On a day like today but 2015, Fr. Tim talked to us about our spiritual life and our relationship with the Lord God. Let us read again the words of our beloved pastor.

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build!

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!
Fr. Jorge Ramirez

Holy Trinity Church… 165 years evangelizing!

Many people confuse the roles of intercessor and mediator. I have heard many say that we cannot pray to the Virgin Mary or the Saints because the only mediator is Our Lord Jesus Christ—as He Himself states in the Gospel: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (cf. John 14:6). This is, of course, true in the sense that Jesus is the sole mediator between God and human beings. However, being a mediator is different from being an intercessor.

What is the difference between a mediator and an intercessor? Let us begin with the definition of an intercessor. An intercessor is someone who steps in on behalf of another person to present their needs to God. We see this clearly in the Sacred Scriptures. The most common example is Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Gospel of John, we see Mary speaking on behalf of the couple celebrating their wedding at Cana. They had run out of wine, so she spoke to her Son, Jesus, asking Him to perform the miracle of providing more wine for the wedding feast (cf. John 2:1-12). Yet Mary is not the only one who intercedes. Consider the centurion who speaks on behalf of his gravely ill servant; he intercedes with Jesus, asking Him to heal his servant (cf. Matthew 8:5-17). We also see intercession in the Old Testament: Abraham speaks to God, asking Him not to destroy the city (cf. Genesis 18:16–33). Likewise, we become intercessors ourselves when we pray for one another. That is why it is important to offer our petitions during the Eucharist and in our personal prayer. We pray to the Saints asking for their intercession because they are alive in Heaven; for God is a God of the living, not of the dead (cf. Matthew 22:32; Luke 20:37-38). In the Book of Revelation, we see the twenty-four elders presenting the prayers of the Saints to God (cf. Revelation 5:8). We thus see how intercession is offered by all of us.

On the other hand, Jesus Christ is the sole mediator between God and human beings. Christ is the mediator because He uses the Cross as the means for our salvation. The Cross is the bond uniting God and us; it is also the bond uniting humanity itself. That is why Jesus is the center of our faith. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (cf. John 14:6). Jesus is the Good Shepherd and, at the same time, the gate through which one enters the sheepfold (cf. John 10:1–21). Jesus is the living water (cf. John 4:4–42). Jesus is the Bread of Life (cf. John 6:51). I could go on citing biblical passages that demonstrate why Jesus is the only mediator, and why we should follow Him alone.

I hope we have gained a better understanding of what it means to be an intercessor and a mediator. We can be intercessors, but the only One who mediates for us is Jesus Christ. Therefore, my family, let us pray for one another and present all our prayers, supplications, petitions, and offerings to Jesus Christ, the only One who leads us to the house of our Heavenly Father.

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build!

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

Holy Trinity Church… 165 years evangelizing!

Dear family of the Most Holy Trinity Church.

I wish all the mothers a wonderful Happy Day on their day. May God continue to bless your life, and you can live taking an example from our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

We have been reading what our previous pastors wrote. Let us now read what Father William Hart wrote about mothers.

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build!

Holy Trinity Church… 165 years evangelizing!

God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramírez

Mother’s Day

By Fr. William Hart
May 4, 1986

Let me ask you on this Mother’s Day to make a really serious and practical resolution. Get yourself

past an empty and frothy sentimentality about Mothers and offer them a gift that is truly generous and an offering that will have a deep meaning. How to do that?

Pray for your own Mother – living or dead. It may not be as colorful or showy as flowers and candy, but if you take the time to pray with attention and piety, it will be infinitely more valuable.

Pray for young Mothers who look on their children and wonder what troubles the world has in store for them. Pray for the Mothers of children in trouble, the sorrowful Mothers who are seemingly powerless to influence their sons and daughters. Pray for the Mothers who can do nothing while they stand by and see their children fall away from prayer and Mass and all regard for religion.

Pray for young Mothers who have not yet seen their children and who are belabored by misguided advisors to destroy their sons and daughters in the womb. Pray that these Mothers, alone and weeping, loaded down with contempt, will find the courage to love their children enough to suffer for them and let them live.

Pray for Mothers in poor lands who sadly watch as their babies and children die before their eyes. Pray for those Mothers whose souls writhe because they have no food to give their small sons and daughters.

Pray for weak Mothers, fearful Mothers, Mothers bereft of the consolations of a Faith they have rejected, Mothers who are desperate and confused as the world dins into them false advices and directions, Mothers who are at the point of giving up their sublime vocation because evil people have told them they are wasting their time and energies on children.

Pray to the Mother of God, the Mother of Sorrows, that she will continue to assist all Mothers to realize the holy plan of

Her Son.

Dear family of the Most Holy Trinity Church,

With grateful hearts and great joy, I invite you to celebrate a very special milestone, 165 years of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity. For more than a century and a half, Holy Trinity Church has been a spiritual home where faith has been nurtured, sacraments celebrated, and generations brought together in Christ. This anniversary is a moment to give thanks for our rich history, honor those who came before us, and look forward with hope to the future that God is calling us to build together.

I would like to begin this celebration by learning a little about our past.

“Holy Trinity was founded by German immigrants who settled in Webster and were unable to travel to St. Joseph, the German parish of Rochester. The community’s first Mass was celebrated by Fr. Francis N. VanEmstede, CSsR, on May 22, 1859, in the State Road home of the widow of Ignatius Eichhorn. Following the Mass, 45 families from Webster, Ontario, Penfield and Walworth contributed $300 toward the building of a church. Land was purchased on the north side of Webster’s Ridge Road, and the cornerstone was laid on May 26, 1861 by Father Peter (Thaddaeus) Alexander, CSsR, rector of Rochester’s St. Joseph Church. The building was dedicated three months later on August 5, and in 1866, an additional six acres were purchased for a parish cemetery. In 1867, the parish’s first pastor, Father A. Hechinger, was appointed. The current church at 1460 Ridge Road was completed in 1901 and was dedicated that year on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity” (text taken from 150 Years of Faith, Hope and Charity of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester).

We are going to celebrate this anniversary the whole year through different activities. You will find different articles from previous pastors, stories of parishioners, trivia, and more. Please, join us as we gather in the different celebrations during 2026, prayers, and fellowship to mark this remarkable occasion.

I look forward to celebrating with you and giving thanks to God for these 165 years of faith, service, and community. Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build!

Holy Trinity Church… 165 years evangelizing!

God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramírez

This weekend, the Roman Catholic Church is celebrating one of the most important feast days: Pentecost. With this celebration, the Church is finishing the wonderful season of Easter, in which we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the beginning of the second part of Ordinary Time. In Pentecost we celebrate also the nativity of the Catholic Church, because it is on that day, that the Holy Spirit came over the Apostles and Jesus’ disciples, and the Church started to announce the good news of the Resurrection of the Lord to all people, following the mandate that the Lord gave them at the moment of His Ascension into heaven: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 19-20).

Since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been present in the life of the Church. The Holy Spirit has given the Church the strength to continue the mission to announce the Gospel regardless of all the difficulties that she has had during all her history. We need to always call the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives because He has the same importance as the Father and the Son. He is a member of this Trinity of love. He is here to help all of us with Gifts and Fruits.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit, “According to Aquinas, are ‘habits,’ ‘instincts,’ or ‘dispositions’ provided by God as supernatural helps to man in the process of his ‘perfection.’ They enable man to transcend the limitations of human reason and human nature and participate in the very life of God, as Christ promised (John 14:23). Aquinas insisted that they are necessary for man’s salvation, which he cannot achieve on his own. They serve to ‘perfect’ the four cardinal or moral virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance) and the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity). The virtue of charity is the key that unlocks the potential power of the seven gifts, which can (and will) lie dormant in the soul after baptism unless so acted upon” (catholic.com). The gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God.

“If the gifts of the Holy Spirit are like virtues, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are the actions that those virtues produce. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit we bear fruit in the form of moral action. In other words, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are works that we can perform only with the aid of the Holy Spirit. The presence of these fruits is an indication that the Holy Spirit dwells in the Christian believer” (learnreligions.com). The fruits of the Holy Spirit are charity (or love), joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, continence, and chastity. In our personal prayer let us ask the Lord for the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Through them, we can act properly according to God’s will. The gifts and fruits help us on our daily journey and to go to God’s dwelling place.

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build!

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez.

Lent is a time where all Christians prepare themselves to celebrate the greatest feast of the Church: Easter. With this wonderful and sacred time, each one of us is preparing ourselves to live with faith and enthusiasm, the redemption given by Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is precisely what the readings in the liturgy are introducing to us. For instance, the gospel according to John (John 4:5-42) tells us how Jesus has an encounter with the Samaritan woman. Even though Jesus asks her for water, Jesus finally is giving her the living water. This living water is Jesus Himself who is calming our thirst for God.

The experience of the Samaritan woman should motivate us to say, “Sir, give me this water.” How many times have we said this to the Lord? This is a question that this Lenten season is asking us. Do I come to the Mass to receive the living water who is Jesus Himself present in the Eucharist? Or do I just come to the Mass because it is Sunday, and I must go? Let us review how we are celebrating this wonderful encounter with Christ.

Saint Luke (Lk. 13,1-9), talks about the different fruits that we are producing. The Lord does not want us to sin any- more; therefore, instead of punishment, we receive all His love. Pope Francis constantly is reminding us that God is merciful. He is always ready to forgive us, just as the gospel of the “Merciful Father” or the “Prodigal Son” tells us. Pope Francis, in the Apostolic Letter Misericordia et Miseria, says, “Mercy gives rise to joy, because our hearts are opened to the hope of a new life. The joy of forgiveness is inexpressible, yet it radiates all around us whenever we experience forgiveness. Its source is in the love with which God comes to meet us, breaking through walls of selfishness that surround us, in order to make us in turn instruments of mercy (MM #3).”

God wants us to turn our faces to Him. He wants that we do not sin anymore but change our lives and get eternal life (Cf. Ez. 18:23). God always is ready to receive each one of us with open arms because He loves us always regardless of our situation or whatever we did. He loves us for who we are, not for what we did. So, are we ready to receive His forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation? Let us remember that the priest acts in persona Christi Capitis (in the head of the person of Christ). That means, that everything that the priest does is not in his own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ who acts through him. Why are we waiting to go to His encounter and ask for forgiveness for all things that we did that offended Him? Once we had gone to Confession, we should remember the words that the Lord says to the woman caught in adultery, “Go and from now on do not sin anymore” (John 8:11).

Lent time should take us to a personal and close encounter with the Lord who is always ready to forgive us regardless of what we did, because He is the living image of the Merciful Father. May all of us, in this Lenten season, be closer to God, and then all of us can go out into the world and give a true testimony of the Risen Lord, who redeems all our sins.

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

This past Wednesday, March 5th, the Universal Church celebrated Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. Ash is used as a reminder that we are just dust in comparison with the existence of God. Hence, one of the formulas that you heard on Ash Wednesday was “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This phrase recalls the book of Genesis at the moment of the creation of a human being, “The Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). God made us in His image (Cf. Gen. 1:26-27). However, we cannot forget that we depend totally on God. We need His presence and love in our lives to live. We need His breath of life, that is the Holy Spirit, to walk in this world and work for the Kingdom of God and gain salvation and eternal life.

To attain salvation, it is necessary to turn our faces and repent from our sins. This is the second formula that we could hear this Ash Wednesday, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” This is what Jesus proclaimed when He started His public life (cf. Mk. 1:14-15). The Lord Jesus is constantly inviting us to ask God for forgiveness. He is teaching us that God is the merciful Father who is waiting for us with open arms to bring us His love, mercy, and forgiveness (Cf. Lk. 15:11-32). For that reason, the Roman Catholic Church is always highlighting and promoting prayer, fasting, almsgiving as Lenten observances which help us to ask God for forgiveness. Besides, the Sacrament of Penance (known as well as Confession or Reconciliation) plays an important role in this wonderful season. Let us go to this sacrament of forgiveness and practice the Lenten observances with love, believing that through them, we can obtain the mercy of God, salvation and eternal life.

There will be different spiritual activities for Lent at Holy Trinity Church, such as the Stations of the Cross, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and opportunities for confession. Please check the Lenten program which was distributed as an insert in last week bulletin. If you have questions or concerns, please let us know.

Let us pray:

Remember, The Parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.

God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramírez

“I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18). These are the words that Jesus said to Peter when he made his profession of faith, recognizing the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. In other words, when Jesus said these words, He chose Peter to be the head of the Church. That means that Peter was the First Pope in the Church’s history. From Peter to Francis, the Roman Catholic Church has had 266 Popes. Each Pope has apported wonderful elements for the teachings of the Church, such as councils, documents, synods, encyclicals, visits, homilies, and so on.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, from Argentina, was elected as the 266th Pope on March 13, 2013, taking Francis as his name. Pope Francis has shown wonderful values such as simplicity, humility, joy, and a deep love for the Lord and the Church during his pontificate. It is not a secret to anybody that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, is having health problems. We know that he is in a critical situation at the hospital. The whole world has been praying for the health of the supreme pontiff who is 88 years old. Children have sent letters wishing good health and a quick recovery to Pope Francis. Pope Francis said, “I have recently received many messages of affection, and I have been particularly struck by the letters and drawings from children. Thank you for your closeness, and for the consoling prayers I have received from all over the world!”

We, as Catholics, also need to pray for the health of Pope Francis. God is wonderful and always is ready to listen to each one of our prayers.

Let us pray,
Prayer for Pope Francis

O God, shepherd and ruler of all the faithful,
look favorably on your servant Francis,
whom you have set at the head of your Church as her shepherd;

Grant, we pray, that by word and example
he may be of service to those over whom he presides so that, together with the flock entrusted to his care, he may come to everlasting life.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

Since last December, the Roman Catholic Church has been celebrating the Jubilee Year 2025, Pilgrims of Hope. This is a year-long celebration of living in fraternity and helping those in need. Remember, “Jubilees ordinarily take place every twenty-five years. A Jubilee is a special time encouraging renewed holiness through acts of forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, and pilgrimage. This year’s Jubilee theme is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’. The faithful can obtain the Jubilee indulgence.

Many of us have heard about indulgences. But, what is an indulgence? “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints” (CCC 1471). In other words, an indulgence is a gift from God. This gift helps us in our spiritual life to be closer to God. Although, we go to the sacrament of reconciliation to confess our sins and God gives us His love and mercy, when we die, we will need to be for a “period of time” (I write this in quotes, because we do not understand the measure of time after death), in purgatory. God is, through the Church, giving to us this wonderful gift that aids us to go to heaven faster. It is necessary to be completely clean before going to heaven. Purgatory will help us to be pure before seeing God face to face.

Pope Francis says that the Jubilee should transform us, so our hearts get bigger and more generous to help other people who are hungry for the love of God. This Jubilee is a great opportunity to be closer to God.

Let us pray,

The Jubilee Prayer

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am very sure that many of us (perhaps all of us) have a Bible at home. How many times do we open the Bible and read it? Do we really understand the message that God has for us? I know that some parishioners go to Bible study, which is every other week on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the parish (if you want to join this study, check the bulletin, or call the parish office for information). The Bible is the Word of God. For this reason, I would like to introduce you to Lectio Divina (Divine Reading). Lectio Divina is a Christian practice of reading the Bible, meditating, and praying. It is a traditional monastic practice that dates back to the early centuries of Christianity. These are the steps to listen to God’s Word through this wonderful practice.

Prayer: Invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit to understand better the Word of God. “Before I open my Bible and heart to the Word of God, I first open my mouth in prayer.”

Lectio or reading: Read the text two, three or more times. What does the text say? Look at what the characters are doing, places, actions, settings, and so on. Try to understand what the text is saying.

Meditatio or meditation: What does the text say to me? Think about what the phrase that stood out to you meant to the original audience, and what the author might have been thinking when he wrote it. Picture yourself in the setting and context of the passage. Play out the scenario in your head. Think about the specific part of the pas- sage that spoke directly to you. Focus intently on why the Holy Spirit might have chosen these words to speak to you today. Reflect on how it might apply to your life. Is it relevant to something that you are going through? Does it bring to mind a struggle that you have been dealing with? Do certain people come to mind that God may want you to reach out to or reconcile a relationship with? Is there a strong sense of a movement or change that needs to happen? When you are thinking about a passage in God’s presence, ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate that passage so that you can grasp the message in terms of your own life.

Oratio or prayer: What do I want to say to God about the text? Take all the thoughts, feelings, actions, fears, convictions, and questions you have meditated on and offer them to the Lord in prayer. Talk to God and tell him what you are feeling, just like you would with a good friend or family member. It is so important to ask God to help us in the areas in which we need improvement.

Contemplatio or contemplation: What difference will this text make in my life? Sit in the presence of God and feel His tender love and embrace. We are to continue to resist worrying about our cell phones, work, friends, illnesses, and whatever else holds us back from God and sit in the love that is shared between us and Jesus. Commit yourself, with the help of God, to “do” the truth that he has implanted in your heart. It is our submitting to God’s Word, our living it out, that God is calling us to. Living out our faith is a following of Jesus that happens naturally as we know Christ and become like him.

Let us practice Lectio Divina and let us allow God’s message to come to us, discovering the wonderful plan that He has for each one of us.

Remember, The parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Father Jorge Ramirez