Friday, April 14, 2023

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

Divine Mercy image
Brothers and Sisters,

Remember a time in your life when you were fearful and sad, and felt lost and alone. Perhaps you experienced a significant loss or change in your life or were struggling with a painful situation. At that time, it would have been a great gift if Jesus had suddenly appeared and said: “Peace be with you.”

When we feel lost and alone, we may not always have a clear sense that Jesus is with us. Typically, we do not physically see Jesus appear to us. However, at that point in your life, was there any sense of Jesus’ presence with you? Did you experience the gift of strength from your faith in Jesus? Perhaps your faith and your belief enabled you to keep on going.

We know that Jesus is always with us, gifting us and gracing us with His presence; even if we may not realize it at that moment. Jesus walks with us daily through all of life’s circumstances. Do we believe and trust that reality? As the case of Thomas illustrates from this week’s Gospel (Jn 20:19-31), even the disciples who walked with Jesus sometimes had doubts. Jesus meets us wherever we are on life’s journey and removes our doubts. Even if we do have a sense of Jesus’ presence, we may desire evidence that Jesus is with us, just as Thomas did. Thomas wanted to know if the resurrected Jesus was real. Isn’t that what we all seek and need at times? We need to live in the reality that Jesus is alive. How do we encounter him without physically seeing Him with our eyes? Jesus says that we do not have to see Him to believe in Him. We are invited by Jesus himself to believe by trusting the first-hand accounts given to us by the Apostles in Sacred Scripture. By encountering Him through prayer and the sacraments and through our neighbor. Today, if we doubt Jesus is near us and with us, may we reach out in faith and ask Him to come and be present and real in our current circumstance. Jesus will come to us and bring us His peace as we proclaim, “my Lord and my God!”

Christ is risen! Happy Easter!
Deacon Howard

 

Divine Mercy Sunday

Sunday, April 16th, the Second Sunday of Easter, is also Divine Mercy Sunday when the faithful may receive an indulgence by devoutly participating in certain pious practices, including: receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation within a week of Divine Mercy Sunday, receiving Holy Communion at Sunday Mass, praying the Apostles’ Creed, the Our Father, a prayer for the intention of the Pope, and a devout prayer such as, “Merciful Jesus, I trust in you.” Confessions are heard weekly on Saturdays 3:30–4:30 pm and Thursdays 7:45–8:15 am, or by appointment by calling the parish office. For more information on Divine Mercy, please visit: https://www.stjane.org/divine-mercy-novena/

Sunday, April 9, 2023

Happy Easter!

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

On behalf of all of us at the Pastorate of St Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake, I would like to wish everyone a very Blessed and Joyous Easter! Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen! Today is the most important day in the Christian year, even more important than Christmas. For today, we celebrate Jesus’ triumph over sin and death, offering to us the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life. Jesus’ Resurrection also ushers in a new era in human history, where we have been invited into a deeper union with God and sent forth into the world to offer our witness and testimony as to what Christ has done for us and desires to do for all people. So go forth today, and every day to proclaim that Christ is Risen! Jesus is Alive! Alleluia! Alleluia!

The celebration of Easter is so important that the Church celebrates it as an Octave, meaning eight days. The Octave of Easter concludes next Sunday with the Sunday of Divine Mercy. This feast was added to the Church calendar by St. John Paul II in the year 2000. Also during the Easter Season, we will read through the Acts of the Apostles, which documents the growth of the early Church, empowered by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Easter Season concludes with the Solemnity of Pentecost, which we will celebrate on May 28th. We also celebrate on Easter the Sacraments of Initiation for those entering into the Church at the Easter Vigil. We congratulate all who have joined the Church this year.

I would like to thank everyone who has made a commitment to the Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries. Your financial support assists the Church in helping those in need throughout our Archdiocese. As of March 23, 2023, OLC has raised $27,375 from 85 gifts and St Jane Frances has raised $19, 125 from 71 gifts. If you haven’t made your pledge yet, please go to www.archbalt.org/giving. All proceeds go to support the charitable works of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

There are many great events and celebrations planned for the coming weeks and months for our
Pastorate. Many of them are included in this weekend’s bulletin. Please take a moment to review them
and mark your calendars so that you can join us.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your
daily prayers! As we approach the first anniversary of the launch of our Pastorate, we are
contemplating a way to identify our Pastorate under a common name while still maintaining our parish
names and identities. Stay tuned for more details as all members of the Pastorate will be invited to
participate in this endeavor!

God Bless,
Father Steve

Friday, March 31, 2023

Holy Week

Dear Friends of St. Jane Frances and OLC,

This weekend begins our journey through the holiest week of the year with the celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Palm Sunday. Holy Week offers us many opportunities to enter into the celebrations of Jesus’ Passion that will culminate next weekend with celebration of his Resurrection. I encourage you to make time to participate in the liturgies being offered to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, his Passion and death on Good Friday, and his Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Here are the Holy Week schedules for both parishes:

  • Holy Thursday, April 6th – 7:00pm Mass followed by Adoration until 9:00pm – Both
  • Good Friday, April 7th – Passion of the Lord – 3:00pm at SJF;7:00pm at OLC
  • Good Friday, Stations of the Cross – 12:00pm at SJF; 3:00pm at OLC
  • Holy Saturday, Blessing of the Easter Foods – 9:00am at SJF; 12:00pm at OLC
  • Easter Vigil, April 8th – 7:30pm at OLC; 8:00pm at SJF
  • Easter Sunday, April 9th – SJF: 8:00am, 10am, 11:30am; OLC: 8:00am, 9:30am, 11am.

In addition to the events listed above, the Archdiocesan Chrism Mass will take place on Monday, April 3rd at 7:30pm at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. This is a special Mass when the Archbishop will bless the holy oils used for anointing of the sick and the catechumens and consecrate the Sacred Chrism that will be used for Baptisms, Confirmations, and Holy Orders during the coming year. The priests of the Archdiocese also renew their promises they made at their ordination. This celebration is open to the public and all are invited to attend. As a priest, I know I am always thankful to see current (and former) parishioners in attendance. Please consider attending.

Fr. Jim and I will be offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday, April 4th throughout the day at St Jane Frances. The morning session is from 9:30am to 10:30am, the afternoon session is from 4:00pm to 5:30pm and the evening session is from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. This is the final advertised opportunity to receive the Sacrament before Easter so please make an effort to attend if you would like to do so.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake in your daily prayers! As we approach the first anniversary of the launch of our Pastorate, we are contemplating a
way to identify our Pastorate under a common name while still maintaining our parish names and identities. Stay tuned for more details as all members of the Pastorate will be invited to participate in this endeavor!

God Bless,
Father Steve

Friday, March 24, 2023

St. Patrick’s Day Bazaar and “The Great Paradox”

Dear Parishioners,

My first experience of a St. Patrick’s Day Bazaar at St. Jane’s was, “Wow, what a special event!” I loved seeing and interacting with so many parishioners and former parishioners from St. Jane and Our Lady of the Chesapeake who enjoyed being with each other and with family, friends, and neighbors. The games, the food, the camaraderie, the prizes, the fun—all made possible by the generosity of so many people who donated goods and those who volunteered and served many long hours to make this happen. A special thank you to Melissa Boyle, Theresa Sparklin, the Knights, and so many volunteers too numerous to mention here.

“I will open your graves and have you rise from them… and I will put my Spirit within you.”
Our 1st reading today (Ezekiel 37:12, 14) reminds us that while our God is a faithful God (He will always do what He promises), He is also a God of surprises (we don’t know when he will do what He promises). For example, the Lord spoke this message to Ezekiel when the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon as a promise to restore Israel to the Promised Land, but it is also a veiled reference to the resurrection of the dead which we hear about in today’s Gospel with Lazarus, as well as the resurrection of the body which will occur at Jesus’ Second Coming. In other words, it could be that we may never experience in our lifetime on earth God’s promises we read about in Scripture. This leads to the problem of suffering.

The problem of suffering. In time, God did restore the Israelites to the Promised Land, and Jesus did raise Lazarus from the dead. But we may be asking, “Why isn’t Jesus helping me now, here, when I need Him the most?” and “Why do I and my loved ones suffer?” Because there is so much suffering and evil in the world, many people conclude that God does not exist. “If a powerful and loving God exists, wouldn’t He DO something about all this suffering and evil?” When my wife Shirley suddenly died, I was consumed with grief. The lives of my two sons and I become ones of instant crisis. Nothing would ever be “normal” again. Shirley’s loss provoked many questions I had for God. “What good could come from this?”

We hear a key part of the answer to the question of suffering in today’s gospel, the surprise: “I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).” But there’s more to understanding the difficulty suffering presents for humanity, which I will explore further in my 3rd Lenten Bible & Catechism Series Talk, “I will open your graves and raise you… I will put my spirit within you. (Ezekiel 37:12-14) The great paradox: How suffering demonstrates that God is all-powerful and all-loving” on Thursday, March 30, 7:00–8:00 pm at Our Lady of the Chesapeake Church. To get the most out of this talk, please bring your Bible and Catechism.

Peace in Christ,
Father Jim

Friday, March 17, 2023

Spiritual Blindness

Brothers and Sisters,

Who was this blind man in the Gospel reading today? (Jn 9:1-41) Interestingly, he does not have a name. He is only referred to as the “man blind from birth.” This is significant in the Gospel of John, because the fact that there is no name indicates that we should see ourselves in this story.

Spiritual “blindness” is our inability to see the hand of God at work all around us. We struggle to see the daily miracles of God’s grace alive in our lives and alive in the lives of others. So, we should strive to acknowledge and overcome our lack of sight. We should strive to realize that we so often do not see God at work. This realization will inspire us to desire a spiritual healing. It will invite us to want to see God at work.

The good news is obviously that Jesus cured this blind man, as He willingly desires to cure us. Restoring sight to the blind is easy for Jesus. So, the first prayer we should pray as a result of hearing this story is simply, “Lord, I want to see!”

The humble realization of our spiritual blindness will invite God’s grace to work in us. And if we do not humbly acknowledge our blindness, we will not be in a position to seek and receive God’s healing. When we do “see” Him at work in the ordinary activities of our life, we will be most definitely healed of our spiritual blindness.

Reflect, today, upon this act of Jesus, and allow our Lord to smear His spit and dirt on your eyes. Allow Him to give you the gift of spiritual sight. And as you begin to see His presence in your life, you will be amazed at the beauty you behold.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

Friday, March 10, 2023

Cooperating With The Holy Spirit

Dear Friends,

Cooperating with the Holy Spirit. The key to the spiritual life, our saints and theologians teach us, is to
recognize and cooperate with the promptings of the Holy Spirit by developing a disposition or interior quality of our soul attentive to what is happening in us and around us. Whether we’re confronted with constantly competing demands in a busy schedule, or lethargic and bored with no apparent purpose in life, we DO have the ability, with God’s grace, to distinguish the promptings of the Holy Spirit from those of the flesh and of the word. Easier said than done. The problem is that because we have a wounded nature, we tend to be drawn in a disordered way toward created things (money, pleasure, fame, etc.), viewing them as an end in and of themselves rather than as a means that point to the end where true happiness is found: in God, our Creator. How is it that we have this ability to keep all these “promptings”—of the Holy Spirit, the world, and the flesh—in a properly ordered way? The answer lies in today’s 2nd reading (Rom 5:1-2, 5-8): “…because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” The Holy Spirit plays a fundamental “synthesizing action” in the human soul—if we understand how this happens and take our part in bringing it about.

I will be sharing more about how the Holy Spirit works in this way through charity in my 2nd of three Lenten Bible & Catechism Talks: “Because the love of God has been poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5). Distinguishing the promptings of the Holy Spirit from those of the flesh and the world” on Thursday, March 23, 7 PM at Our Lady of the Chesapeake in the church (and also live-streamed). While I will be drawing from some of the greatest theologians and saints of the Church—including Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis and his The Imitation of Christ (the most widely-read devotional book after the Bible), and Raniero Cantalamessa (Preacher of the Papal Household since 1980)—it will be FILLED with practical advice and aids (handouts) you can take home and immediately start using to bring greater depth to your Lenten pilgrimage.

The third and final Lenten Bible & Catechism talk will be at St. Jane’s on Thursday, March 30, 7 PM in the church (also live-streamed) on the topic: “I will open my graves and raise you …I will put my spirit within you (Ezekiel 37:12-14). The great paradox: How suffering demonstrates that God is all-powerful and all loving.”

To get the most out of these talks, bring your Bible and Catechism!

Peace in Christ,
Fr. Jim

Friday, March 3, 2023

Do Not Be Afraid

Dear Friends of St. Jane Frances and OLC,

This weekend, the Church celebrates the Second Sunday of Lent. Our Gospel reading this weekend is the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Imagine the wonder and awe (and a touch of fear) that came upon Peter, James, and John when they saw Jesus transfigured before them and conversing with Moses and Elijah – the two great Old Testament figures who represent the Law and the Prophets. Even the voice from on high acknowledges Jesus as God’s beloved Son. It had to have been a life changing experience for them. After it ends, Jesus comforts them with his reassuring words “do not be afraid.” On the contrary, we ought to be very blessed by such a clear sign from God. This event is seen as both a glimpse of the resurrection as well as the manifestation of Jesus, as the divine Son of God.

We are looking forward to our Lenten Mission, which begin next Monday, March 13th through Wednesday, March 15th. Our presenter is Fr. Josh Laws, the pastor of the Catholic Community of South Baltimore. The theme for Monday will be Seeing God in Reality and will be held at SJF. Tuesday’s theme is Seeing God in a Decision and will be held at OLC, with Confessions being offered following the presentation. On Wednesday, the theme will be Seeing God Together and will be at SJF. The start time for each night will be 7:00pm. I hope you can join us each night.

I would like to announce that I have established our Pastorate Mission team who will assisting Fr. Jim and I in our work over the next two years to put together a Pastorate Mission Plan based on the foundation of Archbishop Lori’s Archdiocesan Mission plan called A Light Brightly Visible 2.0. The Archbishop’s plan can be read in its entirety at www.archbalt.org. The members of our Pastorate Mission team from SJF are Ning Wist, Gary Peters, and Randy Gardner; and from OLC are Jerry Mulcahy, Terrie Deters, and Tina Shorter. I would ask you to please pray for the success of our pastorate planning process so that we may renew the church in our area and engage more effectively in the work of evangelization and proclaiming Jesus Christ to all. Stay tuned for more information and how you will be able to assist us in our pastorate planning process.

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

God Bless,
Father Steve