Dear Parishioners, these are the last weeks that I can offer this time for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confession. As of July 1, 2021 I will be working as a parochial vicar at St. Dominic Catholic Church, in San Antonio. Right now I don’t know how my schedule will look like in this new pastoral assignment, but I do know that there will always be time to hear confession, so feel free to send me an e-mail if you are in need, in the meantime here is my schedule until the last day of June 2021. Fr. AE

Monday from 5.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles (Bride´s room at the Nartex; entrance by the main door)

Tuesday from 6.00 a.m. to 6.50 a.m. @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles (Chapel)

Tuesday from 4.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. @ Our Lady of Grace (Confessional)

Wednesday from 6.00 a.m. to 6.50 a.m. @ Our Lady of Grace (see me at the Chapel)

Wednesday, from 4.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles (Bride´s room at the Nartex; entrance by the main door)

Thursday from 6.00 a.m. to 6.55 a.m. @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles (Chapel)

Friday from 5.00 p.m to 5.30 p.m. at @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles (Bride´s room at the Nartex; entrance by the main door)

Saturday at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles from 4.00 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. (Bride´s room at the Nartex; entrance by the main door)

(Sunday, sometimes beetween masses I could be available to hear confessions)

If none of these spots works for you, email me (agusestrada@gmail.com); we can arrange a convenient time for you • Fr. AE

A few years ago those who came to receive Holy Communion, after receiving the Lord they adopted a peculiar and beautiful attitude of silence and sacred recollection. Today, in general, this is not the case. Songs of praise and thanksgiving are sung, community participation is emphasized more, but we run the risk of losing that very important moment of personal communion with Christ. We lack that silence that would allow a livelier encounter with Jesus. The risk is obvious: we can turn Holy Communion into an external and routine rite that «announces» the near end of Mass. However, Holy Communion is not «doing something», but «meeting with Someone.» Sacramental communion is for us, Catholics, a personal encounter with Christ, charged with mystery, grace and faith! Christ comes to meet us and we go to meet Christ. And like all interpersonal encounters, this one also calls for conscious attention, confident surrender and, above all, love. It is true that, in the Eucharistic communion, Christ always offers himself, in a sure and unfailing way (classical theology spoke of the ex opere operato^[1]). But, for this objective offering to become a personal reality in each believer, the free and conscious response of those who come to commune is necessary (the opus operantis that theologians speak of^[2]). In other words: the Eucharistic encounter with Christ requires, first of all, our conscious attention: remembering Who I am going to meet, what I know about Christ, what I expect from him ands what He means to me. Holy Communion is not a «blind encounter.» As we approach Him, we know who we are looking for. But the meeting demands, above all, love and confidant dedication. People meet more fully when a trusting dialogue and friendly and cordial communication are established between them. Well, the same happens in the Eucharistic communion! The most important thing is the dialogue between Christ and the believer who seeks the presence of the loved one. All of this is not words. It is the experience of one who approaches with faith. The presence of Christ then becomes more real, his Person acquires a deeper meaning, and the trust of the believer grows! Christ is the Absolute that cannot be absent, the horizon of all experiences, the source that fills life with strength, peace and inner joy. Receiving Holy Communion every Sunday is not just another rite, it is not something else to do. Holy Communion can be the vital encounter that feeds and strengthens our faith. This beautiful Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is a wonderful invitation to rekindle our attitude towards the Sunday Eucharist, and above all to become aware of the great miracle of which we are witnesses, and of the enormous blessing that is the power to draw near to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord • AE

^[1]Literally the expression means «from the work performed,» stating that grace is always conferred by a sacrament, in virtue of the rite performed and not as a mere sign that grace has already been given, or that the sacrament stimulates the faith of the recipient and thus occasions the obtaining of grace. The term was defined by the Council of Trent (1545) 

^[2]Opus Operantis(Lat. literally the work of the worker), is a well-known theological phrase, intended to signify that the effect of a particular ministration or rite is primarily and directly due, not to the rite itself (opus), but to the disposition of the subject (operans).

Fr. Agustin’s Schedule for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (2021) 

Saturday, June 5, 2021

4.30 p.m. – 5.20 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles 

(Due to the repairs and maintenance in the main church; the sacrament of Confession will be celebrated in the Bride’s Room, located in the Nartex of the church, during the months of June and July. The only access to this area is through the main doors of the Parish; the side doors will remain closed until further notice)

5. 30 p.m. Mass @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles (@ Parish Hall)

Sunday, June 6, 2021

10.30 a.m. Mass @ Our Lady of Grace (indoors Mass)

12.00 p.m. Mass @ Our Lady of Grace (indoors Mass)

Solemnidad del Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo (2021)

Al Salvador alabemos,
que es nuestro pastor y guía.
Alabémoslo con himnos
y canciones de alegría.

Alabémoslo sin límites
y con nuestras fuerzas todas;
pues tan grande es el Señor,
que nuestra alabanza es poca.

Gustosos hoy aclamamos
a Cristo, que es nuestro pan,
pues él es el pan de vida,
que nos da vida inmortal.

Doce eran los que cenaban
y les dio pan a los doce.
Doce entonces lo comieron,
y, después, todos los hombres.

Sea plena la alabanza
y llena de alegres cantos;
que nuestra alma se desborde
en todo un concierto santo.

Hoy celebramos con gozo
la gloriosa institución
de este banquete divino,
el banquete del Señor.

Ésta es la nueva Pascua,
Pascua del único Rey,
que termina con la alianza
tan pesada de la ley.

Esto nuevo, siempre nuevo,
es la luz de la verdad,
que sustituye a lo viejo
con reciente claridad.

En aquella última cena
Cristo hizo la maravilla
de dejar a sus amigos
el memorial de su vida.

Enseñados por la Iglesia,
consagramos pan y vino,
que a los hombres nos redimen,
y dan fuerza en el camino.

Es un dogma del cristiano
que el pan se convierte en carne,
y lo que antes era vino
queda convertido en sangre.

Hay cosas que no entendemos,
pues no alcanza la razón;
mas si las vemos con fe,
entrarán al corazón.

Bajo símbolos diversos
y en diferentes figuras,
se esconden ciertas verdades
maravillosas, profundas.

Su sangre es nuestra bebida;
su carne, nuestro alimento;
pero en el pan o en el vino
Cristo está todo completo.

Quien lo come no lo rompe,
no lo parte ni divide;
él es el todo y la parte;
vivo está en quien lo recibe.

Puede ser tan sólo uno
el que se acerca al altar,
o pueden ser multitudes:
Cristo no se acabará.

Lo comen buenos y malos,
con provecho diferente;
no es lo mismo tener vida
que ser condenado a muerte.

A los malos les da muerte
y a los buenos des da vida.
¡Qué efecto tan diferente
tiene la misma comida!

Si lo parten, no te apures;
sólo parten lo exterior;
en el mínimo fragmento
entero late el Señor.

Cuando parten lo exterior
sólo parten lo que has visto;
no es una disminución
de la persona de Cristo.

*El pan que del cielo baja
es comida de viajeros.
Es un pan para los hijos.
¡No hay que tirarlo a los perros!

Isaac, el inocente,
es figura de este pan,
con el cordero de Pascua
y el misterioso maná.

Ten compasión de nosotros,
buen pastor, pan verdadero.
Apaciéntanos y cuídanos
y condúcenos al cielo.

Todo lo puedes y sabes,
pastor de ovejas, divino.
Concédenos en el cielo
gozar la herencia contigo.
Amén.

Celebrar la eucaristía es revivir la última cena que Jesús celebró con sus discípulos la víspera de su ejecución. Ninguna explicación teológica, ninguna ordenación litúrgica, ninguna devoción interesada nos ha de alejar de la intención original de Jesús. ¿Cómo vivió él aquella cena? ¿Qué es lo que quería dejar grabado para siempre en sus discípulos? ¿Por qué y para qué debían seguir reviviendo una vez y otra vez aquella despedida inolvidable? Antes que nada, Jesús quería contagiarles su esperanza indestructible en el reino de Dios. Su muerte era inminente; aquella cena era la última. Pero un día se sentaría a la mesa con una copa en sus manos para beber juntos un «vino nuevo». Nada ni nadie podrá impedir ese banquete final del Padre con sus hijos. Celebrar la eucaristía es reavivar la esperanza: disfrutar desde ahora con esa fiesta que nos espera con Jesús junto al Padre. Jesús quería, además, prepararlos para aquel duro golpe de su ejecución. No han de hundirse en la tristeza. La muerte no romperá la amistad que los une. La comunión no quedará rota. Celebrando aquella cena podrán alimentarse de su recuerdo, su presencia y su espíritu. Celebrar la eucaristía es alimentar nuestra adhesión a Jesús, vivir en contacto con él, seguir unidos. Jesús quiso que los suyos nunca olvidaran lo que había sido su vida: una entrega total al proyecto de Dios. Se lo dijo mientras les distribuía un trozo de pan a cada uno: «Esto es mi cuerpo; recordadme así: entregándome por vosotros hasta el final para haceros llegar la bendición de Dios»^[1]. Celebrar la eucaristía es, pues, comulgar con Jesús para vivir cada día de manera más entregada, trabajando por un mundo más humano. Jesús quería que los suyos se sintieran una comunidad. A los discípulos les tuvo que sorprender lo que Jesús hizo al final de la cena. En vez de beber cada uno de su copa, como era costumbre, Jesús les invitó a todos a beber de una sola: ¡la suya! Todos compartirían la «copa de salvación» bendecida por él. En ella veía Jesús algo nuevo: «Ésta es la nueva alianza en mi sangre». Celebrar la eucaristía es alimentar el vínculo que nos une entre nosotros y con Jesús • AE

^[1]Cfr. Mc 14, 12-16. 22-26

In 1939 the poet T. S. Elliot wrote a book of poems called the Old Possums Book of Practical Cats. His poems were taken word for word and transformed by Andrew Lloyd Weber into a musical play which first appeared in London, then became a hit in New York, where it ran for nineteen years.  You are probably familiar with the musical:  Cats. In his poems, T.S. Elliot says that all cats have three names. The first name is the name that the people the cat lives with give it. You will notice I did not say the people who own the cat.  No one ever owns a cat, they just find a way to live with the cat the best they can. Anyway, the guests in the cat’s home give the cat a name Like Fluffy or Bitsy or Garfield.  According to T.S. Elliott, the cat has a name that other cats know. The cat might be called by the others, Mephistopholes, the magical cat, etc. But, Elliott says, the cat also has a third name. This is a secret name that reflects all that the cat really is. In the poetry, the cat spends all his life contemplating his real name before God. T. S. Elliott was not writing about cats. He was writing about people. In some ways we all can be thought of as having three names. There is the formal name we receive from our parents.  There is the name our friends use. And then, there is that special name which we receive from God that reflects who we really are. For example, I have a formal name, Fr. Agustin Estrada.  My second name is the one my friends call me, Fader.  I have another name, a third name, that I do not thoroughly know.  That is the name that states who I am in my relationship with God. I received this name from God at my baptism. It expresses my deepest intimacy with God.  This name states in a simple voice the unique reflection of God I was created to bring to the world. I was given this name at my baptism.  I don’t thoroughly know this name. I will have to spend the rest of my life coming to a deeper and deeper knowledge of who I am before God.  I will have to spend the rest of my life learning what my name is.  You also have three names.  The first is your formal name.  The second is the one that those who know you use.  The third is the name that proclaims to the world your unique relationship with God. On Trinity Sunday we consider the name of God, Father Son and Spirit. This is more than a theological dogma about God.  It is also a doctrine about us. It is an expression of who we are.  We are baptized in the name of God. The goal of our lives is to find the particular, unique expression of God’s love that we have been empowered to make present in the world.  The goal of our lives is to reveal our most profound name. All who are baptized in the name of the Trinity are called to the Father in Christ though the Holy Spirit. We are called to the Father.  The journey of our lives is a journey to God.  This journey may follow the paths of marriage and parenthood, as many of you have taken.  This journey may follow the path of the committed single Christian.  The path might be that of religious life or holy orders.  All journeys derive their meaning from their final destination.  The journey of our lives is full of minor chores and major events. Even our routine chores derive their meaning from their final destination.  Changing your baby’s diaper, telling your child for the hundredth time to clean up his or her room, putting up with your spouse’s moods, giving up going out with your friends so you can spend some extra time as a big brother or big sister, going to work and all that entails, going to school and completing all its tasks, all take their meaning as part of our journey to the Father. We are called to the Father in Christ.  Jesus Christ is the Word of God Become Flesh.  Our Christmas celebration is a celebration of His Presence not just among us but as one of us.  He teaches us who the Father is and how we can best serve Him.  Jesus teaches us with His life what love really is.  Love, true love, is sacrificial, even to death on a cross.  When we journey to the Father through Jesus, we are united to the Tremendous Lover in His eternal sacrifice of himself to the Father.  The greatest steps we take in our journey to God are the steps we take away from our own selfishness.  Christian is our name and our claim. We seek God not through the loss of personality like so many cults, or through attaining a clear state of consciousness like Scientology, or even through a loss of all thoughts. We don’t look for God in some sort of inner energy.   We seek God through sacrificial love.  We are called to the Father through Jesus Christ, the Tremendous Lover. We are called to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.  We are given the power and the grace to love as God loves so others might experience the presence of God working in us.  We are the vehicles of the Holy Spirit.  Our journey to God is not merely a matter of our individual relationship with God.  We journey to God so that others might join us in the journey that gives meaning to life.  We journey to God so others can see Him in us and also be led to His presence. The intimate name we have received is the name that best reflects our unique sharing in the Blessed Trinity.  Baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are called to allow our lives to have meaning by being faithful to our name.  A hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, ten thousand years from now, our participation in all the petty wants and desires and ambitions the world has decreed are the marks of a successful person will be forgotten.  No one will recall if we owned a Rolls and a yacht, or a Hyundai and a canoe.  But a hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, ten thousand years from now, the world will still enjoy the impact of our lives if we have illuminated the world with our own unique reflection of God.  The world will be a better place if we make the journey, approaching the Father through the Son with the power of the Holy Spirit • AE

Fr. Agustin’s Schedule for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity of 2021

Fr. Agustin will be out of town. Parishes communities will continue in their regular mass schedule. Fr. Agustin will resume this regular schedule on Tuesday June 1, 2021.

Solemnidad de la Santísima Trinidad (2021)

… en el nombre del Padre y del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo.

¿Es necesario creer en la Trinidad, ¿se puede?, ¿sirve para algo?, ¿no es una construcción intelectual innecesaria?, ¿cambia en algo nuestra fe en Dios y nuestra vida cristiana si no creemos en el Dios trinitario? Hace dos siglos Kant escribía estas palabras: «Desde el punto de vista práctico, la doctrina de la Trinidad es perfectamente inútil». Nada más lejos de la realidad. La fe en la Trinidad cambia no sólo nuestra manera de mirar a Dios sino también nuestra manera de entender la vida. Confesar la Trinidad de Dios es creer que Dios es un misterio de comunión y de amor. Dios no es un ser frío, cerrado e impenetrable, inmóvil e indiferente. Dios es un foco de amor insondable. Su intimidad misteriosa es sólo amor y comunicación. Consecuencia: en el fondo último de la realidad dando sentido y existencia a todo no hay sino Amor. Todo lo existente viene del Amor. El Padre es Amor originario, la fuente de todo amor. Él empieza el amor: «Sólo él empieza a amar sin motivos, es más, es él quien desde siempre ha empezado a amar»[1]. El Padre ama desde siempre y para siempre, sin ser obligado ni motivado desde fuera. Es el «eterno Amante». Ama y seguirá amando siempre. Nunca retirará su amor y fidelidad. De él sólo brota amor. Consecuencia: creados a su imagen, estamos hechos para amar. Sólo amando acertamos a vivir plenamente. El ser del Hijo consiste en recibir el amor del Padre. Él es el «Amado eternamente» antes de la creación del mundo. El Hijo es el Amor que acoge, la respuesta eterna al amor del Padre. El misterio de Dios consiste pues en dar y en recibir amor. En Dios, dejarse amar no es menos que amar. ¡Recibir amor es también divino! Consecuencia: creados a imagen de Dios, estamos hechos no sólo para amar sino para ser amados. El Espíritu Santo es la comunión del Padre y del Hijo. Él es el Amor eterno entre el Padre amante y el Hijo amado, el que revela que el amor divino no es cerrazón o posesión celosa del Padre ni acaparamiento egoísta del Hijo. El amor verdadero es siempre apertura, don, comunicación hasta sus criaturas. «El amor de Dios ha sido derramado en nuestros corazones por el Espíritu Santo que nos ha sido dado»[2]. Consecuencia: creados a imagen de ese Dios, estamos hechos para amarnos mutuamente sin acaparar y sin encerrarnos en amores ficticios y egoístas • AE

[1] E. Jüngel

[2] Rom 5, 5

Little by little we are learning to live without interiority. We no longer need to be in touch with the best that is within us. It is enough for us to live entertained. We are content to function without a soul and feed only on bread. We do not want to expose ourselves to seek the truth Come Holy Spirit and free us from the inner emptiness!

We already know how to live without roots and without goals. It is enough for us to allow ourselves to be programmed from the outside. We move and shake incessantly, but we do not know what we want or where we are going. We are getting better informed, but we feel more lost than ever. Come Holy Spirit and free us from disorientation!

We are hardly interested in the great questions of existence. We are not worried about running out of light to face life. We have become more skeptical but also more fragile and insecure. We want to be smart and lucid. Why can’t we find calm and peace? Why does sadness visit us so much? Come Holy Spirit and free us from the darkness within!

We want to live longer, live better, live longer, but live what? We want to feel good, feel better, but feel what? We seek to enjoy life intensely, to get the most out of it, but we are not content with just having fun. We do what we want. There are hardly any prohibitions or forbidden areas. Why do we want something different? Come Holy Spirit and teach us to live!

We want to be free and independent, and we find ourselves more and more alone. We need to live and we lock ourselves in our little world, sometimes so boring. We need to feel loved and we do not know how to create lively and friendly contacts. We call sex «love» and pleasure «happiness», but who will quench our thirst? Come Holy Spirit and teach us to love!

In our life there is no longer room for God. His presence has been repressed or atrophied within us. Full of noises inside, we can no longer hear his voice. Poured into a thousand desires and sensations, we fail to perceive his closeness. We know how to talk to everyone except him. We have learned to live with our backs to the Mystery Come Holy Spirit and teach us to believe!

Believers and non-believers, little believers and bad believers, this is how we pilgrimage on this path of life. Today, the great feast of the Holy Spirit, Jesus tells us all what one day he said to his disciples, exhaling his breath on them: «Receive the Holy Spirit.» That Spirit who sustains our poor lives and encourages our weak faith can penetrate us in ways known only to him. That we know how to be open, receptive, in love • AE

Fr. Agustin’s Schedule for the Solemnity of Pentecost of 2021

Saturday, May 22, 2021

3.00 p.m. Sacrament of Baptism for Magdalene Hoover @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles

4.30 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles

5. 30 p.m. Mass @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles

Sunday, May 23, 2021

9.00 a.m. Mass @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles

11.00 a.m. Mass @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles

5. 30 p.m. Mass @ St. Peter Prince of the Apostles

Solemnidad de Pentecostes (2021)

Ven Espíritu Santo. Despierta nuestra fe débil, pequeña y vacilante. Enséñanos a vivir confiando en el amor insondable de Dios nuestro Padre a todos sus hijos e hijas, estén dentro o fuera de tu Iglesia. Si se apaga esta fe en nuestros corazones, pronto morirá también en nuestras comunidades e iglesias.

Ven Espíritu Santo. Haz que Jesús ocupe el centro de tu Iglesia. Que nada ni nadie lo suplante ni oscurezca. No vivas entre nosotros sin atraernos hacia su Evangelio y sin convertirnos a su seguimiento. Que no huyamos de su Palabra, ni nos desviemos de su mandato del amor. Que no se pierda en el mundo su memoria.

Ven Espíritu Santo. Abre nuestros oídos para escuchar tus llamadas, las que nos llegan hoy, desde los interrogantes, sufrimientos, conflictos y contradicciones de los hombres y mujeres de nuestros días. Haznos vivir abiertos a tu poder para engendrar la fe nueva que necesita esta sociedad nueva. Que, en tu Iglesia, vivamos más atentos a lo que nace que a lo que muere, con el corazón sostenido por la esperanza y no minado por la nostalgia.

Ven Espíritu Santo y purifica el corazón de tu Iglesia. Pon verdad entre nosotros. Enséñanos a reconocer nuestros pecados y limitaciones. Recuérdanos que somos como todos: frágiles, mediocres y pecadores. Libéranos de nuestra arrogancia y falsa seguridad. Haz que aprendamos a caminar entre los hombres con más verdad y humildad.

Ven Espíritu Santo. Enséñanos a mirar de manera nueva la vida, el mundo y, sobre todo, a las personas. Que aprendamos a mirar como Jesús miraba a los que sufren, los que lloran, los que caen, los que viven solos y olvidados. Si cambia nuestra mirada, cambiará también el corazón y el rostro de tu Iglesia. Los discípulos de Jesús irradiaremos mejor su cercanía, su comprensión y solidaridad hacia los más necesitados. Nos pareceremos más a nuestro Maestro y Señor.

Ven Espíritu Santo. Haz de nosotros una Iglesia de puertas abiertas, corazón compasivo y esperanza contagiosa. Que nada ni nadie nos distraiga o desvíe del proyecto de Jesús: hacer un mundo más justo y digno, más amable y dichoso, abriendo caminos al reino de Dios • AE