Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,
This weekend, we celebrate the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. This weekend, we have a very short second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans (13:8-10). The reading may be short, but the message speaks volumes: Love one another. As we know, the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord our God, but Jesus also gave a second greatest commandment, and that is the Love our neighbor as ourselves. Paul tells that all the commandments of the law are summarized in this. The reading ends by saying “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Sounds pretty simple, right?
Well, as we unfortunately know, it is not as simple as it sounds. One may question who is my neighbor? This question was asked of Jesus as well, and his response was the one who shows mercy to another. Our neighbor is not just the person who lives next door to us, or the people with whom we share the same beliefs, or opinions, or views. Our neighbors are every other human being, for they are the ones we show mercy toward, or as Paul says today, we demonstrate no evil toward. Quite bluntly, our world is lacking clear evidence of this understanding of neighbor, yet Christianity challenges us to love our neighbor, to show mercy to our neighbor, to do no evil to our neighbor. May we pray together for the grace to live out this commandment to love our neighbor, for ultimately, God is love.
Happy Labor Day to everyone as we celebrate the unofficial end to summer. We are thankful for the gift of human labor. This week, on Friday, is also the 25th Anniversary of the 9/11 terrorists attacks on our country. We will be celebrating a holy hour for peace at both churches following the 8:30am Masses on Sept. 11th. Please join us as we remember those who lost their lives as we pray for an end to war and terrorism, so that the peace of Christ may reign once again in our hearts and in our world.
Next Sunday our pastorate will celebrate 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 assisting in our faith formation programs at our pastorate. If you would like to serve as a catechist this year, please let us know.
Remember to sign up your middle school (and high school) aged children for Confirmation preparation this year. Confirmation Family Team meetings are beginning this month (check the bulletin for dates and times.)
Our O.C.I.A. (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program kicked off last week, but there is still plenty of time to join us. If you would like to become Catholic (never been baptized or baptized in another Christian faith) or were never Confirmed in the Catholic Church, please reach out to Deacon Phil at phil.snyder@archbalt.org.
Finally, there is still time to sign up for Walking With Purpose this Fall. There are various times and programs being offered, and day care will be provided at some of the sessions. For more information, please reach out to Laurie at Pasadenawwp@gmail.com.
Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your daily prayers.
God Bless,
Fr. Steve
