Dear Friends,
Many of us witnessed a spectacle in the sky on 21 December, the winter solstice, when Jupiter and Saturn moved to within 0.1 degrees of each other. This rare event is known as the great conjunction, so named because Jupiter and Saturn will be their closest since 1623 and the closest observable since 1226. This year’s Jupiter-Saturn conjunction won’t be matched again until March 15, 2080.
This weekend, we celebrate another great “conjunction” of two great feasts: The Feast of the Holy Family and the Feast of our patron, St. John the Evangelist. Since the Feast of St. John falls on a Sunday this year, the Feast of the Holy Family assumes the greater importance. However, we will celebrate our patron later this day with a special CONCERT, a first for our parish. It will be held at 1 p.m. in the church and has been coordinated by John Pendenza and his brass ensemble, along with our music director, Heidi Pranzoni. Please plan to attend the concert and give thanks to God for our patron, St. John the Disciple whom Jesus loved. Thanks to John and his team for sharing with us their time and talents.
The Feast of the Holy Family always follows the celebration of Christmas. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by the nascent Holy Family of Nazareth and also presents us with the challenge to strengthen our own families. We live in a time when Satan is hell-bent upon destroying anything cohesive in our families. We live in a culture that does more to splinter the family than to unite our relationships. Our culture unabashedly promotes and nurtures divorce and same-sex unions, perfect recipes for the destruction of the family. How do we combat these ever-increasing threats to the traditional family? We can do it only by going to the School of Nazareth and learning to emulate the Holy Family in their simplicity, warmth, patience, respect, love, and dedication to each other. Embrace the challenge of raising a holy family that adheres to the appeal of St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom …”
Incidentally, Pope Francis has written an amazing Apostolic Letter entitled: “Patris Corde,” meaning With a Father’s Heart, dedicated to the oft-forgotten figure of St. Joseph. With its release, he declared a Year of St. Joseph beginning on 8 December, 2020, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, to 8 December 2021. “The aim of this Apostolic Letter is to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal.” During the coming year, let us meditate on this amazing reflection from Pope Francis.
One of the surest ways for Catholics to stay together as a family is to nurture our prayer life. Remember the sage words of Fr. Patrick Peyton C.S.C.: “A family that prays together, stays together.” I urge you to attend Sunday Masses as a family and spend a little time each day to pray together, even if only for a few minutes. Praying the Rosary is one the simplest and the easiest ways to foster unity. I congratulate Fran and Mark Majcher, recipients of the Family of the Month Award for December 2020, for their dedication to our parish and commitment to ensuring our garden is a welcoming place of prayer, pleasing and colorful.
I also take this opportunity to wish you all, on behalf of Fr. John Patrick, the Deacons and the Staff, a very Happy New Year 2021! May Mary, the Holy Mother of God, whose solemnity we celebrate on the 1st of January, intercede for our country and the world … that we might live in peace and harmony and love.
With love,
Fr. John
Ecclesia de Eucharistia
For this week, we shall reflect on paragraphs 53 - 54 of the encyclical, “Ecclesia De Eucharistia” (The Church draws her life from the Eucharist) by St. John Paul II on the vital role the Eucharist plays in the life of the Church. With these paragraphs we will explore the 6th chapter titled: AT THE SCHOOL OF MARY, “WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST.” Here Pope John Paul II is about Mary being our model and a teacher in contemplating the face of Christ. By calling Mary as a “woman of the Eucharist,” he calls the Church to imitate her example.
- If we wish to rediscover in all its richness the profound relationship between the Church and the Eucharist, we cannot neglect Mary, Mother and model of the Church. In my Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, I pointed to the Blessed Virgin Mary as our teacher in contemplating Christ's face, and among the mysteries of light I included the institution of the Eucharist (Cf. No. 21: AAS 95 (2003), 20). Mary can guide us towards this most holy sacrament, because she herself has a profound relationship with it. At first glance, the Gospel is silent on this subject. The account of the institution of the Eucharist on the night of Holy Thursday makes no mention of Mary. Yet we know that she was present among the Apostles who prayed “with one accord” (cf. Acts 1:14) in the first community which gathered after the Ascension in expectation of Pentecost. Certainly, Mary must have been present at the Eucharistic celebrations of the first generation of Christians, who were devoted to “the breaking of bread” (Acts 2:42). But in addition to her sharing in the Eucharistic banquet, an indirect picture of Mary's relationship with the Eucharist can be had, beginning with her interior disposition. Mary is a “woman of the Eucharist” in her whole life. The Church, which looks to Mary as a model, is also called to imitate her in her relationship with this most holy mystery.
- Mysterium fidei! If the Eucharist is a mystery of faith which so greatly transcends our understanding as to call for sheer abandonment to the word of God, then there can be no one like Mary to act as our support and guide in acquiring this disposition. In repeating what Christ did at the Last Supper in obedience to his command: “Do this in memory of me!”, we also accept Mary's invitation to obey him without hesitation: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). With the same maternal concern which she showed at the wedding feast of Cana, Mary seems to say to us: “Do not waver; trust in the words of my Son. If he was able to change water into wine, he can also turn bread and wine into his body and blood, and through this mystery bestow on believers the living memorial of his passover, thus becoming the 'bread of life'”.