Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel………

Friday 27 January 2017

The seed !! I received green pea seeds, I am looking at the wrinkled  little seeds, there is an awesome force, impetus in everyone of them ! I will plant them in the nice spring and whether we sleep, or awake , it’s day or night the seed will sprout, grow even without itself knowing how !! As the sunshine with gentle caress and the warm gentle spring rain  brings out  life out of the earth , so that with their own beautiful flowers , crop, their simple existence , with life’s wonderful symphony to praise its Creator , the pure life-giving power of the gospel brings out from us the thinking, feeling, loving man, that being who gets hold of his companion’s hand , that with trust in each other , together they build the kingdom of God , a just, peaceful , dynamic society in which not only us  but the God who loves us will find a home !! I believe that we are capable to find that community in which  we can all live in peace like good brethren , create according to our capabilities for the benefit of our big family , so that the paradise lost , according to God’s original plan will be fulfilled for the joy of all !!

With love ,

Father Csaba 

translated by dr k.e.

He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Mark 4, 26-34

Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel….

Thursday 26 January 2017  Memorial of Saint Timothy and Titus bishops.

I admire Jesus’ trust He chooses twelve then not long after that another seventy-two and sends them in His name on the road of love and goodness, so that they teach, heal, spreading His joyful gospel! These people get started , go and by their work they lay down the foundation of the Christian world, carrying out their tasks and whole continents become Christian ! Today’s Church ,is like a haughty maiden waiting to be invited for a dance , till somebody applies to join the priesthood, monastic life !! And when somebody , very rarely knocks on our door , then they are subjected to an extremely long theoretical training !!

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” ! I am praying that we’ll be filled by our Lord Jesus Christ’s faith , trust in mankind , lets dare in our Master’s name to reach out to, call young people to make our world more beautiful and better !! Come lets not allow our society to fall apart , in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, with His strength lets get going, quite certainly He does not only send , but following in our footsteps gives His blessing on our work !!

I took this photo in Kászon in the Saint Katalin home! I invited the teacher/carer, Kinga from Budapest to look after the orphaned children, to love them and care for them !We had a good talk on the way , I did not teach her teaching skills just asked her to love them very much and teach them the skills that they will need during their lives !! I believe that all women instinctively know all what a mother should know !! Kinga has a family of 9 boys , they are not angels and yet -I just talked to her- she is not only saying that all is well , but her voice sounds full of joy and is cheerful !! 

Dear young people , I also call upon you in the name of service and Love , come because it is good to be good , it is good to embark on the way of Timothy and Titus !!

With love,

Father Csaba 

translated by dr k.e.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by twoahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.  He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.  Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.  Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’  If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.  Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Luke 10, 1-9

Father Csaba’s reflections on the gospel…

Wednesday 25 January 2017 The feast of the  Conversion of Saint Paul….

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation “

These thoughts by Jesus meant to transform our world, are not meant only for our brethren who lived two thousand years ago, to Saint Paul  but also for the children of XXI century you and me as well!! How much hatred , wars have have ceased over the course of history , because there were men and women who took Jesus’ appeal seriously!! How much would our world change if today as well , we would be capable of deliberately abandon ourselves upon our God’s word to charitable goodness , if by our lives we would become the heralds of love and wisdom !! We are standing in the door of a new world , bravely lets set out , freed from our selfish interests, freed from our fears , lets embark on on the road of our God’s love-just like the little particle freed from the nucleus , lets start a chain reaction around ourselves , providing our families, our entire nation with energy, light , power ! 

Dare to trust in your God, read Saint Paul’s precious letters !! You do not have to rush, nobody is forcing you , go forth carefully , quietly try to be good where ever you are! Smile at your family , your colleagues since you are the messenger of love , goodness , who will be recognized by the world , that you love all those who live in your surroundings , let this be your uniform ! Start humbly , with small things buy some bird seeds and put it on your window-sill , once you get braver, calmer , on your way home invite a homeless person chilled to the bone for a simple meal ! The main thing is that be charitable, do good where you live !! 

Sadness , depression , sulking , anger , idle desires or bitter hatred here and there will raise its head in your lives but with the patience of a gardener grab a hoe and remove it radically, “root and branch” , if the “weed” does not ripen and cannot scatter its seeds , sooner or later your spirit will be purified and you’ll be freed up to love ! "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much “ says our Lord Jesus Christ ! Get going on the way of love and it is quite certain ,that once you will feel as your Creator with His firm hand will take  your timid little hand and will lead you to the way of accomplishing more  and more wondrous things ! Trust in your Creator, and the two little fish in your satchel will be the nourishment for many hungry people !!

With love,

Father Csaba 

translated by dr k.e.

Picture : I visited a family with seven children who do not even have electricity in their home.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Mark 16, 15-18 

Father Csaba’s  reflections on the gospel

Third Sunday Ordinary time, 22 January 2017

Two thoughts are echoing in my ears from today’s gospel. “Repent,” and  "Follow me,”!!

What does it mean to repent !! Man  but the whole of mankind so easily as well, unfortunately gets going so easily , distancing himself from their Lord, God forgetting the essence , we can only see the sparkling , glittering wrapping paper in front of us even though not the outer box is important but what is in it!! To repent means that we stop and throwing away all the unnecessary things that hold back our soaring into the dust, we re plan our lives , soar high, according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ!! To repent means that we follow our Master on the path ,of the commandment of love , on the exciting path , narrow and steep  , mountain moving of never-ending miracles !! Perhaps one of the greatest discovery of our being is feeling in the palm of our hand God’s strong, world creating mighty hand and allowing  to be lead in the land unfamiliar miracles!!

Dare to believe in your Lord , your God , dare to follow Him in the major decisions of your life !!

Quietening down in the presence of Christ I admit it humbly the only  source of all the joy, success , miracle of my  mental , physical being is this infinite Love that surpasses all ! Yes the personal living God, who called me by name His immortal child and invited me to follow Him !! The only one thing that I really regret  that at that particular time  whenI embarked on this wonderful journey I started out anxiously and because of my own weakness wasting a lot of time I only progress hesitating, stumbling!!

With love,

Father Csaba

translated by dr k.e.

Illustration : by an artist of Székelyhíd of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee;13and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Caper'na-um by the sea, in the territory of Zeb'ulun and Naph'tali,14that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "The land of Zeb'ulun and the land of Naph'tali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles -- the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned. "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zeb'edee and John his brother, in the boat with Zeb'edee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.

mathew 4, 12-23

Father Csaba’s reflections on the gospel….

Monday 23 January 2017

Jesus’ words are not only meant for countries but also for our smaller communities!! If a family " a house (family) is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” !!

That is why I precisely  ask you, with love to pray for our families , that they live their lives in harmony, love and that the inner tensions may be solved by calm dialogue !!Lets ask for God’s grace that they can extinguish the flame of anger, hatred with love and merciful forgiveness , before it overcomes their lives and destroys their precious little sanctuary , their family home !!! Let us pledge to our God and each other as well, that whatever happens we are not going off the path of love ! Any kind of even slightly raised voices  , the slightest quarrel , lurking anger like  our mortal enemies should be banished for ever from our lives , lets not let the evil one like a roaring lion , crippling our earthly lives ,condemn our bodies, spirits  to eternal damnation !!

With love,

Father Csaba

translated by dr k.e.

And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:“How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.  In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.  Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,  but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”

He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

Mark 3, 22-30

Father Csaba’s reflections on the gospel ..

Saturday 21 January 2017

I also experienced myself , if one embarks on the road of love , to be sure many think that we have gone mad !! Selfishness, serving our own purposes became so much a determining factor in our life , that if we with goodness will depart from this “wide road “ , stepping with brotherly love on the “narrow” road of love , the ones around us  very easily condemn us ,will think we are insane ! Our Lord Jesus Christ was not stopped neither by the rumours nor the scandal-moundering , but not even by  His pushy relatives turning up, He is continuing on the way of love of the gospel, according to the will of the Heavenly Father !! We should not be discouraged either by the gossip of people , lets trust in God , who asks of us : "38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6,38

Jesus went home again, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal. 21 When his relations heard of this, they set out to take charge of him; they said, 'He is out of his mind.’

Mark 3, 20-21

Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel….

Friday 20 January 2017 "So they came to him  “

I devoted all my earthly life ,trying  to bring people closer together with  each other and their Creator, so that we JOIN FORCES WITH ONE ANOTHER  AND OUR GOD ! How simple this is for Jesus, He called them to Himself and they come and join Him!! All the problems around me can be attributed to the  fact that people could not, cannot connect with their parents, spouses, children , colleagues, their people , in fact to their own dreams , professions , interests either !

Back in my days as an electrician ,when wires had to be soldered , tinplated with an other , so that the invisible current  could pass through the leads !! Often I experienced , if I am in a hurry and do not clean the surfaces to be soldered properly , all my effort was in vain! That is why at the start of our work we not only cleaned the oxidized surfaces with a  hard file, sandpaper but we even dipped it into an acid to remove any grease , dirt from it….so cleansed the surfaces were capable of becoming one with the leads , carry , conduct the electricity !! I feel that the cause for our own failures,  for the  many unsuccessful connections should be looked for here , we are not cleansed, we cannot give up , we cannot be parted from a lot of selfish, greedy, vain “rubbish”, which prevent us from establishing either with our companions, or our Redeemer a long lasting relationship,  attachment !!!! Jesus welcomes His disciples  , patiently cleansing , forming but in fact He only calls them cleansed on the eve of Holy Thursday when He washes the apostles’ feet! Our Lord’s work is perfect because really these people are so deeply attached to the Master calling them , that not even death can part them from Him,for Him they are all prepared even to accept the martyrdom  as well !! As you lesser brother in Christ I ask you lovingly to  look at ourselves , to discover the real reasons of our painful failures , our faces soiled by  faults, sins and with the sincere tears of our remorse to wash ourselves clean so that our forming relationship with our loved ones, our Creator can be  strong, lasting , life-giving!!

With love,

Father Csaba

translated by dr k.e. 

Jesus went up onto the mountain and summoned those he wanted. So they came to him and he appointed twelve; they were to be his companions and to be sent out to proclaim the message, with power to drive out devils. And so he appointed the Twelve, Simon to whom he gave the name Peter, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges or 'Sons of Thunder'; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, the man who was to betray him.

Mark 3, 12-19

Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel..

Thursday 19 January 2017

Interestingly enough , Jesus does not change the world from “up there”  neither from the inside, after all He could have been born into a well-to-do priestly family and following the example of Saul He could have studied in one of the famous school  training rabbis , but we could say that he started from the outside and from the bottom, so He could pour the new wine into a new wineskins! Often He is asked by whose authority is He carrying out His task , who entrusted Him with that ? Jesus does not fit into the earthly hierarchy of those times that is why He has to heal, teach in secret , keeping out of the way! In fact this is also the problem with the apparitions, visions of Mary as well, in Fatima where the Church  will be celebrating the 100 year anniversary , Lourdes, Medjugorje but even here in Transylvania in Szőkefalva , where Mary appeared to an uneducated woman from a Roma background , God does not take into consideration our human so called system of power, He , the great Lord  gives grace wisely and generously to the one ones He sees fit and when the time is right !! God grants His graces to the ones the He considers are worthy of them !

I am praying from the bottom of my heart , that God’s active power becomes evident in our times as well, that He’ll lead us with a firm hand , outstretched arm on the path of salvation!

With love ,

Father Csaba 

translated by dr k.e.

Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon.  He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him.  Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God!’  But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

Mark 3, 7-12

Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel…

Tuesday 17 January 2017.

Székelyföld wakes up to a beautiful cold morning with snow covering everything . Am I able to rejoice in what there is ? Today’s gospel talks about the disciples   consuming the  heads of wheat they picked along the way. According to Jesus’s word because they are hungry! It is worthwhile to reflect on the God’s divine caring goodness ! The One who multiplies bread and fish for five thousand strangers , in Cana gave several hundred liters of good vine to the ones attending the wedding feast, that One only gives His disciples the grains of wheat picked from the side of the road ? Yes because by His divine dispensation He saw that fit  there and then ! 

With a childlike trust we have to accept all that we get. In winter the cold, the snow is God’s gift , we have to rejoice in that, in spring the rain is the gift that  brings us new life , in summer the heat that ripens the wheat, in autumn the passing ,colouring  everything rust brown ! All that we do not know or that we do not even have to change is God’s precious gift ! Our Creator  wisely knows the order of our world and gives us magnanimously all that we have the greatest need for ! Lets accept ourselves, our surrounding humbly and not following the example of a spoiled child lets not whinge, lets not be indignant because this world is like this or that ! With the help of our Lord Jesus Christ lets pick up the ear fallen by the side of the road for us and lets keep up our existence joyfully, in high spirits the way as his Holy Majesty sees it fit !

With love,

Father Csaba

translated by dr k.e.

Photo :Borzsova , Dr. Fodor István. 

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.  The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest,he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Mark 2, 23-28

Father Csaba’s reflections on the gospel 

Monday 16 January 2017

“Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

 I believe that the most favourable  fast is in the presence of God, if we carry out our everyday tasks, our standing duties with honesty, diligently !! We do not need to discover anything exceptional, conspicuous , it is sufficient that if where we are, what we undertook , the student in the school, the teacher at his desk , the cook in the kitchen , the driver at the wheel, if everybody nicely, accurately , collected would do his share!!

Amidst all this lets  think about God’s first commandment : “Worship your Lord, your God !” God’s commandment is amazing, beautiful , a huge task  as it is not enough not to reprimand God, He expects us to love our Lord, our God sincerely! There are four kinds of prayers:  The prayer of supplication, the prayer of repentance, the thanksgiving prayer and the fourth , that we practice the least is the prayer of praise !! I feel should we have a thousand lives and we would devote every single life on praising God , we would still remain in debt to the Holy Trinity that out of love called us into existence !!

I encourage you lovingly , lets do everything in our power , that our whole day , all our work be the joyful praise of our dear God , let us pray joyfully as the bridegroom is with us !

Father Csaba

translated by dr k.e.

A Question About Fasting

 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.  The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Mark 2, 18-22