Weekly message
from Fr. Chris

Dear SPA Family,
For 13 years, a 60-year-old woman has been lying paralyzed, inert, and helpless. Her husband, 10 years older than her, cares for her with touching devotion. He would not give her to the ‘professional care’ for anything. He said, ‘she has always been the best wife for me, and we are still happy today. How can I leave her now when she needs me most? If I can no longer look after her, we will both go to the nursing home together.’ Many years ago, these spouses stood at the altar and, holding back tears of emotion, repeated, ‘I vow to you love, faithfulness and marital honesty, and that I will not leave you until death. So, help me, Lord God Almighty, one in the Trinity, and all the saints.’ On the wedding day, everything had a festive and unique character. All of this has passed, and the inexorable time has even erased from memory many details of the wedding day. However, the most important thing remained, which has not lost its value over the years, moreover, it became nobler and took on additional depth. What is left is pure and beautiful love, which, captured in the form of a marriage vow, like a river with crystalline water, carries refreshing strength and life.
The words of the marriage vows for newlyweds are dictated by a sincere and genuine heartfelt desire. The newlyweds want to be faithful to each other until the end of their days. It would be unthinkable for them at this point to accept the possibility of leaving their spouse at a difficult time in life. God sanctifies the natural aspirations of the spouses, makes them indissoluble and becomes a source of supernatural power in building the durability of the marriage community.
Not all married couples enjoy the joy of being united. Some of them experience life storms that undermine and destroy their marital stability. Some marriages are declared null and void by the Church Tribunal because there have been so-called canonical marital obstacles that made marriage invalid from the outset and prevented survival. It also happens that a marriage, validly contracted for various reasons, breaks up, and the spouses decide to divorce and enter a new relationship, but without the possibility of a church wedding, and hence the question arises; what is the place of these people in the Church?
In response, I will refer to the teaching of the Church contained in the Apostolic Exhortation of St. John Paul II; ‘Familiaris Consortio.’ It says that divorce and remarriage does not put the faithful, who experienced the tragedy of the breakdown of their marriage, outside the Church. The Church is established for the salvation of all people, especially the baptized, she does everything to make the spouses of the second union ready to receive the grace of salvation. Those who live without a church wedding cannot be judged by one measure. Bringing everyone under one common denominator is harmful and does not allow proper pastoral service. There are spouses who did everything to save their first marriage.
The Pope calls on the parish priests and the community of believers to reassure those living in second marriages that through baptism they have become members of the Church and they belong to it. The Church prays for them, showing them mercy, strengthening them in faith and hope. The Church firmly believes that those living in second marriages are able to receive the grace of transformation and salvation if, animated by the spirit of reparation, they continue in prayer and perform works of mercy.
Have a blessed week. Fr. Chris Ciastoń Copy

Dear Spa Family,
The senses play a very important role in human life. Through our senses, we perceive external stimuli and analyze them. Thanks to them, the human mind creates an image of the surrounding reality, which in turn has a major impact on shaping the personality. Traditionally, there are five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Among the senses, hearing plays the greatest role in the development of personality.
The evangelical deaf man was unable to either come to Christ or ask for the grace of healing. However, there were people with sensitive hearts. Thanks to them, the deaf stood before Christ. Christ used his divine power and there was a miracle of healing. Christ always focused on human suffering. However, human suffering cannot be limited only to the physical realm. We have a spiritual dimension, and in this dimension dramas more painful than physical suffering take place. Miracles exceeding the framework of the laws of nature, open us to the supernatural reality. The evangelical scene of the deaf-mute healing has yet another meaning. The evangelical context of this miracle makes us realize that there may be another kind of deafness. Healing from it is essential in human life, both earthly and eternal. A person can be deaf with excellent physical hearing. It is deafness by choice, a person simply closes himself to certain values and does not want to hear about them.
Even those close to Jesus succumbed to this deafness. St. Thomas refused to believe the apostles who told him that they had seen the risen Christ. A few days later, Christ appeared to him. Thomas believed. Christ healed him of the deafness of unbelief. I remember a statement of one of the atheistic philosophers who repeated that even when he witnessed a miracle, he would not believe it anyway. A manifestation of deafness is the rejection of certain values without knowing them.
Human deafness can take other forms as well. One only listens to what he wants to hear. Sometimes guided by unjustified prejudices or gossip, he forms a negative opinion about his neighbor. He doesn’t notice the good in his neighbor’s life.
There is another type of very dangerous deafness. Affected by this type of deafness, one hears all praise about himself very clearly. However, even the slightest criticism does not reach him. He’s even closed to sympathetic criticism. This deafness is very dangerous for people in high office. There are always many flatterers around them, who will call mistakes brilliant ideas. The classic example is Stalin. He was surrounded by a pack of flatterers who used all their abilities to read the dictator’s thoughts and say what he wanted.
Christ heals us of physical deafness but also of spiritual deafness, thus He opens us to the fullness of life.
Have a blessed week. Fr. Chris