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

Trust Jesus

Brothers and Sisters,

Have we ever found ourselves questioning whether our faith in Jesus is sufficient or “big enough?” The Apostles must have been struggling with that same question at times. In this week’s Gospel from Luke, they ask Jesus to increase their faith. He responds that if you only have a small faith the size of mustard seed, you can do unbelievable works. Do we believe this or are we stuck in our doubt and uncertainty when Jesus speaks these words to us?

Jesus follows the statement about the mustard seed with a rather strange story involving a slave doing what is commanded. What’s the point of that story? I think that it is simply to remind us that we’re not in charge. So, we don’t have to have it all figured out. We don’t need certainty. We don’t need to see the whole picture. God is in charge. And God knows what he is doing. There is more going on than any one of us knows or understands. So, we are asked to trust him and follow his commands. Don’t wait until we have it all figured out before following him. Part of figuring it out comes by trusting the master and following anyway. Or, as St. Augustine put it, “We do not understand in order to believe. We believe in order to understand.” Trust Jesus. Do what he says. And in time we will understand his purpose and his plan.

Your faith, however small it may seem, is plenty big enough. Because it isn’t about how big your faith is. It never was. It was always about who you put that faith in. No matter how little our faith, when we put it in Jesus there is no end to what he can accomplish through us. We just need to be open and trust him.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

Forgiveness

Dear Friends in Christ,

When the Risen Jesus appeared to and forgave His disciples, their lives were never the same. It made all things new. What a story they would have to share for the rest of their days! And what a love they would be required to imitate.

A saint who imitated Jesus is St. Maria Goretti who died a young martyr in 1902. During her final moments, Maria forgave her attacker, Alessandro Serenelli. After her death, Maria appeared to Alessandro, imprisoned and desperate, and she gave him 14 flowers—one for each of her wounds. In this miraculous encounter, Maria expressed again her forgiveness. Alessandro underwent a profound conversion.

Alessandro was reconciled to God in confession, and then Maria’s mother, Assunta, as well! She adopted Alessandro into the Goretti family. Their lives were never the same. Assunta, Maria’s siblings, and their brother, Alessandro, were all present for Maria’s canonization in Rome in 1950. Thank God for this triumph of love.

Very recently, the world witnessed Erika Kirk extend her forgiveness. “It is what Christ did, and it is what Charlie would do,” Erika said. We thank God for her witness and courage.

Such examples of love and forgiveness are luminous, humbling, and challenging. It is worth reflecting on and talking to God about our own attitudes and readiness in this essential part of our lives as close friends of Jesus. How well do we live the new commandment of Jesus “that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another”? Where am I doing well? Where can I stand to grow?

The Catechism (par. 2842) teaches us: “It is impossible to keep the Lord's commandment by imitating the divine model (Jesus) from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make ‘ours’ the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible, and we find ourselves ‘forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave us.’”

The Catechism wisely goes on to note that this is something delicate (par. 2843): “It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession.”

God’s merciful love rescues us. It changes everything—how we live and approach our relationships and situations and our call to be saints! There are many daily opportunities to be led by the Holy Spirit to be patient, to be forgiven, to forgive, to reconcile, to serve—to love! How will we respond? Who knows how our courageous choices of love for God and others will bear fruit in our daily lives and the lives of others.

Lord, help all of us to love you and one another as you love us. Teach us and help us to forgive as you have forgiven us. We are ready to trust in the Holy Spirit who makes all things new.

Let us pray for and encourage one another!
Fr. John

Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,

This weekend, we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast day, which celebrates Jesus’ triumph over the cross, takes precedence over the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Our readings for this weekend raise up for us the power of the Cross of Jesus Christ over sin and death. Although the cross was seen as a sign of cruelty and torture in the days of Jesus, his victory over sin and death transforms the cross into a sign of hope and expectation. Catholics use the sign of the cross in many ways including when we bless ourselves with Holy Water, begin Mass, at the reading of the Gospel, and through the blessings we receive from the clergy. The sign of the cross is also traced upon the foreheads of those being baptized and those receiving the Sacrament of the Sick. Plus there are numerous other ways we may use the sign of the cross in our daily devotional practices. The Cross of Jesus Christ is our sign of our faith and hope in the Lord. “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world!”

Our parishes’ financial statements are included in this weekend’s bulletin and will be posted on our websites. We accomplished quite a bit over the past fiscal year (which ran from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025). St. Jane Frances completed the replacement of the St. Jane School roof which hadn’t been replaced since the mid-1980s. OLC replaced the church’s roof as well as the clerestory windows and church siding. Thank you all for your generosity to our parishes, which made these projects possible. I would also like to thank the members of each parish’s finance committees and their chairs—Mary Jo Barranco (OLC) and Gail Krondon (SJF)—for their continued assistance and due diligence in helping me to oversee the finances.

We will be launching our Fall Stewardship program in a couple of weeks entitled “Called to Serve: Sharing our Blessings, Strengthening our Church.” Over the next couple of weeks, I ask each of you to reflect upon your weekly offertory commitment to your parish and prayerfully consider increasing your giving. As we all know, expenses keep rising—at home as well as at the parish—so any increase in your giving will be appreciated. Stay tuned for more information during Announcement Weekend on Sept. 27–28.

We are celebrating Catechetical Sunday this weekend as we call forth and bless our parishioners who have volunteered their time to serve as teachers and catechists at our pastorate. Is the Holy Spirit calling you to assist us? I believe some of you are being asked to help, so please consider signing up and becoming a teacher of our faith!

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