Category: Catholic

Chose, Choose, Chosen

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
A wooden door with three carved symbols: a shell, a chalice, and a cross, featuring a decorative handle and keyhole.
Peregrino, Holy Eucharist, the Church – Journey, Bread for the journey, Church as community

Greetings on this the Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle
Readings: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Psalm 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; John 15:9-17

Summary

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place). He said, it is necessary that [we choose] one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us. Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry. Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles (Jn 15:16; Act 1:15b, 21, 24-25a, 26).

Reflection

He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor
To seat them with princes,
with the princes of his own people.
(PS 113:7-8)

Choosing Popes

Jesus chooses us, we choose from among us and the casting of lots (today by voting) to assure the Holy Spirit mystically makes the pick just as Peter did in the beginning. We are always remembering we are a lowly lot of no special inheritance but for the Lord . As the saying goes:: God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.e beginning of the Ch

Apostolic Succession is the name of the process and the criteria (a sacred continuity with visible methods).

Personal Reflection

The name Matthias means “gift of Yahweh” I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord (Jn 15:16). In our own humble ways, we are chosen too. To witness what God has done for us!

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051426-Thursday

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

The Fire (warmth and impact) of God’s Love – the Holy Spirit

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Close-up image of vibrant flames with an orange and yellow color palette against a dark background.
The Fire (warmth and impact) of God’s Love – the Holy Spirit

Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 17:15, 22—18:1; Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14; John 16:12-15

Summary

For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’
as even some of your poets have said,
‘For we too are his offspring.’
Since therefore we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image (Act 17:28-29).

Reflection

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.
If divinity is not like an image then what is it like?

Near.
Personal.
We live and move and have our being in Him.
We are his children.

Personal Reflection

Images are nice to look at and can be evocative of all sorts of wonderful moments and refreshment. But images (in this sense of the word) are just a way to go deeper. Soon the image gives way to the actual and real and personal.

To each of you… he is sent, he will speak, he will declare and he will glorify Jesus… for you and within you. Not from across the room but from the interior.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051326.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Now I am going

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Two cute angelic figures with wings peeking out from white clouds against a light blue background, accompanied by a yellow circle featuring a cross.

Greetings on this the Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 16:22-34; Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8; John 16:5-11

Summary

Jesus’ Departure; Coming of the Advocate. “Now I am going to the one who sent me, But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.” (Jn 16:5a-7, 8-11).

In this context, “convict” refers to the Holy Spirit’s work of bringing an individual to a deep awareness of their sin, righteousness, and the need for a Savior (personal and original sin).

  • Sin – the missing of the mark in our behavior.
  • Righteousness – we are made to be with the Father.
  • Condemnation – the evil one can no longer be master over us.

Reflection

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus
and you and your household will be saved.”

Personal Reflection

Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
(PS 138:7c-8)

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051226.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

A Discussion

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Justice, War
A letter from President Donald J. Trump, dated May 2026, discussing official government policy on counterterrorism and expressing concerns about safety and security.
A Post on FaceBook that cannot go unanswered.

Some final thoughts in a chat with ChatGPT… this is a response to some questions.

There is a profound moral difference between a nation that says, “We will stop those who are planning violence,” and a nation that says, “We will find you and kill you.”

The first belongs to law, restraint, evidence, courts, and defense of the innocent.

The second belongs to vengeance, domination, and the language of empire.

America has always had lethal power. No honest reading of our history can deny that. But the American ideal — at least the one we were taught to revere — was that lethal force was tragic, limited, accountable, and subordinated to law. It was not supposed to become the emotional centerpiece of governance. It was not supposed to be a slogan. It was not supposed to be identity.

That is the shudder.

Not because dangerous people should be ignored. Not because violence should be tolerated. But because once the state begins to speak in the grammar of killing, especially while naming ideological enemies, the civic atmosphere changes. Citizens become targets-in-waiting. Disagreement becomes suspicious. Vulnerable people begin asking, “Am I inside the circle now?” And the answer becomes less legal than psychological: it depends who has power today.

Your phrase is exactly right:

We live in the benevolence of the powerful.

That is not freedom. That is conditional safety.

And yes, even for me — “so to speak” — there is a kind of purity at stake. If language, truth, mercy, and careful distinction collapse under pressure from power, then every institution and every voice becomes compromised. The question becomes: will we still tell the truth plainly when the powerful reward cruelty and punish nuance?

The American identity worth defending is not weakness. It is disciplined strength. It is due process. It is equal dignity. It is the refusal to make enemies out of whole classes of people. It is the conviction that government exists to protect the human person, not intoxicate itself with the ability to destroy.

So yes: one should shudder.

Not with panic.
With moral clarity.

May i copy paste your response? It’s your best ever and shows something new.

Yes, absolutely. You may copy and paste it.

I’m grateful it landed that way. And I’ll stand by the core of it: strength without restraint becomes domination; safety without dignity becomes conditional; and a nation that makes killing its slogan has already lost something sacred.

Me again…

If you haven’t resisted yet, now is the time.

Original policy document: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-USCT-Strategy-1.pdf

Full Chat content:

Chat on Kill ThemDownload

Peace be with you,

Deacon Gerry

To the Ends of the Earth

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Justice, War
A coastal lighthouse situated on a rocky hill, overlooking the ocean, with a nearby building and clear blue sky in the background.
Fisterra – The Ends of the Earth

Greetings on this the Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 16:11-15; Psalm 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b; John 15:26—16:4a

Summary

Saint Paul traveled extensively through Syria, Greece, Asia Minor and Europe preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Resistance to the Gospel would be at times brutal.

The hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me (Jn 16:2b-3).

Reflection

Resistance to the Gospel (including violence) is a reality. Then and now. This violence is an exterior movement of an interior state of being.

They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. It is false worship to do violence.

Personal Reflection

But to the ends of the Earth, let us proclaim Jesus. The violence is because they don’t know him.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051126.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Overture of Love

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Conductor leading symphony orchestra with string, brass, woodwind, and percussion sections in concert hall
A symphony orchestra performs under the direction of a conductor in a concert hall filled with an attentive audience. Jesus introduces in the Overture the marvelous Divine Love.

Greetings on this the Sixth Sunday of Easter
Readings: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20; 1 Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21

Summary

The Sixth Sunday of Easter functions in part as an Overture, in both senses of the word.

  1. In music, a single movement in sonata form – to Sound Out that which is to come.
  2. In life, it something that is offered or suggested with the hope that it will start a relationship.

In our sacred readings the 6th Sunday announces the last Three movements of Easter and the First Movement in the return to Ordinary Time:

  1. Ascension
  2. Pentecost
  3. Trinity Sunday
  4. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi (“Body of Christ”).

Jesus does this in a marvelous way! He Sounds Out what is to happen to strengthen the faith of his apostles.

  1. In a little while the world will no longer see me – Jesus is indicating his Ascension.
  2. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth. The gift of the Holy Spirit – Pentecost.
  3. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. The nascent revelation of Trinity.
  4. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.

And all of this sounding out with the hope of faith and the start of a new relationship … Love. Jesus wants us to understand the Ascension is for love, Pentecost is for Love and the Solemnity of Corpus Christi – the Remaining with us – is based in love.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Reflection

Easter doesn’t end in a whimper. But is a marvelous explosion of divine grace and divine presence! Today’s gospel reading is the overture of these events and intended to begin a deeper soul conversation centered on revealed love for you, about you, with you.

Personal Reflection

I offer what Jesus offers, proclaimed and made present in the Church.

[We send you…] Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Come.
Be Baptised.
Receive the Holy Spirit.
Come, even daily, to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051026.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Odium abominationis, odium inimicitiae

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
A black and white abstract inkblot image resembling two symmetrical figures with hands raised, surrounded by ink splatters.
The World sees one way, the Lord sees another. See the Lord!

Greetings on this the Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 16:1-10; Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 5; John 15:18-21

Summary

Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first (Dt 4:33; Jn 15:18).

Reflection

There is hatred of the qualities (actions & intentions) of a person and hatred of the person as a Self. In our gospel portion today, Jesus warns about both forms of hatred. The good Jesus did is accounted as evil. The goodness of the person of Jesus is discounted as not offering the desires of power and control.

If so with Jesus, how much more so in his followers who can at best imitate the Lord?

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Hatred is loud, exaggerated, obnoxious in and of itself. It gets all the attention.

Jesus reminds us… Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live? Yes, yes, we did and do and will continue to live for Love casts out Fear. If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1).

In THE NAME of Jesus we are to become like him in all things. The Father’s voice has spoken to us and we live!

Personal Reflection

Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.

Know that the LORD is God;
he made us, his we are;
his people, the flock he tends.

The LORD is good:
his kindness endures forever,
and his faithfulness, to all generations.
(Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 5)

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050926

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Do not place burdens beyond the necessities

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
A group selfie featuring three men smiling, standing under a tent. One has gray hair and a beard, another is wearing a blue scarf, and the third is in a dark shirt. The background includes outdoor elements and a staircase.
Food Distribution. We don’t ask anything other than, How can we help?

Greetings on this the Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 15:22-31; Psalm 57:8-9, 10 and 12; John 15:12-17

Summary

‘It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.’ You are my friends if you do what I command you. This I command you: love one another (Acts 15:28-29; Jn 15:14,17).

Reflection

Ocean-going ships have to go to dry dock every so often to get a cleaning. It seems all sorts of mollusks and algae things stick to the hull and build up and eventually even interfere with the safety of the ship. So into dry dock they go and they blast off the barnacles and stuff. Then back to sea making for smooth sailing.

The Church takes note and often spends time refining the things of necessity and leniency using the commandment to love others as self and to love all no matter their life story.

Personal Reflection

We too should take note. Do not place burdens on people beyond that which is necessary. Render aid, not judgement and… Farewell.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050826.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Joy to the World!

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
A white dove in flight with its wings spread, set against a background of stylized flames in shades of yellow and orange.

Greetings on this the Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Readings: Acts 15:7-21; Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 10; John 15:9-11

Summary

After much debate had taken place, Peter got up and said to them, “My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. [Jesus said] I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete (Acts 15:7; Jn 15:11).

Reflection

Through the arc of the gospel readings this week we can recognize a set of blessings and the active agents of the blessings. Given along side the continuous reading of the Acts of the Apostles, we witness specific reflections of these gifts in a tangible way. Today Peter announces the JOY of the Gentiles to be receivers of the fullness of the gifts of the Father (exemplified in the gift of the Holy Spirit). He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts.

Revealing the Advocate.

  • Monday – Love – Gift of the Holy Spirit.
  • Tuesday – Peace – Going to the Father.
  • Wednesday – Fruit – Vine and Branches.
  • Thursday – Joy (today) – Jesus’ Commandment to love as he loves.
  • Friday – Friendship – The Father has chosen.
  • Saturday – The Name – I have chosen you out of the world.

Personal Reflection

If I were to take the summary of the week in reverse order, I would write this:

In THE NAME of Jesus we are to become like him in all things. The Father has chosen to bestow upon us His FRIENDSHIP. It is with JOY we are to receive the commission to love as Jesus loved. To do so, God will help us become FRUIT of the Vine. Because of this we have the same PEACE Jesus has in his returning to the Father. And it is all animated by the LOVE the Father has for us by giving his Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

I think JOY is a good response today… and gratitude.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050726.cfm
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Stability for a Family

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
A group of five children and two adults posing together in a church setting. The children are dressed in formal attire, with one girl wearing a white dress and others in suits. The background includes church decor and a pulpit.

Please share this link and if possible offer help to this family, I have been ministering with this family for over ten years now. They are in a tight spot that I need help in order to help them.

Read her story and see if your heart is moved to action. Thank you!

https://spot.fund/MomStability

Peace be with you,

Deacon Gerry