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The words from the 12th chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews, which we heard at Mass on this past Sunday, lead me to reflect again on the gift of the “communion of the saints.” That beautiful phrase and image, “… Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses …” invites us to recall that from the very beginning of the church there has been an awareness that Christians are assisted in their earthly pilgrimage by those who have “gone before us in faith”. Christians have always believed that the saints are with us, to encourage and inspire us as we “run the race.”

“I say, ‘Father Justin,’ because that is what I always called him. He was my ‘Father Justin’ when I lived with him and got to know him. And now he is St. Justin.”
The above is not a direct quote, but those are the words I recall hearing on this past Tuesday, Aug. 2 at the (newly named) Sanctuary of Mary, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit and Shrine of St. Justin, when Father Louis Caputo recalled having known St. Justin Russolillo. St. Justin is the founder of the Society of Divine Vocations, commonly known as the Vocationists. He can be called a “new saint” because he was canonized less than three months ago by Pope Francis at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on May 15. There were nine other “new saints” canonized on that day.

Most of us either saw or heard at least some coverage of Pope Francis’ recent visit to Canada. Many also heard the media coverage of his press conference on the plane during his trip home from Canada, in which he discussed the question of his potential retirement, “I haven’t felt like thinking about that possibility (of his retiring). But maybe that doesn’t mean the day after tomorrow I will start thinking,” he added. He also spoke about discernment of God’s will: “discernment is key in a Jesuit’s vocation” and that means that “he must be open to whatever the Lord asks of him.”

Earlier this month, Major League Baseball held its Mid-Summer Classic, or what we commonly refer to as the All-Star Game. Interest in (and television ratings for) the All-Star Game is not what it used to be. But for most baseball fans, it is exciting each year to find out which players are selected as All-Stars and then to root for the American or National League.

If you read last week’s Beacon (or follow the Diocese of Paterson’s Facebook page or my Instagram), you would know that I recently had the opportunity to travel to Ireland. On the eighth day of a nine-day trip, I visited St. Teresa’s Church on Clarendon Street in Dublin. After returning home, I wanted to learn more about the church, so I visited the parish website. There, I found a very informative “introduction video” and learned how historic the church is. Some of the most notable people in Irish history worshiped there. Watch the video here.

“The best laid plans…” After the celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christ, on Sunday, June 20, I had been planning to write about my experience on that day, particularly as it was the “Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ” during our Diocesan Year of the Eucharist. That “plan” was still in place on the evening of Thursday, June 23. That plan changed early the next morning, June 24, our diocesan “patronal Feast,” the Birth of John the Baptist, when I heard that the Supreme Court had announced its verdict in the Dobbs v. Jackson case and had overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that had legalized abortion throughout our country.

Seven months ago (last November), I wrote about my experience at my first in-person meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and how impressed I was by a particular presentation given by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, and the chair of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities. Archbishop Nauman offered a presentation and update on a program (initiative) called Walking with Moms in Need.

It will depend on your perspective, whether you would say that 2003 is “recent history” or “a long time ago,” but, in 2003 St. Pope John Paul II (at that time affectionately known as “JP 2” or “the Holy Father”) wrote one of his many Encyclical Letters, entitled Ecclesia De Eucharistia. As we participate in a Diocesan Year of the Eucharist, I have tried to look back at some of Church’s teaching and the writings of the saints on the topic of the Eucharist. It was a wonderful experience to read (again?) St. John Paul’s Ecclesia De Eucharistia. While I remember its publication in 2003, I can’t remember if I read the complete document at that time. During the past week, I had the opportunity to read the letter slowly and prayerfully.

We are currently compiling the responses and input that we received during the diocesan phase of the Synod on Synodality. Father Paul Manning, vicar for evangelization, and Maria Moncaleano, director of our diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry, who serve as the co-chairs of our Diocese’s Synod Steering Committee, are leading the process of organizing the information we have received. By the end of this month, we will have a document summarizing all that we have “heard” during this stage of the Synodal process. We will send that document to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and we will publicize the document to make it accessible to all.

On this past Saturday, I had the great privilege to ordain seven men as priests to serve our diocesan Church. It was a moment of great joy, for the men who were ordained and for their families and friends, for priests, religious and laity, for those who were able to be physically present (and fill the Cathedral), as well as for those who shared in the celebration via livestream. I mentioned in my homily that I believe these men are a “historic” ordination class, because they will be the first newly ordained priests in the 85-year history of our Diocese to celebrate their first Mass on the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension.

On this past Friday, May 20, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone issued a letter by which he communicated his decision that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not to be admitted to Holy Communion. Since the news story broke, I have received a number of emails and messages, mostly encouraging me to support the Arch­bishop’s decision. Two of the emails that I received directed me to (separate) articles referencing nine Bishops who have made public statements in support of Arch­bishop Cordileone’s decision. Here are the links to those two articles:

Traditionally, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord has been celebrated 40 days after Easter in keeping with the Scriptural reference in Acts: “He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Easter is a moveable feast, being celebrated on a different date in March or April every year. But 40 days after Easter will always be a Thursday. For pastoral reasons, the Solemnity of the Ascension, which joyfully celebrates the completion of Christ’s work of redemption, can be transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter.

As we approached Mother’s Day, there was a line from the First Reading at Sunday Mass from the Acts of the Apostles that resonated with me more and more as the weekend progressed. On this past Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which, this year, was “Good Shepherd Sunday,” World Day of Prayer for Vocations, and Mother’s Day, the last line of the First Reading told us, “… The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 13:52)

During the past two years, I would guess that the phrase “happy coincidence” has been used less frequently than in times before the pandemic. I was happy to realize that, in this year of 2022, there is a “happy coincidence” — that Mother’s Day, celebrated on the second Sunday of May, falls, in the Church’s “liturgical calendar,” on the Fourth Sunday of Easter. That means that on Sunday, May 8, we will celebrate both Mother’s Day and World Day of Prayer for Vocations. For almost 60 years, since 1963, the Church has marked the Fourth Sunday of Easter, often called “Good Shepherd Sunday,” as World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

When a child is presented for Baptism, parents are asked, “What name do you give your child?” After giving the name, they are asked, “What do you ask of God’s Church (for your child)?” They reply, “Baptism.”

During the course of Jesus’ revelations to St. Faustina on the Divine Mercy, he asked on numerous occasions that a feast day be dedicated to the Divine Mercy and that this feast be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. The liturgical texts of that day, the Second Sunday of Easter, concern the institution of the Sacrament of Penance, the Tribunal of the Divine Mercy, and are thus already suited to the request of Our Lord. This Feast, which had already been granted to the nation of Poland and been celebrated within Vatican City, was granted to the Universal Church by Pope John Paul II on the occasion of the canonization of Sister Faustina on April 30, 2000. In a decree dated May 23, 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stated “Throughout the world the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come.” These papal acts represent the highest endorsement that the Church can give to a private revelation, an act of papal infallibility proclaiming the certain sanctity of the mystic, and the granting of a universal feast, as requested by Our Lord to St. Faustina.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the story known as the “Road to Emmaus” (Lk 24:13–35). This encounter with Jesus on Easter Sunday, “that very day” (v. 13), after he had risen from the dead, is all the more meaningful as we are participating in the Synod on Synodality and having a Year of the Eucharist. By means of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis is calling on the whole Church to reflect on the ways in which we “journey together” and the ways in which we encounter and listen to one another (and to the Holy Spirit) on our shared journey.

In this Lent of 2022, together with the whole Church, we are in the midst of responding to Pope Francis’ invitation to participate in the Synod on Synodality, listening to one another and to the Spirit, as we journey together. Respon­ding to our Holy Father’s invitation, we are reflecting on the ways in which we encounter and listen to one another and how that reflection, encounter, and listening can help us discern the way in which the Spirit is calling us to “be Church,” missionary disciples, the people of God, and community of believers.

On this past Friday, March 25, I was privileged, along with priests, deacons, seminarians, religious, and lay faithful throughout our Diocese, to join with Pope Francis and the universal Church in the Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We continue to pray for peace in Ukraine and throughout the world. In the midst of all the challenges that we face on the global, national, local, and personal levels, both material and spiritual challenges, we can learn that there are times when “taking a break” from the seriousness of life and our struggles can actually help us to face and deal with challenges.

In the past three weeks, we have seen some very “dark days” for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and we can only imagine what some have suffered and are suffering at the present moment. In the midst of all the darkness and fear, the words of St. John’s Gospel, “the light shines in the darkness” have been very much on my mind, as we have seen the response of our Holy Father and the universal Church, along with nations and people of good will all over the world and the response of our own local Church here in Paterson.