Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 11, 2024

SJE Admin • August 10, 2024

Dear Friends,

This time of year, our children are returning to school, and we wish them God’s blessing on their new school year and protection from all harm, spiritual and other. We extend a warm welcome to all the children beginning their Faith Formation classes here at St. John’s.

This weekend we celebrate the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. For the last two weeks, and in this and the following week, we are treated to the most critical theological passages in the New Testament — namely, Chapter 6 of the Gospel according to St. John.

This Sunday, we read the passage where Jesus insists that he has been sent by the Father as the bread that came down from heaven. This really shook up those listening to Jesus. By saying this, Jesus in fact is claiming to be divine. Moreover, he firmly states that no one can have eternal life without coming to him. (John 6:41- 51)

In our first reading this weekend is from 1 Kings 19. In it, we are given a glimpse of why Jesus calls all to partake in this new bread from heaven. The prophet Elijah has been journeying through the desert, trying to escape those trying to kill him. Worn out by the burden of the burden of fear and the difficulty of the journey , he just gives up, saying “This is enough, O Lord!” Then God sends an angel with a hearth cake and a jug of water to sustain him. The angel tells Elijah, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” (1 Kings 19: 4-8)

Isn’t this true of our Catholic lives, too? We are journeying through this arduous life, at times reeling under the weight of all our preoccupations and challenges. We feel like just giving up on our Catholic faith. Do we not then sound like Elijah when he said, This is enough, O Lord? But then comes the reassuring word of our Father: “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you.” Jesus has given us his own body and blood as the food to sustain us on our journey to our true homeland. Who would not desire to take advantage of this precious gift? Let us not hesitate to approach the table of the Lord in the Eucharist. May hunger for Jesus in the Eucharist far exceed our weariness. May He continue to satiate our hunger and awaken within us an ever-deeper longing to be close to him.

Last Tuesday, 6 August, was the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. On that day we began a special month-long event to celebrate God-with-us in tangible form in the Eucharist: A Holy Hour Challenge! How many Holy Hours can you give to Jesus from 6 August – 15 September? Have you responded to this challenge yet? If not, why wait? Please go to our website and sign up at https://www.stjohnviera.org/adoration . Pope Benedict XVI said it so well: “The act of adoration outside Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place during the liturgical celebration itself.”

We thank all our men participating in the Christ Renews His Parish Weekend. Like the women last weekend, they too are having a spiritual blast! We are grateful to the Team that is hosting the event. Each Team commits to and carries out a 6-month-long preparation for each weekend. This preparation is designed both to aid their own spiritual growth and to ensure that each weekend is an absolutely unforgettable experience for the participants. May the participants and team members alike carry the fire ignited during this weekend out to their families and friends, sharing with them their renewed love of the Lord.

In an effort to enhance and strengthen the marriages of our parish families, we have invited Fr. Arul Raj Gali, C.S.C. to speak to us on the importance of practicing forgiveness in marriages. The event is from 10:00 am to Noon on Saturday, 17 August 2024. We are created for relationship, but in the course of building a good marriage, we inevitably are wounded. In order to keep moving forward, we cannot simply sit and nurse our wounds. The only way forward is to learn how to forgive. Fr. Arul Raj is the National Secretary to the Conference of Catholic Bishops India and has been involved in the Retrouvaille and World-Wide Marriage Enrichment programs. Please do not pass up this opportunity to help keep your marriage on the right track – even the best marriages will find lasting benefit.

Did you participate in our long journey of reading in small, easily digestible doses the wisdom from one of the greatest theologians of our times? Over the last two summers, we have read one of Pope Benedict XVI’s masterpieces, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis. The concluding portion was in our 4 August 2024 Bulletin. I sincerely hope that you read these little portions as an aide to renewing a grateful appreciation of the great gift of the Eucharist. Just in case you did not, or if you missed reading some of it, here is the link to this great treasure. Reading it will help you relish every moment of the Celebration of the Eucharist:

https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20070222_sacramentum-caritatis.html

Have a Blessed Week!

With love,

Fr. John

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First Sunday of Lent, March 9, 2025

March 9, 2025

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