Advent

Advent is the beginning of our Liturgical Year. So, if you are inclined to make New Year’s resolutions, and immediately break them, why not have a faith based trial run! The cool part of this strategy is that a faithful resolution can better prepare us to celebrate the Christmas Season. 

While weight loss, and exercise routines might be unattainable, this is the perfect time for us to double down on the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Round one begins with the Corporal works, feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, offer shelter and support to those in need, visit the sick, ransom the captive, and bury the dead. These are all things that we think of during the lead up to Christmas. 

If you are ready to level up, there are the Spiritual Works of Mercy. We don’t always think of these, but they are deeply and spiritually important. We can instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful (in spiritual crisis), call sinners back to God, bear wrongs and injustice with humility and grace, forgive abundantly, comfort the afflicted, and pray for the living and the dead. 

These works of our faith can prepare us to welcome Christ the Lord in commemoration of His Birth, but much more importantly, when He comes again. 

This week, let us pray that we can approach the world with an open heart, to care for those both physically and spiritually in need. When we do this, we truly see, and walk with Christ. 

God Bless and have a fruitful Advent. 

Give Thanks to the Lord

I hope that you and your family had a joyful Thanksgiving, and that you are making good headway through all of those leftovers. We give thanks for the food that we have, the company that we share, and for all the ways that God continues to bless us. 

For me there was a particularly special blessing, because my daughter Avila just this weekend turned 4 years old. It is hard to believe how time flies when you are busy living your life. When she was born it was a challenging time. Her birth was not without complications, and the world was also not without complications. 

While it wasn’t the beginning of Covid-19 the world had not returned entirely to normal. There were still fears and struggles and uncertainty. Yet that same time brought the joy of new life. 

As we enter today, into the season of Advent we can reflect on the fact that there were a ton of complications, trials and tribulations from the time Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden to the day that Christ was born. 

Even when Jesus was born, and grew up, that joy and time of transition brought uncertainty, change, and challenge. While Christ Jesus came to restore all things to God, it meant that people who were doing it wrong were all called to grow, and change, and face where they were wrong. You have to imagine that this was a complicated time for them. 

This year, as we begin Advent, let us pray that we can have the fortitude to grow, and change, and shift with the reality that Christ is King, and we are called to follow Him through times of suffering, trial, and change.

God Bless and have a fruitful Advent. 

A Jubilee of Catechists

This Sunday, November 23rd Catechists from across the archdiocese will gather for a special Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. This liturgy will be presided over by Cardinal Tobin, and honor those who serve in a very important way the people of God.

To catechize people is to instruct or even echo the word of God to everyone we meet. We proclaim that Christ was born, He ministered to the world, and cured the sick, performed miracles and taught. After a very short 3 year earthly ministry Jesus was tried, then suffered, died and was buried. Then Christ rose again for. He did this all for the forgiveness of our sins, and to restore the right relationship between God and mankind. 

To be a catechist we need to have a personal understanding and experience of that truth. We have to make ourselves comfortable with sharing that experience with others. Then we have to frequently invite others to experience the Lord with us.

While at first it may seem intimidating to formally teach the faith to others, within this parish we have a dedicated group of volunteers who serve how they can. Some can serve only at the Summer Academy. Others still will help during the year, and still others feel comfortable only working with other adults. 

While at the Jubilee of Catechists we formally celebrate volunteers like Connie Boruch, Geraldine and Deacon Colm Keogh, Heba Fortunato, Alyssa Macola, Marielle Carroll, Mara Haight, Emma Ceraulo, Elaine Carman Dorothy Klein, Emily McGuire and Nancy Gorka who have served with our Summer Academy and beyond. While we can honor the service of others like Steve Prato, the Rykowski and Leung family, Alissa Stumpf and Malissa Morabito, Christina Peeney, Alana Beardsley and Jillian Miele, and so many others who have served in the past. We can acknowledge that we are all called to serve and share the Gospel in one way or another. 

This week, let’s pray that we can all have a generous heart, and joyfully echo the Good News to every friend and neighbor, coworker and fellow student. So that the joy of the Gospel can reach far and wide. 

God Bless and have a Wonderful Week! 

Jesus Needed to Get Away

So much of what we think of when we reflect on Jesus’ ministry is that He was constantly giving and serving. Healing the sick, curing the blind, casting out demons, and spending time with the outcasts. If we are doing what Jesus has called us to, a lot of our life should look like that as well. 

However, when we seek to follow after Him, we tend to think that we always have to hyper extend ourselves, and even neglect ourselves. Yet, from the few anecdotes we get from His life in the Gospels, we have to realize that Jesus would go off to seek solitude and prayer. 

Before major moments of mission and ministry, and even just before He went to give Himself on the Cross, Jesus took time to reconnect with the Father in prayer. We can find ourselves pushing, and plotting, and designing, and programming to build His kingdom, yet we don’t take the time to reconnect. 

A lot of work went into offering a parish retreat. Planning began in the Summer, lots of prayers were said, there was plenty of reflection, and then it happened. It was an opportunity for the faithful to connect with each other, and with God, to point out the moments in our lives where God has intervened, and we might have missed Him. 

Like with all opportunities some took advantage, and some were too busy. This is where I offer an invitation. Let us all pray for those who were too busy to be present, that they might find the opportunity to take a rest like Jesus, refocus, and feel the positive consequences that will follow. For those who took the opportunity, we pray that the opportunity led to their personal growth, and how they connect with God and others in the future. 

Good Bless, and Have a Blessed Week

An Interesting Reminder

In many churches you will find on the property, either in the crypt or somewhere on the grounds, a burial space and memorial for the founding pastor, and other influential members of the history of that parish. While this is an ancient tradition, in many of the older churches, and was only built 60 years ago, you will actually find Rev. George Byrne is buried on the property. 

If you exit the main doors of the church, facing Martine Avenue, and walk towards the exit driveway you will find a black stone monument to the Immaculate Heart, and directly behind that, a large flat stone monument for Fr. Byrne. It shows that he was born in 1912, was ordained in the 30s, founded our parish in the 60s, and passed away the year I was born 1983. 

Over last weekend we had a lot going on. We had Reconciliation preparation, our Confirmation Rite of Names, and I spent time with families running our Thanksgiving Food Drive. I almost forgot to mention that it was also All Souls Day! 

While there were lulls in the drive I brought groups of young people and parents over to the grave of Father Byrne. While there we prayed for his eternal reward, for father’s intercession, and for the strength, health, and future for our parish community as we move forward. I encourage you to take a similar pilgrimage in the coming weeks. Go to the grave of our founding pastor and say a prayer, perhaps this prayer.

Heavenly Father, Your servant George built your church of Immaculate Heart of Mary on this site over 60 years ago. Grant your servant his eternal reward. Bless the ministry he began here, enlighten the leaders of this parish, and the faithful so that we might continue to bring the love of Christ to all we meet. Amen!

God Bless, and Have a Blessed Week