Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2024

SJE Admin • May 17, 2024

Dear Friends,

Happy Birthday to our Mother Church! The Church was born this day, when the Holy Spirit of the Lord descended upon the Apostles and our Mother Mary. Fulfilling what Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit comes with power. This power allows us to continue experiencing the life of Jesus and to communicate that life to everyone willing to receive it. It is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live and share Christ’s life, that we may create a community of love rooted in the divine life. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church continues to become for the world the sacrament of the powerful and far-reaching Divine Presence.

The Holy Spirit deeply desires to be intimately involved in our lives. Do we meet His desire with a joyful, welcoming response? How often do we instead ignore him or keep him outside of the web of our family life? How often so we mute His voice or act as if we never knew Him?

Pope Francis said this: "The Holy Spirit wants to stay with us; he is not a passing guest who comes to pay us a courtesy visit. He is a companion for life, a stable presence. He is Spirit and desires to dwell in our spirits. He is patient and stays with us even when we fall. He remains because he truly loves us; he does not pretend to love us, and then leave us alone when things get difficult. No. He is loyal, he is transparent, he is authentic."

At Pentecost, we will sing the Pentecost Sequence after the Second Reading, just before the Alleluia. It is a good resource for us to reflect upon in the coming days. Here is how it goes:

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

And from your celestial home Shed a ray of light divine!

Come, Father of the poor! Come, source of all our store! Come, within our bosoms shine. You, of comforters the best;

You, the soul’s most welcome guest;

Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet;

Grateful coolness in the heat; Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,

Shine within these hearts of yours, And our inmost being fill!

Where you are not, we have naught, Nothing good in deed or thought, Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;

On our dryness pour your dew;

Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will; Melt the frozen, warm the chill; Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore And confess you, evermore

In your sevenfold gift descend; Give them virtue’s sure reward; Give them your salvation, Lord;

Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia.

With the Celebration of Pentecost Sunday, the Easter Season comes to an end. Beginning Monday, 20 May 2024, we resume Ordinary Time in the liturgical year, picking up where we left off with Week 7.

The Monday after Pentecost is now celebrated as the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. In honor of her, we will have two Masses: one at 8 a.m. in the church, and one in the grotto at 7 p.m. The Rosary will continue to be prayed at 6:30 pm in the Grotto each evening during in the month of May.

We continue to pray for our mothers and thank them for all the sacrifices they make to communicate the presence of the Holy Spirit to their families. On the Mother’s Day weekend, 1,010 prayer petitions remembering our mothers both deceased and living were submitted at the Masses. What a powerful sign of your love for your mothers. May Mary our Heavenly Mother continue to intercede for them.

I would like to congratulate our graduating seniors -- both those graduating from High School and those graduating from College. You have done us and your families proud. We pray that you continue to be friends with the Holy Spirit, who can guide your steps as you walk along the new avenues of your future lives. May the Spirit of the Lord be with you!

We are extremely proud of the many parishioners who make our parish vibrant by their involvement. I am incredibly grateful to all those current volunteers who support us by their service through so many ministries. But we still have need for more people to serve in some of our ministries. Please do not hesitate. Step up and shine! It is our family; it is our parish; it is what makes us special.

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