​Beloved in Christ,
 
How do we promote devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist? Belief and devotion to the Real Presence of Christ were significant reasons for establishing the solemnity in the thirteenth century. As the church did in the thirteenth century, we must do today: we must ponder the meaning and importance of the sacrifice of Mass in restoring life to humanity doomed for destruction due to our futile conduct inherited from our human ancestors (see 1 Pt. 1:18-25)  ). In my homily on Wednesday morning mass, I asked: "What is the cost of our redemption from condemnation?" Presenting St. Peter's answer, I said our redemption came at the expense of the "precious Blood of Christ." 
 
The blood of Christ, the "blood of the Covenant" (Mk 14:24), is the source of our redemption. The blood of the new covenant is of more excellent value than the blood of young bulls offered as holocausts by Moses to obtain reconciliation of his Jewish people with God ( Ex. 24:5). It is not "the blood of goats and bulls " offered for our "eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12); instead, it is the Blood of Christ, the blood of the New Covenant. There is healing and liberating power in the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God. I encourage devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ. When invoked in faith, it offers protection against the wiles and tricks of the devil.  It contains the fullness of the Eucharistic sacrament, the soul, and the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of Christ is contained in either the blood or the flesh. We hear this truth proclaimed in the Sequence: "Blood is poured and flesh is broken, yet in either wondrous token Christ entire we know to be" (Corpus Christi Sequence).
 
Now that we are reminded again of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blood and Flesh we receive each time we go to communion, how should we respond? Again, I return to the Sequence for the answer: "From your heart let praises burst" (Sequence). We must respond in praise and thanksgiving as a testimony to our faith. Let your heart and your entire life be loud and public praise of Jesus's actual presence in the sacrament of his Blood and Body.
 
 The doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is part of why we have the Corpus Christi procession. Our public procession through the neighborhood of Elizabethtown from the church on the top of the hill to the Historic Church is part of showing our belief in Real Presence and our love and adoration for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament displayed in the monstrance. In our public testimony of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, we must show that our hearts are filled with joy and thanksgiving by singing hymns and songs of devotion, love, and deep joy. Do not hold back your joy; praise Jesus with all you have. Let us bring Jesus into our community with a joyful heart and profound faith. May Jesus bless Elizabethtown and all its inhabitants with his grace as we bore him high and joyfully in our Corpus Christi procession.
 
With praise and thanksgiving to God, we celebrate our parishioner, Rev. Craig Alexander, ordained this past Saturday morning, June 1; please do not forget to attend his Mass of thanksgiving and reception next Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Mass.
 
I will also be on a three-week vacation to Nigeria starting June 10th. I look forward to seeing my mom, sisters, nieces, nephews, and my new grand niece! Keep me in your prayers. Thanks.
 
In His Praise,
 
Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP
 

 Beloved in Christ,

"Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth" (Ps. 104: 30). Today, the Mother Church celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and Mary, Mother of Jesus. The feast of Pentecost is also considered the birthday of the Church. It signifies a new beginning, a breath of new life for the church. What happened in the Upper Room on this day fulfills the psalmist's prayers for God to send his spirit upon the earth to renew it. The Church is constituted and renewed by the Holy Spirit to testify to the truth about the Lordship and Gospel of Jesus. St. Paul recognizes the necessity of the sending and empowerment by the Holy Spirit to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior to the world: "No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12: 3). This is true. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to testify to Jesus and His Gospel in the world effectively. We must carry out the demands of Jesus in the world, but only with the help and power of the Holy Spirit. 

Renewal in the Spirit is what this feast reminds us about. What we need to do, and what we already started doing by our novena to the Holy Spirit, is invite anew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us to revive and renew His gifts and fruits in us. With this purpose in mind, that is, the renewal of the Church, I invite you to return to church at 6 pm for our parish extended celebration of Pentecost. We will hear the Word of truth, pray for a new outpouring of the spirit and healing, and, like the apostles on Pentecost, speak of "the mighty acts of God" (Acts 2:11) in praise and worship led by our parish-based band, Forgven. It will also allow us to fellowship and share in light refreshments as we celebrate the birthday of the Catholic Church and the two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of our historic St. Peter Catholic Church! Yes, we are that old!!

This past week, we celebrated our parish's annual forty-hour—the Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Most. Reverend Ronald W. Gainer gave us excellent sermons on the Holy Eucharist as a mystery to believe, adore, and live. His deeply theological and pastoral reflections richly blessed us. Let's use all we learned from his teachings in our individual and parish lives. I must once again offer words of appreciation to all those who participated actively in our forty hours, especially those who committed to a period of Adoration late into the night, Michael Checco and the choir, St. Michael's Guard, altar servers, Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, CCW, Men's Club, the parish office staff and others. I am proud of you all. We pray that our parish may experience revival in Eucharistic Worship. In my understanding, without the Eucharist, there is no Catholic Church. Period! We need Eucharistic revival.

As Eastertide draws to a close today with the celebration of Pentecost Revival at 6 p.m., let us prepare for two significant feasts coming in succession: the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi. These fabulous feasts are going to keep us spiritually on our toes! 

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!
Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP
 

Beloved in Christ,                                      Blessed Mother’s Day
 
In this Sunday's Mass Gospel, we heard that Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, praying to His Father that his followers "may be one" just as Jesus and His Father are one (Jn 17:12). Given Jesus' statement about oneness, I would like to urge us, members of St. Peter Catholic Church, to be of one heart, one purpose, and one will in our worship. The Eucharistic worship, the Holy Mass we gather to celebrate daily, supports the oneness of heart by the way we rise, sit, kneel, and sing in unison. We carry out many aspects of sacred worship as one people. The call for unity in liturgical acts does not take away our differences and peculiarities in any way! Our differences should be seen as a blessing, but they must fuse to form a wholesome unity, reflecting the diversity but unity we find in the Holy Trinity. I then seize the moment to explain a significant change we plan to make to set up our sanctuary to aid the unity of worship and strengthen our faith and worship of Jesus in the Eucharist.
 
We all know that the church in America is presently going through a year devoted to Eucharistic revival. There is an urgent call to renew our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. A considerable part of that faith is the reservation of the Eucharist in the Tabernacle in order to take Jesus to the dying as viaticum and the sick, unable to join us at mass. "Tabernacle" is derived from the Latin word for "tent." It is a suitable box, opaque, stationary container where the Sacred Host is reserved outside Mass. It was not until the fifteenth century that placing the Tabernacle on the altar became popular, and the church did not mandate it until the nineteenth century. Change, organic in nature, took place through the centuries on where to place the tabernacle for more excellent liturgical benefits of the faithful. Where does the church stand today on the placement of the tabernacle? Good answers are provided in the General Instruction on Roman Missal (GIRM) and Catechism of the Catholic church. According to CCC 1183, "The tabernacle is to be situated in churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor. The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar." 
After consecration, the priest genuflects, takes the host, and invites the assembly to gaze up at Eucharistic Jesus and adore him: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who take away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb." This communal rite declaration reminds us of the centrality of Jesus at mass. We should be able to quickly behold him in the center of the sanctuary, on the altar or the tabernacle, and render him worth worship due Him. Placing the tabernacle right in the center of the altar area makes Jesus much more visible when we step into the church, sign ourselves with Holy Water, and genuflect in Adoration.
 
When I was made administrator of this parish in 2018, part of the note handed to me was a request by some parishioners for repositioning the tabernacle to the center of the church. Many of you have also made that request, and I also buy into it because it makes a more effective statement about the centrality of the Eucharist and our belief in Real Presence. I requested permission from the Diocese years ago, and it finally granted my request about two weeks ago! This change will support much more meaningful worship and has liturgical and theological support. More so, it appears to be the desire of many parishioners. I pray we all respond to this positive development with a united spirit and concerted effort.
 
Since we are talking about the Eucharist and the Tabernacle, it is an excellent time to remind us of the importance of our parish celebration of forty hours, which begins this Sunday. Bishop Ronald Gainer, a gifted speaker, is our homilist. Please make it a priority for us to come together to drink from the water of wisdom in the Eucharist that his excellency will offer us. Let us come together, of one mind and spirit, to adore Jesus truly present in the Eucharist.
 
Next week is the church's birthday, the solemnity of Pentecost. We are going to celebrate it as well as our parish's two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary. I would also like to celebrate the fruits of our parish, especially those recently confirmed and members of the Youth group who did an excellent job of the Living Stations of the Cross presentation on Good Friday. I look forward to seeing you all at the parish hall at 6 pm for special recognition and worship.
 
Today is a special day for our mothers. We appreciate their love and sacrifices for the family, and we can never offer enough thanks for their sacrifices. Please make sure you join me in wishing them Happy Mother's Day! We love you, our loving mothers.
Let us continue to pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit. Veni Sancte Spiritus!
 
In His Joy,                                          Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP
 

​Beloved in Christ,
 
"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you" (Jn 15:12; 13:34). The Beatles' 1967 song, "All You Need is Love, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, captures it in its simple but poignant lyrics, "There's nothing you can do that can't be done...All you need is love." The song reflects Jesus' commandment of love in this Sunday's gospel reading. Jesus Christ, the epitome of Love, mandates us, his followers, to love one another as He loves us. To love in Jesus' way is essential to make the world a better place, yet it is lacking in our world today. The importance of love in transforming the world as we know it today is indicated in the number of times the word love comes up in the sections of scriptures from 1 John 4: 7-10 (9 times) and John 15: 9-17 ( 9 times) presented for our reflection this Sunday. But we hear of love so often in our culture. The word "love" is mentioned in songs and so often from the lips of lovers. What love are we talking about today? Is it different from the love as seen in our culture and world?
 
There are many forms of love in the Greek language, the language in which John's Gospel is written. We are probably familiar with philia or eros forms of love. The Greek word John uses today is "agape" (with other derivatives like agapate, agapen, egapesa, etc). "Agape" is the word that conveys the type of love Jesus commands us to have for one another. It is the love that Jesus himself showed us by laying down his life for us. He, who is perfect and innocent, gave his life for us imperfect and sinful people. 
 
When we allow God to love us, we appreciate love and become capable of loving others the same way we have been loved. To love another is a choice we make. It is an act of the will moved by the Holy Spirit. It is not dependent on emotion. When Jesus made a sacrifice of his life for us on the cross, with all the suffering, his feelings were not sweet and pleasant like those of two new lovers in movies and sometimes in life. If we must take our discipleship seriously and live up to it, we must heed the commandments of our Lord and Saviour; we must love all our brothers and sisters with the same spirit and actions Jesus shows us. 
 
If we must love the way Jesus commands, we must fall in love with Him and spend time with him to learn from him. We must then embrace a life of constant union with Jesus in the Eucharist and listen to him daily in the Gospels. It is a choice that comes from the inspiration and help of the Holy Spirit. Let us never hesitate to respond to the invitation of the Holy Spirit to gaze on Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament exposed daily for adoration at our parish, Monday to Friday. Every first Monday of the month is our family time to spend an hour of Adoration with Jesus in silence and songs. If you want to be an effective witness to Jesus, to borrow the words of the song by the Beatles, all you need is love, and you will draw that love in its essence and fullness in the sacrament of love, the Holy Eucharist. Come to Jesus daily in Holy Communion and Adoration.
 
Please remember the following parish events coming up this month: parish pilgrimage to Padre Pio center, Barto (May 11), Forty Hours (May 12-14), and Pentecost Sunday Revival (May 19 at 6 p.m.). Also, remember to develop the habit of praying the Rosary daily, especially in the Marian Month of May.
 
All you need is love! Happy Cinco de Mayo!!
 
In His Love,
 
Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP