Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,
This weekend, we celebrate the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. This weekend’s Gospel speaks to us about the need to forgive others in the same way that the Lord God forgives us. God’s forgiveness is endless. Our merciful God is always ready to welcome us back and forgive us of our sins. Based on today’s parable, the Lord asks us to practice the same level of forgiveness with one another… to forgive not just seven times, but seventy-seven times, meaning endlessly. The debtor in today’s Gospel was forgiven by the king of a huge debt after he fell to his knees and begged for mercy. Although the king forgave him, the debtor did not forgive his fellow servant who owed him a far smaller amount. Obviously, as Jesus is trying to demonstrate by this parable, this is not the way we are supposed to treat each other.
We are reminded of this as well every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Every time we say these words, we are asking the Father to hold us to the same level of forgiveness that we practice with each other. If I forgive generously, I pray the Lord forgives me generously. If I do not forgive, then I am acknowledging that the Lord should not forgive me. Of course, this is not what we want the Father to do to us. We are always hoping and trusting in the Lord’s forgiveness, but we in turn must forgive each other from our hearts (as Jesus says at the end of the Gospel.)
This Sunday, our pastorate is celebrating Catechetical Sunday at the 10am Mass at St. Jane Frances and the 10:45am Mass at OLC. We will take these opportunities to bless our teachers (aka catechists) and aids and all who will be assisting this year in our faith formation programs at our pastorate. If you would like to serve as a catechists this year, please let us know. We can always put your gifts to use at our parishes.
If you would like to broaden your own understanding of the faith, the pastorate—through a generous benefactor—is now offering Formed for your personal use. Formed is an online tool offered by the Augustine Institute that contains a wealth of programs, movies, bible studies, etc that you can access from home at your leisure. To create an account, go to www.formed.org and click on “Find your parish subscription” at the top of the screen. The account is under Our Lady of the Chesapeake but also includes St. Jane Frances. Additional information is included in the bulletin.
Our next O.C.I.A. (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) session is this Monday, September 14th at 7:00pm in the school. If you would like to become Catholic (never been baptized or were baptized in another Christian faith) or are Catholic but were never Confirmed in the Catholic Church, please reach out to Deacon Phil at phil.snyder@archbalt.org.
Finally, Fellowship Sunday is being held at St. Jane Frances next Sunday, September 20th in the parish hall. Donut Sunday at OLC is scheduled for Sunday, September 27th. Please plan to spend a few minutes after Mass for fellowship.
Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your daily prayers.
God Bless,
Father Steve
