​Beloved,
 
St. Paul instructs us today to die to sin and live "for God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6: 11). Do we live for God? Is our entire life centered around and towards God? Some people think we have "deviated from God." That was the phrase used by Matt, a salesman from Cleveland, Ohio, whom I recently made the acquaintance of in an elevator and later at breakfast in Roanoke, Virginia. He initiated a conversation with me about our society and family and how we have disconnected from God. Matt concluded that we need to reconnect with God and nature to find our true selves. I agreed with Matt and added we need to worship God above all things as the Bible commands us: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve" (see Lk 4:8; Deuteronomy 6:4).
 
Three times in the passage from the Gospel according to Matthew this Sunday (Mt. 10: 37-39), Jesus reminds us of the importance of directing worship to God alone because only God is worthy of such. But who is worthy of Jesus? The only one worthy of Jesus is the one who prices him above even the most valuable relationships in our lives, even our family. Devotion to Jesus must be greater than our love for our family; God comes first- he is above all. We must ask ourselves a sincere question, do we always place God above all other essential things in our lives? Is Jesus worth more of our focus than the demands of family, friends, work, pleasure, social media, entertainment, food, drink, study, sports, money, clothing, etc.?
 
Who is worthy of Jesus? The one who lives for God in Christ Jesus. The one who gives him priority over all other beautiful things in life screaming for our attention. Giving Jesus the first place over other things manifests primarily in sacred and liturgical worship. "You shall worship the Lord your God." As Catholics, the worship of God takes the most solemn form in Eucharistic adoration. Jesus, as a sacrifice of praise, is offered to God at every mass as the primary form of worship. However, worshiping God in the Eucharist is not limited to mass on Sunday or during the week; it extends outside mass to Eucharistic adoration. The Catechism of the Catholic Church spelled this out clearly:  "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession" (1378).
 
We, the St. Peter family, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Pt 2:9), get another opportunity to offer solemn veneration to Jesus in the Eucharist this Monday, tomorrow, the third of July (as we get ready for the 247th fourth of July Independence celebration). As a priestly people, St. Peter, our patron saint, urges us to "announce the praises of him," who has granted us freedom and light. As we have done several times, let us prioritize the worship of Jesus over all other things by turning out in large numbers with our family and friends to our parish monthly Eucharistic Adoration tomorrow at 6 p.m. to offer praises to God, who has blessed and continues to bless us and our country.
 
Happy Fourth of July.
 
In Christ,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Beloved,
  
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Mt 10: 28). In the first reading for this Sunday's mass, prophet Jeremiah faces opposition and hostility for preaching a God-authored message. He did not let the fear of his adversaries' attack cripple him but acknowledged that the Lord, "like a mighty champion," was with him and entrusted his cause to him (Jer. 20: 10-13). Do not be afraid echoes through the words and deeds of several saints we revere today. It is essential, therefore, to take God on his assuring words of protection, even when our existential condition is under threat and we appear to be drowning in the ocean of fear, "Fear no one," God says.
 
But what is it we are afraid of? What is the source of our fears? What realities give us nightmares? What thoughts deprive us of sleep at night? Whose voices and images evoke fear in us? As followers of Christ and His way, whether you are married, single or a priest, young or elderly, whatever your state, you probably have Frankenstein creatures chasing you in either direct or subtle forms. What are you going to do about your fears? Simple. It is easier said than done, but we must trust Jesus' command. Do not be afraid; choose not to submit to fear. Yes, as simple as that. Why so? Because Jesus says so. But can you take Jesus seriously? You should. We should because Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He guides and nourishes us. He gives us the grace to keep us fearless and bold to fight and overcome our fears. We should not be ruled by fear because we are worth much before God; we are His sons and daughters. "So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows," Jesus reminds us. There is nothing to fear because the one in us is greater than he in the world, so we should not be overcome with fear.
 
We should continue to live according to God's will even if we face opposition. Like Jeremiah, we should not be intimidated by forces raised against us because of our stand for Jesus and his Truth. Every follower of the Way should expect resistance and rejection, but we must not buckle to the weight of the intimidating task. We have nothing to fear because God the Mighty Hero is beside us. He is with us always in the Holy Eucharist. He is always present in the Blessed Sacrament in all tabernacles of the world. 
 
In his first homily as pope, given at St. Peter's Square on October 1978, John Paul II made Jesus' most repeated command in the Bible his own and stamped it forever on our mind when he said: "Do not be afraid to welcome Christ and to accept his power." We encounter the power and grace of God in the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. We are sanctified when we receive him in faith and a state of grace. The sanctifying grace we received in baptism is renewed in frequent and worthy reception of his body and blood in Holy Communion. We draw strength to conquer our fears in an intimate encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist. Go to Jesus in the Eucharist.
 
Thank you for your warm reception of the mission appeal preacher for this Sunday, Fr. Paul Tung Nguyen. God will reward your generous giving. We participate in the global and catholic mission of spreading the Good News of Christ's Kingdom when we give generously to the cause of the mission in Vietnam.
 
We have a new bishop! Praise be God! Bishop Timothy Christian Senior was installed on Wednesday, June 21, as the Twelfth Bishop of the Diocese of Harrisburg. May God bless his ministry and time with us. We are grateful to God for giving us Bishop Emeritus Ronald W. Gainer, who guided and nurtured the diocese through the pandemic and bankruptcy in the last nine years. We are thankful for Bishop Gainer's stewardship and wish him a happy retirement and all the best in the years ahead. 
 
Also, this past week, I marked the fourth anniversary of my appointment as pastor of St. Peter Catholic Church. How time flies! It has been a life-changing experience in my twenty-three years of priesthood. You have done more for me, my beloved brothers and sisters, than I have done for you. I invite you to continue to walk patiently with me as I try to proclaim Jesus and his Kingdom among you. Together, we are destined for heaven. Thank you for your love for me despite my many flaws. May I continue to find Joy in serving you. Let's not be afraid as we take bold steps at St. Peter's.
 
In the Heart of Jesus,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

​ 
"At the sight of the crowds, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for them" (Matthew 9: 36). Can God have and show emotional feelings for us? Yes, He can. God sees our distressed human state and, moved by it, acts toward us in love. God loves us, the Bible says, so he is capable of feelings for us because love is an emotion that rises from the heart. In the person of Jesus, we know that God's heart was moved with pity at the sight of our dreadful sinful state, and he responded in love. Matthew's Greek word in verse thirty-six of the ninth chapter of his Gospel is "splagchnizomal, " a derivative of the Greek noun, Splagchna, which refers to the human heart, lungs, and intestines. In other words, Jesus' love for us came from the depth of his being.
 
Let's reflect briefly on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, moved with pity and sorry for our troubled and pitiable human condition after the fall. This past week, we celebrated the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Friday and the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Saturday. These liturgical celebrations focused on the divine and human hearts of Jesus and Mary consecutively as the center of mercy and love for fallen humanity. The heart is the deepest place for expressing deep love for another and the place of interior encounter with God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about Jesus' heart of love: "He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, 'is quite rightly considered the chief signs and symbols of that...love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings' without exception" (478). In our intensified devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June, we acknowledge the capacity of Jesus' heart to love us from the depth of his being; he loved us into life by obtaining mercy for our sins and saving us for eternal life. St. John Paul II, a devotee of the Sacred Heart, said the following about the devotion, and rightly so, "This feast reminds us of the mystery of the love of God for people of all times." Having been reminded, let us make our hearts like the heart of Jesus.
 
At this and all masses, Jesus summons us to receive and sends us to give love to others. As Jesus calls and sends the twelve apostles to seek out the lost and share his gift of love with them, so is he calling us to share the love that he gives us in the Holy Eucharist with others. As we embark on the journey into the heart of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist in this Year of Parish Eucharistic Revival, we should increase our devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the source of love, mercy, and salvation.
 
Let me take a moment to praise Jesus for allowing us to worship and praise him publicly as a parish last Sunday through the Corpus Christi procession. What a joyful and memorable day! Many thanks to everyone who facilitated and participated in the Eucharistic procession. We had a fabulous time because Jesus walked with us and uniquely blessed us. What was the most thrilling and touching moment for you as we bore Jesus in the monstrance and the procession through the center of Elizabethtown? Please share your personal experience with me in a sentence or two. You can email me at frboniwe@hbgdiocese.org
 
Let me close this message with a Eucharistic prayer that adores the Sacred Heart of Jesus: "May the Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the Tabernacles of the world, even unto the end of time."
 
Happy Father's Day and Happy Juneteenth!
 
In His Heart,
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

​Beloved,

"For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink" (Jn 6:55 ). What we eat and drink at Holy Communion is Christ's flesh and blood. Period! St. Thomas Aquinas affirms this in Lauda Sion, the sequence chanted at Corpus Christi Mass: "This the truth each Christian learns, Bread into his flesh he turns, to his precious blood the wine. Sight has failed, nor thought conceives, but a dauntless faith believes, resting on a power divine." The doctrine of the Real Presence, the continuous presence of Christ in the world in the consecrated Host, can only be fully grasped by faith because the senses cannot comprehend the substance. In the words of consecration, the priest lends his voice to the living words of Jesus to consecrate bread and wine, and by way of transubstantiation, Jesus's body and blood, soul and divinity become sacramentally present in our midst to worship and love.

We must ask, what is our disposition to this miracle? Are we moved by faith to respond in adoration, praise, and love? On a day like this, on Corpus Christi Sunday, our faith must accept what Jesus revealed in the Sacred Scripture: "My flesh is true food, my blood is true drink." As a Church of the Eucharist, we must attend to this mystery of faith with amazement and awe. At this time in our Church, that wonder needs to be re-awakened as John Paul II implored us in his encyclical letter, Ecclesia De Eucharistia: "I would like to rekindle this Eucharistic 'amazement'" (6). As the Holy Father noted, and as we still note today, there's been shadows of doubt and irreverence toward the Holy Eucharist.

As our parish, along with other parishes across the country, begin our Year of Parish Revival of Eucharistic faith and awe, we do so in a glorious and befitting way, a procession through Elizabethtown with the Most Sacred Body of Jesus bore in a monstrance. The Eucharistic procession this Sunday is a testimony to our faith in Jesus truly present among us and walking through our town as He did in the Bible, bringing us his blessings, joy, love and holiness. The USCBB recommends four invitations to parishes to aid them in experiencing a revival through a rekindled relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist: Reinvigorate Worship, creating moments of Personal Encounter, engaging in Robust Faith Formation, and Missionary Sending of Catholics. Beginning this Sunday, we shall respond to these invitations until next year's Corpus Christi.

The following words from USCCB's "Playbook for the Year of Parish Revival" capture our goal as a parish: "This is the task of local parishes in this Year of Parish Revival, to revive their parishioners in their love with Jesus in the Eucharist and to send them forth to share this love with others" (7).

I hope our worship and witness to Jesus during our parish Corpus Christi procession this Sunday will begin a Eucharistic revival in us as individuals and a faithful community. I invite you to share your testimony of your encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist with your brothers and sisters. Sharing life-transforming testimonies from our deep love for Jesus may be what someone needs to rekindle their faith in Jesus. Together, let's rekindle Eucharistic amazement!

With love from the Heart of Jesus,
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

 
 Beloved,

What can we know or say about God? Whatever we can know and say about God from our human comprehension cannot fully grasp who God is. What is God? Can we know him in terms of human cognition? God is a mysterium beyond our total comprehension. St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Whatever can be known or understood is less than God himself." In other words, from our human point of view, we cannot fathom the essence of God. St Aquinas adds to his statement on our inability to fully know the nature of God: "The essence of God Himself remains forever hidden from us. The most we can know of God during our present life is that he transcends everything that we can conceive of him." Despite the mysterious and hidden nature of God, He nevertheless has revealed himself sufficiently for us to love and worship him.

God is with us. And He reveals himself to Moses as "a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity" (Ex. 34: ). As Moses prayed, "O, Lord, do come along in our company," so did God become incarnate; he is Emmanuel, and God is with us. St. Paul describes his presence as "God of love and peace" (2 Cor. 13:). St. John adds that God reveals himself to us in His son, Jesus Christ. God, by his presence among us in his son, Jesus, demonstrates his love for us to be saved if we can only believe in him (John 3: 16-18).

So what do we do next? Ours must be a response of faith, an absolute surrender to God who has revealed himself as love, mercy, and peace. We must turn to God in worship and bless his majesty as Daniel did (Daniel 3: 52-55). We must respond in praise and adoration to the God who reveals himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To the God who is, who was, and who is to come" (Rev. 1:8).

As I noted earlier, God is with us. This truth is more apparent in Christ's Most Holy Body and Blood- the Eucharist. We, the Catholic Church in America, are on a three-year Eucharistic Renewal mission. We need to strengthen our faith in the Eucharistic God and enkindle a fire of love for Jesus in our hearts. We must be devoted to Eucharistic Adoration and deepen our relationship with Jesus. In this regard, I call on you to attend mass en masse next Sunday for mass and the Corpus Christi procession that follows the 10:30 a.m. mass. This is a public demonstration of our faith in Jesus sacramentally present among us. We proclaim by our precession that Jesus is truly present in the consecrated Host, and we joyfully and lovingly bless our community with his sacred presence.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all as you come to worship God, who makes himself known and present among us perpetually in the Holy Eucharist.

-Fr. Bernard, OP