​Dearly Beloved,
 
Jesus tells Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life" (Jn 11: 25). Jesus promises Martha that her brother, Lazarus, will be raised from the dead because Jesus can restore life. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. This declaration is of great importance and effect to Martha and Mary as they are to all of us who are spiritually dead in sin. As we get closer to the remembrance and deeper participation in the passion of Christ, as we approach Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday next week, we should be seeking Christ's resurrection of our spiritual life if they have suffered deadly wounds inflicted by sin; Jesus desires to give life back to our souls so that we may celebrate with joyful praise the paschal mystery. 
 
As with the elect who will present themselves to Christ, who gave us the sacraments to lift us to eternal life, we, too, those already baptized, should be preparing our sinful souls for Jesus to heal and redeem them through the sacrament of penance. We are all sinners; we have sinned and need a remedy for our spiritually sick souls.
 
What is sin? It is an act contrary to reason, a choice to violate God's law of love. It is mortal when it involves grave matter and is done freely and with awareness of doing it. It may be mortal or venial; it may have broken or severed our relationship with God or done some light damage to it, as the case may be. Whatever the case, sin is like cancer that grows, and only Jesus, through the merits of his passion, death and resurrection, can cure it. He does it for us in the sacrament of reconciliation. The parish is holding her penance service on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Please, properly examine your conscience and come to the service to receive new life if you know you need it. Jesus is ever-loving and forgiving. He wants to forgive us, but we must acknowledge that we are sinners and confess our sins to his priests. Please take some time to check the Holy Week schedule and make plans to be fully involved in all the preparation for Easter.
 
Please note that I will be the speaker at the Elizabethtown Ministerium Lenten service on Wednesday at Sell Chapel. It starts at 7 p.m. I would like your support by praying for me and attending in large numbers. Thanks.
 
Fr. Bernard, O.P.
 

 
Dearly Beloved,
 
“Jesus said to him, ‘you have seen him, the one speaking to you is he’” (Jn 9:37). The Gospel account of Jesus healing the man born blind is a story of faith. It is about enlightenment that develops over time. The Christian life is about the journey of seeing. We all are born blind; that is spiritual blindness. Sin is indicative of this state of spiritual blindness. Jesus is the light of the world, and he has come to heal our blindness. Spiritual blindness points to a state of unbelief, and Jesus came to offer a remedy for it. In the encounter with the man born blind, Jesus restores his sight in stages. He first makes a healing paste from the soil and his saliva and then sends the man to wash his face in the pool of Siloam. The water here also represents the water of baptism that washes our sins away, sins that blind us from seeing and believing God. Hence, we can point to faith and the sacrament of baptism in this story.
 
We cannot fail to see the connection between the healing of blindness and the sacrament of enlightenment, the baptism our elects are preparing to receive at the Easter vigil (which we all have already received in our baptism). Our elects, our candidates, and indeed all of us grow little by little in our faith. Our vision gets better and better as we continue to stay connected with Jesus. Beginning with our baptism and through the Sacraments of Holy Eucharist and Confirmation, we continue to improve our faith and understanding of who Jesus is.
 
We must continue to pray for all our fourteen children who received the Sacrament of Confirmation from the hands of Bishop Robert Gainer last Sunday. They are only beginning to see and know Jesus better. We must support them in getting their full sight. And may the suffering and sorrows that accompany our growth yield the fullness of joy.
 
In the words of Prophet Isaiah, I urge you to “be joyful, all who are mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast” ( Is. 66: 10-11). May St Joseph guide us to the Light of Christ.
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

​Dearly Beloved,
 
"Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink'" (Jn 4:7). Jesus was thirsty. So he asked the Samaritan woman for water to drink. So here, Jesus' thirst for water is beyond the bodily need for refreshment; Jesus thirsts for the Samaritan woman's faith. So in Lent, our elects and all the baptized prepare their hearts to receive and profess faith in the paschal lamb who, by his passion, death and resurrection, has won us victory over sin and death. Each of us thirsts for living water, Christ's divine life. Each of us longs for something beyond our capacity to provide, a deep desire in our soul; only Jesus can supply or satisfy it. Are you thirsty?
 
We may or may not realize it, but in each of us is a thirst for divine love, a more profound longing than we imagine. Unfortunately, we often don't give this a thought. Whenever we find our spirit restless, it is because it is yet to find a suitable home in Jesus Christ. So, we continue to search in the wrong places, like the Samaritan. Lent offers us time to seek Jesus and get attached to Him. He is the trustworthy source of living water, the only thing satisfying our thirst. 
 
Prayers, fasting and almsgiving, are spiritual means of opening up our hearts to Jesus to drench them in the living water, and the water He shall give will become in us a spring welling up to eternal life. So let's keep the spirit of Lent and intensify our thirst for the living water Jesus alone can give. 
 
I ask all of us to pray, especially for our elects, James Hathaway, Samantha Cornwell, Terry Martin and Drake Pugh, who undergo their First Scrutiny this Sunday as part of their spiritual journey toward receiving the Sacraments of Initiation at Easter Vigil. I also ask you to pray for all our confirmands as Bishop Ronald Gainer confirms them this Sunday afternoon. I told them last Sunday during their interview that the best way to prepare for the strengthening of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in them is to thirst for it every day. So may they be satisfied by the living water that Jesus gives.
 
Friday, March 17, is a special day for me-a Nigerian Irish! It is the feast of St. Patrick. As you probably know, the bishop has lifted the lenten obligation to abstain from meat just so that we joyfully celebrate the faith of a great missionary who had his thirst for liberation and joy fulfilled by Jesus. As we say in Irish Gaelic, Beannachtai na Feile Padraig oraibh/ Happy St. Patrick's Day!
 
Your Thirsty Irish,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dearly Beloved,
 
"This is my beloved son; listen to him" (Mt 17:5). How do we listen to Jesus, God's beloved son? Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain of transfiguration, joining Jesus. Jesus was in the company of his close disciples, Peter, James and his brother John when Jesus' face transfigured and his clothes became dazzling white. These appearances and transfiguration are indicative of a divine encounter. Moses and Elijah had previously encountered God on Mount Sinai or Horeb. Jesus has been revealed in his glory as he begins a new exodus that will lead to the liberation of humanity from sin and death by his death on the cross. God the Father commands us to listen to his son at his transfiguration. What do we listen to, and how do we hear?
 
Lent is a season for listening to God's voice speak to our hearts. As we go into the desert to pray and fast with Jesus for forty days, and as we return to the Father and deepen our love and relationship with him through Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, let us not fail to find time to listen to the "sound of silence." I am here alluding to Simon and Garfunkel's classic song title, "The Sound of Silence ("Bridge over Water" and "The Sound of Silence are two of my favorite songs of all time-pardon my digression, I could not resist the temptation. Did I not preach about how to overcome temptations last week? Lol!). It is a paradox. How do you juxtapose sound with silence? How do you hear and listen to the "sound" of silence? I find the song's last lines helpful: "The words of the prophets are written on the subway halls, in tenement halls. And whispered in the sounds of silence." Elijah once showed us that God speaks to us in a "still small voice" (1 Kg 19: 12). 
 
Jesus still speaks to us if we choose to listen. To listen is an active act, not a passive attitude. To listen is to act on what we heard in a "still small voice." That voice speaks to us in Sacred Scriptures, the Holy Eucharist, and meditation before sacred icons like the Crucifix. St. Thomas Aquinas once heard a voice talk to him while meditating on the crucifix in a convent in Naples: "Thou has written well of me, Thomas. What reward will you have." He answered: "Domine, non nisi te (Lord, nothing except you). Likewise, St. Francis heard God telling him while praying before the crucifix in a broken-down church in San Damiano, "Francis, rebuild my church." If you listen to Jesus in the Gospels, Eucharistic adoration, and gaze on the crucifix, you will hear him calling you to a deeper union with him through ongoing conversion.
 
Regarding conversion, the catechumens we sent to the bishop for election are now called elects. They are currently going through a period of purification and enlightenment. This period of interior conversion will be aided by constantly listening to the voice of Jesus calling them to come closer. Let us join them in going through this period as we prepare to renew our baptismal vows at Easter. We have provided opportunities for reflective listening in our parish, especially at Lent. We have a quiet time to listen to Jesus exposed on the altar before or after daily masses, Monday to Friday; we have a bible study on the biblical root of Mass on Tuesday and Wednesday; we have a Hallow app to download on our phones to access podcasts to help us listen to Jesus; Liturgy of the Hours during Eucharistic Adoration on Thursday night inclusive of meditation on the Five Sacred Wounds of Jesus; Stations of the Christ on Friday preceded by a brief reflection on the Five Sacred Wounds of Jesus, and so on and forth.
 
What intentional plans do you have this Lent to listen for the voice of Jesus? Make plans and act on them. Then, I can guarantee you that you will grow closer to Jesus.
 
In His Heart,
 Fr. Bernard, OP

​Dearly Beloved,
 
"Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil" (Mt. 4:1). You will be tempted! You have been tempted to sin and will continue to be tempted. But you don't have to fall into the temptation to sin.  Why am I tempted? One of my Dominican brothers once wrote a little book with that title. One of many possible answers to that question is that Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, was tempted by the devil. Jesus' temptations are rooted in the sins of pleasure, possession and pride. The serpent tempted Eve and Adam in the same areas of human weaknesses. However, Jesus overcame his temptations while Eve and Adam fell to them.
 
The Temptation of Jesus puts our temptations in context. The three temptations Jesus encountered define the three basic temptations we all face: pleasure, possession, and pride. Like Jesus, we can overcome our temptations when we fight them by living a life of prayer, penance and giving. Lent allows us to practice these three biblical spiritual disciplines more intensely and intentionally. In addition, Lent calls us to metanoia, a change of heart. Then, if we are ready to return to God, we have support here in the parish this Lenten season.
 
The mystery of the cross will be a valuable symbol to guide us through this Lent. Do you remember the cross that was signed on your forehead on Ash Wednesday? Let us meditate around that cross. In this call to meditation on the cross, I strongly encourage you to attend the Stations of the Cross every Friday of Lent; after you eat our Fish Fry dinner, come into the church to pray. I will give a short reflection on the Five Sacred Wounds of Jesus on Fridays of Lent before or after the Stations. Be sure to attend our Thursday's Confession, Rosary, Mass and Adoration. We shall pray Liturgy of the Hours (Evening Prayers) during Adoration. Also, sign up for Hallow's 40-day Challenge. It is not too late to join. And there is more and more Lenten challenge to take on!
 
Marty Rotella will lead our Lenten reflection this Sunday from 7 pm through Spirit-filled music and message. You don't want to miss this faith-filled man of God. He brings healing, peace, and transformation of hearts through his Holy Spirit-led ministration. So come with your family and friends.
 
In Christ,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

​ 
 
Dearly Beloved,
 
God says, "Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Lv 19:2) and "be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5: 48). God's imperative call to holiness and perfection in sacred scripture is addressed to us today. But this Sunday, Jesus' sermon on the Mount demands a tough act and spirit from us: love your enemies. How do we even make sense of that or begin to do that? How can I want good for someone who wishes me evil?
 
In his infinite Wisdom, God calls us to a lifestyle that distinguishes us from the rest of the world. Our uniqueness as Christians derives from reflecting the nature of our loving and merciful Father. Therefore, Jesus requires us to extend love and mercy to all, including those who hate us, as our heavenly Father does. To do this, we must put on the mind of Christ. 
 
To become Christlike, we need a superabundance of grace. We can receive this by going on a retreat like I did last week. My five days of spiritual retreat allowed me to examine and restart my life. It was a time of prayer, meditation, and penance. We, as a church, get to do something similar beginning Wednesday. We will start our annual forty-day season of lent on Ash Wednesday. We will fix our hearts on "spiritual things" through a more intensified life of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As we observe holy lent this year, let us keep in our prayers all our catechumens and candidates preparing to receive or complete the sacraments of initiation. During Lent, the church prepares her children for holiness by renewing them in the sacraments of initiation. 
 
I invite you to receive ashes of penance on Wednesday and participate in the Lenten fish dinner and the Stations of the Cross on Friday.
 
In Christ's Love,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

 Dearly Beloved,
 
"Blessed are they who walk in the law of the Lord," who seek him with all their heart (See Ps. 119: 1-2). The heart of the matter in Graham Greene's 1948 classic novel, The Heart of the Matter, is that the protagonist, Scobie, is not in tune with his heart, hence his tragic moral disintegration. Green exploits the moral conflict in the heart of the tragic hero of his Catholic novel. (Now, some of you would be curious enough to check out the book from the library to read. That is the goal. Lol)" In this light, we, too, must check what is going on in our hearts.  We must get our hearts in line with the spirit of Christ.
 
Jesus said to his disciples: 'Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" (Mt. 5:17). Jesus, as he rightly says, did not come to do away with the Hebrew Bible, the law and the prophets;   instead, he came to point us to its spirit, its depth, its heart. Jesus wants to reform our hearts.
 
Jesus' Great Expectation (an allusion to Charles Dicken's novel) of his followers is to go deeper than the Scribes and    Pharisees. Our righteousness, goodness, and holiness must exceed theirs. We are to embrace the heart, the spirit, and the conscience of the matter at hand, the divine law. Jesus' new law leads us to the true intent of the law of God- love, grace, mercy, and freedom. The old law says you shall not kill, Jesus says you shall not give room to anger, the old law says you shall not commit adultery, but Jesus says you shall not lust after another person in your heart. The old law says you shall not swear falsely, but Jesus tells us not to swear. So let your "Yes" means "Yes" and your "No" means "No." Think about these things. Check the heart. 
 
Holy families are the heart of a holy church and community. So Holy Family Fest was held last Sunday in our church to help build and sustain our families in holiness. The Holy Family Fest "was awesome!" That is a quote from Georgann Azzalina. She adds, "Michelle did an EXCELLENT job. Woohoo!!" I share Georgann's excitement, and we appreciate Michelle Schmitt's passion and sacrifices to bring this family-building spiritual project into reality. Our Catholic families are essential for the continuity of the church. I am thankful to all the families that participated and look forward to more families getting involved the next time we hold Holy Family Fest. Please support our young families.
 
Enjoy the Super Bowl LVII with family and friends. I expect the winning team's supporters and friends to express thanks in Church next Sunday through attendance and contributions. Lol!
 
Have a Happy St. Valentine's Day! Love you all!!
 
In the Heart of Christ
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

​Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
"You are the salt of the earth...You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:13-14). I went into the social hall kitchen on Monday night. My visit to the kitchen this time was not to scavenge for snacks and soda as I do from time to time when I take an intermittent break from my work in the parish office. I went into the kitchen because I noticed the lights were on.   To cut to the chase, I found some members of our outstanding Council of Catholic Women preparing food for the ECHOS winter program for the homeless. They could have been somewhere else and doing something more suited to their pleasure, but they chose to serve the needs of the poor and homeless. They bring into reality prophet Isaiah's injunction from the Lord that says: "Share your bread with the hungry" (Is 58:7).  
 
Jesus calls us to be the "flavor" that preserves the integrity of society. He calls us to bring light to places and people in darkness. We can make a case that Jesus is speaking about social justice action in these verses of the Gospel. We can become the salt of the earth and the light of the world by serving the human dignity goals of the Catholic Church's social teaching, her best-kept secret. 
 
Jesus calls and sends every baptized Catholic to be an agent of justice for the poor. So, the church will naturally always make a preferential option for the poor. Several popes, including Pope St. John Paul II, have made this call for justice: "Love for others, and in the first place love for the poor, in whom the Church sees Christ himself, is made concrete in the promotion of justice (St. John Paul II, On the Hundredth Year [Centesimus Annus], no. 58). Our parish, through ministries like Men's Club, CCW, and St. Vincent de Paul, and others serve the social teaching of the church so well, and I once again encourage them to continue their services and urge more hands to join them to bring the salt and light of Christ to our world.
 
In His Light,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

​Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
"When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain...He began to teach them..." (Matthew 5:1). There is something to say about the designation of the church building on 1840 Marshall Dr/ 904 Mill Rd as a "new" church in comparison to the Historical Church as the "old" church. From the beginning of my time here, I have always contested the original nomenclature. I prefer to call the "new" church "the church on the Hill." I think my preference for that terminology is connected to the connotation of "mountain" in the Bible. A mountain is a place of divine revelation.  Moses encountered God and received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Jesus, the new and more outstanding Moses, also goes to the mountain to talk to God and to teach new commandments.  In Matthew 5-7, Jesus went up the mountain, his disciples came up to him there, and he taught them about the blessings of the Kingdom.
 
Our parish church of St. Peter, the church on the hill (or symbolically, mountain), is the sacred place we come to encounter Jesus, who feeds us on his word and body. In our church, like on the mount of the Beatitudes, Jesus still teaches us about who He is and who He expects us to be. So he speaks to us this Sunday on the Beatitudes, meaning the blessed or the happy. If we pay attention, we will discover that Jesus is telling us how fortunate we are to be who and where we are. He is telling us we are his disciples, and he is our Lord. He also tells us the characteristics and attitudes expected of his followers. What should be our attitude to life and people?
 
As people who are in a good place in life and are blessed, our values should upend those accepted by the world. The attitude of a believer, no matter what circumstances they find themselves in the world, should be that of hope in the joy of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, we should be meek, poor in spirit, peacemakers, righteous in our conduct, merciful, enduring, longsuffering, and so forth. Those values should always characterize us, no matter our situation.
 
The next time you drive up to the "church on the hill," or any Catholic church for that matter, remember that you are going to Jesus, who will teach you the right attitude to life. Jesus always teaches through the readings, especially in the Gospel and the homily. So listen attentively to what Jesus will teach you about the quality he expects of his followers in the world. For example, are you being called this Sunday to wear the attitude of humility, peacemaker, or mercy?
 
NB: The  Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on Thursday will also be observed as World Day for Consecrated Life. Therefore, please endeavor to attend mass if you can. Mass will honor and offer an opportunity to pray for those who have chosen to follow Christ through the practice of the evangelical counsels. I fit into that category; I'm a religious order priest. Also, on Friday, on the feast of St. Blaise, I will give the blessing of throats after the 8:00 am mass in the historic church.
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
"The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen" (Mt 4:16). When you glance through our church narthex, you will see signs of spiritual light. The Pro-Life basket raffle and Pro-Life baby shower donation displays (thanks to Pat Minick, Evelyn Watson, Rachel Clark, and the CCW) signify the light of Christ. Jesus is a great light shining on those in darkness and overshadowed by death. Jesus as light brings hope; his great light surpasses the darkness of the culture of death that overshadows our contemporary world. The darkness of death manifests itself in abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, gun violence, poverty, and other anti-dignity of live acts. We must reflect the light of Christ. We are to be the light shining to overcome darkness. Jesus, the great light, calls us to work and pray to defend human life from conception to natural death.
 
In the United States, we usually celebrate "Mass for giving Thanks to God for the gift of Human Life on January 22, the anniversary of Roe v Wade (overturned by the US Supreme Court on June 24, 2022- a happy day). However, since it falls on a Sunday this year, we shall celebrate the Mass on Monday, June 23, at 8:00 a.m. Mass. For decades, many Catholics have been praying and marching for respect for life, and we must continue to do so. It calls for sacrifices. I remember my first march for life in Washington, DC, in 2004; it was a cold day for someone who lived most of his life in the tropics. But the advocacy for protecting the life of the unborn and all endangered life was worth the sacrifice made that freezing day. It is still worth it today as the Word of God continues to enlighten us.
 
On this Sunday of the Word of God, as declared by Pope Francis in his motu propio of September 30, 2019, Aperuit illis, I urge every one of us to seek the light of Christ in the Scriptures. The word of God is a light unto our feet (Ps. 119:105). Therefore, let us make it an ongoing, lifelong habit of studying God's Word. Some of us have studied the Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz; we can do it repeatedly. Fr. Schmitz is also leading us in a year-long study of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Days 14-17 of last week focused on God's Word. These sections of The Catechism are beneficial in reading and interpreting the Sacred Scriptures. If you have not done so, please sign up for these podcasts and follow them religiously. Georgian Azzalina, our religious education coordinator, invites us to a discussion based on these podcasts. Please check the bulletin for directions for joining the discussion group.
 
Christ called us to spread the light of faith, hope, joy, unity, and peace. How are you called to be a light in your family, parish, and community at large? Can you be a light of unity in a world fragmented by disagreement over the meaning of life? Let us pray for unity among all Christians and all people of the world. Make the light of Christ shine on those dwelling in darkness.
 
In His Light,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
                                                "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will" (Ps 40:8).
 
The Christmas season  may be over, but the Word-made flesh continues to appear in our Liturgy during the Ordinary Time. Jesus, "the Lamb of God" and the "light of the nations," reveals himself as one who came to do his Father's will. As he said somewhere else in the Gospel, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me" (Jn 4:34).
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2824) elaborates on Jesus doing the father's will: "In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once and for all. Jesus said on entering into this world: Lo, I have come to do your will, O God" (Heb. 10:7; Ps 40:7). Only Jesus can say: I always do what is pleasing to him (Jn 8:39)."
 
Jesus, who baptized us "with the Holy Spirit" (Jn 1:33), empowers us to be like him by obeying God's commands. Jesus calls and sends us to do God's will, loving and serving him. We must learn to listen to God speak to us in His Word and respond to his instruction in deeds. Like the Blessed Mother Mary, we must dedicate ourselves to doing God's will in all aspects of life. As St. Paul reminds us, we have been called and sent by the will of God to be holy (1 Cor 1:2). We achieve holiness by doing God's will. Are you doing God's will for you in our parish?
 
Reflect on these questions: How do I discern God's will for me? What are the obstacles to doing God's will, and how do I overcome them?
 
In His Will,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
                                                 “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you” (Ps 72:11).
 
The magi, also referred to as the wise men, came from the East, from the land where the sun rises, to pay 
homage to Jesus. It is clear they are not from Israel but from the gentile world. They came seeking Jesus, the Messiah who will deliver all people held in darkness of sin, both Jewish and gentiles alike. On one hand, the
Magi came bearing gifts from a far distance place and bowed down in worship to Jesus when they came into his presence. On the other hand, Herod’s wise men who helped the wise men identify the location of the Messiah-King, did not go and pay him homage. They chose not to adore the Lord, the savior of humankind.
 
This past Monday, we had our parish monthly adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist. A relatively good number were in attendance to offer worship to Jesus. Like the wise men, they offered gifts of their time, mind and body. They defied the harsh weather to pay homage to Jesus who revealed himself to us under the sacred species. Our knowledge and acceptance of Jesus as the incarnate word of God must lead to his worship. As Jesus revealed himself to us through his Incarnation and in other amazing ways, our minds, hearts, spirit, soul and body must yield to him in worship. The Eucharist is one of the extraordinary ways Jesus shows himself to all peoples from all over the world. In the Eucharist, Jesus makes himself present so that we may offer ourselves to him in worship and become united with him. In our encounter with Jesus in worship, we receive grace upon grace to help us live a holy life.
 
Jesus awaits us daily in the Eucharist. The word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us invites us to seek him and worship him. When we worship him in truth and in spirit, when we are devoted to him in
Eucharistic adoration, we can say we are following in the steps of the Magi, the wise ones who endured hardship and long journey to surrender themselves to the Lordship of Jesus. We are part of the nations, the gentiles who have been blessed by the revelation of God-man whose purpose is to save all from darkness of sin and death. Let us make a firm resolution this year to come adore Jesus frequently, Jesus, our redeemer, whose epiphany we celebrate today.
 
Can you make a resolution with the aid of God’s grace to attend masses on all Sundays and holy days of
obligation in year 2023? Will you intentionally seek the light of faith by assiduous study of the bible and
Catechism of the Catholic Church this year? Let’s do it. Let is adore Jesus.
 
In Christ’s Light,
 
Fr. Bernard Oniwe, OP
 

Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
                                                  "The Lord bless you and keep you!” (Nm 6:24).
 
On January 1, the octave day of the Nativity of the Lord, the Church liturgy celebrates the most ancient feast of Mary, the commemoration of her divine maternity and perpetual virginity. As we come to honor the great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy, we ask for her special motherly advocacy with her son and savior to bestow his blessings upon us as we begin a new year. So may her Son, born to save us, bless and keep you all always in his love in the new year. May He be gracious to you and smile upon your soul.
 
In the name of the entire parish staff, I want to thank you for all you have done to support the parish in the past year, despite the hard times we all went through. Your faith and selfless giving of time, money and   talents are appreciated. 
 
Christmas was awesome! It was nice to see many new faces and familiar ones as well. Thanks for all your cards, cookies and Christmas gifts to me. I say a huge thank you to all the volunteers and ministers at the altar- Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, altar servers, lectors, cantors, musicians, choirs, ushers, streamers, etc. I am thankful for all the support and giving by all the societies, especially the Men's Club, CCW, Knights of Columbus, St. Vincent DePaul, Youth group, CCD, OCIA (RCIA),  Bible study group, St. Michael's Guard,  Parish Council, Finance Council, and many others not  mentioned here. With the         support of everyone, we have done marvelous things in 2022.
 
With the prayers of our Blessed Mother, Mary Most Holy,  I pray we do more extraordinary things in the new year 2023. I appeal to those who have stayed away since the covid outbreak in 2020 to consider returning physically to mass. Your pew is empty and needs you back. Please, come back and do what God created you for, the worship of Eucharistic Jesus.
 
Have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Bernard Oniwe, OP
 

 Beloved brothers and sisters,
 
                                                                  Have a Merry Christmas!
 
Christmas is about Christ! The statement states the obvious. Isn't it? Wait! If it is a clear and common truth that everyone who celebrates Christmas knows, why is there an ongoing campaign by Christians, for example, the Knights of Columbus' project of distributing car magnets with the inscription, "Keep Christ in Christmas? It is apparent then that the culture war on keeping Christ in Christmas indicates that not all who celebrate Christmas consciously adore and praise Christ during the Christmas celebration. 
 
Christmas for us Catholics is Christ's Mass. So we find meaning in the Christmas holiday by going to mass. In Mass, we experience a deep sense of what God did to begin the work of our redemption. We see the effect of the incarnation in mass. The word becomes flesh and dwells among us in the Christmas liturgy. The account of Jesus' birth comes alive, and we can "come and worship" him in his body and blood. God is with us, Emmanuel. The anointed one, Christ, truly becomes one of us to redeem us. Incarnation manifests God's love and the light shone upon our world. Christ is why Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. We are joyful because God took on our humanity to save us from sin and death. Christ becoming human is the cause of our joy.
 
We share that joy with our families and friends. We share it by giving ourselves and our gifts to each other. We even extend the giving to strangers and many who have no one to share the spirit of Christ with them. We are happy and share our joy because of Christ. So, in the spirit of Christ, we say Merry Christmas!
 
On behalf of the parish staff, I say Merry Christmas to you all. May the glory that the birth of Jesus brings on that "Silent Night" in Bethlehem when he took our flesh radiate in the heart of every one of you, your family, and your loved ones. 
 
 Have a Merry Christmas!
 
Fr. Bernard "Joy" Oniwe, OP.
 

Beloved brothers and sisters,
  
                                                                      He is Emmanuel
  
God is with us. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel” (Matthew 1:23). St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’ infancy establishes the extent God went to redeem lost humanity. If I borrow an adapted title of a classic English play by Oliver Goldsmith, we may say that God “stooped to conquer.” God showed his love to save humankind by becoming one with us humans. God humbles himself in doing so; he who originated and ordered all things stoops to our lowly, sinful form to save us. God so loves us to share in our humanity.
 
Bishop Barron captures the magnitude of God’s love in the following words from his Advent Gospel Reflections:
“The central claim of Christianity- still startling after two thousand years-is that God became human. The creator of the cosmos, who transcends any definition or concept, took to himself a nature like ours, becoming one of us. Christianity asserts that the infinite and the finite met, that the eternal and the temporal embraced, that the fashioner of the galaxies and planets became a baby too weak even to raise his head.”
 
God is with us. This is the importance of the fulfillment of Prophet Isaiah’s oracle: God will give the sign of his redemptive love for his people through his incarnation in the virgin who shall bear a son and shall be named Emmanuel (cf. !s 7:14). There is no other religion that makes such a claim that God became human to save humanity. This is God’s way of manifesting his deep interest in human conditions. Even if the contrary appears to be the case, God is genuinely part of human experience and reality. In the incarnation, God saved us. He continues to remain with us through the Holy Spirit to continue the work of redemption.
 
We experienced a sign of God’s presence with us in the rite of acceptance and welcome at the 10:30 am mass last week. WE REJOICE with Terry Martin, Drake Pugh, and Justin Collister, as each took a bold step towards becoming one with us and was accepted as a catechumen into our OCIA program. In addition, WE welcomed Alison Salley, Roxanne Dombrosky, and James Hathaway as candidates for full communion into the Catholic Church. We are all on this incredible journey of faith with them. They need our prayers and support as they make essential decisions toward fuller integration into Christ and his church. This Sunday, we hope to accept one more person into the catechumenate- Samantha Cornwell.
 
God is faithful to his church. The more we open ourselves to God, the more he comes into our lives. So may our heightened preparation for Christmas this week leads to the true incarnation of God’s word in our longing hearts.
 
In His love,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP