A Message from Fr. Jay
Dear Friends,
‘Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord’. (1st Reading) If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all. (2nd Reading) Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold your reward will be great in heaven! (Gospel Reading)
In the Joy of the Jubilee year of Hope, having sparked the Eucharistic revival at our personal, family and national level in the recent years, we are called by God for a special sanctification of our lives. Yes, from the day our Bishop Dewane announced our parish as one of the Pilgrim Sites, where people from all over the diocese are going to visit our campus throughout the year until January 6th 2026, we have been busy in detailing the physical arrangements, safety, security, crowd management, staffing etc., with all the great ideas and help of a committee of disciples and staff.
One of the committee members, Phil Fontaine, appreciating all the detailing, raised a very deep and thoughtful question/reflection: What are we going to provide to the pilgrims? Just an experience of visiting our Church or real conversion and healing to the pilgrims? Yes, this is a serious question resounding solidly in my mind and, so might do to you as well.
We are all pilgrims in this world. A pilgrim site is a place of spiritual refreshing, reviving, and renaissance. We are fortunate to have our parish as one such site to make ourselves fit to travel our onward journey to heaven. Pilgrims will be bringing their “hopes” to our Lord in the pilgrim site at our Church. I’m confident that we will provide an environment for the pilgrims to experience the spiritual nourishment they need. But we need to ask ourselves the following questions:
Are we seriously reviving ourselves? How could we experience conversion and healing at our personal and family levels? Here are some tips to make some meaningful spiritual renewal in this Jubilee year:
My plan will be to discuss my hope of conversion and healing with my spouse, my children and my family.
Being fortunate to have my parish as a Pilgrim Site, I am going to make the pilgrimage along with my spouse and children during the week of February 24th through February 28th, choosing a suitable day.
The week of February 24th-28th is allocated as a special week for our parishioners to do pilgrimages at our parish. You will gain grace and joy by choosing any one of the days. Enjoy visits to the 9 Identified Prayer Locations; Prayer Walks; Confessions and Holy Mass and gain plenary indulgences. The details of the Jubilee Pilgrimage program are in this bulletin.
This week, by visiting tables in the Narthex, if you are inspired to serve as disciples in St. John XXIII Outreach Ministry or St. John XXIII Thrift Store, please contact the ministry leads or our parish office.
Next week, you will find people/disciples who will be providing information on the ministries of: Adoration Chapel, Journey to Hope (Mental Health Ministry), New Parishioners Orientation and Knights of Columbus. Your prayerful consideration is to serve ‘hope’!
God Bless,
Fr. Jay Raju
- Jeremiah 17:5–8
- Psalm 1:1–4, 6
- 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16–20
- Luke 6:17, 20–26
