Jesus dwells here among us! Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

As our parish gathers this Sunday, we celebrate the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, both in our Tabernacle and on this Altar, and how this real presence of Jesus affects our lives and our cultural heritage.

Today, we are celebrating as well a part of our pastoral ministry to educate each other in the religion of our forefathers in a way that will nourish and support the faith that is handed down from God to our families.

Educating ourselves on the realities of faith begins and ends in the family. Worship of God as an expression of gratitude for what we have learned, begins and ends here in the Church, here with the Eucharist as our primary act of thanksgiving for our collaboration in making God’s Kingdom come.

Our parish venerates this Sacrament in which God lies cloaking His Face with what appears to be Bread and Wine, but what has become in essence the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.  He is whole and entire and perfect in each piece and in every drop.

Other ecclesial communities who are not blessed with the eyes of faith see only bread and wine on our Altar, but for true believers, we see the actual Body and Blood of Christ. This is what distinguishes us among other Christians and from other religions – Jesus dwells here among us and we recognize, respect and sanctify the place where He dwells.

My dear friends, the affects of this presence are significant for us as a parish and as individuals. Our reception of this sacrament strengthens us with enough grace to fight our daily battle against evil, prejudice, injustice and temptation.

When we receive just one host, we have within us enough grace to completely convert our hearts and to bring to communion other hearts that seek God.

Every Sunday we gather to firstly offer our daily work in union with the real and effectual sacrifice of Jesus on this Altar; being grateful for the opportunity God gives us to live charitably.

At the same time, grateful to us for being laborers in his vineyard, God gives us His Son in Holy Communion; His real Body and Blood made so by the hands of the priest who is Christ his Shepherd and Mentor.

People who miss this opportunity loose a connectedness with God that He desires for us. People who miss Mass slowly turn away from the reality of Jesus in their lives, loosing the joy, forgetting the hope and burying the faith they were given from God Himself. If we want to achieve communion with Christ we need to receive the communion of Christ.

Throughout the ages, Christians have suffered the violence of other human beings in order to have Jesus in their heart and among them in their parishes. Catholics suffer today around the world at the hands of those who wish to destroy God and scourge the Church, so it is important for us to renew this worthy feast because in our suffering for Jesus Whom we love, the Church will be made strong! Together we can thank Him for the chance to defend our faith, this sacrifice, our Holy Communion with God.

As true believers in the real presence of Jesus, let us dedicate ourselves to adore and protect Him here in our sanctuary. Let our parish gathered every Sunday go out today and publically proclaim our faith in this land of the free. May our prayer be that of the sequence in today’s Mass:

“Jesus, with your love befriend us. You refresh us, You defend us. With Your eternal goodness send us forth in the land of life to see!”

We are worth His Eternal Love – Matthew 28:16-20

By worshipping the Holy Trinity, we realize the full truth about ourselves, that human beings are more than flesh; they are a union of body and soul. Because we have been raised up to this divine life, our dignity is that of co-heirs with Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit and children of the Father.

The Holy Spirit binds us together in holiness that is the very life of God and so we are always and everywhere caught up in a relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This is God’s most personal and intimate secret that we are worth His eternal love.

 

Parish celebrates First Holy Communion!

Good morning boys and girls, my dear parents, family members, catechists and guests,

Today is a very special day because what you will receive this morning will indeed change you for the rest of your life. By accepting this simple gift from God, by eating this Bread and drinking from this Cup you will accept with thankfulness the life of God in your heart.

Eating no other food can do this. Eating this Bread of Life will help you remember three very important things in your life:

  • God loves me.
  • I love God, and
  • Because I love Jesus, I love my neighbor.

I remember my First Communion day very well. It was a sunny day, 49 years ago in the Church where I was baptized. There are even pictures of me in my navy blue suit and white communion tie. The church looked very beautiful.

But at the heart of my wonderful memories is this one. Jesus entered my heart and with Jesus, God himself was with me. I realized this is a gift of love that is worth more than anything the world can give.

So on that day I was happy, because Jesus was inside me. I was 7 years old then and now approaching 56, it is still at the center of my life.

I promised then I would do my best to worship God with the parish on Sundays and holydays and that I would always receive Holy Communion worthily. And you know what?  The Lord has always taken me by the hand and guided me, even in difficult situations.

I hope that for all of you your First Communion will be the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Jesus in our parish and that together we can begin a journey of faith because when we walk with Jesus we do well and life becomes good.

Some of you will not be able to come to Christ on Sundays. Your families will have other priorities or Holy Communion will take a lesser role in your life.

But you know what to do. You know how to prepare to receive Holy Communion worthily, don’t you? You go to Confession. You now can ask a priest for confession any time you need to confess your sins. You don’t have to wait. All of us who are privileged to receive our Lord in communion want to receive him worthily, so if we have serious sin on our soul, we see a priest so we can have our sins forgiven.

It is very helpful to confess to a priest regularly. It is true: our sins can be always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same don’t we? Otherwise, the dirt just keeps building up!

It is the same for our souls, if I never go to confession, if I begin to ignore my soul I will grow up thinking only about myself and no longer understand that I need to become an adult. And this cleaning of the soul, which Jesus gives us in the Sacrament of Confession, helps us to make our consciences more alert, more open, and hence, it also helps us to mature spiritually and as human persons.

So remember boys and girls, these two sacraments are our friends because Jesus wants to stay with us at every moment in our lives.

You are always welcome here among your parish family who want to help you grow and know God more deeply. If together your family finds time for God, your family will find time for each other.

My dear Parents and Friends,

The Eucharist is not a moment in your child’s life; it is your child’s life. It is an attitude about life. It orients the person toward self-sacrifice, humility before God, and caring for the dignity of every human person. If your child grows up thinking that what is important is worldly success alone then there will be no time to spend in the hearth of the family. The Eucharist is the heart of the family and Confession is the health of the family. With these two sacraments, our families can mature in their knowing of the Holy Family.

Boys and Girls,

Trust your parents to be good examples for you in receiving Holy Communion. Do what they do because they believe that what you accept today will change your life and the life of the world.

Congratulations to you and your families. Our parish and the whole Church gives thanks to God through Mary, Mother of Divine Providence who offers us this very special gift-the whole life of His Son because He loves you.

"The Spirit of God will guide you to all the truth." John 15:26-27;16:12-15

 

Today the Church celebrates its birthday here in this parish, by the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostles experienced loss in those hectic days after the crucifixion; they experienced the fear of change, and the confusion of not knowing what the future would hold for them.

Gathered in the Upper Room, the Apostles waited anxiously for the Lord to ignite their hearts and give them the direction and the urgency to complete His Divine Providence.

But as our parish gathers to worship God today, we can feel Pentecost as the living memory of the Church on fire with the Spirit of Truth.

Since Easter, we have connected with the memory of the Apostles who enliven our hearts and minds to the reality of what is means that God is alive and dwells among us.

At this Mass, we welcome all God’s children, young and older; we want to share our special connection to Christ and what we have learned about how the Holy Spirit guides and inspires us in the mysterious ways of God.

Our parish has stood on this holy ground for forty-eight years as a testament to the power of God, of our willingness to love Him by loving our neighbor.

Our love has faltered, but His love has never changed. He joins us here in our spiritual home to invigorate  Christian Life in King of Prussia.

The Scriptures reveal how the Apostles accepted and used the gifts received from the Holy Spirit to witness and proclaim Jesus’ great love.

Since our founding thousands of us have been brought to Christ and have served the Church in various and ways.  Mother of Divine Providence Parish saves souls:! This is what we do, our purpose, our goal!  We pray for souls, our brothers and sisters. We nourish them in the faith. We educate them, and in the end, we translate them into heaven, our true home.

Today, let us celebrate the faith that is and will be supported here, the love that is and will be engendered here and the relationships that began here and will continue into the long future ahead of us.

This Pentecost Day, our birthday! Give thanks to God who brought us together then and now as part of the Mother of Divine Providence family.

In this way, it is the Spirit of God Who descends on us today that makes this parish ever ancient, ever new!

Carry the Light of this Easter Candle before the world with confidence and hope, that whatever we say or do will breathe new life in others and together, in the end we will all sing together the great Hymn of resurrection: Jesus is alive, He has been raised up and walks before us, alleluia!

 furosemide 10 mg

Truth is not an individual reality.Truth comes only from God. John 17:11b-19

Today, our parish continues her meditation on the Risen life, in expectation of the coming of the Holy Spirit, who is love. As the Body of Christ, we join every member of the Universal Church in waiting to be consecrated in Truth.

We hear Jesus the night before he died say: “Father keep them in your love.” We are indeed his people. He prays for us now, today in our world, he remembers us as his body as his people. The psalmist says “all my being bless his holy name.”

We encounter the Risen Christ here in King of Prussia when we experience the gathering of the one body of Christ. When we come together on Sundays to worship God, he dwells with us and in our homes.

Our unity with each other leads us to communion with Christ.

In this context, the Holy Spirit consecrates us in Truth. Truth is not an individual reality. It does not center on my needs or me. Truth comes only from God.  John reveals the Truth that sets us free: “If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.”

The Easter Season ends next Sunday on Pentecost. In these last days seek the silence of God in waiting. Come to understand that only Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Experience the joy of Spirit’s presence among us, adore God in your heart, encounter him in confession, discover him in your invitation to others to join us here in the heart of our family life. Remember, God is always here, waiting for you.

The Parish and the New Evangelization

As our parish prepares herself for the Year of Faith, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, we can focus with the Universal Church on the ‘new evangelization’ espoused by Blessed John Paul II and taken up by the Order of Bishops for our sanctification and the deepening of our faith.

The parish becomes the focal point in our efforts to understand firstly that the root of our faith lies in the faith of our Archbishop, and secondly, that our Archbishop sends us forth in the name of Jesus to help him in the mission given to him by the grace of God and the Apostolic See.

The Holy Spirit walks with us on our journey to heaven, a journey we do not take alone, for Catholics believe in community, we are indeed defined by community, the deep sense of communion which gives definition to our Church and to our family life.

Blessed John Paul II did so much to identify the role of the Successor of Peter, the Apostle, as the Vicar of Christ, as the Apostle and Bishop who teaches, governs and sanctifies the Universal Church. This same reality applies to our local Apostle, the Archbishop who is the High Priest, the Shepherd and the Apostle for us as servant and with us as father.

Saint Basil the Great, in the book On the Holy Spirit, taken from the Office for January 2, writes this: “A spiritual man is one who no longer lives by the flesh but is led by the Spirit of God, one called a son of God.” This can be seen as the overall context of our parish life; the reason why parishes are formed, so we can be ‘spiritual’ men and women and support one another’s life in the Spirit.

“We are all members of one another, but with different gifts according the grace God gives us. So the eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need you, not the head say to the feet, I have no need of you. All the members together make up the body of Christ in unity of the Spirit.” “God has arranged the various parts of the body according to his own will (Bishops and parishioners) but there exists among them all a spiritual fellowship which makes it natural for them to share one another’s feelings and to be concerned for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer with it, if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

Also, in this great Year of Faith, the Church celebrates Fifty years since the Opening of the Second Vatican Council.

As our parish prepares herself for the Year of Faith, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, we can focus with the Universal Church on the ‘new evangelization’ espoused by Blessed John Paul II and taken up by the Order of Bishops for our sanctification and the deepening of our faith.
The parish becomes the focal point in our efforts to understand firstly that the root of our faith lies in the faith of our Archbishop, and secondly, that our Archbishop sends us forth in the name of Jesus to help him in the mission given to him by the grace of God and the Apostolic See.
The Holy Spirit walks with us on our journey to heaven, a journey we do not take alone, for Catholics believe in community, we are indeed defined by community, the deep sense of communion which gives definition to our Church and to our family life.
Blessed John Paul II did so much to identify the role of the Successor of Peter, the Apostle, as the Vicar of Christ, as the Apostle and Bishop who teaches, governs and sanctifies the Universal Church. This same reality applies to our local Apostle, the Archbishop who is the High Priest, the Shepherd and the Apostle for us as servant and with us as father.
Saint Basil the Great, in the book On the Holy Spirit, taken from the Office for January 2, writes this: “A spiritual man is one who no longer lives by the flesh but is led by the Spirit of God, one called a son of God.” This can be seen as the overall context of our parish life; the reason why parishes are formed, so we can be ‘spiritual’ men and women and support one another’s life in the Spirit.
“We are all members of one another, but with different gifts according the grace God gives us. So the eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need you, not the head say to the feet, I have no need of you. All the members together make up the body of Christ in unity of the Spirit.” “God has arranged the various parts of the body according to his own will (Bishops and parishioners) but there exists among them all a spiritual fellowship which makes it natural for them to share one another’s feelings and to be concerned for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer with it, if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
Also, in this great Year of Faith, the Church celebrates Fifty years since the Opening of the Second Vatican Council.

MOTHER OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE PRAYER CORNER

What is Prayer?  St. Therese of Lisieux defines prayer as “a surge of the heart:  it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy”.  When we pray, we turn our mind and heart toward God.  He is the source of our life and all that we are and have.  We depend on Him for everything.

Our Mother of Divine Providence Prayer Corner will list the names of all those people that we pray for each Sunday at Mass –  the sick and the deceased.  Let us join in prayer as a community for all who are in need of God’s loving care.

For the Sick:     Clarice Merritt, John Mahar,  Madison Sassa, Theresa McCade, Richard Gries,  Walt Quick, Brian Cooper, Mary Humay, Dolores Waterman.

For those who have died:   Dr. Nicholas Padano, Mary Lou Beatty, Elizabeth Carey, Mary Ann Murray, Nicholas Gabrielli, Alexander Panzano, Joseph Knowlan, Margaret Capone,David Stephenson, Joseph Morio, Jr., John T. Conway, Sr.,H. William Schmidt, Walter Beehan.

Love One Another As I Love You

What a daunting command Jesus leaves us with this morning: “Love one another as I love you.”  Sharing of ourselves as Christ did, with a self-emptying love, is the greatest expression of love there is.  It comes from a choice we make togive our self completely to others; and in doing so share the joy that is our love.  I think we learn a lot about God’s love for us, and how to live his command, by observing His love at work in others.

This past March, while Philadelphia enjoyed summer-like weather, several states were rocked by a series of devastating tornados. You may remember the stories about it in the national news. As one tornado thundered across Indiana, Stephanie Decker gathered her son Dominic and daughter Reese into the basement of their home. She huddled them under a comforter and then laid her body on top of them.  When the winds of the tornado hit their house they were blowing at 175 miles-per-hour.  The house was leveled in seconds and debris rained down on top of Stephanie.

After the tornado passed Stephanie realized that she couldn’t move.  But her children were unhurt.  She sent 8 year old Dominic to get help and, within minutes, a neighbor found Stephanie under a pile of rubble.  Her legs were crushed by the aftermath of the storm. Continue reading “Love One Another As I Love You”

We were chosen for joy! John 15:9-17

The Gospel passage is proclaimed within the context that it was not we who chose God, but rather God who, in his grace, approached us with a call and an offer made out of his love. This Gospel reveals the purpose of our call:

We are chosen for joy! We are chosen for love! We are chosen to be his friends!

The Christian is a person whose joy may be complete. No matter what charism a Christian has been given, if it isn’t accompanied by joy the charism will not ignite the human heart. Joy is the first charism of the Christian and radiates more brightly in darkened times.

The Christian is a person who defines love by his life. “No one can show greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ For the Christian, love extends even to enemies and so we must work to love even those who despise us.

Finally, Jesus chose us to be his friends and the friends of God. No longer do we need to approach God from far off. We are not slaves. Jesus gave us an intimacy with God, so that he no is longer distant or a stranger, but very close, in fact as close to us as our heart.

If we truly believe in the power of our baptism we will live out the call of Christ to complete our joy, extend our love and define our friendship, ‘because love is of God; (and) everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God…not that we have loved God, but that he loved us…’

My dear friends, if we find ourselves struggling with this Gospel ask yourself, have I loved God enough? If not, then love Him more!

OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

THE EASTER VIGIL – The Mother of all Vigils – It is wonderful that the church celebrates Easter for so long.  The Easter Season seems to last forever.  And rightly so.  This gives us the time to savor the experience of the Easter Vigil – the anticipation of the resurrection of Jesus.  Each year the vigil is celebrated in the same way, but it never gets old.  It is celebrated as if it is a first time experience and it is for some.  I do believe that my favorite part is the lighting of the fire and the preparation of the Paschal Candle.  The candle is lit and carried into the church in procession and the people enter behind it.  The church is in darkness except for the light from the Paschal Candle, that one flame.  As often as I enter the church and think I know my way, when it is dark, I stumble and hold onto the pews to find my way until all of the candles held by the people are lit.  Then, we become secure again in our journey forward — the following the Light of Christ — Jesus, the light of the world.  Once in church, we hear the readings from the Old Testament which relate to us the saving power of God which moves us into the salvation story.  All that was “lost” during or Lenten journey — the holy wanter, the bells, the candles, the alleluias return during theis celebration.  This year, we were blessed to have 7 people receive the sacraments of initiation — Baptism, Confirmaion and Holy communion.  The community grows in number and our spirit is strengthened.  The Paschal Candle is now lit for all of our liturgies as a reminder to us that Jesus is alive and lives among us.  May we never lose the excitement experienced during this Vigil.