Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
 
                                                Please, Let’s Not be Ignorant of the Bible
 
Jesus speaks to us always. He invites us, “come after me” like he did Simon, Andrew, James, and John in the Gospel (Mk 1:15). Like we heard last week from John’s Gospel to spend time with Jesus and be taught by him, that call to know and encounter Jesus and proclaim him to others is reinforced today, Sunday of the Word of God. Jesus is known and believed in his Sacred Words, the inspired words contained in the Bible. As St Jerome famously states, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, Prologue: PL 24,17B).
 
We can no longer afford to be ignorant of Jesus because we now have a vast array of resources to aid our study and meditation on the Bible. There are many Catholic study bibles available for purchase. There are also opportunities for bible study in our parish. At the moment, there are many Catholic-based complete bible reading in 365 days. One among many that I recommend is “The Bible in a Year with Fr. Mike Schmitz podcast (It is already day 24 this Sunday). Fr. Mike Schmitz and others are following in the footsteps of bible scholars like St. Jerome and saints whose memorials we celebrate this week: the conversion of St. Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, Saints Timothy and Titus and St. Thomas Aquinas, and Blessed Virgin Mary in whose womb and heart the Word took flesh and grew.
 
Like these saints, let us open our hearts and mind to the Word of God and act on it like the people of Nineveh did when Prophet Jonah announced “the word of the Lord” to them to turn away from their evil way (Jonah 3:1). Jesus teaches us his ways, his truth (Ps. 254-5) as he proclaims the Gospel of God to us to repent and believe the Gospel” (Mk. 1:15).
 
I invite you to practice Lectio Divina: read, pray, meditate, contemplate and act on the Word of God daily; this daily devotion prepares us to follow Jesus indeed and make Him known to others. Pope Francis reminds us in Aperuit illis: “Christ Jesus is knocking at our door in the words of sacred Scripture. If we hear his voice and open the doors of our minds and hearts, then he will enter our lives and remain ever with us” (AI, 8). Let’s not be ignorant of the Scriptures.
 
In Christ, the Word of God,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

 Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

                                                                        What Do you Seek?

Jesus asked the disciples of John the Baptist, who followed him, “What do you seek?” (John 1: 38). This is a pertinent question of faith each of us needs to answer. To be precise, what do we seek in Jesus? Why do we seek Jesus? We are all seekers after Jesus, like the Wise Men from the East who followed the star to Bethlehem to behold baby Jesus, the savior of the world. We seek the Rabbi, the teacher. We want to know Him whom we worship. After spending the day with Jesus, the disciples got to know Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Messiah-the Christ. We, too, need to be taught daily by the Lord Jesus. He will reveal himself to us as a divine person. We need to spend quality time with him and listen; each of us needs to have this personal experience. Make a daily commitment to knowing more about the person of Jesus in prayers and meditation on the Sacred Scriptures.
One of the truths we shall learn about Jesus is that he is Lord and giver of life. He came that we “may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). In this light, let us celebrate life by observing the different life-giving events coming up this week.
Monday, January 18, is the celebration of the birth of Martin Luther King Jr. On Martin Luther King Day, we celebrate the life of a great American who fought for racial equality and harmony and are urged to pray for the end of racial discrimination in our country. I invite you to join me in that prayer at Mass on Monday, January 18.
The entire week, beginning Monday, January 18 through Monday, January 25, is also dedicated to prayers for Christian Unity. I invite you to pray throughout the week for Christian unity here in Elizabethtown and throughout the world. There are a lot of things we Christians of different traditions share in common that we can celebrate. One example is the weekly Scripture reflection at the Starbarn. On Wednesday at 7:30 am, Dave Abel and his team welcome all Christian denominations to reflect on Sunday Mass readings and pray as one family.
Friday, January 22, is the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade to make legal the violation of the human person's dignity through the act of abortion. We pray and do penance for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life, not only for the lives of innocent babies in the wombs of their mothers but all human lives. At the celebration of the Mass, we offer Jesus, the Lamb of God, to our Father in heaven as reparation for sin and source of eternal life. May we live what we profess as we become what we eat and drink, the body and blood of Jesus. Please do penance and attend the Mas “For giving thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life” that I will celebrate on Friday, January 22.
Have a week of living encounters with Jesus.

Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dear brothers and sisters,
 
What Happened at Our Baptism?
 
The feast of the baptism of Jesus brings to the conclusion the Christmas season. Here is yet another epiphany of God’s prescient irruption into our human existence. In the words of Prophet Isaiah, the Israelites were expecting the coming of the saving, suffering servant of God whom He addressed as “my chosen one with whom I am well pleased, upon whom I have put my spirit.” (42:1-2). At Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, God bursts forth into our life like the roar of rushing water (cf. Ez. 43:2, Rev. 14:2), and by so doing, he adopts all of us as His children through Jesus. In and from Jesus’ baptism we have all received our baptism and like Jesus, we are anointed “with the Holy Spirit and power” (Acts 10:38). Like Jesus, our baptism is a manifestation of God’s love and His choice of us as his children. Our baptism is God’s claim over us and because he is pleased with our new identity, he empowers us to do good and bring healing to those in our world. Are we doing so? Do we have the capacity to do so?
 
Yes, we have been empowered in the Holy Spirit through the water of baptism and the anointing with sacred oil, we just don’t always remember this or realize this state of our soul. We are God’s people, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Let us respond to the grace that has been given to us through the Sacrament of baptism. What is left for us to do is to put into action the grace given to us to live as God’s children in name and truth.
 
In various ways, we have manifested the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives through many acts of love and service to God and his church. We are thankful to God for that. As we conclude the Christmas season today, I once again offer my thanks to all of you who over Christmas have been generous to our parish family and me personally. This is a mark of the indwelling Spirit of love in your lives, and I pray that you keep the flame of that love alive throughout this year and always. God is pleased with you, remain in God’s love. Keep your Christian identity alive through constant acts of selfless love, healing, and justice. Pray without ceasing through the Holy Spirit given to you by God.
 
Your brother in Christ,
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

 Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

$50 in Small Bills Stuffed in Christmas Card Envelope!

This Sunday, the church celebrates the Epiphany of our Lord Jesus to the nations.  This celebration calls to mind the revelation of the Word made flesh to all peoples other than the Jews. God loves all peoples, and all have access to his Divine Light and Love. We all are part of the new Jerusalem whom the glory of the Lord shines upon.” The light shines, and “Nations shall walk by this Light,  Prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 60:1-2). The Gentiles along with the Jewish people are now sharers in the mystery of the revelation; we are “coheirs, members of the same body and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel,” St Paul reiterates (Eph. 3 5-6). We are embodied in the Magi who, “overjoyed at seeing the star,” followed in Faith, bearing gifts to offer Him and proceeded to pay Him homage (Matthew 2:1-12).

 Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, is the Light that shines on all. In appreciation, like the Magi, we have responded generously by giving our life and all we have to Jesus as we adore Him, especially during this Christmas season. And talk of appreciation, I want to mention briefly my sincere thanks to all of you for all the gifts and cards you sent to me. You are so precious and kind. I have been reading the messages in my many Christmas cards and they are inspiring. Many of you have opened your treasures like the Magi and offered the parish gifts in your Christmas offerings. An anonymous card in our collection box particularly touched me with the following words written in it, “What can I give Him, poor as I am?” Stuffed in this card is $50 in small bills; the giver, like all of you, must have saved towards this giving at Christmas. Thank you for your painful but cheerful giving.

 I take this time to wish you a New Year filled with Light and Hope. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, help us by her prayers, the gift of a mother’s love.

Keep Merry throughout the Christmas Season and enter the New Year with Joy in your heart.
 
Love you all,                 Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dear brothers and sisters,
 
On Patris Corde-with a Father’s Love
 
The Collect of the Feast of the Holy Family in this season of Christmas states that God gave us “the shining example of the Holy family” that “we may imitate them in practicing the virtues of family life.” This supplication speaks of the efficacy of example in the building of family. To raise a Christian family or any family for that matter, the role of exemplary parenting is vital. In any family structure, be it its traditional manifestation as mom, dad and children or its ecclesiastical form, the role of a father is particularly pivotal for examples in virtuous living.
 
Our children observe how we behave, they take note of our actions at home and outside the home. This was confirmed for me once again by 8th-grade children in our CCD confirmation class during my visit to them on Sunday, December 13th. They were required by their instructors, the amazing Mary Miller and Kelsie Davis to mention the role of mom and dad in the family. Many of the young boys and girls made fascinating remarks about the examples of their fathers from their traditional roles as the provider and protector to being the one who show them how to play sports. Fathers hold a very important position in the formation of the Christian family.
 
We see this clearly in the role St. Joseph played in the Holy Family. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus is not always praised enough for his role in the life of Jesus and Mary. It is in this light, I think, that the Holy Father declared a year of St. Joseph on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 2020, until December 8, 2021. In his Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, Pope Francis reflects on the sort of father St. Joseph is. Pope Francis writes on how “with a Father’s love, St. Joseph serves as a witness of struggle between our will and God’s plan for us. Joseph’s love, honesty and humility prepared him to carry out the mission entrusted to him by God’s providence. We are all called on a mission to love our family through acts of love that sometimes require surrendering our freedom of will to fulfill God’s will.
 
What exact mission has God entrusted to our fathers? What virtues are our ecclesiastical and familial fathers called to live by? I enjoin you to read Patris Corde to find out more about these virtues. Let us seek the intercession of St. Joseph and imitate his examples of virtue and zeal as we pray for our families.
We fly to St. Joseph’s fatherly love as we pray with Pope Francis:
 
Hail guardian of the Redeemer and spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, guide us in the path of life and obtain for us grace, mercy, courage and defend us from every evil. Amen.
 
 
Find reason to rejoice. Merry Christmas!
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

 
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
 
                                                                       5 Days to Christmas
 
 
What do you do with five days to Christmas? I have five suggestions.
 
First, it is going to get very busy at home and outside the home. There will be the hustle and bustle with last-minute shopping and decorations for Christmas (I belong to that group- I'm yet to get my Christmas tree as I type this message!), so it may be a distraction to getting ready for the Christ in Christmas. So I suggest you intentionally set aside morning and evening before bed-time to gather around your Advent Wreath to pray and meditate. You need that time for recollection amid preparation for the Nativity of our Lord. That identified time for prayer and ejaculatory prayers that may come up as you line up to pay for your items at the store help enforce the needed Advent spirit. 
 
Second, meditate on the Gospel reading for Sunday, December 20-24. These readings are ideal for Christmas reflection; they set the mood for the birth of the Messiah. 
 
Third, if you have not, make sure you send a Christmas card (with gifts if you can) to someone who does not expect it from you. Write words inspired by your reflection on the birth of Christ in the card; it makes it more personal. 
 
Fourth, go to confession if you have any mortal sin on your soul. I will be available for confession on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings from 5-6 pm. 
 
Fifth, make plans to attend one of the Christmas masses offered at the parish. Please pick out a lovely and befitting Christmas dress to wear; I am sure baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph would feel honored. I will be thrilled too! Get prepared for Mass spiritually and physically. Plan to come early. Please watch our own Parish Christmas Mass (even though there are probably many “better” professional options from EWTN to a basilica in Canada) for those viewing from home. Please stay home if anyone is not feeling well. We want to keep everyone as safe as humanly possible. Jesus would understand. I promise through the Holy Spirit's help that it will be an uplifting Christmas mass. 
 
And a bonus addition to the five suggestions above, you may see Christmas Lights as you get closer to Christmas. It can help put you in the true spirit of Christmas. And talking of right Christmas Light, I recommend Stone Gable Estate Christmas Light drive-thru organize by one of our devoted parishioners, Dave Abel. It is an authentic Christmas experience because it highlights Scriptures and traditions that explain the meaning of Christmas.
 
The five suggestions above are my personal. You may do something else that makes the Five Day to Christmas more meaningful to you. The goal is to prepare for Christmas fully.
 
Have a more intense Advent preparation this week and Have a Very MERRY CHRISTMAS 2020 despite the dark shadows of Covid-19!
 
Love you all,
 
 
Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

                                            Advent Preparations

Advent season begins the new liturgical year. It is a New Year within our Christian worship timeline. Like the Gregorian calendar New Year day on January 1, the season of Advent offers us the possibility of looking backward and forward at the same time. Like the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, Janus, with faces in the back and front, signifying a look back into the past year and ahead into the new one, Advent season allows us to look at how we have acted in the past and how we plan to walk right in the new year. It is about beginning following a profound reflection on the past we left behind. This act in itself, a look back, helps us to prepare for a better walk into the future. We make preparations based on our experiences in the past. As we prepare for the Adventus- the coming of Christ in glory, let us look back into our past actions, identify the ones lacking in charity, regret them and renounce them and make amends by promising God a new beginning rooted in love.
 As we prepare for Christmas by buying gifts and writing greeting cards, we make sure we don’t leave anyone dear to us behind. In the same way, let us make sure we don’t forget the sins we want to leave behind. Preparing the way of the Lord as we hear from Prophet Isaiah (40) and Evangelist Mark (1) this Sunday demands we look back to our sinful actions to hate those actions and repenting of them. To do this productively, we need to approach Jesus in the sacrament of reconciliation. Please do make a good confession during your Advent preparations for Christmas. Just as you took extra care to decorate your homes, buy and wrap gifts, write and mail Christmas cards, making sure all is done well, adopt the same approach to cleaning up your soul of sin in preparation for the coming of Jesus into your life.
 As part of our preparation, we can learn a lot from the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Immaculate Conception is our inspiration in preparing the way for Christ in our life by getting rid of sin. This day of obligation, which falls on Tuesday, calls us to distance ourselves from sin by seeking the Immaculate Conception’s intercession. The Church describes her privileges of being without sin in the following words:
"No sin would touch her so that she would be a fitting and worthy vessel of the Son of God. The Immaculate Conception does not refer to the virginal conception and the birth of Christ, but rather to Mary's being conceived without inheriting Original Sin." (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, 142-143).
Opportunities to go to confession to be without sin and its consequences are available on Saturdays from 3-3:45 pm; 9:30-10:10:15 am on Sundays of Advent, Thursdays from 5:30 – 6 and 6:30-7:00 pm. I will announce additional days as needed for confessions in the days ahead. You may also schedule a family or individual confessions during office hours by calling the office.
May you have a rewarding Advent preparation for Christmas.
In Christ,                      

Fr. Bernard, OP
 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 
 
                                                                    Watch! 

My adorable and inquisitive 5-year-old godson, Dayo, recently asked me to get him a wristwatch. He was fascinated by the features, especially the lights on my Fitbit wristwatch. He wanted to know how the buttons function and it was fun showing him. What functions do timepieces serve? It helps us to keep a record of the time of day. Watches also help us to set up alarms, prompt reminders for important events. My watch (my cell phone watch) for instance is set up to wake me up at certain consistent times and to remind me of important hours of prayers like 3.00 pm Divine Mercy hour and 12 pm and 6 pm Angelus prayer. Watches keep us on alert and to map out time. They remind us of getting ready for a function. I sometimes oversleep when my watch alarm is not set to wake me up. I have occasionally missed my Divine Mercy prayer because my watch alarm was not set for 3 pm. Not waking up at the right time or missing prayer times can have unpleasant consequences.  
 
Not being alert or on the watch for the coming of Jesus can have devastating consequences. Advent Season helps us to trigger the attitude of a watch person. It is a season of waiting and watching for the coming of Jesus Christ which we celebrate liturgically at Christmas. How do we keep alert and on the watch for the coming of Our Savior? There are a couple of suggestions: Prayer, Meditation, and Reconciliation. Lack of prayers places our watchfulness in sleep mode. Distraction from total focus on the Lord of Life, Jesus the Christ puts us to spiritual sleep. A broken relationship with God and neighbors through sin leads to sleep of death. We can avoid being found asleep in these spiritual ways by keeping watch always and especially during this season of Advent through intentional constant prayers, meditations on Sacred Scriptures, and Sacrament of Confession. 
 
Due to the pandemic, we will not have a communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation this year. What I plan to do is offer more opportunities to hear confessions on other days in the week other than Saturday afternoon and Thursday evening as I currently do. Confessions between Sunday masses in Advent will return this Sunday. Be on the lookout for additional days for confession on the parish website, Facebook page, and bulletin. Be on the watch! 
 
By the way, I got my godson a wristwatch. He likes the lights that come up at the press of the button. Do you have your watches on? What steps do you plan to take to be watchful during this Advent? Do you have a family Advent Wreath? Do you plan to have time for family prayers and reading of the Bible? Do you have plans to come with the family to confession before Christmas? I say this to you and to all: “Watch!” (Mark 13:37). 
 
Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus! 
Fr. Bernard, OP 
Pastor 
 

 Dear Brothers & Sisters,
 
The Gospel reading for this last Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 25: 31-46 offers us a portrait of Jesus as the judge; St. Paul depicts him as the Risen Lord in 1 Cor. 15: 20-26, 28; and the Prophet Ezekiel in 34:11-12, 15-17 pictures him as a shepherd. All the images of Christ bring to fore features of his Lordship over all the universe. Jesus as the Judge, Lord, and shepherd is deserving of our focus and trust as we live through the current season of anomy (to borrow the title of the second novel of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka). There is so much disorder in our world, and the only one who can restore order is Jesus. But for Jesus to restore order, we must acknowledge him as the ultimate judge over our actions, the Lord of our life and conscience, and the shepherd of our individual souls and society at large. 
 
When Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925, he intended that we recognize the universal Lordship of Jesus Christ via the way of the Cross and submit ourselves to his dominion. We are to surrender our independence to this shepherd-Lord because his kingship is devoted to saving us in the way we could not save ourselves. Let us pray the lyrics of that beautiful song to the King of the Universe: “Shepherd of my soul, I give you full control.” 
As we restore our souls and society to Jesus, let us at the same time offer him thanks for all he has been for us. He is deserving of all our praise, worship, and thanksgiving as we read from Revelation 4 during one of our weekday masses this past week. With the pandemics, racial justice protests, and ongoing election conflicts defining most of our 2020, we may be tempted not to see reasons to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. But we must remember that the bible instructs us to “render constant thanks” to God, for “such is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 4:16).  
 
I AM THANKFUL to God for all of you, my brothers and sisters. Thanks for your gifts of love, pastoral and financial support. E seun. 
 
Happy Thanksgiving!
 
Please celebrate safely with your family and friends. 
 
Fr. Bernard, OP