The Apostles Creed - Part 5

On this Holy Saturday, we continue our reflections on the Apostles Creed by reflecting briefly on the following words:

He descended into hell.

Jesus did not come for you alone. He was sent for all people of all time. After he died, the person of Jesus went to the abode of the dead to search out and find all the people who ever lived before him and to bring them too back to their heavenly Father. (At the time of his descent, hell was not what it is now. At that time, it was a temporary state, and not punitive. Now, it is different – it is permanent and punitive).

May almighty God bless you all as you celebrate Christ's Resurrection from the dead!

Fr. Isaac Mary Spinharney, CFR

St. Joseph Friary

Harlem, NY

Pope Francis!

Que Viva el Papa!  I know you won't mind that I interrupt our little series on the Apostles Creed this week to speak about our new Pope!  Brothers, all I can say is wow!  The Holy Spirit loves to surprise us and He’s done it again by choosing the first Jesuit pope; the first pope from the Western Hemisphere; and, dare I say most importantly, the first pope named after St. Francis of Assisi!  In a sense, all Catholics are Franciscan now and are invited to join Pope Francis in rebuilding the Church through the radical living of the gospel!

Continuing where Pope Benedict XVI left off, the Pope wasted no time in showing us where true and lasting renewal comes from:  Our Savior Jesus Christ!  Renewal is not a fruit of our own effort, but is a fruit of proclaiming Christ crucified and allowing Him to live in us!

The day after his election he proclaimed:  “…We can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, nothing will avail.  We will become a pitiful NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of Christ… When one does not build on solid rocks, what happens?  What happens is what happens to children on the beach when they make sandcastles:  everything collapses, it is without consistency…. When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil…. When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord.  We are worldly; we are bishops, priests, cardinals, Popes, but not disciples of the Lord.  I would like that all of us, after these days of grace, might have the courage to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Cross of the Lord:  to build the Church on the Blood of the Lord, which is shed on the Cross, and to profess the one glory, Christ Crucified!”

Brothers, now is a great time to be a Franciscan—to be a witness to the individual, communal and Church-wide renewal that living the gospel brings!  Whether we are called to don the Franciscan habit or not, all of us can heed Pope Francis’ call to rebuild the Church by embracing Christ crucified and allowing Him to rebuild us!  What a blessed time to be a Franciscan!  What a blessed time to be a Catholic!  God bless you all!

Pax et bonum!

Fr. Isaac Mary Spinharney, CFR

St. Joseph Friary

Harlem, NY 

The Apostles Creed - Part 4

Here is the fourth installment of our series on the Apostles Creed:

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

Jesus was sent to suffer and die on a cross for you. Although Jesus was sent on a mission from God to do this, he had to choose as a human being to accept the mission he had been given. And he did. Jesus chose to endure death by crucifixion for you. He chose to go to the cross for you. He endured the pain and suffering in order to show you how precious you are to God. In the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth, you are precious enough to die for. In the eyes of your heavenly Father, you are precious enough to lose a Son for. The death of Jesus was a real death. For the love of Jesus is real love. His death reveals what love really is. His death shows you God’s love for you.

To be continued...

Hopefully by the time of next week's posting, we will have a new Holy Father!  Come Holy Spirit!

God bless you all,

Fr. Isaac Mary Spinharney, CFR

St. Joseph Friary

Harlem, NY

The Apostles Creed - Part 3

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.

Your eternal Father has a special sort of Son – an eternal Son. Your eternal Father and his eternal Son live together for all eternity in perfect, infinite love. The perfect infinite, eternal, love between them is called the Holy Spirit. Your heavenly Father, his eternal Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one God somehow. We call this one God “the Holy Trinity.” God the Holy Trinity made you in order to adopt you. The Holy Trinity wants you to take part in its awesome life. Therefore, your heavenly Father has not abandoned you to your wounds, but has sent his eternal Son into the world to come and bring you back to your Father. The Son came to give you the Holy Spirit so that you can take part in the perfect, infinite, eternal love between your heavenly Father and His eternal Son. About two thousand years ago, in the land of Israel, the eternal Son was conceived in the womb of Mary of Nazareth while she was still a virgin. The Holy Spirit worked this conception in her womb. Nine months later, the eternal Son was born of the virgin Mary in the town of Bethlehem as a human being with a human face and a human name – Jesus. Jesus grew up as a carpenter in the town of Nazareth, a Jew among Jews. Jesus of Nazareth is the eternal Son. He is looking for you. He sees you, he knows you through and through, and he loves you. He reveals his love to you in a special way....

God bless you all,

Fr. Isaac Mary Spinharney, CFR

St. Joseph Friary

Harlem, NY