whoever loses his life for His sake, will find it. He is referring to finding one’s life in eternity. When we move under Jesus’s flag, we live with the conviction that everything that we have is God’s gift and therefore our preoccupation becomes always how we can use God’s gift, regardless of our occupation, to help build a better place to live for all people, most especially those who are hungry, homeless, and are neglected by society. On the other hand, when we move under the world’s flag, our perspective changes. The starting point becomes to collide as much as possible with secularism, with gaining wealth, with pleasure and worldly honor. We become the center of the universe. Is this something that is ultimately worth dying for in the long run? If this is all there is to it, then what are we even alive for when someday we end up losing all that we work for here on earth when we die? There has got to be a higher purpose to life. “If you have nothing to die for, what are you even alive for?” Die for Christ. Ultimately, it’s worth it.
Fr. Gabriel Lee, the new Parochial Vicar of St. Joseph of Cupertino Parish, was born in Seoul, South Korea. He immigrated to the United States of America in 2003 to learn English. That is when he converted to become a Catholic while attending Sierra Junior High School in Santa Clara. He got accepted as a seminarian of the Diocese under Fr. Mark Catalana, and lived in the Blessed Miguel Pro House in San Jose upon graduation in 2008. He received his General Education degree from San Jose City College and transferred to St. Patrick Seminary and University to finish his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, Master of Divinity, and Bachelor of Sacred Theology. On June 3, 2017 he was ordained as a priest as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, San Jose. He is the third Korean priest of the Diocese. Fr. Gabriel was assigned to pastoral work at St. Frances Cabrini Parish in Cambrian Park from 2017 to 2021 and St. Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish in Los Gatos from 2021 to 2023. Please welcome Fr. Gabriel as he begins his new assignment with our Parish.