What we celebrate during these Easter weeks is our new life in Christ. Saint John says:” See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” And yet he warns us that the world will never know us because it will never recognize Him.

We forget that the Church will never belong totally to the world and that the world will never fully accept the Church. In fact, if we find we ourselves becoming accepted by the world, we know we have become too complacent. The Church flourishes when it suffers, like Jesus on the Cross.

So, we need to be careful if we are to lead this new life, we need to be watchful that the seeds of this world are not nourished but rather are rooted out by our vigilance in prayer and in the reception of the sacraments.

Continue reading “Christ has always been the ‘stone rejected’” →

Last weekend, nearly one hundred volunteers came together in the MDP gym to pack meals for Burkina Faso, Africa!

Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of so many people, we were able to purchase, pack, and ship FOURTEEN THOUSAND high-nutrient meals to communities living in poverty in Burkina Faso, Africa!

Funds were raised through the Lenten Poor Box and Operation Rice Bowl.  We had initially planned to raise $5,000… but last week we hit the $7,000 mark, and still have a few more Rice Bowls to tally!

Our event was fun and high-energy… with music blasting, a few people were caught having a dance party while we packed!

As a family-friendly service project, we had a job for everyone ages 5+.  Our smallest volunteers had some of our best attitudes and “helping hands!”

And we couldn’t have done it without our heavy-lifters, who shouldered boxes and bags of rice weighing up to 50 lbs!

Our leadership team was comprised of the Ettore, Lloyd, and Galdi families.  Many thanks to each of them!

We are especially grateful to our fundraising partners: MDP Lenten Poor Box, Operation Rice Bowl, MTC Regional Catholic School, MDP Knights of Columbus, and MDP PREP!  And we are thankful to Medina Professional Photography Solutions for capturing the wonderful spirit and energy of our big day.

Watch for our next “Helping Hands” event in Spring 2019! If you would like to be on the Helping Hands / Operation Rice Bowl team for next year, please contact Lauren Joyce at 610-337-2173.

“On this night in which Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church calls upon us to come together to watch and pray.  If we keep this living Memorial of the Paschal Mystery in this way, listening to His Word and celebrating the Sacraments, then we will have sure hope of sharing also his triumph over death and living with Him in God.”

And so, in these early hours before Dawn, we accompany the women to the Tomb.  There has not been time to provide the burial services for the body and so the women, who had attended Jesus through His Public Ministry come to the place where then had laid Him.

When they reached the Tomb, the stone was rolled away, and in it there was a messenger who gave them the unbelievable news that Jesus had risen from the dead.

The women were left stunned, as we are in this moment, Jesus has risen from the dead.  how can this be true?  Nevertheless, if it were not true, we would never have heard of Him, history would never have remembered Him.

The women had come to bury their Teacher; the Apostles’ attitude was one of defeat and of ultimate tragedy.

Be we know Him of Whom they speak! After two thousand years, the words are still freshly spoken, “Do not be amazed!  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.  He has been raised; He is not here.”

We know that what the messenger said is true because now, we are witnessing the unbelievable event And, there are others who have come to believe, who seek a new Way of Life in the Risen Lord!  Continue reading “Father Cioppi’s Easter Vigil Homily” →

Today marks the beginning of a holy week of remembrance.  Through Scripture, Song and Sacred Ritual, we commemorate Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection.  Our Parish Lenten journey leads us now to the gates of Jerusalem where “Jesus emptied Himself and accepted death on a cross.’ We come to this time and place, open to the wonders of Christ’s death; a power that brings new life to those who have lost hope, a home to the confused, and healing to those who suffer.

It is on Calvary we find our noblest aspiration as human persons.  Tertullian wrote:  “The flesh is the hinge of salvation.”  We believe in God Who made Himself human in order to redeem us by the very flesh He gave us.

Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to Divine Providence.  He asks nothing less from us.  “By His death he has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation for all of us (CCC, 1019).”

If we can identify with the Centurion of the Gospel, and stand with him beneath the Cross and say with him:  “Truly this man was the Son of God,” then we will enter more deeply these sacred moments and ponder the great mystery of God’s love for us.

Our PREP / CCD children led us in prayerful Stations of the Cross last night… we are grateful for their efforts!  It was a beautiful addition to the parish Lenten Season.

 

All are welcome to our remaining Stations of the Cross this Lent:

– Friday 3/16 @ 7pm in Church

– Wednesday 3/21 @ 2pm in Church

– Friday 3/23 @ 7pm in Church (MTC Living Stations of the Cross)

– Wednesday 3/28 @ 2pm in Church (MTC Living Stations of the Cross)