Drumroll.... The lift is now fully operational! Ribbon Cutting before 5:00 PM Mass on April 1st! Please be patient as we train our staff and volunteers on its usage. We welcome back our parish family who have been unable to join us for services during this downtime. Please call the office for more information.
MASS SCHEDULE:Daily Mass: M-F 9am* | SAT 5pm* | SUN 8am, 10am* & Noon
KINGDOM KIDSChildren's Liturgy offered at the 10am Mass Weekly, unless otherwise noted. ADORATIONTuesday & Thursday 8am RECONCILIATIONIn the Back Pew of the Church Monday & Wednesday 8am, Saturday 4pm or by appointment. Worship with us in person or via LIVE STREAM or watch on your own time on YouTube MASS CARDS - Available upon request, please call the Rectory at 856-667-8850. |
Beyond the Grave
Dear Parish Family,
Over the course of these past three weeks, we have met people in various forms of darkness: the woman at the well in the darkness of sin; the man born blind in natural darkness; now we find Lazarus in the ultimate darkness of death. Last week we heard Jesus say, “I am the light of the world.” Today, Jesus announces, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And to prove this proclamation, He raises Lazarus from the dead..
Jesus and the disciples are friends of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. They dined together, and perhaps more than once the band of followers passed the night in their home. A deep sense of the Messiah and his mission touched the lives of these siblings. Today, we find Jesus and his disciples journeying to the sisters to accompany them at the passing of Lazarus. At the outset, Jesus says “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God” (Jn 11:4). Similarly, Jesus taught his disciples that the man was born blind not because of sin but, “So that the works of God might be made visible through him” (Jn 9:3). While blindness and death are great tragedies, with the eyes of faith we can see how they can also be great opportunities for God to reveal himself in the Son of Man.
Sight and Blindness
Dear Friends,
Recently I learned that Aaron Rodgers spent four days in a darkness retreat. Spending time in the dark, away from all stimuli can be a great way to expand our sight, maybe to give us fresh eyes? Apparently, he was doing some soul searching and wanted to pull away from the noise of the world. Today the light, noise and connectivity are almost inescapable. A wonderful Lenten challenge could include unplugging from technology for forty days, or even just one or two days a week. Challenging, but so good. My retreat this summer at the Trappist monastery in Gethsemani, KY proved such a powerful way to unplug.
But what of light and sound? It makes me recall a news story about the few places on earth that do not suffer from sound contamination, but where one would only hear natural sounds. Apparently planes can even be heard from the heart of the Amazon with some frequency. Rather than looking for completely natural places, we might also consider something like the sense deprivation tank used in the popular Stranger Things series. Did you know that one could immerse oneself in such a tank in downtown Washington, DC? We modern humans go through great lengths to separate ourselves from the light and noise we modern humans have created.
Spiritual Food and Living Water
My Dear Family,
I have been praying for you this Lent. I do pray for our parish everyday, but… well, it was getting a little automatic. The feeling and freshness of my prayer had waned. For Lent with our Fresh Eyes homily series, I wanted to take a fresh approach to this prayer and really lift up our whole spiritual family into the arms of God. I pray you are having a wonderful and fruitful Lenten journey.
God is alive - the fullness of life! And He is active all the time. One philosophical definition for God is “pure act” (actus purus), meaning no potential energy but only actuated or kinetic energy. God is the opposite of the couch potato. His action is constant. In the Letter to the Hebrews we encounter a powerful biblical phrase that compliments that idea nicely: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb 4:12) We hold that the very same Word of God took flesh and dwelt among us, the fullness of grace and truth - Jesus Christ (see Jn 1:14).
