Threefold Forgiveness
Easter's third Sunday
Announcements for April 30, 2022:
If you need anything at all, please be in touch with me.
BANNS of Ordination: Deacon Wade James Trainor will be ordained to the Sacred Order of the Priesthood on Saturday, May 28, 2022. If you know of any reason why this man should not be ordained a priest in the Catholic Church, please contact Rev. Edward Rama, Vocations Director in the Diocese of Paterson, at 973-777-8818 ext 715.
Our Young Adult Group (ages 18-39) will meet the evening of Friday, May 6th. Send me a note for more information.
Baseball hats to support the OLMC School baseball team will be available for sale after the 9:00am and 11:00am Masses this weekend. Thank you for your support!
Visit the OLMC Parishioner Portal for all of our recent announcements.
Dear Saints,
There's a lot going on in our Gospel passage this week.
It's a lively story. As one of the main resurrection appearances recorded in the Scriptures, that's something we should expect. Wherever Jesus goes, new life abounds.
How does he bring this new life to bear? In a word, forgiveness.
Think, if you will, of Jesus' last words on the Cross. The first of his seven sayings is "Father, forgive them..."
What I want you to see, my friends, is that Jesus is love all the way through. And love, when offended against, is keen to overcome injury. This means not that injury gets ignored, but that it must be dealt with. Jesus' great victory is his giving himself totally for us, overcoming our offense, never turning back out of fear or for the sake of self-preservation.
When we entrust ourselves to Jesus, we are signing on to live a life of all-the-way-through love. This makes us agents of forgiveness, eager to extend God's mercy to everyone we encounter.
It's an otherwise impossible task that Jesus, here and now, is giving us the hearts and the strength to accomplish.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
In the Peace of our Risen Lord,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Third Sunday of Easter
Christ's Charge to Peter
Peter Paul Rubens, ca.1616