Author: Nathalie Godet

 

Dear Friends,

On March 27, 2020, at an early point in the global pandemic, Pope Francis walked alone in the rain across an empty St. Peter’s Square to offer prayer for the world in a time of crisis. “Faith,” he said, “begins when we realize we are in need of salvation. We are not self-sufficient; by ourselves we flounder: we need the Lord, like ancient navigators needed the stars.” Recalling when Jesus was asleep in the boat as a tempest was raging (Mark 4:35-41), the Holy Father said, “The Lord awakens so as to reawaken and revive our Easter faith.” On that day, Pope Francis presided over the rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction in order to focus our attention on the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The Pope was reminding us that even in a time of turbulence and crisis, Jesus is present among us, as present as he was long ago in the boat on the Sea of Galilee.

This presence of Jesus, the Real Presence, that we experience in a very tangible way is when we all gather for the Eucharist daily but especially on Sundays. I am sure you heard that the US Catholic Bishops have called for a three-year National Eucharistic Revival, which aims to renew devotion and belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, This initiative has three phases: the national phase, the diocesan phase and the parish phase. At the moment we are in the diocesan phase which will come to an end with the Corpus Christi Sunday on June 11, 2023 when the parish phase will begin. This Revival will culminate with a National Eucharistic Congress, in Indianapolis, July 17-21, 2024. The year after that is the ‘Year of going out on Mission.’ Having enkindled a missionary fire in the hearts of the American faithful, the Holy Spirit will send us out on mission to share the gift of our Eucharistic Lord as we enter the universal Church’s jubilee year in 2025. The Bishops have written a beautiful document titled “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church” which is worth reading and studying.

Our Diocese of Metuchen has suggested that we form a parish committee to make the parish phase more participatory and beneficial. I wish to invite individuals who wish to be part of this committee to contact me or Msgr. Brennan. No qualifications necessary. Just a desire to deepen our faith in the Eucharist and an interest to promote the Eucharistic understanding and implications to our parish community. There will be guidance from us as well as from our Diocesan Office.

There are already many resources that all of us can easily access:

Start reading the USCCB’s article: https://eucharisticrevival.org

Have a look at the free study guide at: https://reviveparishes.com/eucharist Also you can watch a free two-hour online course, presented by Bishop Andrew Cozzens, on the Bishops’ document on the Eucharist.

This is a chance for our whole parish to take a fresh look at our Holy Eucharist which the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1324-1327) describes as “the source and summit” of the Christian life. We will certainly gain new appreciation and insights into what we celebrate and who we receive in Holy Communion, Jesus Christ, the Lord of our life.

 

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

 

 

Dear Friends,

It was great to see so many of our people making an extra effort to begin Lent with the symbol of ashes, reminding us all to “turn away from sin and believe in the gospel.” Besides the distribution of the ashes at the different Masses and the Prayer Service, our unique practice of the “Drive-thru” ministry of ashes also attracted a lot of people who, due to their own particular situation, would not have got the ashes and the message in the little card we gave them. I am grateful to the many volunteers and parish staff who made the drive-thru ministry a success. This is a sign of goodwill from the Church to reach out to those who cannot come to church or those alienated from the church for whatever reason.

As I was reflecting on the different ways of living Lent, I was fascinated by this “If-we-were” reflection a friend sent me:

If we were:
knives, Lent would be a time to sharpen our cutting edges.
cars, Lent would be a time for an oil change and a tune-up.
swimming pools, Lent would be a time to filter the dirt out of our water.
gardens, Lent would be a time to fertilize our soil and dig out our weeds.
carpets, Lent would be a time to get power-cleaned.
VCRs, Lent would be a time to clean our heads and adjust our tracking.
computers, Lent would be a time to overhaul our disk drive.
highways, Lent would be a time to repair our cracks and fill our potholes.
TV sets, Lent would be a time to adjust our focus and our fine-tuning.
silverware, Lent would be a time to clean away our tarnish.
batteries, Lent would be a time to be recharged.
seeds, Lent would be a time to germinate and reach for the sun.

But the truth of the matter is that we are none of these things. We are people who sometimes do wrong things, and we need to atone for them. Sometimes we get spiritually lazy – we need to get back into shape; sometimes we become selfish – we need to stretch out of our narrowness and begin giving again; sometimes we lose sight of our purpose on earth and the immense promise within us – we need to regain our vision. And because we are also people who sometimes tend to put those things off, we need a special official time to concentrate on doing them. So we have Lent.

I hope we all have chosen some particular way or ways to spend these 40 days. If not, “Now is the acceptable time,” as St. Paul reminds us (2 Corinthians 6:2). Our small faith-sharing groups have already begun to meet weekly. Anyone is still welcome to drop in and see what it is all about! The Stations of the Cross at 7 pm every Friday of Lent is a devotion worth attending. The reflections are truly relevant and practical. Can we all put that in our Lenten schedule?

I wish us all a happy experience of Lent as we make some Lenten practice these 40 days. Then the Easter candy will taste sweeter, the Easter flowers will bloom more brightly, the Easter Sunday sun will shine more warmly!

Happy and fruitful Lent!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

 

The Miraculous Medal Novena

One of the most popular and widespread devotions in the Catholic Church is the Miraculous Medal Novena. Here at Saint Matthias the novena is prayed every Monday morning after the 8 am Mass. The miraculous medal had its origin in Paris France in 1830 when Saint Catherine Labouré received an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Catherine was born on May 2, 1806. Her mother died when she was 9. Catherine asked the Blessed Mother to be her mother in place of her deceased mother. In January 1830 she joined the Daughters of Charity and in July of that year, she had the first of several apparitions of the Blessed Mother. During one of these apparitions in the chapel of her convent in Paris, the Blessed mother showed herself inside an oval frame standing upon a globe with rays of light coming from her hands towards the globe. Around the frame were the words, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Mary asked Catherine to have the image struck as a medal. The image rotated and on the back, Catherine saw a large letter M surmounted by a cross with a bar at its base. Below this monogram, there was an image of the Sacred Heart crowned with thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.

Initially 2000 medals were made and distributed and some extraordinary healings and miracles occurred so quickly that people began to call the medal The Miraculous Medal. Today millions of Catholics wear the medal as a sign of their devotion to Mary and to implore her intercession.

Reciting the novena prayers takes less than 10 minutes. Among the prayers is the Novena Prayer which goes like this: O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus and our mother, penetrated with the most lively confidence in your all-powerful and never-failing intercession, manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal, we your loving and trustful children implore you to obtain for us the graces and favors we ask during this novena, if they be beneficial to our immortal souls and the souls for whom we pray.

Msgr. Brennan

 

Dear Friends,

Today is World Marriage Day, an annual observance to honor husband and wife as the foundation of the family, the basic unit of society. It salutes the beauty of their faithfulness, sacrifice and joy in daily married life. I invite every husband and wife to spend a little dedicated time in prayer and reflection by participating in a seven-day virtual retreat focused on marriage (www.foryourmarriage.org). See page 8 in this bulletin for more details about opportunities for marriage enrichment, divorce survival, and retreat.

We all know that marriage is NOT a bed of roses. Every marriage hits its rough spots. Pope Francis noted in his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia that “the life of every family is marked by all kinds of crises. Couples should be helped to realize that surmounting a crisis need not weaken their relationship…Each crisis becomes an apprenticeship in growing closer together or learning a little more about what it means to be married. There is no need for couples to resign themselves to an inevitable downward spiral or a tolerable mediocrity” (no. 232). If you are struggling in your marriage, take heart! The Church cares about you and wants you and your spouse to find healing and a renewed sense of love. Be open to the resources our Church offers to enrich and support your married life.

At the same time, we need to be aware of those couples who have found it impossible to stay in marriage due to insurmountable difficulties and so have chosen to separate or divorce. All of us need to be sensitive to their situation as St. John Paul II beautifully asked us: “I earnestly call upon pastors and the whole community of the faithful to help the divorced and with solicitous care, to make sure that they do not consider themselves as separated from the Church… Let the Church pray for them, encourage them and show herself a merciful mother and thus sustain them in faith and hope.” 

In this context, it is important to have a clear picture of their status in the eyes of the Church as there are many misconceptions: Catholics who are separated or divorced, and who have not remarried outside of the church, are in good standing in the church and can receive the sacraments, including holy Communion. That means divorced/separated Catholics are not excommunicated from the church as some mistakenly think. Annulments do not cost thousands of dollars. Annulments do not take years to process and do not have to be processed in Rome. Divorcees with children can get an annulment. Even if your “ex” does not cooperate in the annulment process, you can still get help. Separated/divorced Catholics are welcome at Mass and Church activities. Separated/divorced Catholics can receive the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation – provided their remarriage, if any, is in the church. They can be sponsors at Baptism and Confirmation. The children of the separated/divorced Catholics can be baptized and receive other sacraments.

Knowing that we are all God’s children trying to live life to the best of our ability will give us a greater understanding of the struggles we all face, especially those with difficulties in marriage; it will then give us a greater appreciation of each other.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal