Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 1, 2024

Dear Friends, Today is the day, the day we have been waiting for. Yes, it is Easter! The Lord is Risen! Alleluia! We can now unleash our joy and burst into singing Alleluia! Alleluia! HE IS RISEN AS HE SAID! Alleluia! Wow, what joy it brings to keep singing this song of glory. Pope John Paul II made the word “Alleluia” even more significant when he said, “We are an Easter People, and Alleluia is our song!” St. Augustine describes the use of this song even more poignantly: [With regard to the present, when we are pilgrims on this earth, we sing Alleluia as a consolation, to be strengthened along the way; the Alleluia we are saying now is like the traveler’s song; yet, as we take this difficult path, we are striving to reach that homeland where repose awaits us, where, once all that we are involved in today has passed away, all that will be left is the Alleluia. This is why the Church deems it fit to prolong the experience of Easter Sunday for 8 days, known as the Octave of Easter. This is an intensely joyful period that ends with the Solemnity of Divine Mercy Sunday on 27 April. However, the Easter season lasts for a full 50 days, all the way to Pentecost on 8 June. Welcome to our Elect and Candidates who came into the Church and our Community at the Easter Vigil! We had 26 this year. Wow! Praise God! Their preparation for this life-changing and life-giving event has not always been easy. I take this opportunity to congratulate them on their commitment to this demanding journey. Walking alongside them is deeply significant for us, the community of the baptized, as it allows us to witness God’s grace at work and to participate in the work of the Holy Spirit. Accompanying them in their preparation for Baptism and the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist also serves to remind us of our own call to renewal, to strengthening our bond with Christ, and to reaffirming our baptismal promises. What a blessing they are to us! I want to thank Kelli Salceda, our Director of Religious Education, for her outstanding job in coordinating the OCIA curriculum. She was ably assisted by some amazing catechists who are walking witnesses of love for Jesus. I am also grateful to the sponsors who followed along with those they have undertaken in care for their spiritually. A huge thanks to all those who made the 40 days of Lent and the celebration of the Triduum— the three most significant days in the Life of the Church—a very meaningful, joyful, and most enriching time in our community. These days of solemn celebrations required a lot of coordination and efforts from the staff and ministry teams. Thanks to each and every ministry - from the most visible to those behind the scenes - for their tireless efforts in glorifying the Lord through all the liturgies and other celebrations that are the life-blood of our community. A special thanks to all the ministries that led the Stations of the Cross and prepared and served the soup suppers during the Fridays of Lent. We have an amazing community of dedicated and loving parishioners who assisted with an participated in the many wonderful Lenten opportunities for prayer, worship, adoration, and fellowship. Every year on the first Saturday after Easter, the Congregation of Holy Cross, USA Province, celebrates the ordinations of those ready for the priesthood. This year, the date is 26 April 2025 at 1:30 p.m. EDT. We are so grateful to God that four will be ordained on this date: Richard Bevington, C.S.C., Noah Junge, C.S.C., Aaron Morris, C.S.C., and David Murray, C.S.C.; their ordination will be held in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame. Please pray for them. You can follow the ordination liturgy by via livestream at livestream.holycrossusa.org. The staff, the deacons, Fr. Martin, and I wish you and yours a most blessed and joy-filled Easter! May we all celebrate Easter with unrestrained rejoicing. Have a fabulous Easter Octave, With Love, Fr. John

Dear Friends, During the 40 days of Lent, our intention has been to walk with Jesus. We have been determined to remain close to Him, so that we might fully experience His profound love for us—a love so huge that it impels Him to endure the excruciating pain inflicted by His torturers, the bitter humiliation heaped on Him by His mockers and revilers, the shame of being publicly stripped naked, and even the ignominyof beingcrucified like acommon criminal. Oh, what ineffable love! Our commitment and dedication to this Lenten journey has been our way of demonstrating our love for Him. In the process, something profound has happened. We have been changed. Jesus seeks us as and where we are. Whenever we are beaten down and lie there, frustrated and alone, waiting for someone to help us get back on our feet, Jesus finds us, lifts us up, and invites us to walk to with him. As we do, He introduces us to His most loving Father and welcomes us into Their intimate life of love. Because Jesus reached out to us, a new way of life has opened up to us, as it did for the Samaritan woman at the well and the man born blind whom Jesus healed. Our Lenten journey has taught us how to pickup our mats and move towards the new horizon that Jesus has revealed to us. If we have failed in our resolution to follow Him closely, it’s not too late! We can still have the experience of being transformed by Jesus. All we need do is muster up the courage to stay close to Him throughout the upcoming Holy Week, the most important days of the liturgical year. Holy Week is filled with such blessings that we need to look at each day carefully so we can map out the final days of our spiritual pilgrimage.  † Palm Sunday —the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Our pilgrimage begins with blessed Palms in our hands. We, too, should sing, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” † Monday of Holy Week —Jesus clears out the temple with a whip. It is a day to reflect on the humanity of Jesus. † Tuesday of Holy Week —after a long day of preaching on the Mount of Olives, Jesus and His disciples go to Bethany to rest. It is here that Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, anoints Jesus with perfumed oil, a sign of His pending death. We, too, are invited to rest with him. † Spy Wednesday —Jesus is betrayed by Judas Iscariot. It is a day when Jesus experiences a most painful blow to His carefully formed relationship with His disciples. It is a day of great sadness, and we are invited to take time to mourn this rupture. † Holy Thursday —the first day of the Easter Triduum. It begins in the evening, when Jesus celebrates the Last Supper with His disciples as they commemorate the Jewish Holy Day of Passover. During this commemoration, Jesus institutes both the priesthood and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Later that night, Jesus spends time in intense agony as He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane before being arrested. We, like Peter, James and John, are invited to watch and pray with Jesus. Can we, will we? † Good Friday —a day of incredible suffering during which Jesus is sentenced to death, tortured, mocked, beaten, scourged, crucified, dies on the Cross, and is buried. Today is the day to help Jesus carry His cross and console His sorrowful Mother. † Holy Saturday —the body of Jesus lays in the tomb while He descends into hell. This is a day of silence and preparation for Easter. As night falls, we begin the Easter Celebration during the Vigil Mass. At the Vigil, we have the joy of receiving our Elect and our Candidates into the Catholic Church and in to our St. John’s Family! † Easter Sunday —We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from death. The history of the world changed on this Sunday. It was -and remains- a life-changing day for believers. Let us tell all the world: He is risen! These are critical days for our Catechumens, now known as the Elect of God, as well as for our Candidates, who have been preparing for the past several months to embrace “the way of faith and conversion” before receiving First Eucharist and/or Confirmation. It is absolutely our most solemn duty as parishioners to accompany these wonderful people who are soon to reach the goal of their devoted preparation. I invite you to continue to pray for them, especially during Holy Week, that they might find in our community a visible expression of what it is to be followers of Christ. Stay close to the fire! With love, Fr. John

Dear friends, Take heart! We are more than halfway through Lent. This weekend, we begin the Fifth Week of Lent. Very soon, Lent will give way to Easter, and we will see the light of the Resurrection shining brightly. Do not loose heart if fulfilling your Lenten resolutions has been sluggish. God is always faithful in His commitment to walk with us. As we ascend the Mount of Calvary along with Jesus during Lent, let us keep firmly in mind that we have the sweet obligation of walking with our Elect of God (the unbaptized) and Candidates as they prepare to embrace the fullness of the Catholic faith. On the Third and Fourth Sundays of Lent, we celebrated the First and Second Scrutinies with our Elect and Candidates. These scrutinies assisted them in a process of continued purification and enlightenment, which is characterized by intense preparation and prayer. During this period, they focused on deepening their conversion and strengthening their resolve to live in Christ. During the First Scrutiny, we joined our Elect and Candidates in reflecting on the contrast between thirst and water with the help of the story about the Samaritan woman at the well. At the celebration of the Second Scrutiny, we looked with them at the contrast between blindness and sight through the story of the man born blind. On this Fifth Sunday of Lent, we celebrate the Third Scrutiny at the 11:00 a.m. Mass. During the Third Scrutiny, Mother Church leads the Elect — and us — to consider the stark and ultimate contrast, namely, death and life. We hear and reflect on the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45 taken from Year A), through which our Lord illustrates the ultimate contrast: Out of death, He calls forth life. Our Lord comes to Bethany, near Jerusalem, knowing that his presence there and the miracle he intends to perform will soon lead to his own Passion and Death. The Apostle Thomas, ever a realist, says to the others, “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11:16). The scene is filled with emotion. When Jesus, the One who came to give us life in abundance, encounters the suffering of death, He is deeply disturbed and greatly troubled. For four long days, Lazarus has lain in the earth — four days which, for the Jews, meant that he had been fully overcome by the power of death. But the One who proclaims to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life,” is not constrained by the decay of death, and with ultimate authority he commands, “Lazarus, come out!” The regular readings for all other Masses on the Fifth Sunday of Lent are taken from the Year C cycle. Normally in Year C, the gospel is taken from Luke. However, this Sunday, we borrow a passage from the Gospel of John, which places before us the story of the woman caught in adultery. The authorities have been contemplating various ways to trap Jesus, and this time, they use the poor woman caught in the act of adultery as the bait. Jesus will not buckle under pressure. He holds to his teaching of forgiveness and mercy. Unlike the scribes and pharisees who are determined to condemn the woman, Jesus insists on mercy. Without condoning her actions, He commands her to sin no more and invites her to begin a transformed life. What is our response to God’s constant invitation to sin no more and be transformed? I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Hardi and Sandy Samuel, recipients of the Family of the Month Award for March 2025. What a blessing they are to our parish family! I am deeply indebted to Sandy for shouldering so many responsibilities in the parish. Among the numerous things she does, the one coming up is the biggest. She is coordinating our parish’s upcoming Silver Jubilee celebrations, for which I soon will reveal all the details. I thank Hardi for taking care of their household chores so that Sandy is free to donate her time to our parish. Thank you, Sandy and Hardi! Congratulations to the seven parishioners who completed the six-week Compass Ministry course dealing with faith and finance. Thanks to Joy and Tony Ramirez for leading this ministry. Congratulations also to those who completed the recent Flourish Our Faith course. Thanks to the wonderful team that is so dedicated to this ministry. Get ready for the next one coming soon. Stay close to the fire! With Love, Fr. John

Dear friends, We are about halfway through the season of Lent, and for those who have stayed close to the events of this Holy Season, some sense of joy should be present. After the inspiring Lenten mission and celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we should be experiencing a fresh surge of grace. Thus, we have reason to rejoice. This weekend, we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Lent – do you remember that this is known traditionally as Laetare Sunday? “Laetare” is Latin for “rejoice.” Today's gospel describes the reason for our joy: God's great love for us has been revealed in Jesus. Through His passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus reconciled us with God and one another. As a family, we at St. John’s continue to accompany our catechumens and candidates as they prepare to embrace the fullness of the Catholic faith. Last Sunday (Third Sunday of Lent), we celebrated the First Scrutiny with them. This Sunday, we will celebrate the Second Scrutiny. The Rites of Scrutiny which we witness during three consecutive Sundays are a sign of the Period of Purification and Enlightenment. During this period, our Elect (the unbaptized) and candidates are focused on deepening their conversion and strengthening their resolve to live with Christ. As part of the Second Scrutiny rite, we hear about and meditate on the story in the Gospel of John of the healing of the man born blind which is taken from Cycle A of the Sunday Mass readings. From the first moment of Creation, when God spoke the word “light” into the dark void, the Divine illumination has infused meaning into the visible universe. The account of the gradual healing of the man born blind is proclaimed to the Elect during the Second Scrutiny to encourage them to accept the Light of Divine Meaning (Logos) into their lives. In the gospel story, Jesus approaches the man who has been in a state of natural darkness his whole life and places a mixture of saliva and clay onto his unseeing organs of sight. Along with the command, “Go and wash,” our Lord uses these outward signs to effect a miracle of seeing, as the man experiences natural light for the first time. Let us pray for our elect and candidates, that they may begin to say of their own lives, as in the hymn Amazing Grace, “I once was blind, but now I see.” For those of you who will not be attending the 4:30 p.m. Mass this Sunday, you will experience the beautiful image of a God who never ceases to love us (Cycle C readings for Sunday). In the first reading, we celebrate the fulfilment of God’s promise to the people of Israel as they arrive at the Promised Land (Joshua 5:9a, 10-12). Here, the Lord God removes their bondage to slavery, by saying, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you,” God reinstates the covenant relationship with His people that had been shattered by their unfaithfulness. In the Gospel of Luke, we hear the Parable of the Prodigal Father, a man who lavishes love on the son who had completely rejected him in the past. In an extreme display of unconditional love, the prodigal father welcomes his wayward son with joy and restores their original relationship, making him once again a beloved son and heir. Wow! What a blessing it is to have such a heavenly Father! He is so prodigal in His love that He always has room for us, is always ready to draw us into His household and lavish on us all the blessings He has promised His children. Therefore, let us rejoice!  Stay close to the fire! With Love, Fr. John

Dear friends, The holy season of Lent has begun with a glorious Ash Wednesday. It was heartwarming to see our children at the 7 a.m. Mass that day. They wore the cross-shaped ashes on their foreheads to school, proud to show their faith and be silent evangelizers. We are very proud of them! Now that it is Lent, we will offer Stations of the Cross at the Grotto each day of the week except Sunday, including the traditional Stations on Fridays. I urge you to look at the bulletin for all the details about special Masses and other spiritual activities that have been created to support you on your lenten journey. I ask that you take the Lenten Schedule on page 8 and post it where you will remember to look at it. In particular, note the information about the Lenten Mission on March 16-18, the special programing for the Tuesdays of Lent, and the many spiritual activities on Fridays. We can approach Lent as the opportunity to do a spiritual “spring cleaning.” As one good priest reminded me: “Lent is a time to re-read the ‘owner’s manual,’ to tune our ‘engines,’ and to refurbish our ‘vehicles’ – not only for the journey of 40 days but also for the journey of life, the right life–and the right eternity.” God has given us an inexhaustible capacity for the transformation needed for becoming holy. Lent is also that special time of year when we walk with our catechumens and candidates as they prepare to become full members of the Catholic faith during the Easter Vigil. We are called to support them through our prayers and examples of faith. Remember to pray for their sponsors and their families as well. During the Vigil Mass on 8 March, the St. John’s family will join with our catechumens in celebration of the ritual called the Rite of Sending. In this rite, they will be recognized for the progress they have made in their spiritual formation. Then we will send them on to the Rite of Election which will be celebrated by Bishop Noonan the next day, 9 March, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe. We are very proud of the perseverance and dedication of our sisters and brothers . In this Jubilee Year 2025 themed, “Pilgrims of Hope,” it is good to reflect on the words of St. Teresa of Avila about hope and what it accomplishes: “Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.” On the First Sunday of Lent, we always revisit the scene of the temptation of Jesus in the desert where he spent 40 days fasting and praying. We also recall our ancestors in faith, the ancient Israelites, who for 40 years trudged their way through the desert to the promised land. Jesus, through his patient acceptance of suffering and his rejection of the allurements of the devil, models the correct response in times of adversity and testing. This is in contrast with the ancient Israelites who murmured and complained bitterly about their ordeal. Jesus never swerved from being obedient to his Father; he completely and utterly depended on Him. Let us, too, place complete confidence in the Father during our times of trial, of which there will be many.  Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, continues to need our prayers. Let us continue to pray for his healing: “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.” I take this opportunity to announce that Beth Lowry has joined our parish staff as the new Business Manager. She held the position of bookkeeper in our office some years ago. Beth is well known to many at St. John’s. She and her devoted husband Steve have long been involved in many of our ministries. Beth brings a rich variety of work experience and abilities to her new position, and we wish her a positive and pleasant experience as she takes on this leadership role at St. John’s. Welcome, Beth! Have an inspiring and enriching LENT! With love, Fr. John

Dear Friends,

Dear Friends,

Dear Friends,

Dear Friends,