Prepare The Way

Brothers and Sisters,

In ancient times, when a king was going to visit a city, he would send before him someone to herald his coming, someone to announce that he would be arriving soon. The herald would go around the city, and go before the leaders of the city, telling them all, “The king is coming. He will be here any day. So, be prepared to welcome him.” As we look at the Gospel reading for this week (Mk 1:1-8), this is what we see going on. The King is coming, and He has sent a herald, John the Baptist, to announce His arrival. The king, of course, is Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. John’s message is that the people need to reform their lives and prepare for Christ’s coming. He does this by calling the people to repent and be baptized. In this second week of Advent, Mark emphasizes the importance of Christ’s coming by pointing out how Isaiah had prophesied not only the arrival of Jesus but even the appearance of the messenger, John. God had long been preparing this significant moment in the world’s history, and wanted to do everything possible to awaken his people of His coming.

Christ longs to dwell in every human heart; there are many who have not met him or welcomed him. With each person, Jesus continues to use this same approach as in the Gospel reading. He sends his heralds ahead of him. We are those heralds today. Each of us is Christ’s messenger, boldly proclaiming the truth and grace of Christ by our words, deeds, and example. Among the many responsibilities each of us has, none is greater or more rewarding than cooperating with the Holy Spirit to prepare hearts for the Lord. Are we being faithful messengers?

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

The Deeper Meaning Of Advent

Dear Parishioners,

What is the deeper meaning of Advent? The word advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming.” We just finished the last 3 weeks of the liturgical year with Sunday Gospel readings about Jesus’ Second Coming and Judgment, so why on this 1st Sunday of Advent is the Church continuing to read about Jesus’ warning to remain vigilant about His future coming?

The “coming” of an infinite God in finite space and time is a great mystery. Perhaps a natural analogy would help: While we experience a distinct changing of the seasons over time (fall, winter, spring, summer), what we’re really experiencing is the natural effect of the earth’s continual and recurring orbit around the sun. In an analogous way, while we experience a distinct changing of the liturgical seasons over time (Advent and Christmas, Ordinary Time, and Lent and Easter), what we’re really experiencing is the supernatural effect of God’s continual and recurring “coming” in His Creation. God is always and everywhere present in His Creation—especially us who are baptized—but He wants us to experience his Presence distinctly and fully at each moment. The liturgical seasons help us punctuate these moments.

Just as the Jewish people in Jesus’ day were watching and being vigilant for the promised coming of the Messiah, so Jesus says to us in today’s gospel, “Be watchful. Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” Indeed, Jesus will come again at the end of time, but He also enters and re-enters His Creation and comes to us liturgically and spiritually in a variety of continual and recurring ways, including the Eucharist, in prayer, in Scripture, in each other (the Body of Christ), in the hungry/ thirsty/ stranger/ naked/ sick/ imprisoned (last Sunday’s gospel), etc. This allows us to see the Church’s wisdom in selecting today’s gospel reading: to remind us that Jesus is continually “coming” to us, so let’s prepare for it at Christmas and when He comes again at the end of time.

During this Advent season, Jesus wants you and me to make more room for Him than we did last year, to invite him to “come again” into our hearts in a new and vibrant way. Let’s not allow our “preparation for Christmas” (decorating, buying gifts, etc.) overshadow our “preparation for Christ.” In one of his sermons on Advent, St. Bernard of Clairvaux said that we should “be aware that [Christ’s] spiritual coming is a hidden one… You need not sail across the seas or pierce the clouds or cross the Alps! No grand way is being shown to you. Run to your own self to meet your God! The Word is near you, on your lips and in your heart! (Romans 10:8)” In the last verses of the Bible, Jesus tells John, “Surely I am coming soon.” Let our Advent prayer be John’s response: “Amen. Come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

Peace in Christ,
Father Jim

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Dear Friends of our Pastorate,

This weekend, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The readings speak to us of the “divine judgment” anticipated at the end of time. For many of us, the word “judgment” may stir up feelings of uneasiness or discomfort, for who likes to be judged? Even Jesus tells us not to judge one another, BUT the Church has always professed our belief that Jesus “will come again to judge the living and dead” as we profess each week in our Creed. Therefore, we are already anticipating this, and since we know that, we are able to prepare ourselves. We can walk the path of conversion and repentance each and every day so that, when Jesus comes again, we can be ready to welcome him with joy in our hearts, for our salvation is at hand. So don’t be discouraged, but instead prepare today and everyday by turning to the Lord with trust in God’s loving mercy, compassion and forgiveness for us.

Over the past month, we have been conducting a poll of the people who regularly attend the 5:00pm Mass at OLC concerning a change to the start time for the Mass. This request was made of me by several parishioners at OLC who would like to have the option to attend an earlier Mass in the wintertime because of not wanting to drive in the dark. After taking several polls, including one during Mass, we have received overwhelming support for changing the Mass start time to 4:00pm (initially during the winter months). Therefore, starting next weekend, Saturday, December 2, 2023, Our Lady of the Chesapeake will be starting the Saturday Vigil Mass at 4:00pm (with Confessions being offered at 3:00pm). I know this change may impact some people who wish to keep the Mass time at 5:00pm, so I apologize for that. As we continue down the road of our pastorate planning process, we will need to take into account the Mass schedules for both parishes in order to offer options to all parishioners. To that end, for those who prefer the 5:00pm time, St. Jane Frances will continue to offer the Saturday Vigil Mass at 5:00pm.

Also starting next week, we will be rolling out our new title for our Pastorate: “Pastorate of the Visitation” with the subtitle of “Catholic Churches of Pasadena.” This title will begin appearing on our bulletin covers for both parishes and will make its way into all of our communications, including Flocknote, Facebook, and our websites. This additional identification will have no impact on our two parishes, which will continue to exist, thrive, and be called Our Lady of the Chesapeake and St. Jane Frances. Visitation is only meant to be a label to unite our Pastorate community parishes in one extended family of faith. So…Welcome to the Pastorate of the Visitation!

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate in your daily prayers!

God Bless,
Father Steve

Pastorate of the Visitation

Dear Friends of our Pastorate,

I would like to thank everyone who submitted a suggestion for a name for our Pastorate. We received over 50 suggestions! After much consultation and prayer with parishioners, staff, and our Pastorate Mission Team, we are planning to move forward with the title of “Pastorate of the Visitation.” Additionally, the Mission Team requested that “Catholic Churches of Pasadena” also be incorporated into the title. We will begin this process over the next several months with adding the name to our Pastorate’s communications, including: the bulletin, Flocknote, Facebook, and our websites. It was felt that the title “Visitation” was best able to embrace and unite both parishes for several reasons. First, St. Jane Frances founded the Order of the Visitation in 1610, so there is a connection to St. Jane Parish. Second, Our Lady of the Chesapeake is named after our Blessed Mother, who in Luke’s account of the Visitation (Luke 1:39-45)journeyed to “visit” her cousin Elizabeth. Third, the Visitation is a feast day of the Church, celebrated on May 31st which offers our Pastorate a way to celebrate something new together. And fourth, as with Mary and Elizabeth, our two beautiful parishes are “related” to each other, with OLC being a “daughter” parish of our mother parish, St. Jane Frances. Just like Elizabeth and Mary, we are coming together to support and assist each other and work together to proclaim Jesus Christ to the greater Pasadena community. (And to reiterate once again, nothing is closing! BOTH St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake as individual parishes will continue to exist.)

This weekend, we celebrate the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. This weekend’s Gospel is the Parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-30). Three servants receive talents from their master before he leaves for a journey. Two of the servants are able to multiply their talents, while the third one was afraid; so he buried his in the ground. On his return, the master rewards the first two servants and chastises the third for doing nothing with what was entrusted to him. The Lord has entrusted to us many talents (or gifts) that we are challenged to put to use throughout our lives. This week, pray and reflect upon what gifts God has given you and how you can put them to use to build up God’s kingdom on earth.

On behalf of all of us at the Pastorate, I would like to wish everyone a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you will be able to enjoy quality time with your family and friends. Don’t forget to join us at our Pastorate’s Thanksgiving Mass this Thursday, Nov. 23rd at 8:30am at St. Jane Frances. Please consider bringing a bag of nonperishable food items to support the food pantry at NCEON and Our Lady of the Chesapeake. Next weekend (Nov. 25-26), we will continue to collect non-perishable food items at both parishes, so if you cannot make it to our Thanksgiving Mass, then please bring your donations to any Mass over the weekend.

Thank you for keeping our “Pastorate of the Visitation” in your daily prayers!

God Bless,
Father Steve

Has The World Lost Its Mind?

Dear Friends of our Pastorate,

Has the world lost its mind? Do you find the changes our country and our culture are undergoing mind-boggling—and not all for the good? Where has “common sense” gone? Does anyone seek wisdom anymore?

That last question contains the key to answering the previous questions: Wisdom—the subject of our 1st Reading (wisdom personified) and the Gospel (the wise virgins). When society stops seeking wisdom, it devolves and disintegrates. The same thing happens to an individual. God made us in His image, with “the capacity to understand and function (make choices) accordingly,” ie, with wisdom. If a person is raised and formed in a good, healthy environment, he or she ought to have this first kind of wisdom: “natural” wisdom.

But there’s a second kind of wisdom, a transcendent wisdom that God imparts to those who are close to Him who is Wisdom itself. This wisdom from God comes through the Church (Ephesians 3:10) and leads to paths of peace. It must be sought. When we seek it and ask for it, we will find it and it will be given (Wisdom 6:12, Matthew 7:8, James 1:5). I’ve heard from many in our pastorate who are taking deliberate steps to learn the wisdom of God through our women and men’s study groups (Walking with Purpose; Into the Breach, and Men of the Word Bible Study), and I, too, know from personal experience: learning God’s wisdom changes our lives for the better. The deeper we go in our relationship with Jesus Christ through learning and understanding Scripture, Church teaching in the Catechism, and the Liturgy of the Mass (these are the topics of my Going Deeper series), the more divine wisdom we gain, and hopefully, with God’s grace, the more loving and merciful we become as missionary disciples of Christ.

A big THANK YOU and congratulations to St. Jane’s parishioner Andrew Bryant who completed his Eagle Scout Project with his Boy Scouts of America Troop 414 on October 28th: a beautiful pollinator and native plant garden sanctuary! It contains flowers that bloom throughout the spring, summer, and fall, beautiful grasses, small flowering trees, and more—all of which promote the local population of bees, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife.

The vision of this project is to help parishioners prayerfully reflect on the beauty of God’s creation, and to educate and inspire us to install pollinator and native plant gardens in our own backyards. An educational kiosk will be installed soon, and berry plants and herbs will be added in the spring, which parishioners are welcome to harvest in season. A special thank you also goes to St. Jane’s parishioner Rich Hergenroeder, an Anne Arundel Watershed Steward, who spearheaded the awarding of a grant from The Chesapeake Bay Trust which expanded this beautiful garden’s footprint.

Peace in Christ,
Father Jim

You Have But One Teacher

Dear Friends of our Pastorate,

This weekend, we celebrate the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. This weekend’s Gospel is a challenge to those in positions of authority in the days of Jesus, and by connection, to me and all who lead the parishes and the Church as well as our leaders of government (Mt 23:1-12). This can also be extended to each and every one of us who “lead,” such as the leaders of families or the leaders of coworkers or teachers. All of us are challenged to lead in ways that give witness to not only what we profess with our lips, but more importantly, to what we believe in our hearts—to be authentic and transparent. When there is a perceived disconnect between the two, as Jesus indicates in the Gospel, it can be recognized by others. Jesus asks us to know with certainty that He is our true and authentic leader and teacher, so whatever we do, ought to flow from our faith in our Savior. May the Holy Spirit of God continue to speak to our hearts and be our guide throughout our earthly lives.

As we continue into the second year of our Pastorate of St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake, we are looking for ways to bring our two communities together in worship. This year, we will be celebrating one Thanksgiving Day Mass for the Pastorate. The Mass will be on Thanksgiving Morning at 8:30am at St. Jane Frances. Please plan to join us so that we can practice our faith together as one, AND so that we may join our voices together in one celebration of thanksgiving and praise. Fr. Jim and I are looking forward to celebrating Mass together as well—something that we rarely do since we are always at different parishes each weekend.

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to pray and reflect upon my request for you to consider making an increase in your stewardship/offertory donations to our parishes. We are impacted by the same financial pressures that everyone is facing, so any increase in your giving would be gratefully appreciated. I have increased my giving by about 5% this Fall, so I pray and ask if you are able, if you could also make a commitment to increasing your giving to your parish. Any money donated to the parishes through the offertory collection will be used solely by the parish to support our parish programs and operations. Thank you for your consideration of my request.

This weekend is our Eucharistic Revival weekend. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will occur between the Sunday morning Masses at OLC and between the 8:00am and 10:00am Masses at St. Jane. Please plan to spend some time with our Lord truly present to us in the Holy Eucharist.

Finally please keep our Pastorate’s Confirmation Candidates in your prayers this week. Our teens from OLC and St. Jane will be confirmed together on Wednesday, Nov. 8th at 5:30pm at OLC. Everyone is invited to attend the Confirmation Mass as we welcome Bishop Adam Parker with us.

Thank you for keeping our Pastorate in your daily prayers!

God Bless,
Father Steve

What Is Love?

Dear Parishioners,

In today’s gospel, Jesus says these commandments are the greatest: “You shall love the Lord, your God… and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:34-40) The classical Catholic definition of love is “willing the good of another.” Love is not a feeling, it’s a decision, an act of the will. We love God, our family, and neighbor when we do things for them when we don’t feel like doing them.

St. Dymphna Mental Health Ministry

With mental health becoming a growing concern among our families, the pastorate’s newest ministry couldn’t be more timely. I’ve had the privilege of working closely this summer with the Core Team of parishioners from OLC and SJF, being led by Paula Gentile, who have been pouring their hearts into planning and preparing to launch this much-needed ministry. Named for St. Dymphna—the patron saint of mental health—the St. Dymphna Mental Health Ministry hosts a Prayer Gathering & Conversation every other month. It’s an opportunity for anyone with mental illness, and/or those who love them, to gather together for prayer in a caring and listening atmosphere, followed by casual conversation over light refreshments, in a relaxed environment free of pressure, personal questions, or therapeutic advice. You’re welcome to come to our first Prayer Gathering & Conversation on Tuesday, November 14th at 7:00 pm at Our Lady of the Chesapeake in the Maryland Suite. I wish this type of ministry had been around when my wife Shirley was struggling with her mental illness years ago.

Axe-Throwing Challenge & Pig Roast & Family Games Event Results

Last Saturday’s Axe-Throwing Challenge & Pig Roast & Family Games Event at OLC was a big hit… enjoyed by over 150 men, women, and children! It was refreshing to see so many non-parishioners who came because parishioners invited them (“3 in 1”). It was loads of fun watching husbands and wives, mothers and sons, etc. competing side by side in the timed “as many points as you can score in 60 seconds” competition. Congratulations to the Axe-Throwing Competition’s Grand Prize winner… DENNIS BRYANT! who was awarded the pig’s head on a platter and a St. Joseph Terror of Demons picture. Runner up Ashley Klaiss, the top woman scorer, came up with a great suggestion for next year’s competition, which I endorse: introduce 4-point Throwing Stars competition (they stay stuck in the wood easier)!

…A special thanks to OLC’s Grand Knight Joshua Frank who planned and hosted the entire event with his Knights of Columbus Council 10881, receiving excellent support from Pasquale Carannante who spearheaded the food planning, purchasing, and preparation, and Pat Cappelaere who donated and roasted the 100-pound pig with his companions. Also great thanks to SJF’s Grand Knight David Gonzales and his Knights of Columbus Council 10966 (especially Dennis Bryant, and their sons) who put on the axe throwing competition and family games. Thanks also to our pastorate’s Director of Operations Mike Downes who set up the portable electrical power and lighting system (generously provided by Bay Country Rentals free of charge) and the sound systems.

Peace in Christ,
Father Jim