The Testimony Of John The Baptist

Brothers and Sisters,

Whenever I read the Gospel passage for his Sunday (Jn 1:29-34), I am amazed at the insight and knowledge that John the Baptist has been given concerning the identity of Jesus. How would John have known all of this about Jesus? What was the source of such profound statements about Jesus? Most likely John would have studied the Scriptures of the time and would have known the many statements about the coming Messiah spoken by the prophets of old. He would have known the scriptures of the Old Testament. But, first and foremost, John would have gained his knowledge by the gift of faith. He would have had true spiritual insight granted by God. This insight reveals not only the greatness of John and the depth of his faith, but it also reveals what we must strive for in life. We must strive to daily walk by faith and spiritual insight granted by God. John was clearly “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” (Lk 1:15, CCC 717). These spiritual gifts gave him the ability to live a life sustained by the grace of God. John knew things and understood things that only God could reveal. He loved Jesus with reverence and submission of his will that could only be inspired by God. Most evidently, John’s holiness came as a result of his relationship with God. John’s knowledge was insightful because the Holy Spirit was alive in his life, leading him and revealing these truths.

May we commit ourselves, this day, to an imitation of John’s deep faith and develop the spiritual gifts each of us has been given. This will lead us to a deeper relationship with Jesus and to be open to all that God wants to speak and reveal to each of us.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

Epiphany: The 12th Day of Christmas

Dear Friends of OLC and St Jane Frances,

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany. Today’s feast celebrates the arrival of the magi, bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Although we refer to the Magi as “wise men,” the scriptures never refer to them in that way. Instead, Magi is used in the scriptures to signify that these travelers were actually part of a class of scholars who engaged in dream interpretation, astrology, and predictions for the future. They acknowledged Jesus as the new born King, born in Bethlehem as foretold by the prophet Micah. The star they follow is an “epiphany” or a manifestation of the divine presence, now born among us in the baby Jesus. May the divine presence dwelling within each one of us help us to become a sign to the world of the living God, drawing all to come and see the new born king.

I would like to thank everyone who helped make our Christmas Masses at both parishes so beautiful and prayerful. Both Churches were decorated beautifully for Christmas, so thank you to everyone who helped in preparing the liturgical spaces. Thanks also to our music directors Rob (SJF) and Kevin (OLC), our choirs, and all who support our music ministry at both parishes. The music was uplifting and set the tone for the season. Thanks also to all who served at multiple Masses helping with organizing and ushering and making sure each Mass was set up and ready to go. Fr. Jim and I could not have done it without all of your assistance, so THANK YOU!!!

I would also like to thank everyone who sent Christmas cards, gifts, and baked goods. Your thoughtfulness is very much appreciated. I am always amazed at how generous the people of God are.

There are several activities that will be occurring in the coming weeks, including our Pastorate Middle School Snow Tubing trip on January 28th, the launch of the second half of Into the Breach (for Men) and Walking with Purpose (for Women). Other items of interest to our Pastorate (such as the St. Patrick’s Day Bazaar and our Lenten Mission) can be found in the bulletin and on our parish websites.

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

God Bless,
Father Steve

Blessed New Year!

Dear Parishioners,

Blessed New Year! On December 30th, I’m flying to Israel for a 2-week pilgrimage to the Holy Land (delayed a year due to COVID) with fellow seminary alumni classmates and this year’s Deacon class from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. Please pray for me, as I keep you in my prayers.

My first 6 months. I cannot begin to count the many blessings and graces and inspirations I’ve received
from you while serving as your Associate Pastor here at St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake these past 6 months, witnessing and experiencing your desire to know, love, and serve God and neighbor, expressed through countless acts of love and service.

Since I’m often asked, “Why did you became a priest?” and “What can I pray for you?” I thought I’d share an answer to both questions (and also for anyone who may be considering the priesthood). It’s an excerpt from an essay I wrote almost 8 years ago for application to become a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Baltimore in response to “Why do I want to be a priest?” which still rings soundly in my soul. My New Year’s resolution is to live up to these words, through the grace of God and your prayers.

“I would like to become a priest so that I can bring Christ to others and bring others to Christ through the sacraments, to be an instrument of God’s grace through the most profound and sacred moments in their lives: being born again through baptism, becoming free from the slavery of sin through the absolution of it, offering sacrifice and thanksgiving on behalf of God’s people and giving them Jesus in the Eucharist to sustain them, witnessing and blessing the life-long unity of a man and a woman in matrimony, strengthening and sealing the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, and healing the body and soul through the anointing of the sick. I would like to become a priest to offer masses for my wife Shirley, and to pray for my sons.”

“I would like to become a priest to preach the Word of God: to make it come alive and relevant and challenging and attractive for singles, husbands, wives, and children as family members, workers, students, neighbors and friends… to have God’s Word make a difference in their lives so that they can change the culture for Christ and bring about His kingdom right here and right now.”

“I would like to become a priest to teach parishioners the richness and fullness of the Church’s teachings from the Scriptures, the Catechism, the Doctors of the Church, Councils, our popes, and saints to allow the Holy Spirit to convict them and naturally draw them to their truth and beauty and goodness, and the incredible benefits of embracing them and following them. Doing this as a priest would make me feel like the man in the parable who found the treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44)—the treasure which is the fullness of God’s revelation through Jesus Christ—who in his joy gives up everything he has to spend the rest of his life sharing these treasures with my parishioners so that they too ‘may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).’”

Your servant in Christ,
Father Jim

Love, Joy, Peace And Hope

Dear Friends of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake,

On behalf of Fr. Jim and all of us at the Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake, I would like to wish you all a very Blessed and Merry Christmas! The Christmas Season is such a wonderful time of the year, as it reminds us that our God dwelt among us through the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. His birth was foretold by the prophets, acknowledged by the host of angels, and was witnessed to by the rising of the star in the east. Together, we continue to remember his birth as we wait in joyful hope for his coming again. May this Christmas season fill your hearts and your homes with the love, joy, peace and hope that Jesus Christ offers to each and every one of us.

We have reached the six month mark since the launching of our Pastorate relationship between our two beloved parishes. This has been a new experience for all of us, but especially for St. Jane Frances, with the retirement of Msgr. Carl in July and the arrival of Fr. Jim and myself at the parish. But there also have been transitions at OLC as well. We are still in the early days of getting to know one another. As we all know, transitions can be stressful, but hopefully this transition has not been too stressful for you. Fr. Jim and I have been deliberate in trying to make it as smooth as possible, and we desire to continue doing so.

As we prepare to enter into the New Year, I wanted to give you a sense of where our Pastorate will be going. As you know, the Archbishop’s pastoral plan called A Light Brightly Visible 2.0 is a pastoral letter outlining our need to renew the mission of the Church and re-energize our Pastorate for the mission of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ to our parish communities. In order for us to prepare for this task, our Pastorate will be using next year to begin a process of listening, gathering, discerning, and planning for our future: asking ourselves to reflect on our strengths, opportunities, and challenges so that we may have the necessary organizational structures in place to support our Pastorate’s mission.

I know each and every one of us loves our Church and loves our parish. I hope we will also grow to
love our Pastorate and unite ourselves in our common mission. What we sometimes say at Christmastime is also true when it comes to our Pastorate mission: Jesus is the reason for the Season! Jesus is the reason for our existence, and his mission is our mission as well. There is much work to be done, but for now, please enjoy this time with family and friends as we celebrate our Savior’s birth! Merry Christmas!

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

God Bless,
Father Steve

Listening

Brothers and Sisters,

In this week’s Gospel, we hear about Saint Joseph’s “yes” to the Incarnation (Mt 1:18-24). His “yes” to God’s call was essential just like Mary’s. Saint Joseph is a man that we know little about, but think about the importance of his role in salvation history. He was entrusted with the Son of God as his little child. Upon receiving the words of the angel in a dream, he accepted this Child as his own and cared for Him with a father’s love.

It’s significant to note that Saint Joseph embraced the Christ Child because of a dream. But was it only a dream? So why did Saint Joseph rely upon the authenticity of this dream? Even though the dream he had was just that – a dream, it was also accompanied by the gift of faith. Saint Joseph knew, with a certainty beyond human reason, that the voice of God had spoken to him, and he responded with generous faith. God may or may not speak to us through dreams, but He does speak to us constantly throughout our daily life. He speaks directly to our minds and hearts through many unique ways. After all, He created us, He knows how to divinely and effectively communicate to each of us personally. The real question is whether or not we are listening?

Listening to the voice of God is not about us seeing or hearing the angels literally speak. Rather, it’s a matter of discerning the Lord’s language of love spoken to us and calling us to faith. Today, may we listen in the silence of our heart and allow ourselves to follow the glorious and steadfast witness of Saint Joseph as he responded to our Lord’s will with perfect faith and trust. Let us respond to our Lord with an active and unshakeable faith.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

Waiting

Dear Parishioners,

Why are we perpetually waiting… for God to do something in “the future”? Our two weeks of Advent readings from Isaiah have all been about “the future” when life will be joyous—why not today? In today’s 2nd reading (Jas 5:7-10), James says that “the coming of the Lord is at hand”—well, we’re still waiting. Even in today’s Gospel (Mt 11:2-11), John the Baptist appears impatient: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

Said differently: When God the Son finally comes to earth for 3 years of public ministry [4000 years (of
biblical timeline) after initially promised], what does Jesus do? He tells us that his kingdom is not of this world, says that He will come again, and returns to heaven! Why does God seem to perpetually keep His people waiting for His coming (his “advent”) for thousands of years? Within this “perpetual Advent” of now His Second Coming, each year the Church repeats the 4-week Advent preparation of Jesus’ First Coming. Why does God seem to always keep us waiting for Him to do something in the future? It seems like Jesus never comes.

…But He does! Jesus comes at EVERY Catholic mass! During the liturgy, we proclaim one of the
central messages of the Bible, the mystery of faith: “We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your
Resurrection, until you come again.” This refers of course to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time, but also to the reality that Jesus has just sacramentally come—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—and is really (“substantially”) present among us in the Eucharist. At Mass, we participate in Jesus’ perpetual heavenly offering of his crucified, resurrected, and ascended body before His Father in heaven (Hebrews chapters 8-10, and Revelation chapters 4-8 and 19).

The Book of Revelation is about the Catholic Mass! It begins with a priestly greeting (Rev 1:4), proceeds with the “liturgy of the Word” (the word of the angels to the churches in chapters 2–3), and continues in chapters 4 and 5 with the “liturgy of the Eucharist” depicting the worship of God and the Lamb, culminating in the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in chapter 19, and the New Jerusalem built upon the foundation of the apostles (chapter 21), i.e., the Catholic Church. At the very end of the book—the last words of the Bible—Jesus says “Surely, I am coming soon!” to which John replies “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20) …referring not only to Jesus’ Second Coming but also the to reality that Jesus comes to us in the worship of the Eucharist at Mass—a participation in the heavenly worship revealed to John on Sunday (the Lord’s Day, Rev 1:10).

So let us prepare again this Advent for Jesus to come again in a new and profound way into our hearts at Christmas. But let us not forget that the “coming of the Lord is at hand” (today’s 2nd reading) already, at every Mass. He does not delay. “‘Surely, I am coming soon!’ Amen. Come Lord Jesus!”

Peace in Christ,
Father Jim

Prepare The Way

Dear SJF/OLC Pastorate Friends,

This weekend, we celebrate the Second Sunday of Advent. Our Gospel reading from Matthew’s Gospel recalls the proclamation of John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ (Mt 3:1-12). The people of God had been waiting in hopeful expectation for the Messiah, as foretold in the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah. The coming of the Messiah would usher in a new era in human history. We are the benefactors of this promise, we who have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and fire. Even though we know of God’s love for us and our call to love one another as Jesus has shown us, we also are painfully away of places where the Church’s leaders, her bishops and priests, have failed in our call to serve God’s People.

By now, most of us have heard about the upcoming release of the Maryland Attorney General’s report on the Clergy sexual abuse crisis in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The report will document the horrors of abuse that have occurred within the Archdiocese for the past 80 years. The report states 158 priests have been accused of abusing over 600 people, mostly the younger and most vulnerable members of our community. Information about this is posted at www.olchesapeake.org. This report will once again remind us of the sins of our past, and how damaging these atrocities have been to so many lives. Please join me in praying for all victims who suffered at the hands of people they trusted to protect them. No words can express the profound sorrow I feel for those who have been hurt by the Church. May the Lord grant them healing, and help us to dedicate our lives to ensure it never happens again.

This week on December 8th, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Masses will be offered at OLC on Dec. 7 (vigil) at 7:00pm and Dec. 8 at 8:30am, and at St. Jane Frances on Dec. 8 at 8:30am and Dec. 8 at 7:00pm. Please plan to join us!

Here is the Pastorate’s Christmas Mass Schedule:

• St. Jane Frances: Dec. 24 at 4:00pm (one Mass), 6:00pm, 8:00pm, and 10:00pm (Choir)
• St. Jane Frances: Dec. 25 at 9:00am and 10:30am
• Our Lady of the Chesapeake: Dec. 24 at 3:30pm (one Mass), 5:30pm, 7:30pm (High School Youth Mass), and 10:00pm (Choir)
• Our Lady of the Chesapeake: Dec. 25 at 10:00am

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

God Bless,
Father Steve