FRED VERGARA BOOKS

  “AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM”: WHAT REALLY MAKES AMERICA GREAT? (A July 4 th Sermon by The Rev. Canon Dr. Fred Vergara, July 4, 2021, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 130 Jerusalem Avenue, Hicksville, NY 11801) A Filipino immigrant named Jose Dela Cruz just became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was so happy he phoned his mother back in the Philippines. “Mom, America is a wonderful country and the Americans are a wonderful people. During my oath-taking as a new American citizen, they even sang a song for me,” “And what song is that?,” the mom asked. The son replied, “Oh Jo-se can Jo-see?” Today is Sunday, July 4 th and we commemorate the 245 th American Independence Day. It behooves us also to reflect on the American values that our founding fathers lifted up, values which made America great. The Episcopal Church where you and I belong closely identifies with this nation. Our history as an American Church is inextricably intertwined with American history. I was once priest-in...

  MESSAGE TO ALL FILIPINO AMERICANS ON THE 123 RD PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE DAY The Rev. Canon Dr. Winfred B. Vergara, Missioner for Asiamerica Ministries in the Episcopal Church, Delivered at the Filipino American celebration in Queens, New York. To all my fellow Kababayans here in the United States, in the Philippines and all around the world. Happy 123 rd Philippine Independence Day. Here in Queens, New York we are celebrating this event with an Open Air Mass and  Group Picnic here at Flushing Meadows Park. Thank you, Rev. Henry "Bong" Janiola and Gary Labao for organizing this event. Maybe this is a foretaste of more celebratory events, the grandest one being a celebration of the end of COVID pandemic.  I think it is significant that this celebration is jointly sponsored by the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and the Federation of Filipino Concerns (NAFCON) and Migrante. It is significant because in history, the struggle for Philippine Independence was founde...

  THE HOLY SPIRIT: WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? WHAT ARE THE SYMBOLS OF THE HOLY S PIRIT? HOW TO BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT? Sermon by The Rev. Canon Dr. Fred Vergara on Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2021. Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 130 Jerusalem Avenue, Hicksville, New York, USA. “Come Holy Spirit, I need you; Come Holy Spirit, I pray. Come in thy strength and thy power. Come in thine own special way.” My friends, if there is any one or anything, we need so much today, it is the Holy Spirit. Our world is collapsing, our nations are collapsing, our churches are collapsing, many of our lives and the things we hold so dear, are collapsing. We need the Holy Spirit to sustain us, to inspire us, to empower us and to make life worth living. Today, I will share about the Holy Spirit: (1)   Who is the Holy Spirit? (2) What are the Symbols of the Holy Spirit and what do they mean? (3) How to be filled with the Holy Spirit? I.WHO IS THE HOLY SPIRIT It is wrong to ask what is the Ho...

    THE GOOD SHEPHERD – By Fred Vergara (Texts: 1 John 3:16-24; Psalm 23 and John 10:1-10) Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd” (John 10).   The phrase “Good Shepherd” was used by Jesus in the context of first century Palestine. Jesus spent his actual ministry in Galilee, the rural, agricultural, communal, pastoral setting where the imagery of sheep and shepherd was real and vivid.   Tending to the flock was part of the geographical, socio-economic and historical background in the story of Jesus. Abraham, the ancestor of the Jews, Christians and Muslims offered a ram to God in place of his son, Isaac. A ram is a male sheep. Moses, the lawgiver of Israel was tending the sheep in Sinai when God called him to set free the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. David was a shepherd boy when God anointed him to be the king of Israel.   The prophets of the Old Testament were so familiar with the imagery that they likened the bad kings of Israel and Judah to that of...