​Beloved in Christ,

"You shall love..." (Mt. 22: 37). The imperative or obligation to love is contained in the Greek form for love used in this Sunday's Gospel. The evangelist reports the spoken word of Jesus in the gospel passage proclaimed to us as a mandamus- a command. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind." The second great commandment, Jesus states, is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Love must be the source and end of our relationship with God and fellow humans. What exactly is love (agape) in this context, and how do we love as God intends?

To love God is to surrender our will, intellect, and being to his will. To love is a choice we make in response to God's invitation to do his will with all we are. It is grace, and it takes grace to respond in love. We must take seriously God's injunction in the Scripture to love him with all we have, our heart, soul and mind. We can meditate at length on agape love today to know precisely what this love demands of us.

To love as God demands is to do it unconditionally for the good of the one we love. It was St. Paul who made a big statement about love. He said the only obligation we owe one another is to love (Rom. 13:8). The command to love without limit is to participate in divine life. This act of love is grace at work. We saw this act of love alive in the Christian community at Thessalonica, and we saw how St. Paul gave thanks to God for their "labor of love" ( 1 Thess 1: 2). To use Aquinas words, we must love others for their own sake, wishing the good of the ones we love and not our gain. Love calls for sacrifice of personal pleasure on the part of the lover for the ultimate good of the loved.

We actively demonstrate love for others when we pray for the good of their soul. Our loved ones, the church in glory and suffering, are our neighbors. We have an unconditional obligation to love. We show a special love for our beloved who have fallen asleep by offering suffrage for their soul. Suffrages are intercessory prayers, usually in the form of holy mass and other sacrifices for the repose of the departed souls. In the Catholic church, we do this more intensely in November. We are to offer masses for souls in purgatory to obtain quicker union with God. Offering masses for the dead is a holy and noble act. You owe this obligation to your loved ones who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection. We have a special remembrance of our loved ones who left us recently scheduled for All Soul's mass on Thursday evening. Please plan to attend in large numbers. Your attendance demonstrates love for your brothers and sisters en route to heaven. They will surely love you back through their prayers for you.

Please remember that the solemnity of All Saints is on Wednesday. It is a holy day of obligation (the word, obligation, comes up again). There are multiple masses made available; please check the bulletin. All Saint is a fitting day to display the relic of St. Peter, our patron saint. Please find time to venerate his relic because this is another ancient Catholic tradition. Our God is not a God of the dead but of the living. Our saints are alive with God in heaven and they love us still.

Love, and keep loving. It is what Christ demands of us.

In His Joy and love,

Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP
 

​Beloved in Christ,
 
"Grace to you and peace" (1 Thess 1:2). I am writing this message on board the CIE coach from Killarney to Dublin. It is almost noon on Wednesday, October 19, the feast of St. Luke the Evangelist, the sixth day of our tour and pilgrimage to Ireland. It is a four-hour drive to Dublin, and it is drizzling. In the homily at the mass I celebrated earlier this morning for fellow pilgrims at St. Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, I pointed out the need to find God in the consistent rainfall that seems to be "ruining" our day. I said God is in the rain, and we must recognize the presence of his grace in the unceasing rainfall. We must also see the diffusion of his grace in all of Ireland we have seen in the past six days ( I will say more about my experiences across my adopted home of Ireland in due course). 
 
Grace upon grace; that is what this pilgrimage has been so far. We have received God's favor and calmness throughout the tour. We have prayed and partied from Galway to Killarney. There is so much to share with you. Still, one of the highlights for me so far is celebrating mass at special sacred spaces like the Shrine of our Lady of Knock, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on August 21, 1879, in the company of St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, and the lamb standing on the altar. God lavished his abundant grace and peace upon me and my friends at Knock. I presented you all to Jesus and the Blessed Mother, and I know God's grace has been released and increased in you. Please keep praying the Rosary; our Lady wants us to pray it frequently.
 
We are getting closer to Dublin now. It is still raining, but it will not stop our visit to the Guinness brewery! Now, with the risk of shocking some people or undermining their expectation of my moral decency (smiling), I have had a lot of Guinness here in Ireland! Feel free to verify my claim from other parish members on this tour. Without equivocation, the best Guinness is made in Ireland ( it is even better than Nigeria's Guinness Stout). What sheer grace God has planted even in this very mundane matter. God's goodness permeates all things he created. He is present in all beautiful things if you look carefully. As we get closer to Dublin, the literary land of Leopold Bloom, the central character in one of my favorite Irish classic fiction, James Joyce's Ulysses, I need to halt my writing. I will continue reflecting on how God's grace runs through all our lives the next time I see and talk with you.
 
Meanwhile, I extend God's grace upon you, Rath De ort.
 
In His joy,
 
 Fr. Alayode Bernard O'Niwe
 

​Dearly Beloved,
 
"To our God the Father, glory forever and ever. Amen" (Phil 4: 20). From our liturgical readings this Sunday, from Isaiah 25 to Matthew 22, the mountain of the Lord and the kingdom of heaven are described respectively in terms of the feast of rich food and choice wines, and wedding banquet where calves and fattened cattle are prepared for those invited. These images are an apt description of our parish picnic this past Sunday. We organized and invited all to the great feast of rich food and drinks (Guinness Stout was available for the Irish!). Those at our picnic on a rather chilly afternoon came, saw, and were conquered by sumptuous and delicious food provided by our generous parishioners. We all had a great time together: not to be left out, the kids had enough fun in the bouncer while the adults had the time to relax, chat and eat. 
 
Thank you to all who made it a successful day. I don't want to single out persons or names, but I appreciate all who sacrificed time, energy, and money. But permit me to make an exception in saying a special thanks to Parish Council, CCW, Men's Club and K of C. To our God, the Father, be glory forever and ever. Amen. 
On Saturday morning, the memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, we had our First Saturday mass. The attendance was sparse, but our parish family still glorified Jesus through our devotion to Mary. Let me reiterate the importance of always praying the rosary, especially through October. This is a major means of fighting the ongoing spiritual battle against Satan and its demons, who seek to dampen and ultimately destroy our faith in Jesus. Use the weapon of the rosary daily. I anticipate a day when fuller parish members can pray the rosary together as a family before the month runs out. Thanks to Patti and others who led the Coast to Coast rosary on Saturday afternoon. Our Blessed Mother is happy. To our God the Father, glory forever and ever. Amen.
 
Another highlight of this past week is our monthly Eucharistic Adoration. Jesus was adored. Praise God! The attendance grew from about thirteen to sixteen before the closure. Thanks to our dedicated Young Adult choir (Stephen and the Baker twins-Elizabeth and Emily) for leading us in praise worship. We could show more love and worship for Jesus as a parish by increasing our monthly adoration attendance, especially as we celebrate the parish Year of Eucharistic Revival. I always pray and hope  we have more of our parishioners attend- what a blessing it will be when we make Jesus a priority, like he said to Martha, "porro unum est necessarium-there is need for only one thing" (Lk 10: 42). All in all, "to our God the Father, glory forever and ever."
 
It is expected that as you read this bulletin message, I and forty-nine pilgrims are mid-way into our trip to Ireland. I would have prayed for all of you at the mass celebrated at the shrine of Our Lady of Knock in the town of Knock, where the Virgin Mary appeared to fifteen people on August 21, 1879. Hail Mary!
 
I am looking forward to our return to the US on Thursday and celebrating mass with you on Friday morning. Until then, go raibh Dia leat! (yes, you are right, I now speak Irish Gaelic!!!).
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP
 

​Dearly Beloved,
 
"What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done?" (Is. 5:4). God has done much and enough for his people to expect good fruits from them. Using the vineyard as a symbol for Israel, his chosen people, God makes a list of all the goods he has invested in his vineyard: he built it on a very fertile land, cleared it of stones dug in a well, planted choice vines in it, built a watchtower in the middle of it, and hewed out a vine press in it. Jesus adopts this vineyard imagery as a background or context for his parable in the Gospel of this Sunday's mass from Mt. 21:33-46. The tenants he leased his well-made vineyard to failed to be productive. He was patient with them and very benevolent, yet they rejected his help and support. They did not produce vine at the expected time.
 
We, the church, are God's vineyard. Each member of the church is God's planted vineyard. God has nourished us with all the necessary graces to make us fruitful in holiness and charity, but we often fail to produce the good fruit of the kingdom of God. Why are we not productive enough? How can we become more productive? We touched briefly on what we needed to do last week. We must adopt a humble attitude of self-emptying and repent of our sins, the sour or wild grapes we produce despite God's generous nourishment. We are not always yielding good fruits because we are not welcoming of Jesus enough. Our sin is in the way. We must repent and hate sin, mortal and venial. When we reject sin and embrace life in Christ, we will start producing fruits that God expects.
 
What are these fruits God demands and expects of us? The virtues. As I already mentioned, we should be manifesting holiness and charity. With the graces God continuously provides and his abundant mercy and patience with us, we ought to be living the virtues that St. Paul listed in his letter to the Philippians: "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil. 4: 6). 
 
We must strive to live these virtues and more. God provides for us within the confines of the church the sacraments and other means of graces. The Eucharist is supreme among the sources of graces Jesus offers to aid us in living a holy and virtuous life. If we are properly disposed to and partake of the sacred meal, we indeed will be empowered to live a religious life. This is the proper time to produce wine from God's vineyard. We must become more active participants in the sacred mystery, the mass. The Eucharist is the most effective way of intimacy with the Lord; he is the vine, and we are the branches. There are other means of growing in grace, of course. We can commit our time to many church devotions to grow in holiness. God has done so much for us in the life of grace; let's take action.
 
In October, we pay more attention to praying the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In addition to devout worship of Jesus in mass and adoration, pray the rosary daily. Meditation on the mysteries of our redemption is an excellent help to living a holy and virtuous life. We have many opportunities for these pious practices in our parish. Our monthly adoration is at 6 p.m. on Monday, and we pray the rosary every Sunday between masses and before daily masses.
 
Today is our parish picnic! We have long waited for this day and put so much into planning it. I would really encourage you to attend. Please prioritize this time of socializing, eating, drinking, dancing, and playing with your parish brothers and sisters. Our turnout for coffee and donuts last week was very encouraging. We probably had our biggest attendance so far. It was a dream realized to see our people coming together as one family. Thank you for your good response. Let us keep that spirit alive. Come back to church this afternoon at 2 p.m., and let's relax and boogie down till sunset!
 
In His Joy,
 
Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP