Christ Is King!

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Christ is King!

The last Sunday of our Catholic liturgical year is devoted to the Kingship of Jesus Christ. What type of king is our King Jesus? What is His Kingdom, the Kingdom that we belong to, like? What are citizens of that Kingdom like?

We hear today that the Good Thief made out pretty well on that Good Friday. He confesses His sinfulness and makes the greatest theft of his life: He steals the Heart of Jesus. (NB: I’m not certain, but I may have heard that from Fulton Sheen.) Or so it seems! It is really the Heart of so good a King that captures and reclaims what is rightfully His: the heart of that good, repentant thief.

Thus, the Crucified Jesus reveals that He is a merciful King who has come to give us sinners new, abundant, everlasting life. The love of His Heart, freely given, can transform our hearts, if we let it!

Consequently, this merciful love becomes the essence and center of the Kingdom of Jesus and, so too, the essence of His family the Church! The two are inseparable.

The Love of the King and the Kingdom built upon it is what every heart wants: a Love that is stronger than sin and death; a Love which, as St. Paul teaches, is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, arrogant or rude, irritable or resentful; it is a Kingdom of Love that rejoices in truth and bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. The triumph of this love is what each of us as members of the Church get to give and make known to the world. What a joyful task!

Do my attitudes, affections, desires, motivations, and plans reflect those of a citizen of this Kingdom of Love? How can I belong more sincerely and entirely to Jesus our King? How does Jesus want to capture and reclaim me for Himself? How can I build up this Kingdom in my home, my pastorate, my neighborhood, my work place?

We have an invitation for you.

The Eucharist is Jesus. His Kingdom is in the Eucharist and flows from the Eucharist. So please join us next Sunday November 30 for Eucharistic adoration as we begin the new liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent. The consecrated Host will be exposed for adoration and prayer from 12:30pm to 6:00pm at St. Jane.

Eucharistic Adoration is an extension of the Mass. It is a prolonged time of Holy Communion as we adore and pray before Jesus in the Eucharist. Come and go as you please. See the afternoon schedule in the bulletin. An older parishioner recently said she had never been to adoration. After going, she said, “I never knew I could feel the presence of Jesus in this way.” In every Communion, in every tabernacle, Jesus awaits you. Please join us next Sunday!

Our Pastorate is so thankful to the Lord for those participating in the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults. Many participated in the Rite of Welcome today at St. Jane where we solemnly welcomed them into our community and recognized and affirmed their desire to enter more deeply into formation to formally enter the Catholic Church. Please pray for them!

God bless you!
Fr John

Advent Is Coming!

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we celebrate the 33th Sunday in Ordinary Time. As we come to the end of the liturgical year, our readings take on a more apocalyptic tone as they focus on the end time. On the surface, they may give us some pause as we hear about times of trial and tribulation, but this is not meant to be a time for us worry and fret over our future. Instead, it is a reminder to us of what is to be accomplished by Christ when He comes again in glory. Christ the King (whose feast day we will celebrate next weekend) will ultimately triumph over sin and death. He will conquer the world and fully establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. This is all meant to be Good News! If we are worried, then now is the time for repentance and conversion. The Lord is always ready to forgive us and welcome us back to his flock.

The end of the liturgical year also ushers in the beginning of the Advent season. The St. Jane Frances Giving Tree will be set up this weekend and ready for you to support our parish and local charities including Mary’s Center, NCEON, and others. Please choose a tag from the tree to donate. All gifts should be unwrapped and have the tree tag attached.

Next week, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Our Pastorate’s Thanksgiving Day Mass is on Thursday, November 27th at 8:30am at St. Jane Frances. We will be collecting donations of food for the food pantry, so please bring your donations to the Church. We will also be blessing your Thanksgiving foods after Mass.

In next weekend’s bulletin, we will be publishing our Pastorate’s Advent and Christmas schedule. This will include the Mass schedules for the Immaculate Conception and Christmas Masses as well as our Advent Penance Service. We will also be offering a new service called Stations of the Crib. This is like the Stations of the Cross but is based on fourteen events in the infancy narratives from the Sacred
Scriptures. Stay tuned for more information.

Please keep everyone in your prayers who has been impacted by the shutdown of the Federal Government. We have parishioners who have been impacted on many levels, not only those who work for the government, but others who receive assistance for food and other services. Please pray that our elected oĸcials will find a way through this political impasse and restore civility to our political process.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of the Visitation—St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake—in your daily prayers!

God Bless, 
Father Steve

St. John Lateran Church in Rome

Dear Friends in Christ,

For the first time in eleven years, the Church celebrates on a Sunday the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. We have had a lot of these this year! (Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, All Souls Day, etc.) 

In other years, our schedules may keep us from going to Mass on this feast. Since it falls on a Sunday, we can all savor it, so let us celebrate! But why? Why does a church building get its own feast day? And why does a church in Rome matter to us here in Pasadena? 

St. John (for both saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist) Lateran (the name of the family who gave Christians the land for the church) is special, because it is the main cathedral-church for the city of Rome and for the whole world. An inscription on the facade of the basilica reads “omnium Urbis et Orbis ecclesiarum Mater et Caput,” “mother and head of all the churches of the City [Rome] and the World.”

As we celebrate the Lateran Basilica, we are reminded of the marks of the Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic: the unity of the universal Church and the enduring, loving presence of God among His people. We are in communion with the bishop of Rome, Pope Leo XIV, the successor of St. Peter and the visible point of unity for Catholics throughout the world.

There is a whole theology and spirituality surrounding the idea of “temple.” It is revealing! We apply it to honoring the gift and dignity of physical structures where God meets us in the most profound ways in the sacraments. “How lovely is your dwelling place Lord God of Hosts,” it says in Psalm 84.

“Temple” helps us understand who Jesus is: He is the Living Temple as we hear in today’s Gospel from John 2. Our Christian worship centers on the Living Temple of the sacred divinity and humanity of Jesus.

As members of Christ, we are living stones of the Temple. And, every person becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit in baptism, as we hear in the second reading from 1 Corinthians 3. So, when we celebrate the dedication of a church, it has strong implications for who God is and who we are! May the joy and mystery of this day fill our hearts!

We are thankful to welcome Fr. Steve home from his vacation! I will be on retreat this week, so please remember me in your prayers and know of my prayers for you!

Please continue to remember our food pantries in these difficult times—every little donation matters.

Thank you to Marie Griffiths and to all who helped organize and participated with us in the Pasadena Sharing and Caring Parade. We were delighted to see and greet (and treat!) many parishioners along the parade route!

Please note that our offices will be closed on Tuesday for Veteran’s Day. On this note, thank you to all those in our pastorate family who have served our nation in many courageous and generous ways! May God reward you.

God bless you and let us pray for each other!
Fr. John

Church Suffering and Church Triumphant

Brothers and Sisters,

This weekend, we have the distinct privilege of celebrating the three states of the Church: the Church Militant, the Church Suffering, and the Church Triumphant. At the present time, the Church Militant is all of us, her disciples as pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified which is the Church Suffering, while still others are in glory, contemplating in full light, God Himself, Triune and One, exactly as He is as the Church Triumphant. We celebrate the Church Triumphant on Saturday in the Solemnity of All Saints and on Sunday the Church Suffering with All Souls Day.

All Souls Day is a day to remember and to pray for all those who have died: our family, and friends, and those who have no one to pray for them, that they would pass through the purification of purgatory and enter into heaven. This is also a day for us to remember our own mortality and to realize that we are on a very short pilgrimage through this life on our way to the next, and how we live now determines what comes next for us. In the Gospel reading from John, Jesus tells us that the will of the Father is mercy, and the mission of the Son is to fulfill that mercy. On this day, as we remember the dead, we are reminded of the embrace of God that transcends time. Even in death, no soul escapes the loving attention of God who calls them to Himself. The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus guarantee that death never has the final word, God does. And His word is life.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

Be Merciful: All Saints and All Souls

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today we hear the humble prayer of the tax collector: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Contrary to what we might think, accepting our spiritual poverty is freeing! God knows everything about us, and He meets us where we are and calls us to move forward in His love. What a cause for hope and joy. Being loved like this then becomes an impetus for loving others in the same way, especially the poor in our midst.

In his first encyclical Dilexi te, Pope Leo XIV says that our contact and closeness to the poor “is not a matter of mere human kindness but a revelation: contact with those who are lowly and powerless is a fundamental way of encountering the Lord of history. In the poor, He continues to speak to us.”

Who is on our day to day, week to week path? Are we ready for an encounter with the Lord of history in their person?

As a reminder, November 1 All Saints Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation this year since it falls on a Saturday. Nonetheless, I warmly invite you to participate in celebrating this magnificent feast!

On Halloween October 31st, we will anticipate All Saints with Mass at Our Lady of the Chesapeake at 5pm. That’s a nice way to kick off your trick or treating! Pure treat.

On November 1st we will celebrate the usual 8:30am Mass at St Jane Frances. We will have the relics of St. Jane Frances, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Faustina, and St. Therese available for veneration.

On November 2nd at all vigil Masses and all Sunday Masses, we will commemorate All Souls Day. From the Daily Roman Missal:

“The Church… today prays for all who, in the purifying suffering of Purgatory, await the day they will join in heavenly glory. The celebration of the Mass, which re-presents the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, has always been the principal means by which the Church fulfills the great responsibility of charity toward the dead. Death cannot break the bonds of the Body of Christ.”

These days of All Saints and the day and whole month of All Souls reminds us that with death life is changed, not ended; that with death, our bonds of communion and love with the faithful departed remain. We love them best by praying for them, especially in our participation at Holy Mass.

There’s much more to say about November and the month of All Souls, but for now, let us pray together: Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.

God bless you and thank you for keeping the Pastorate of the Visitation in your daily prayers! All Saints—pray for us!

Fr John

Pray Without Ceasing

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we celebrate the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our Gospel this weekend speaks to us about the importance of remaining faithful to and persistent in prayer. I am sure all of us pray at some point throughout the day or the week—even if it is just a quick prayer in the morning or evening or grace before meals; but today, Jesus speaks to us about the need to remain persistent in our prayer, or as he says, “to pray always without becoming weary.”

I believe what Jesus is trying to do for us today is to help us see why it is important to pray with persistence. The widow mentioned in this parable has nothing but her ability to keep asking the judge for a just decision. The judge has been refusing her request but ultimately comes around and grants it for her. The judge responds out of fear, but Jesus goes on to say that God will respond to our prayers because of our faith. The challenge for us is to know how to pray and trust in how the Lord will respond. If we pray to win the lottery, then that prayer is more than likely not going to happen. But if we pray for God’s justice to be done, meaning God’s will to be done, then we are praying as Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer. Prayer doesn’t change God, but if done properly, it ought to change us by helping us to conform our wills to the will of God. Never grow weary in prayer, but instead pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17).

Our Fall Youth Ministry retreat is coming up in a few weeks. Our Pastorate Youth will be going on retreat the weekend of Nov 7–9. There is still time to register. The retreat is open to all 8th graders through 12th graders. Retreats are a great way to step away from the busyness of life and engage the Lord in a deeper and more spiritual way. Invite your teens to consider joining us on retreat this Fall.

Our Pastorate Sandwich Ministry is in need of volunteers to make sandwiches 6 times a year for the men and women who utilize the resources at the Day Resource Center on Furnace Branch Road. This could be a great family ministry that can be done at your “Domestic Church” in your home. The ministry needs coverage for two separate days but can always use substitutes as well. For more information, please contact OLC parishioner Barb Coyle at 301-633-8343. Thanks!

Don’t forget to fill your baby bottles with a donation to Women’s Care Mary’s Center, a pregnancy center located in Glen Burnie that assists women and families with pregnancy needs, including unintended pregnancies. We will be collected the baby bottles through the month of October. Thank you for your support.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of the Visitation—St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake—in your daily prayers!

God Bless,
Father Steve

Called to Serve

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we celebrate the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our Gospel this weekend is the encounter that Jesus has with the ten lepers. You will recall that they ask Jesus to have pity on them for leprosy, a condition that forced people to leave the safety of community life and live in isolation or with others who suffered from the same ailment. Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priests, and as they go, they are cleansed. This miraculous healing is received by all of them, but only one of them, a Samaritan (meaning a foreigner or outsider), takes the time to come back and thank Jesus.

Two things come to mind with this encounter. First is our need to be thankful. As a nation, we celebrate this on Thanksgiving Day, but gratitude and thanksgiving ought to be our modus operandi every day of our lives. Each day we have is a gift from the Lord, who continues to bless us in so many ways, even during those times when we do not experience God’s blessings in our lives. Second is the reminder that Jesus’ message of healing and compassion is for all people, not just for people who believe what we believe, or live as we live, or act as we act. All people of the world are made in God’s image and therefore are worthy of our mercy and compassion, just as Jesus was merciful and compassionate to the Samaritan.

I would like to thank everyone who completed the Commitment Card for our Fall Stewardship campaign “Called to Serve.” Your ongoing financial support is crucial to our parishes in order for us to meet our budgetary needs and continue to invest in our facilities as well as our efforts to evangelize our local communities. If you still haven’t made a commitment, please consider doing so this fall. I have personally increased my giving to each parish by 8.7% this month so I invite you to prayerfully consider an increase in your monthly giving as well. Thanks!

Our Pastorate’s Trunk or Treat celebration is happening this Saturday, Oct. 18th following the 4:00pm Mass at Our Lady of the Chesapeake. We are still in need of “trunks,” so if you and your family would like to participate, please contact Michaela at mstanton@olchesapeake.org.

Don’t forget to fill your baby bottles with a donation to Women’s Care Mary’s Center, a pregnancy center located in Glen Burnie that assists women and families with pregnancy needs, including unintended pregnancies. We will be collecting the baby bottles through the month of October. Thank you for your support.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of the Visitation—St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake—in your daily prayers!

God Bless,
Father Steve