I’m delighted to see so many of you returning to church for Sunday Mass; it’s so important for us as faithful individuals and as a community of faith! For the few of you who have not yet returned, I offer you this short but very informational video from Bishop Robert Barron. I hope it will inspire you to join us in person and look forward to seeing you in church! Msgr. Brouwers
As you have probably read or heard on the news, the U.S. bishops have been engaged over the past several months in a sometimes heated debate regarding the Eucharist and who should be receiving it. Abp. Jose Gomez, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, provided a press release last week; it includes a statement from him and Q and A on the issue. Although it appears to me to be a bit of damage control and an attempt to rewrite the story, I offer it for your reflection. Msgr. […]
“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4)
Seventeen years ago, Msgr. Carroll retired as pastor of St. Hilary of Poitiers parish, Rydal, PA, and Msgr. Jagodzinski invited him to come here as a senior priest. This is a designation given to a priest who has reached the age of 70 and is able to continue serving but is no longer required to be involved in administrative duties. Five years later, having reached the canonical retirement age, Msgr. Carroll chose to stay here, celebrating Sunday and […]
Deuteronomy 4:32 – 34, 39 – 40
We have returned to Ordinary Time, that is, time ordered according to God’s plan for our salvation. As we do so, the Church has offered us over these next two Sundays the opportunity to reflect on two very important aspects of our faith: the Blessed Trinity and The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. These are two fundamental beliefs that inform everything else we believe about God. This Sunday, we focus on the mystery of the Holy Trinity. As we read in the […]
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
(Acts 2:1-4)
With this dramatic description from today’s first reading, we […]
On this, Pentecost Sunday, we come to the end of the Easter Season as we celebrate the birth of the Church and hear an exhortation of how we are to live as the Church. Different readings are prescribed for the Vigil Mass than for the Mass on Sunday and that there are options for both sets of readings. I will reflect on the readings for Sunday that I will use at the Masses I will celebrate. I don’t know which readings Fr. Waters and Fr. Reilly will use, so don’t […]
As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)
This past Thursday, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension of […]
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers of the parish and the mothers of all our parishioners! We all know how important our mothers have been to us as we grew up and so we join with our nation in honoring them today. And, during this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we become even more aware of the essential role mothers play in our homes in ways that we may have taken for granted in the past.
Mother’s Day has a very long history; allow me to offer a little background. The earliest tributes […]
John 15:9 – 17
This Sunday, we hear a continuation from last week of Jesus’ address to the apostles at the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel. Whereas last week we heard Jesus provide a parable about the vine and the branches, this week, we hear Jesus speak of the Father’s love and his call to his disciples to love in the same way. As you will read in your footnotes, most scholars consider the section of 13:31 – 17:26 to be Johannine compositions, modeled on farewell discourses found in […]
John 15:1 – 8
Last Sunday, we heard Jesus speak of himself as the Good Shepherd. He used that image against the Jewish leaders, whom he, by inference, characterized as bad shepherds, mere hirelings who are in it for themselves. He, on the other hand, was the Good Shepherd who “lays down his life for his sheep.” As I mentioned last week, this is the only occasion in the Gospel of John where Jesus uses a human image as an analogy for himself.
This Sunday, we hear Jesus speak of himself in […]
