The Gift of Life

Dear Parishioners,

Over the past few weeks, I’ve celebrated a few birthdays and graduations with family, and I began to think about the whole ritual of giving and receiving gifts.

We are usually quite open to giving gifts, but most of us are reluctant to receive them. Do we readily accept and receive the precious gifts from God—specifically the gift of life? Life is a gift. Life, our very existence, does not originate with us, nor do we will ourselves into being. Creation, itself, is a gift. It is the overflow of love from the eternal love of the Trinity. We cannot demand to exist. All is a free gift. Have we received the gift of life this day? Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here, all we have is today. Are we receiving this day as a gift from God? Father, thank you for the gift of life. Help me to receive your gift of life today with joy and celebrate it in every circumstance.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

75th Anniversary Events

My Brothers and Sisters of St. Jane Frances,

It has been nice to see many of you returning to Church since the Archdiocese began to open back up. This year, the Archdiocese of Baltimore is celebrating the “Year of the Eucharist.” The Year of the Eucharist was developed by Archbishop William Lori to help us as we move along our path of life and offer us concrete ways to connect with the Lord and experience his never ending light. As a matter of fact, every time we come to church and participate in Mass, we are joined to the heavenly wedding feast of the Lamb through Holy Communion. Furthermore, we are even more deeply connected to Jesus as we practice the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. And the more we grow in those virtues, the greater our sharing now in the prize of heaven despite our earthly problems.

As we are planning our 75th Anniversary events, I would invite you to take part of the celebrations in the coming months. On November 14th, Archbishop Lori will be here to celebrate our Anniversary Mass. Following the 11:30am Mass, we will have a luncheon at Kurtz’s Beach. Please consider joining us this day to celebrate our Parish.

Fr. Carl Cummings

Year of the Eucharist

Dear Parishioners,

Many years ago, I had to go to summer school to catch up on math. It was warm with no air conditioning and involved a bit of hard work. It wasn’t much fun. This past week, we had school at St. Jane’s, and it was fun for all involved. It was Vacation Bible School. I attended just two of the sessions but couldn’t get over how enjoyable it was for the 31 children enrolled, our teen aged mentors, and adult supervisors. The final evening was full of life, enthusiasm, and joy. Many thanks to Melissa and all who helped make it the highlight of our summer.

Over the past few months, we had the sad duty to announce the closing of St. Jane Frances Preschool. Since then, people have inquired about the future of the school building. Immediate plans call for it to be used for Parish meetings, Religious Education classes, and Youth Ministry meetings, etc. In addition to parish functions, there will be an Independent Catholic school that will rent some of the classrooms for just one year. In addition to the changes in the school building, a daycare center will rent half of the Parish Center during the current year.

The parish itself remains strong and vibrant. Even though attendance was down as was the offertory, our cost cutting measures and the generosity of so many parishioners signing up for Electronic Fund Transfer donations have left us in a good financial position which will be disclosed in the bulletin when the financials are completed in the next few weeks. Thank you ever so much.

Each year at Mass, our gospel readings concentrate on one of the three synoptic (seen in a similar way) gospels. One year it’s Matthew; another year it’s Luke; and this year it’s Mark. So what happened to John’s gospel? Since Mark’s gospel is the shortest, during his year, there are a number of weeks that we hear from John. As a matter of fact, this week and the following 4 weeks will center on John’s gospel and concentrate on Jesus’ “Bread of Life” discourse. As the Catholic Church embarks on this Year of the Eucharist, there is no better way to begin than chapter 6 of John’s gospel.

Fr. Carl

Seasons

Dear Parishioners,

As I reflect on the Gospel reading for this week (Mk 6:30-34), I’m reminded of how our world is full of activity that runs in cycles or in rhythm. The seasons of the year, daylight and night time over the 24 hours of a day, even the plant life has its cycles of growth and bearing fruit. There are many other examples—these are just a few. Jesus speaks to us about the cycle or rhythm of the Christian life. The Christian life is a continuous going into the presence of God from the presence of men and coming out into the presence of men from the presence of God. After the activity of ministering and serving others, we must reconnect and recharge in prayer with our Lord, otherwise our spiritual life becomes ineffective.

Deacon Howard

Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Dear Parishioners,

The month of June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the Feast day is always celebrated on the Friday after Corpus Christi. It goes back to the late 1600s when Jesus appeared to a nun of the Order of the Visitation, the order founded by St. Jane Frances. The nun, St. Margaret Mary, said that Jesus visited her three times between 1673 and 1675. Our Lord said he was deeply saddened by the ungrateful, neglectful, even contemptuous way he was treated by mankind. He explained how His heart burned for all creation, and that he had perpetually given His mercy, compassion, and uncompromising love to every person. Yet so many, including Christians, were not returning that love.

He asked Margaret Mary to honor his love by frequently receiving holy Communion, especially on the first Friday of every month. He invited her to spend a holy hour the night before offering recompense for what he experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane.

During another visit, Jesus urged the nun to promote a church feast to be held on the Friday after Corpus Christi Sunday. He desired people throughout the world to celebrate the day by receiving holy Communion and by prayer.

Through these pious acts, Christians would make reparation for all the times people have ignored or even mocked his love. In return, Jesus made 12 promises. Among them was that anyone who received holy communion on the first Friday of every month for 9 consecutive months would always know the refuge of His Sacred Heart, especially at the time of death. The promises Jesus made are as follows:

1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2. I will establish peace in their homes.
3. I will comfort them in their afflictions.
4. I will be their secure refuge during life, and above all in death.
5. I will bestow abundant blessings upon all their undertakings.
6. Sinners will find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Lukewarm hearts will become fervent.
8. Fervent hearts shall quickly mount to high perfection.
9. I will bless every place in which an image of My Heart is exposed and honored.
10. I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in my heart.
12. Those who make the 9 first Fridays will receive the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

That’s not a bad return for a little extra time with Jesus.

Fr. Carl

Introducing Deacon Howard Klohr

Hello, everyone!

I want to introduce myself to the parish this weekend.  I was ordained a permanent deacon this past May 2021. I’m thrilled to be here at St. Jane Francis parish. I grew up in Glen Burnie and attended Church of the Crucifixion parish all of my life. The parish is now part of Christ the King Church. I’ve lived in Pasadena for over 31 years with my wife Sandy. We’ve raised our three daughters here, all of which are grown adults living here in Pasadena. We have two son-in-laws, two grandsons, and a granddaughter. I hope to get to know each of you as I settle into my vocation in the parish. I look forward to working together in ministry and serving each other as we worship and praise our Lord we love and adore. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide our activities as well as our daily lives.  
 
As I reflect on the second reading for Sunday’s mass (2 Cor 12:7-10), I’m reminded of how much we need to surrender our own will, and trust the Lord to work in and through us. When we accept our weakness then we can fully rely on the Lord. It’s when we’re relying on God’s strength that we’re truly strong, for it’s God’s strength working through us, not the strength of our own flesh. When we are weak, but God is strong in and through us, keeping us faithful in our weakness, he can work through us in amazing ways. This brings glory to his name, because it’s clear that it’s not us, but God at work. So, let us be strong in the Lord and go forth in God’s strength and let him bring glory to his name, through us—even through our weaknesses.
 
Again, I look forward to being a part of this parish family and sharing in our faith journey together. I ask that you please keep me in your prayers, and I will keep you in my daily prayers.

God Bless,
Deacon Howard

God versus Science

Dear Parishioners,

From time to time, you hear people denying the existence of God. They say, “If God is the is the creator of all things, why did he create evil?” In a book entitled God vs Science, the author answers this way. He begins by talking about heat and cold, and asks the atheistic professor, who has been questioning God’s greatness, “Professor is there such a thing as heat?” The professor answers, “Yes.” “And is there such a thing as cold?” Again, the professor answers “Yes” to which the student answers, “No sir there isn’t.” The student explains “You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super heat, mega heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest 458 degrees.

The student then does the same thing with light and darkness to show that darkness doesn’t exist by itself; it is the absence of light.

Finally, the student asks “Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?” The professor answers “Yes” and then refers to the news saying that you read and hear about all the crimes reported. To this the student replied “Evil does not exist or at least it doesn’t exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.” The professor had nothing to say and sat down.

Fr. Carl

P.S.: The student’s name was Albert Einstein.