The Ascension of the Lord, May 12, 2024

SJE Admin • May 11, 2024

Dear Friends,

Congratulations again to our children who received their First Communion last weekend. Congratulations to their parents, grandparents, and godparents! I hope you are very proud of our children. I truly pray that you will continue to support these children in their faith journey. A special thanks to Kelli, our Director of Faith Formation, and our Catechists Janie Rodriquez, Sonia Santiago, and Monique Rivera Vargas for their tireless dedication to training our children.

Please join us for daily Rosary at 6.30 p.m. in the Grotto during the Month of May in honor of our Blessed Mother. This time of prayer is in addition to the Rosary in church after each daily Mass, which is led and prayed faithfully by parishioners dedicated to this ministry.

Congratulations again to Deacon Steve Lumbert and his daughter Karina Lumbert Fabian, authors of the book There You Are, God ! Thanks for your generosity in offering the proceeds from book sales here to St. John’s.

I also wish to thank those who responded to my call to serve our parish in various ministries that need help. For those who have not chosen a ministry, I ask: please do not hesitate to be involved. It is your parish and your family. Please do not just be a spectator. I am incredibly grateful to all those who have volunteered and support us by their service through so many ministries.

Thank you to all who attended the two presentations by Dr. Mary Soha on the History of the Devotion to Our Lady of La Leche and Her Confraternity and on the Defense of the Eucharist – The Story of the Martyrs of La Florida. A huge thanks to Dr. Mary for her dedication to her mission.

We celebrate our Mothers today, and I want to thank all those who undertake the sacred duty of mothering. In this group I include grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and godmothers as well. Your presence in our lives and in the life of our parish is a huge blessing. You help us to remember and celebrate life, a thing not to be taken for granted. Your passion to pass on the faith to your children and grandchildren is unparalleled and unrivalled. Your role in shaping the faith and values in your family is indispensable. No one else can take that place. We THANK YOU for the multitude of sacrifices you make to keep our families intact. In short, U R Irreplaceable! Your heart is so special that it moved St. Thérèse of Lisieux to say, “The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.”

Please take a moment today to honor your mother: visit her; call her; send her a card and/or a gift; go with her to Mass, the greatest gift of all. Don’t forget to tell her that you love her. There are so many mothers who are neglected by their children. And so, we pray for mothers who are not well understood; who are not cared for; who are tempted to despair; who are addicted; who are in difficult situations; who are tempted to abort. We pray for single mothers who sometimes must bear the heavy burden of mothering without any help. May all these know of God’s love and our prayers for them. WE LOVE YOU MOMS! Please continue to keep the flame of faith bright in the hearths of our homes.

Lest we forget: on Mother’s Day we also recognize the special gift that Christ gave his church: our Mother Mary. He bequeathed her to us when He said from the Cross, Behold, Your Mother. He invites us take her into our homes, just as St. John did. There she continually shows us the way to her Son. It is fitting, therefore, to honor her also on this special day and to ask for her intercession. She is not only the Mother of God, but also of all the Faithful.

Our liturgical celebration today is the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord. Traditionally, the Ascension is celebrated 40 days after the Resurrection, which this year was on Thursday, the 9th of May. However, in this Diocese and many others, the celebration of the Ascension is moved for practical reasons to the Sunday after Ascension Thursday. What do we celebrate? The task given to Jesus has been successfully accomplished. He is now “seated at the right hand of God,” from where He continually intercedes for us. Through Christ’s Ascension, we are given a place in God forever. As Pope Benedict XVI said, “We draw close to Heaven; indeed, we enter Heaven to the extent that we draw close to Jesus and enter into communion with him.”

From the Feast of the Ascension through the Saturday before Pentecost, we are called to intensely prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is therefore fitting and appropriate that we pray this beautiful prayer, the Veni, Sancte Spiritus! sequence (Come, Holy Spirit!):

Come, Holy Spirit, and send out from heaven the ray of your light. Come, father of the poor; come, giver of gifts; come, light of hearts. Greatest comforter, sweet guest of the soul, sweet consolation. In labor, rest; in heat, temperateness; in tears, solace. O most blessed light, fill the inmost heart of your faithful. Without the nod of your head, there is nothing in man, nothing that is harmless. Cleanse what is unclean, water what is parched, heal what is wounded. Bend what is inflexible, warm what is chilled, correct what has gone astray. Give to your faithful, who trust in you, the sevenfold gift. Give virtue's reward, give salvation's end, give joy eternal.

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