The Epiphany of the Lord, January 7, 2024

SJE Admin • January 10, 2024

Dear Friends,

We have stepped into the New Year 2024 with the assurance of God’s blessings as spoken through the Scripture: May God let His face shine on you, in His Mercy! And so, we carry on with the task at hand, confident of God’s presence with us and of your active participation.

Once again, I wish to say that I am indebted to all those who participated in Our Catholic Appeal (OCA) 2023. You should have received my personal note thanking you for the way you have made us proud. Because of your participation, we achieved our goal AND increased our participation level. My one remaining wish is that ALL had participated. Well, I guess most would say that this will never be possible! But I am man of HOPE, and I keep my hope alive for OCA 2024.

This year is very special to the Congregation of Holy Cross. On 20 January, we celebrate in gratitude the 150th Death Anniversary of Blessed Basil Moreau, the founder of the Congregation. Moreover, on 20 January 2018 we dedicated our beautiful sanctuary here at St. John the Evangelist. To mark both of these blessings, we will spend time in prayer and thanksgiving to God during 40 hours of Adoration beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, 18 January . This will continue until we conclude with a Holy Mass at 10 a.m. on Saturday, 20 January. This will be followed by a luncheon. Please sign up (see page 4 in the Bulletin ) and be part of this unbroken chain of Adoration offered to our Loving God. You can find the link to sign up for Adoration during the 40 Hours on our website ( stjohnviera.org ).

We are also hosting an Exhibition on the Eucharistic Miracles compiled by the holy teen sensation, Blessed Carlos Acutis. We will bless and inaugurate 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 our participation in our Eucharistic celebrations.

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

Please remember to set aside your time for two most wonderful Pilgrimages that are offered for this year: Ireland in July and Montreal in September.

This weekend, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. The traditional date of Epiphany is 6 January. However, in the United States it is celebrated on the Sunday that falls between 2 January and 8 January. There are many traditions connected with this great feast. One particular tradition that might be of interest to you is the Blessing of the Home and Household on Epiphany. The Church extends itself on Epiphany to the homes of the faithful.

The custom of blessing the home on this day probably originated from these words in the Gospel, ‘And entering into the house, they found the Child with Mary, His Mother, and falling down they adored Him.’ You can find a home blessing prayer at this link:

https:// www.usccb.org/prayers/blessing-home-and-household-epiphany

On the Solemnity of the Epiphany:

The young Messiah is revealed as the light of the nations. Yet, as the antiphon for the Magnificat at Second Vespers reminds us, three mysteries are encompassed in this solemnity: the adoration of the Christ Child by the Magi, the Baptism of Christ and the wedding feast at Cana. Extra candles and/or lamps may be placed around the sanctuary and in other parts of the church to honor Christ revealed as the Light of the Gentiles (Ceremonial of Bishops). It is customary to replace the images of the shepherds at the crib with the three Magi and their gifts. —Ceremonies of the Liturgical Year, Msgr. Peter J. Elliott, Ignatius Press.

The feast of the Epiphany, which was kept in the East and in certain Western Churches before being observed in Rome, seems to have been originally a feast of the nativity; January 6, for those churches where it was kept, was the equivalent of Christmas (December 25) in the Roman Church. The feast was introduced at Rome in the second of the sixth century and became the complement and, so to say, the crown of the Christmas festival.

Epiphany means manifestation. What the Church celebrates today is the manifestation of our Lord to the whole world; after being made known to the shepherds of Bethlehem He is revealed to the Magi who have come from the East to adore Him. Christian tradition has ever seen in the Magi the first fruits of the Gentiles; they lead in their wake all the peoples of the earth, and thus the Epiphany is an affirmation of universal salvation.

[The Church sees] this same thought of universal redemption . . . in the union with Christ [as] typified by the wedding feast at Cana, [and] by the baptism of her children foreshadowed by that of Christ in the waters of the Jordan. Formerly the Epiphany was an additional day for solemn baptisms.

The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord will be celebrated on Monday, 8 January this year. With this Feast, the Christmas Season comes to an end. On the 8th, you may now pack away your Christmas Creche and other decorations to be safely stored until Christmas 2024. Congratulations to those who keep the Christmas Season intact and their Christmas Decorations on display until then. I was pleased to see this in a number of the homes that I visited during this Christmas Season.

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