Students from East Catholic spoke not a word, but send a VERY powerful message.
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Category: Archived
Join us at the Carnival – August 22 – 26
Mother of Divine Providence is happy to celebrate its Community Carnival with people of Good Will! We open our doors to welcome our neighbors, our friends, those who have just moved here or have come to visit the Valley Forge Area.
The Carnival is a way for us to collaborate with the Church in strengthening both family life and neighborhoods, by supporting family and community members and encouraging them all to work for the Common Good.
The Carnival is a way to reestablish our cultural ties as Catholics faithful to our beliefs, and in our citizenship in the greatest Nation on earth.
You are most welcome to join us! For more inforamtion link too our Carnival webpage: www.mdpcommunitycarnival.com
“Lord, help me!”
“Lord, help me!” The woman in today’s Gospel has great tenacity! She is persistent in her faith with good self-discipline. I don’t know if you remember in school we used to have a grade for self-discipline. It is a good characteristic to have and an essential quality in the spiritual life.
I usually get up in the morning at 4:30. The first thing I do is exercise. The only thing that gets me through is the thought of a hot cup of coffee. When the alarm goes off, my first prayer of the day is, LORD, HELP ME.
“Do Not Be Afraid”
Deacon Greg Maskarinec’s Homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
I have a confession to make. When people ask me about the call to become a permanent deacon, I usually don’t tell hem the whole story. I do tell them that it was about 20 years from my first thoughts about becoming a deacon until the time I entered formation. What I don’t tell people is why it took 20 years for me to decide to enter into the diaconate program. One of the main reasons…I was afraid. You see, as a lector I was always nervous. So when the question of becoming a deacon arose so did thoughts of having to get up in front of the entire church…to chant…to proclaim the Gospel…to peach! For someone who was nervous lecturing the thought of chanting and preaching was terrifying! Continue reading ““Do Not Be Afraid””
Happening @ MDP: Summer Movie Series!
Our SUMMER MOVIE SERIES has been Bishop Barron’s “Pivotal Players,” fascinating films on some of the most important figures in the Catholic tradition.
Join us for the upcoming “St. Francis of Assisi: the Reformer” on August 11th at 7pm in the Parish Offices! Our guest host will be Seminarian Francesco D’Amico, who is also a native of Assisi, and will share a few words about this great saint of his hometown.
BYOB, we’ll bring the popcorn!
“…and His Face shone like the sun.”
“…and His face shone like the sun.”
What the Apostles witnessed on Tabor was the Glory of God reflected in the Face of Jesus. The Introit of today’s Mass told us, it was a resplendent cloud that revealed the Holy Spirit Who announced: “This is My Beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased.”
The Glory revealed to us every day at the Consecration of the Mass reveals to us a life we are destined to live if we configuration ourselves the vision before us.
Casting off anything that would make us unworthy of the relationship we have with the Infinite God. This is never easy because pride, arrogance and deceit will hide the true Face of God from us.
Happening @ MDP: Summer Trips!
Several parish teens travelled to the “Steubenville Youth Conference” this summer! These summer events host over 50,000 Catholic teens annually, and center around praise, worship, and awesome speakers encouraging teens to become intentional disciples of Christ.
Thanks to everyone who supported our trips!
Pictured: several youth groups from Philadelphia at the Steubenville NYC conference.
I cannot do it alone! I need God’s help!
People living in the holy land would have been familiar with the dangers of weeds growing up around the wheat and how difficult it is to tell the difference between them until they bloomed. The wheat of course represents good and weeds, evil. As Christians, we need to tell the difference between them especially in a world that makes them seem the same.
The devil’s strongest tool against us is the lie. He uses deception to cloud our perception and convince us that we are not responsible for our actions. That somehow, we can do everything alone and without God. As Christians, understanding good and evil, and taking responsibility for our choices is all about discovering the Truth that is God. God is not a figment of our imagination. He is real and a separate person from us. God is equally merciful and just. We can never be afraid to face the truth even if it makes us feel ashamed, or embarrassed. Because Truth is of God.
“Jesus works through us, no matter how unworthy we think we are.”
All Christians through baptism are preachers of the Word. Saint Paul says, “all of us who possess the first fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free.” What he is saying is that everything we do, everything we think and say belongs to Christ and through us He communicates to the world.
When we sow the seed of the word, we rarely see the effects of that sowing. We can look back on our own lives and remember people who affected us and yet they never knew how much they changed us; old teachers, our parents, priests, former classmates, coworkers. We have an effect on people’s lives in what we say and more importantly in what we do.
As Christians, Jesus works through us, no matter how unworthy we think we are.
Continue reading ““Jesus works through us, no matter how unworthy we think we are.””
Is Your Vision of God Distorted?
Deacon Greg Maskarinec’s Homily – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
When I was in fifth grade the teacher separated me from one of my friends by moving us to opposite sides of the classroom. I don’t remember specifically why, but it wasn’t because of good behavior. Well, I started complaining that I couldn’t see the blackboard very well so that she would move me closer to my friend. Over the next couple of days I kept complaining and kept getting moved. After complaining again one day, the teacher sent me home with a note that said she was concerned that I might need eyeglasses because I was having problems seeing the blackboard. So my parents made an appointment for me with the eye doctor. After being examined the doctor said I needed eye glasses. I tried to explain to the eye doctor that I really didn’t need eyeglasses but I wasn’t successful. And so I returned a week or so later to pick up my new eyeglasses. Lo and behold…I could see much better with eyeglasses! Before getting my eyeglasses my vision was distorted but I didn’t realize it!
The same thing can happen in our spiritual lives. Our vision of God can be distorted and we don’t see him as He is. This problem has existed since man’s beginning, but let’s go back to the time of today’s First Reading. Continue reading “Is Your Vision of God Distorted?”