Weekly message
from Fr. Chris

Dear Spa Family,
This weekend, we remember a very important moment in the liturgy. The moment when Jesus saw his disciples for the last time, and the disciples saw Jesus for the last time. However, this event did not fill the disciples with sadness, depression, as it was when Jesus died; it did not cause His disciples to scatter and return to their regular errands, but, on the contrary, it filled them with joy.
And while he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was taken up into heaven. They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, where they were constantly in the temple, praising and blessing God.

Jesus went to heaven... He ascended!
It is difficult for us to determine where heaven is. We have different ideas, different thoughts about heaven. One thing is for sure, everyone of us wants to go to heaven. We want it as much as we want happiness, health, joy, peace, friendship, security, certainty of tomorrow... We long for heaven, because we long to be better, more perfect, wiser, more loving... These are our most basic human longings and wishes. Let’s not kid ourselves. None of us will be able to escape these longings.
So how do you reach heaven? Where is heaven?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us:
Heaven is the perfect life with the Holy Trinity, the communion of life and love with Triune God, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the saints. Heaven is the ultimate goal and the fulfillment of the deepest human aspirations, the state of the highest and ultimate happiness. To live in heaven means to ‘be with Christ’. The chosen ones live ‘in Him,’ but they keep and - what is more important - find their true identity there, their own name. To live is to be with Christ; where Christ is, there is life and the kingdom.
If we discover Christ in our lives, if we discover Christ above all in ourselves, we will go through the world/life always with happiness on our faces. Because the life of each of us is about discovering Christ in our hearts. He is in every human heart. What blocks Christ for us is our sin, our slavery, our addictions, our pride, our selfishness, our lack of love. If we can put aside whatever blocks Christ for us, we will surely discover Christ in our hearts. And happiness will reign in our lives. Happiness with which we will amaze others.

And Christ is very close. He is present among us in the Eucharist, in the sacraments, in His word and in each of us. If we believe in Him, He will help us to make our hearts into heaven. He will help us to put aside all that still blocks it, He will help us to discover true happiness.
Have a blessed week. Fr. Chris

Dear SPA Family,
In this weekend's Gospel, Jesus says very important words: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”
To believe is not only to know, to be acquainted; it is also to accept something for truth; it is to trust that someone is telling the truth; it is to trust someone; it is to hold something as true despite the lack of evidence to prove it; it is also remembering, agreeing. However, to believe is, above all, to love, trust, and share what is in the heart with those around us.

To believe Jesus is to love Him and live His Word, His teaching, and do His will. And in doing so, we believe and love God the Father Himself. These relationships should always be personal and vivid. And for this we must pray very much, especially to the Holy Spirit.
How often many baptized people do not live a Christian life, do not pray, do not participate in the Eucharist, live in sins, ignore God ... Why? Because their faith and love are very superficial, shallow. And “whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”

A priest from my hometown who is working in Siberia once took a group of poor children on a train trip. Many of these children have never traveled by train. They left at night for a neighboring town located 350 miles from their town. They all took their places in the sleeping car. An 8-year-old girl fell asleep next to the priest sitting in his seat. In the morning he was awakened by the scream of that girl: “Father! Father! Look out the window” – and without waiting for the priest’s reaction, she said: “I only see trees all the time. Father! We are driving in a circle!”

Very often in our spiritual life, in our faith, we ride in a circle. We are afraid or we don’t want to go deeper, inside, towards the center. That is why sometimes, everything within us is such a weak and fruitless walking on the surface, spinning around in a circle. Let us pray to the Holy Spirit that Christ may always be at the center of our life, that His teaching may be truly carried out by us with love, and then “My Father and I will come to him(us), and we will live with him(you).”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote a letter one day to an unknown mother of a three-year-old child and included the following words in it: “Ma’am, familiarize your child with the Gospel and teach him to believe strictly according to the catechism. This is the basis. Otherwise, you won’t raise a good person. At best, he will become a sufferer, at worst, selfish or worse. You won’t find anything better than Christ, believe me, ma’am.”
Have a blessed Easter Season. Fr. Chris