​Dearly Beloved,
 
"My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me" (Jn 10:27). Hearing and doing God's will as revealed to us in His Word was the central message of last week's daily masses liturgy of the word. Hearing carefully and acting on God's words is fundamental to our Christian faith. We ought to strive always to know the Father's will for us, be humbly docile to it, and, relying on his grace, observe his directives. It is one thing to know what the plan of God for us is, and it is another thing to assent to His will. 
 
Do we always obey the Father's will? Do we say "yes" to God and take actions that convey our agreement to his instructions? Acting on our profession of faith is the test all of us must endeavor to pass. God's will must be followed on earth as it is in heaven by angels and saints. Hearing the voice of Jesus and following him is shown when we carry out fraternal acts of charity in church and community. That is what I call "yes" in action.
 
So often, our "yes'" to God's commandments and instructions on how to live our lives are demonstrated in what we do in and for our parish family. In this regard, I want to highlight some of the ways we, as a parish, have complied with the Father's will. On a positive and happy note, I have seen many of us in this parish act positively on our yes to God within the body of Christ. That does not mean we should be satisfied and rest on our oars. Instead, we must thank God for giving us the grace to respond to his summons. Also, we must strive to improve on them. 
 
Talking about being thankful to God, I am thankful to God and you all for celebrating my twenty-third ordination to the Priesthood of Christ with me last week. Many of you not only joined in the celebration of mass but attended the first of the three-part series talk on the Holy Mass after mass last Saturday. I invite you to attend the third part on October 7, the feast of our Lady of the Rosary. I will summarize parts one and two so those who have missed them can understand my presentation. We will have food and fellowship.
 
October 4 is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the saint and day we associate with the love of nature and animals. I will not be in town to celebrate the feast day because I will be joining other priests of our diocese for our annual workshop in Maryland. However, so as not to miss that feast day's special blessings, I will bless pets at 2 p.m. today, October 1, in the parking lot of the Historic Church. Bring your pets for blessing through the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi.
 
On Sunday, October 8, we, as a parish, will act on our faith and "yes" to this family of love by coming together for our yearly picnic. This festive form of fellowship is integral to saying yes to God and this family of faith. We must celebrate coming together to eat, drink, play, and build faith and friendship. We need more people to sign up to attend and volunteer to help make it a successful day. 
 
Prayer request: First, I ask for your prayers for Nigeria, my home country, on our 63rd independence day- Nigerians will significantly benefit from your prayers. Second, please pray for the Synod in Rome from Oct. 4-28. The synod, listening to the Holy Spirit, is intended to advise Pope Francis on how to serve the Church of our time on her journey to heaven. We need sincere and solid prayers for the attendees to listen for and follow the voice of Jesus. Third, pray for us priests of the Diocese of Harrisburg to have a fruitful workshop and spiritually renewing time together.
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP
 

​Beloved in Christ,
 
"Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever" (Ps. 145: 2). These Psalmist's words of praise from our responsorial psalm took ownership of my mind, thoughts, and attitude from the moment I read all the readings for this Sunday's liturgy of the word in preparation for my homily. While the parable of the Lord's Vineyard from the Gospel for this Sunday's mass from Matthew is outstanding and demands reflective attention, the ultimate disposition of my spirit is to let the words of praise and thanksgiving flow from my lips. Why so, you may inquire? For several reasons. Let me mention a few.
 
The parable of the Lord's Vineyard highlights the contention between workers who put in a full day of labor in sweat and drudgery and those hired at the eleventh hour and worked only for an hour.  The vineyard owner paid the same wage, a denarius, to all the workers irrespective of the hours they put into the work. The owner's action, a human sense of moral justice, is considered unfair. Is God unfair? Absolutely no! God is just. He paid each one what they agreed to receive when hired: "Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?". The grumbling workers do so because of envy, jealousy, and selfishness. The envious workers failed to see, and this is the parable's point, that God's generosity is not a calculated giving and is not merited. God lavishes his grace as he deems fit. Who are we to question or query God on how he dispenses his graces? "What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?" All our good deeds result from God's grace, not human power or capacity.
 
In light of the central message about grace that we retrieve from this Sunday's Gospel, I always praise and bless the name of the Lord for the gift of my priestly vocation. It is twenty-three years (and still counting) since my ordination on September 23, 2000. Whatever good that has come from my priesthood is not a result of my goodness or merit; it is God's grace at work. I never wanted to be a priest, but the Lord seduced me, and I let myself be seduced (Jer. 20: 7). 
 
What a roller coaster it has been, a journey of ups and downs, with its ebb and flow, yet a progressive one. For the last nine days or thereabout, I  have been meditating on the words of St. Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) that help to put my share in Christ's priesthood and my entire Christian life in a proper perspective: "My past, O Lord, to Your mercy; my present, to Your love; my future to Your providence." I am a happy priest; I am filled with joy for the graciousness of God in choosing me from his people. I ask for your continuous prayers and support. "Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever."
 
Having reflected on God's grace and his gift of priesthood to me, let me take a moment to express thanks to members of our parish who volunteered to serve on our Parish Pastoral Council. Our election results are out, and the top three of the five candidates are Patricia Becker, Eric Hershel, and Donald Heffner. I have also appointed Richard Lichty and Ann Marie Cancro into the PPC. Please thank these brothers and sisters for giving the parish their time and talents. In due time, I will install them before you all.
 
Conclusively, I want to bring to your awareness that this Sunday is World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Pope Francis asks that we observe it through our prayers and active support for them. Also, the Holy Father asked us to pray for the Synod on Synodality, which will be concluded in Rome in October: "Without prayer there will be no synod."
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP
 

​ 
Beloved in Christ,
 
"...you each forgive your brother from your heart" (Mt. 18:35). "Forgven." It is the name of the contemporary Gospel band that came out of our parish. The word is misspelled intentionally to convey a message. I have the band's t-shirt on as I write this message. They deployed poetic license in spelling the word the way they did, and in saying that, they omitted the I and replaced it with monstrance displaying Jesus in the Eucharist. The name and the concept behind the missing "I" partly inspired the following poem on forgiveness:
 
Forgiven, You Must Forgive from the Heart.
 
How can I be a forgiving Christian?
I, who have been betrayed by my beloved.
One who displays the wrath of Sharayar,
Ceases to lay claim to the name Christian.
 
Need to imitate the divine master,
For immensely the debt, he forgave you.
To be Christlike is to forgive like Him.
He let go of rage and uttered mercy.
 
Lamech's seventy-sevenfold vengeance,
Binds the soul perpetually in prison.
While Jesus' seventy times seven
Frees the heart tethered to echoes of hurt.
 
Forgiven repeatedly by the Lord,
Forgive from the heart just like Jesus did.
 
Without receiving forgiveness, which Christ gives generously to those who approach him in the Sacrament of reconciliation, we cannot approach Jesus worthily in Holy Communion. However, we must remember this: we must be Christ-like in forgiving others. To love is to forgive.
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP
 

​Beloved in Christ,
 
Let us talk about the church. The Gospel for this Sunday mass, Mt. 18: 15-20, speaks to how to address the problem of a recalcitrant member, remedy it, and gain back that member. We only pray that we listen to the voice of God that speaks through the church whenever we fall away from the truth. I want us to look further into the word ekklesias, the church. In the context of this reflection, the church is constituted by people who have been called by grace out of the world to form a people of the new covenant, members of Christ's kingdom. As members of God's family, the church, we must work towards unity of heart and purpose. In matters of faith, we cannot do our "private" things; we do what God commands us to do as one people. In like manner, when it comes to what the institution church has legislated, whether it has to do with doctrine or liturgy, we cannot do our own thing, but we must follow the directive of the voice of Christ speaking through his body, the Church. This is God's will.
 
We can see the importance of acting as one, with unity of purpose as the church in the life of prayer, both public and private. Jesus emphasizes "symphonein," a Greek word meaning "in accord" or "agreement," indicating a harmony of voices. For instance, when we come together as a church to participate in the mass, we should be one in mind and heart; we should give no room to discord on our intent and purpose. Other than praying with affirmation as we come together, we should also stress the importance of having a unified understanding of what we are doing and how we are doing it. What is the intention of the church for us on how to celebrate and participate in mass? Are we of one accord? Do we agree on the meaning of what we are doing at mass?
 
I would like to address some of these questions by offering three consecutive Saturday catechesis on productive participation in the Holy  Mass from September 23 through September 30 and October 7. The theme is Holy Mass: To Prepare, Receive, and Thank. I will celebrate twenty-three years of my priestly ordination on September 23, the memorial of St. Pio, priest of the Holy Eucharist. I would be grateful if you could come to celebrate with me by attending this series on the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Christian faith and the central function of my priesthood. 
 
Let us strive to listen to the voice of the church, the body of Christ, as we pray as a family of God. We need to pray as one and clearly understand God's will. We must come together to pray and not forsake the family gathering (see Heb. 10: 24-25). When we gather for mass, the Church calls us to pray as one and with one voice. Listen to Christ and the Church, and never miss mass!
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP