Change Is In The Air!

Dear Friends of our Pastorate,

Welcome to Labor Day weekend… and to the unofficial end of summer! I cannot believe how fast this
summer has gone. We have experienced some changes over this summer as well. We said farewell to Fr. Jim and thanked him for his two years of untiring service to our pastorate. We said goodbye to Melissa Boyle who moved onto a teaching position at Archbishop Spalding. And now we must say farewell to Diana Healy, who is stepping down in order to dedicate more time to family needs.

But we also have welcomed some new additions to our pastorate. First, we welcomed Fr. John Bilenki as our new associate pastor. Fr. John has hit the ground running as he has been getting settled here as well as preparing for our pastorate’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults program (formerly RCIA), which starts up in a couple of weeks. As we know, Fr. John is also the part time chaplain at Mount St. Joseph High School, which will mean he will be at the school one day a week. We also welcomed Carrie Hilmer as our new Associate Youth Minister, being responsible for our Middle School and High School Youth Ministry programs. Carrie will be working closely with Tim Janiszewski, our Pastoral Associate/Youth Minister from OLC, as we coordinate and share our High School Youth Ministry and Confirmation programs. We also recently hired Marie Griffiths as St. Jane’s Religious Education Coordinator. Marie is well known at St Jane’s as one of our cantors and an active volunteer. She will be overseeing our Pre-K through 5th grade religious education classes as well as the First Reconciliation and First Communion sacramental prep programs and VBS. Her position at St. Jane’s overlaps with Michaela Stanton’s position at OLC—and thankfully Marie and Michaela know each other because their children attend Lake Shore Elementary, so it is my hope that they can be a support for each other during the year. I feel confident that our faith formation programs are moving in a positive direction and are being set up to flourish in the coming years!

Now is the time to sign your kids up for faith formation at both parishes. All of our youth are invited to participate in our programs, even if they attend Catholic Schools. We especially invite all high school kids who have been confirmed to join our programs as peer ministers. Also, anyone who is preparing for a sacrament (First Reconciliation, First Communion, or Confirmation) should be signed up at the parish, even if they attend a Catholic school. This year, our High School Youth Ministry and Confirmation preparation programs are being merged and sessions shared between St. Jane Frances and OLC, and will occur on Sunday evenings. There have been some changes for sure this summer, but I feel certain that the Lord is blessing our pastorate with opportunities for growth and renewal!

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

God Bless,
Father Steve

Master, To Whom Shall We Go?

Peace in Christ!

This weekend, the universal Church concludes five Sundays of meditating on the Bread of Life Discourse from Chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel. In the closing verses of this epic and eminent chapter, we hear, what I think, is one of the most inspiring professions of faith in all of Sacred Scripture. It comes from the heart of St. Peter.

After many of Jesus’ disciples leave him because of his teaching about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, Jesus turns to his friends, who have become like brothers at this point, and says, “Do you also want to leave?” (My heart sinks when I imagine Jesus asking me this.) And Peter responds, for himself and the others, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Peter’s anointed words should be a memory-verse for us all. I have found these words consoling in times of uncertainty, sorrow, and confusion. When things don’t make sense, when the future seems unclear, when things aren’t going how you thought they should be: “Master, to whom shall we go? You are the Holy One of God.” I would encourage us to keep these words close. Jesus is with us.

I think these words are especially important as our relationship with our Eucharistic Lord deepens. Love always chooses to be present. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love. Jesus, our Eucharistic Love, promises to be with us always until the end of time, and He is. No amount of reading, writing, or preaching will ever fully reveal or explain this sacred mystery of the Lord’s Body and Blood to us. It brings us to our knees and leaves us speechless, full of awe, maybe confused sometimes, but also desiring more—all of this is appropriate. Jesus, we want more. You have the words of eternal life; You are eternal life. Thank You, Jesus, for always remaining with us and nourishing us.

Most are back to morning routines, morning traffic, and school starting this week. I am right there with you as I begin my part-time ministry at Mount St. Joe. Solidarity! Young people, please be assured of my prayers for you! The Lord has prepared the path before you this school year. Parents and loved ones of our young people, your generosity and sacrifices are known to the Lord. May His peace be yours. May we all begin this new school year with joyful hope and expectation of all we will learn, with gratitude for friends old and new, and all the many signs of God’s goodness to us along the way. God bless you!

In Christ,
Fr. John

Bread Of Life Discourse

Dear Friends of our Pastorate,

We are continuing our liturgical journey through the 6th Chapter of John’s Gospel – also know as the Bread of Life Discourse. Jesus tells us that He is the “living bread that came down from heaven and whoever eats this bread will live forever” and that “this bread is [His] flesh for the life of the world.” As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ—His flesh that He gives us to eat. John’s Gospel tells us that there were quarrels about this, but Jesus continues to reinforce that His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink. From the early days of the Church, this has been the understanding of the Eucharist, and we continue to proclaim this truth to the world AND invite all to join us at this great feast by joining the Catholic Church. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord here at our Pastorate parishes.

Speaking of joining the Catholic Church, our Pastorate is preparing to launch our Order of Christian Initiation of Adults in September. This program has been known as R.C.I.A. (Rite vs. Order) but the terminology has been changed with the release of the new transition of the ritual. This program is open to anyone who wishes to become a member of the Catholic Church, either through being baptized or if already baptized, then being received and confirmed into the faith. If you or a loved one has never been baptized, or been baptized in a non-Catholic faith, or have been baptized Catholic but never received the Sacrament of Confirmation, this is the program for you! Fr. John Bilenki will be overseeing our RCIA program which will be held on Monday evenings at St. Jane Frances School. For more information, or to sign up for RCIA this year, please contact Fr. John at john.bilenki@archbalt.org or call either of the parish offices.

Next weekend we will be offering a blessing of book bags, as our youth prepare to return to school. All of our school aged youth are invited to bring their book bags to Mass next weekend for a special blessing. Please keep our youth, their families, and all teachers in your prayers as we begin another school year.

Our September marriage anniversary blessings will take place on Sunday, September 1st at the 8:30am Mass at OLC and the 10:00am Mass at St Jane Frances. All couples married in the month of September are invited to join us at either Mass and receive a special blessing upon their marriage.

Thanks to everyone who has donated to our roof replacement projects. As of 8/12/24, we have raised over $75,000 each at both OLC and at SJF. Tax-free donations (nothing will go to the Archdiocese) are still being accepted for both projects.

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

God Bless,
Father Steve

Hunger

Brothers and Sisters,

How many of us are facing difficulties, and we feel like we just can’t go on anymore? When we face these feelings, we understand how Elijah felt. We can resonate with his words: “This is enough… take my life.” I’ve had it. I am literally at the end of my rope. I want to run away. Welcome to the world of the prophet Elijah. Better yet, welcome to our world. How many of us have experienced or are experiencing all the feelings that come with “I’ve had enough?”

We need to know that we are not alone in our suffering. We come together each Sunday, not because we have our act together, but just the opposite. We come together each week precisely because we are broken or suffering, anxious, oppressed, in need, or in pain. We come together, because we are human and because all of us carry within ourselves a little bit (or maybe a lot) of Elijah. We come together because life is fragile, and some days we just don’t know how we are going to go from one moment to the next.

The good news today is that Christ draws us to himself every day through the Eucharist to nourish and strengthen us for our journey. He is the Living Bread that satisfies our spiritual hunger. He equally fills us with His Spirit, who directs us on the right path on our journey. So today, God is saying to us as he spoke to Elijah in the desert, “arise, eat, drink,” and continue your journey with a new hope, a new passion, and a new strength. We can go on because our Lord sustains us and cares for us. Jesus offers us life giving food—His body and blood, soul and divinity—for the journey unto eternal life. What is your soul hungering for?

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

God Is A Friend

Christ’s peace be yours!

Just when I thought I was finished with school, the Lord said thus: Not so fast! Because within my first month in the Pastorate, we have finished not one, but two sessions of Vacation Bible School!

So many thanks and prayers of gratitude are due for Melissa Boyle, Michaela Stanton, their teams of so many volunteers, and our outstanding peer leaders for their faith, joyful leadership, and humbling generosity from setup to tear-down, for weeks on end! So many labors of love for Jesus and the Kingdom and the hearts of our children and their families! The faith and generosity on display in the spiritual family of our Pastorate has been the most humbling and inspiring thing for me being here so far, so thank you all for that witness. For those of you who weren’t able to “scuba” and dive deep in friendship with God during VBS, fear not! Here’s my own little synthesis and reflection on the highlights:

1. God is a friend who is real! We know in faith that God is at once the hidden, eternal, awesome God in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). But He has also revealed Himself in His Incarnate, Beloved Son Jesus. Jesus remains with us in so many ways in the Church, but especially hidden under the veils of the Blessed Sacrament – His Body and Blood given up for us and given to us to be received, to be adored, and to enliven us as true food and true drink.
   
   
2. God is a friend who loves! As we hear in the first reading this Sunday, to the grumbling and utterly spent Israelites in the desert, God is kind and merciful. God provides for and feeds his chosen ones again and again, even when they think that the slavery in Egypt from which God delivered them was better than their seemingly aimless wanderings. God loves us and meets us: in our doubts, in our grumbling, in our sin. Come to Him; let Him love you; let Him save you.
   
   
3. God is a friend we can trust! Just as the Israelites were instructed to collect enough manna to last them for one day, so too the Lord Jesus asks us to do: live in trust one day at a time. God wants you to flourish, to be fully alive in His love. He has come that we may have life and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10). Receiving and living abundant life takes trust as we are taught, fed, and led by Jesus.
   
   
4. God is a friend forever! Contemplating this point and looking to our Eucharistic Lord, our Eucharistic Friend, I’ll share a word from a speaker at the recent Eucharistic Congress that, I think, captures this theme: “No darkness is stronger than the light of the Eucharist… no sin is greater than the merciful love of the Eucharist… no hatred is greater than the charity that burns in the heart of the Eucharist… no violence is greater than the peace that springs from the heart of Our Lord… no deception is greater than the truth that springs from the Eucharist.” (Mother Adela Galindo, SCTJM).
   
   
5. God is a friend for everyone! History is “His story”, that is, God’s story. In His sheer, loving goodness, God created us to know Him, love Him, and serve Him and to reveal His glory. And even when the plan seems foiled, the “Light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it,” (Jn 1:5). “God is for us,” (Rom 8:31). This is really Good News that everyone must hear. May the Holy Spirit embolden us in this mission lovingly entrusted to us by Jesus to proclaim in word and deed. “Only love that is visible, is love that is credible.” (Mother Adela).

Thanks, God!

Let us pray for one another.
Fr. John

Our Lord’s Generosity

Brothers and Sisters,

In this Sunday’s Gospel from John, a large crowd follows Jesus to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus wonders to Philip about how to feed such a large amount of people. Philip is unsure, but Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, tells Jesus about a boy who is willing to share his five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus then multiplies the five loaves and two fish to feed 5,000 men plus women and children, with 12 wicker baskets left over. The people are amazed and proclaim Jesus to be “the Prophet” for whom they have been waiting. The multiplication of the loaves is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded in all four gospels.

Our Lord wants us to play a part in His miracle. God has the power of creating something out of nothing, but He asks for human collaboration, even if it is minimal. Here it is no different. The Apostles are utterly poor as they can bring to Jesus only five loaves and two fish from a boy they find in the crowd. Jesus asks us to contribute, because He wants to teach us to be generous, even when we think we have nothing to give. It is when we give from our want that we most please Our Lord. Our insufficiency is never an excuse for lack of generosity in serving and working for Our Lord. This miracle proves to us that Our Lord can never be outdone in generosity. We only need to bring Our Lord whatever we have without reservation, no matter how small that may be and trust that He will use it and multiply it for His purpose.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

Rest Awhile

Dear Friends of our Pastorate,

Our Gospel for this 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time begins with the apostles meeting up with Jesus after
completing the mission Jesus sent them on in last weekend’s Gospel. They report to him on “all they have done and taught,” and Jesus invites them to rest awhile. Yet the people who had encountered their good works continue to seek them out, so much so that it was difficult for them to take a break. As we know, getting away to be refreshed and renewed is so important, not only during the summer, but also each week. We all should spend one day a week in rest and relaxation, be it Sunday or another day if need be. Also make time to come to Mass each Sunday to receive strength and healing from the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist… the best medicine for a weary soul!

This weekend is the conclusion of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. Tens of thousands of Catholics from throughout the country are gathered there to celebrate the gift that the Eucharist is to us and to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for our Church, our country, and our world. After the attempted assassination of former Pres. Trump, we know how desperately our nation is in need of prayer: prayers for peace, prayers for civility, prayers for God to become a part of our daily lives once again. As the Letter to Ephesians reminds us this weekend, Christ is our peace.

Our Pastorate youth have been working at the Catholic Heart Work Camp in Wilmington, DE this past week. Although it has been a hot week, they have been working hard to serve those in need in the local community and have learned much about how we as Catholics put our faith into action. Please continue to pray for our youth as we grow and expand our pastorate’s youth ministry programs, and invite your kids to participate.

The next opportunity for our youth to serve is Summer Mission. The program is open to middle school youth as participants and high school youth as peers. There are two sets of dates for Summer Mission: Aug. 6–8 based at OLC and Aug 13–15 based at SJF. Sign up for either or both! Contact Diana Healy (dhealy@stjane.org) or Tim Janiszewski (timjolc@verizon.net) for more information.

Thanks to everyone who has donated to our roof replacement projects. We have raised over $50,000 so far at OLC and about $64,000 at SJF. Tax free donations (nothing will go to the Archdiocese) are still being accepted for both projects.

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

God Bless,
Father Steve