Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 14, 2023

SJE Admin • January 15, 2024

Dear Friends,

We have now ended the Christmas Season. On Tuesday, January 9, the day after the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, we entered Ordinary Time in Liturgical Year B. We will continue in Ordinary Time until Tuesday, 13 February, the day before Ash Wednesday.

Ordinary Time runs for 33 or 34 weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ itself is honored in its fullness, especially on Sundays (Universal Norms, 43).

The seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter possess a distinctive character, and the readings chosen for those seasons have an inherent harmony flowing from that character. However, the Sundays in Ordinary Time do not have a distinctive character, and the readings are arranged in order of semi-continuous reading, with the Old Testament reading harmonized with the Gospel (Homiletic Directory 2014).

Today we celebrate the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. We get to hear about the calling of Samuel (1 Samuel). The Gospel tells us how Andrew gets his calling to follow Jesus, and how, after his encounter with Jesus, Andrew invites his brother Peter to follow Jesus. This is a great time to ponder what we do with our own calling. Is it a delight to us? Do we share that delight with others?

Although the Christmas Season is over, you will notice that we have kept the Holy Family in the Sanctuary. This is so that we can continue to gaze on this Family and contemplate the gift of Jesus. Mary and Joseph will take the baby to present him in the Temple on 2 February, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

This year is very special to the Congregation of Holy Cross. On 20 January 2024 , we celebrate in gratitude the 150th Death Anniversary of Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. In 2018 on this same day, we dedicated our beautiful sanctuary. To mark both of these blessings, we will spend time in thanksgiving to God during 40 hours of Adoration, which will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, 18 January. Adoration continues until 10 a.m. on Saturday, 20 January when we conclude with a Holy Mass, followed by a luncheon. Please sign up to be part of this unbroken chain of Adoration offered to our Loving God.

We will soon be hosting an Exhibition on the Eucharistic Miracles compiled by the Holy Teen Sensation Blessed Carlos Acutis. We will have a blessing and inauguration of the exhibition after the 11 a.m. Mass on 14 January. I pray that this time of grace will help increase our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and enhance participation in our Eucharistic celebrations.

Married couples: please get ready for the Marriage Enrichment retreat titled RE-FOCCUS to be held on Saturday, 27 January from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Let us now move forward with the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI entitled: Sacramentum Caritatis. Have a Blessed Week!

With love,

Fr. John

W e e k 26 — SA C R A M E N T U M C A R I T AT I S ( TH E SA C R A M E N T O F C H A R I T Y : T H E E U C H AR I ST )

CONTINUATION OF THE POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAY FAITHFUL ON THE EUCHARIST AS THE SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF THE CHURCH'S LIFE AND MISSION

P A R T T WO : T H E E U C H A R I ST — A MY ST E R Y T O B E C E L E B R A T E D ( c ont i nu e d)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven" (Jn 6:32)

LIVING THE SUNDAY OBLIGATION

Conscious of this new vital principle which the Eucharist imparts to the Christian, the Synod Fathers reaffirmed the importance of the Sunday obligation for all the faithful, viewing it as a wellspring of authentic freedom enabling them to live each day in accordance with what they celebrated on "the Lord's " The life of faith is endangered when we lose the desire to share in the celebration of the Eucharist and its commemoration of the paschal victory. Participating in the Sunday liturgical assembly with all our brothers and sisters, with whom we form one body in Jesus Christ, is demanded by our Christian conscience and at the same time it forms that conscience. To lose a sense of Sunday as the Lord's Day, a day to be sanctified, is symptomatic of the loss of an authentic sense of Christian freedom, the freedom of thechildren of God.(206) Here someobservationsmade bymyvenerablepredecessor John Paul II in his Apostolic LetterDies Domini(207) continue to have great value. Speaking of the various dimensions of the Christian celebration of Sunday, he said that it is Dies Domini with regard to the work of creation, Dies Christi as the day of the new creation and the Risen Lord's gift of the Holy Spirit, Dies Ecclesiae as the day on which the Christian community gathers for the celebration, and Dies hominis as the day of joy, rest and fraternal charity.

Sunday thus appears as the primordial holy day, when all believers, wherever they are found, can become heralds and guardians of the true meaning of time. It gives rise to the Christian meaning of life and a new way of experiencing time, relationships, work, life and death. On the Lord's Day, then, it is fitting that Church groups should organize, around Sunday Mass, the activities of the Christian community: social gatherings, programmes for the faith formation of children, young people and adults, pilgrimages, charitable works, and different moments of prayer. For the sake of these important values – while recognizing that Saturday evening, beginning with First Vespers, is already a part of Sunday and a time when the Sunday obligation can be fulfilled – we need to remember that it is Sunday itself that is meanttobe kept holy, lest it end up as a day "emptyof God." (208)

THE MEANING OF REST AND OF WORK

Finally, it is particularly urgent nowadays to remember that the day of the Lord is also a day of rest from It is greatly to be hoped that this fact will also be recognized by civil society, so that individuals can be permitted to refrain from work without being penalized. Christians, not without reference to the meaning of the Sabbath in the Jewish tradition, have seen in the Lord's Day a day of rest from their daily exertions. This is highly significant, forit relativizes workand directs it to the person: work is for man and notman for work. It is easy to see how this actually protects men and women, emancipating them from a possible form of enslavement. As I have had occasion to say, "work is of fundamental importance to the fulfilment of the human being and to the development of society. Thus, it must always be organized and carried out with full respect for human dignity and must always serve the common good. At the same time, it is indispensable that people not allow themselves to be enslaved by work or to idolize it, claiming to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life." (209) It is on the dayconsecratedto God thatmen andwomencometo understand the meaning oftheir lives and also of theirwork. (210)

SUNDAY ASSEMBLIES IN THE ABSENCE OF A PRIEST

Rediscovering the significance of the Sunday celebration for the life of Christians naturally leads to a consideration of the problem of those Christian communities which lack priests and where, consequently, it is not possible to celebrate Mass on the Lord's Here it should be stated that a wide variety of situations exists. The Synod recommended first that the faithful should go to one of thechurches in their Diocese where the presence of a priest is assured, even when this demands a certain sacrifice. (211) Wherever great distances make it practically impossible to take part in the Sunday Eucharist, it is still important for Christian communities to gather together to praise the Lord and to commemorate the Day set apart for him. This needs, however, to be accompanied by an adequate instruction about the difference between Mass and Sunday assemblies in the absence of a priest. The Church's pastoral care must be expressed in the latter case by ensuring that the liturgy of the word – led by a deacon or a community leader to whom this ministry has been duly entrusted by competent authority – is carried out according to a specific ritual prepared and approved for this purpose by the Bishops' Conferences. (212) I reiterate that only Ordinaries may grant the faculty of distributing holy communion in such liturgies, taking account of the need for a certain selectiveness. Furthermore, care should be taken that these assemblies do not create confusion about the central role of the priest and the sacraments in the life of the Church. The importance of the role given to the laity, who should rightly be thanked for their generosity in the service of their communities, must never obscure the indispensable ministry of priests for the life of the Church. (213) Hence care must be taken to ensure that such assemblies in the absence of a priest do not encourage ecclesiological visions incompatible with the truth of the Gospel and the Church's tradition. Rather, they should be privileged moments of prayer for God to send holy priests after his own heart. It is touching, in this regard, to read the words of Pope John Paul II in his Letter to Priests for Holy Thursday 1979 about those places where the faithful, deprived of a priest by a dictatorial regime, would meet in a church or shrine, place on the altar a stole which they still kept and recite the prayers of the eucharistic liturgy, halting in silence "at the moment that corresponds to the transubstantiation," as a sign of how "ardently they desire to hear the words that only the lips of a priest can efficaciously utter." (214) With this in mind, and considering the incomparable good which comes from the celebration of the Eucharist, I ask all priests to visit willingly and as often as possible the communities entrusted to their pastoral care, lest they remain too long without the sacramentof love.

(206) Cf. Propositio30.

(207) Cf. AAS 90 (1998), 713-766.

(208) Propositio30.

(209) Homily (19 March 2006): AAS 98 (2006), 324.

(210) The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 258, rightly notes in this regard: "For man, bound as he is to the necessity of work, this rest opens to the prospect of a fuller freedom, that of the eternal Sabbath (cf. Heb 4:9-10). Rest gives men and womenthe possibility to rememberandexperience anew God's work, from Creation to Redemption, to recognizethemselves as his work (cf. Eph 2:10), and togivethanks for their lives and for their subsistenceto him whois their "

(211) Propositio10.

(212) ibid.

(213) Benedict XVI, Address to the Bishops of Canada – Quebec during their Visit ad Limina (11 May 2006): cf. L'Osservatore Romano, 12 May 2006, p. 5.

(214) No. 10: AAS 71 (1979), 414-415.

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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