Author: Nathalie Godet

Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

At the 8am Mass here at St. Matthias, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord, on March 25, 2022 we prayed the Consecration/Entrustment prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  We are in solidarity with Pope Francis who initiated this consecration of Ukraine, Russia and the whole of humanity to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Below are both the original from Vatican and the one the Diocese adapted for our use. I encourage you to pray this Entrustment prayer with your families.

God bless.

Fr. Abraham

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

A couple, very dedicated members of our parish, asked me this question over a month ago: “Father, do you have a rose-colored vestment?” I was not sure though I knew we had chasubles in pink, purple or violet, and even one that might pass for rose. So I told them to come and see our chasubles in the sacristy. They did. They decided that we really did not have a rose-colored vestment and so they ordered and donated a beautiful rose chasuble which is what you see us priests wearing today for this Sunday which is traditionally known as “Laetare” Sunday or “Rejoice” Sunday. Thank you to this wonderful couple for their thoughtfulness. I have seen such demonstrations of commitment, donations of church and liturgical articles, by other parishioners too – many of whom wish to remain anonymous. May God bless their goodness.

“Rejoice” Sunday? Isn’t it strange that the church focuses on joyful celebration today, half way through this penitential season of Lent? Not really. The Church wants us to remember that a Christian’s joy of living, as promised by Jesus, is not to be lost even in the midst of penance and austerity. In fact, the entrance antiphon of today’s liturgy, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her…” is meant to affirm that there is much to rejoice about. That is all the more clear from the Scripture passages of today: The first reading is about the Israelites passing into the Promised Land. One can taste the goodness of God in the responsorial psalm. And in the Gospel, the prodigal son returns home. All these are indicative of an atmosphere of warmth and excitement and celebration.

As a parish community, we need to experience as well as radiate this joyful attitude. St. Matthias is a parish community where all are welcome – an important factor that already helps us to be a joyful people. We celebrate with gusto. Today’s readings invite us to examine how convinced we are of this Scriptural truth of the cause of our joy. Many Biblical scholars say that the parable of the prodigal son should have been named the parable of the ‘prodigal father,’ because it is the father who is literally ‘prodigal’ with his joyful welcome and loving mercy to the younger son. It is the father who is lavish in accepting his wayward son without any pre-condition or even a question. And Jesus insists that what he showed is the quintessential characteristic of our heavenly Father.

Such a truth is hard to believe, simply because it goes contrary to all our human experiences. Is there any parent who will reinstate their rebellious son or daughter without any condition? Even when the older son refused to enter the house in protest of his father’s handling of his younger brother, how did the father react? A parishioner, reflecting on this passage in the LIVE LENT group, rightly commented that it was not, “come on now, grow up!” but a gentle and understanding response. Such is the nature of our God.

May we reaffirm our faith in the unconditional acceptance and loving forgiveness of our God as taught by Jesus Christ. Isn’t this enough reason for us to be joyful – no matter what happens in and around us?

Happy Lent!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Symposium on Critical Race Theory

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

On February 28th, St. Matthias was fortunate to spend some time listening to the Rev. Dr. Dante R. Quick, Senior Pastor of 1st Baptist of Lincoln Gardens here in Somerset, share important background in a Zoom symposium on Critical Race Theory. He also offered his perspective on what CRT means for Christian education. The symposium was moderated by Dr. Sandra Donnay, parishioner ND and founder of the Racial Equity Initiative, and sponsored by the St. Martin de Porres Society of St. Matthias. First and foremost, Rev. Dr. Quick explained the history of CRT as an academic examination centered in legal studies which debuted in 1971 in the Harvard Law Review; however he put forth an explanation of CRT having begun far before 1971 as explained by forgone scholars and thinkers. He positioned CRT as nothing more than an examination of the relationship or “intersectionality” of race, economics, education, and health through the teaching of real and true American History, and the advocacy of equity vs. equality. You can listen to the full recording of the symposium on the St. Matthias YouTube channel by clicking here.  Also provided by Rev. Dr. Quick and the moderator, Dr. Donnay, is the list of resources below. We hope to have them both with us again sometime soon.

Recommended Reading/Books from Rev Dr. Danté R. Quick:

  • David Walker’s Appeal by David Walker,
  • The Meaning of July 4th For the Negro by Frederick Douglass
  • black codes, by the Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez
  • The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Vann Woodward
  • Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
  • The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Letter from Birmingham Jail by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • City of God by St. Augustine of Hippo

Resources from Dr. Sandra Donnay (on how to talk to children about race): Pursuant to the request by one of the attendees, below are some resources for talking to children about race provided by Southern Poverty Law Conference (SPLC).

https://www.embracerace.org. (Support for parents who want to hold discussions with their children about racism).

https://www.teachingforchange.org. (Recommended Social Justice Books)

https://raceconscious.org. (Resources for talking with children about racism)

 

Support and Pray for Ukraine

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

 

Our parishioners have been very generous in responding to the collection for the suffering and dying people of Ukraine. We have been praying for Ukraine every day at our Masses daily.

Here’s an impassioned prayer that Pope Francis prayed, asking God to have mercy and bring peace to the war in Ukraine during his Wednesday general audience on March 16. We can use it in our prayers:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.

Lord Jesus, born under the bombs of Kyiv, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, who died in his mother’s arms in a bunker in Kharkiv, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, sent at 20 years old to the front, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, who still sees armed hands in the shadow of your Cross, have mercy on us!

 

Forgive us, Lord, if, not content with the nails with which we pierced your hands, we continue to drink from the blood of the dead torn apart by weapons.

Forgive us, Lord, if these hands that you created for care have been transformed into instruments of death.

 

Forgive us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother, if we continue like Cain to remove the stones from our field to kill Abel. Forgive us if we continue to justify cruelty with our toil, if with our pain we legitimize the cruelty of our actions.

Forgive us the war, Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, we implore you: Stop the hand of Cain!

Third Sunday of Lent

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Dear Friends,

We have scheduled a Healing Mass on Saturday March 26th at 11am, presided by Msgr. Seamus Brennan. All who need healing from a variety of spiritual, emotional or physical ills are welcome, and in particular, any Catholic who has a serious illness or who has become weak because of advanced age is welcome to receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. This sacrament is administered by the priest through the laying on of hands and anointing with the Holy Oil of the Sick on the forehead and the palms of the hands. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament (James 5:14-15 and Mark 6:13). The special grace of the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has as its effects: – the uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church; the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness or old age; the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance; the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of his soul; the preparation for passing over to eternal life. (CCC, 1532)

Here I wish to clarify a common misunderstanding: This sacrament used to be referred to as Extreme Unction or Last Rites, which sometimes led people to believe that the only proper time to call the priest for this sacrament is when someone is about to die. The Church wants us to know that this Sacrament can be administered several times for the same person, if necessary. One might certainly become seriously ill more than once in a lifetime, or may face serious surgery on several occasions. In each instance, one can receive this anointing.

We encounter Jesus the divine healer at every Mass. But during a healing Mass, the theme of the entire Mass is healing – through prayers, through the Word of God, through the sacrament of anointing and the reception of Holy Communion. Healing Mass is an opportunity for everyone to pray for the Lord’s healing touch upon whatever we need to be free from – an illness or mind, body or soul, a negative feeling within us, an inability to forgive, unhealthy tendencies. All are welcome to attend this spiritual event and experience the Lord’s healing touch.

Another very important means of healing is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Lent is an ideal time for this and that is the reason that people make it a point to go to Confession during this season to be freed of our sins. Unfortunately ‘sin’ has become a dirty word that we prefer to avoid in our common parlance. And yet we see the devastating effects of sin that brings us so much unhappiness and heartaches within us and in the way we deal with others. The very first words of Jesus when He began His public ministry were: “Repent and believe the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt.4:17) That was what we heard when we received ashes on our forehead as we began the Lenten journey.

In order to make this wonderful healing Sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation more available for us all, Msgr. Brennan and I have decided to offer more opportunities from next week onwards for the remainder of lent. Thus, the regular Saturday confessions will be from 3 – 4:30 and both of us will be available. And two days of the week – on Mondays and Fridays – we will be available for Confession for about 15 minutes after the 8am Mass.

Jesus said to His Apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). Haven’t we all felt the attractive power of sin in our lives? Haven’t we all regretted the hurtful words and painful deeds that made others unhappy? But the good news is that we can start all over again with the goodness of the Lord who is the healer in the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession. Why not use this golden mine for our own good? Please call the
parish office if you have any questions.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Second Sunday of Lent

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Dear Friends,

For some time now, you probably have noticed workers on the roof of our church and may have wondered what’s happening there. We are going solar! Looking at our financials, I had realized that one of the important areas where we could save a lot of money was how we obtain our electricity. Hence, I initiated the process to go solar in the summer of 2020, but it was very time-consuming with proposals from various solar companies to be submitted to the Diocese, followed by approval, inspections, and other protocols. The project was entrusted to the “Amped on Solar” company whose CEO Mr. Luke Uzupis has been meticulously following up with the time-consuming process for going solar. As per the agreement, the solar company provided us with a new roof, both for the church and the school, free of cost. And now we are entering the final phase of installing the solar panels which is what you see happening on the roof, supervised by Mr. Mark Onori, the Vice President of Project Management for Amped On Solar. Mr. Uzupis, who is implementing this project, deserves our deep appreciation for moving it forward at record  time despite many obstacles caused by the pandemic, the weather, supply chain hold ups and bureaucratic delays. Our hope is to go solar in May/June this year. I am truly grateful to Most Rev. James Checchio, our Bishop, Msgr. Joseph Celano, the Episcopal Vicar for Administration, Mr. Steve Michalek, the diocesan director of the Office of Properties and Facilities, Mary Pat Burke-Grospin, Trish Stumper and many others who in one way or another were and are instrumental in making this wonderful project move forward.

We all know that solar power offers cost savings, reduces carbon footprint and produces significant profits over the long run. Besides these advantages, going solar is one of the ways of responding to the challenge that Pope Francis has given in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ motivating us to address environmental issues. He wrote about the urgent need “to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy. Worldwide there is minimal access to clean and renewable energy.” (no.26) Yes, we can be proud that we are one of the pioneering parishes in our diocese to respond to this urgent need to care for the earth, our home.

On another note: This Friday, March 17, is the feast of St. Patrick, “when everyone is Irish!” While indulging in corned beef and cabbage, Guinness, et. al., the church invites us to focus on the missionary nature of the life of St. Patrick who converted the Irish population to Catholicism in his 33 years of apostolate there. The Irish rightly brought his legacy to places they have settled.

This Saturday, March 19, is the feast of St. Joseph – a big Feast especially for Italians because in the Middle Ages, God, through St. Joseph’s intercessions, saved the Sicilians from a very serious drought. So in his honor, the custom has been for all to wear red, in the same way that green is worn on St. Patrick’s Day. Blessing of food (“la tavola di San Giuse” or “St. Joseph’s Table”) is a popular practice for Italian Catholics.

Happy Feast of St. Patrick! Happy Feast of St. Joseph!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

“Women in Conversation”

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March 8 was International Day for Women.

As Catholics, we believe that our church is called to be God’s agent of social change. Women have played and continues to play a pivotal role in the life of the church. RENEW International, a very evangelizing Catholic movement, is offering a wonderful webinar on Wednesday, March 16 at 2 pm, titled “Women in Conversation” with Genevieve Mougey, the Director of the Office of Social Concerns in the Archdiocese of Washington. Click here to register.

Inviting the Men of Our Parish to Consider

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ARE YOU BEING CALLED TO THE DIACONATE?

The Diocese is looking for men who are interested in becoming Permanent Deacons. A new diaconate formation class is about to begin. Applications for that class will be accepted near the end of this summer; prior to applying, interested men must attend an Information Meeting. A General Information Meeting will be held at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center in Piscataway on Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 7:00 PM and again on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 10:00 AM. If you are between the ages of 35 and 60, and you believe you are being called to this ministry, you, your wife and your pastor are cordially invited to attend one of these meetings.

If you have any questions, or wish to advise that you will attend, please contact the Diocesan Diaconate Office at (732) 562-2457 or diaconate@diometuchen.org.

SYNOD Listening: Last Chance for Those Who Wish to Respond

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Pope Francis wants to hear from you! Yes, he wants input from everyone! The participants at the Synod on Synodality in 2023 will consider these ideas to make our church a more listening church. Besides the deanery-wise listening sessions that our Diocese organized, we did our own parish listening sessions here at St. Matthias. For those of us who could not attend any of these sessions, here’s the last chance to send in your ideas and concerns by answering the questions online. Click here to fill out the St. Matthias Synod 2023 survey

First Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

We have officially entered the holy season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. The pandemic had already made us use Q-tips to impose ashes. This year too we have received ashes from our ministers in the same way. Many loved that the cross on the forehead is not just a smudge, but, someone told me, “it is a high definition cross!” Using Q-tip can be a nice practice to follow even in non-pandemic times.

The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) reminded us of the three traditional pillars of Lenten observance.

Prayer: More time given to prayer during Lent should draw us closer to the Lord. This can happen not only when we sit quietly in silent prayer or reading Scriptures, but also in sharing faith with others in small groups. It is truly astonishing that we have so many groups meeting at different times and days of the week for this purpose. What is more important is to have a regular time for prayer. If not, our good intentions will remain unrealized.

Fasting: Fasting is one of the most ancient practices linked to Lent. We Americans seem to like the word ‘dieting’ rather than fasting! No matter what word we like, it is more than a means of developing self-control. It is often an aid to prayer, as the pangs of hunger remind us of our hunger for God. Fasting should be linked to our concern for those who are forced to fast by their poverty, those who suffer from the injustices of our economic and political structures, those who are in need for any reason. Abstaining from meat traditionally also linked us to the poor, who could seldom afford meat for their meals. It can do the same today if we remember the purpose of abstinence and embrace it as a spiritual link to those whose diets are sparse and simple. That should be the goal we set for ourselves—a sparse and simple meal. To forego a hamburger on a Lenten Friday and feast instead on lobster seems a bit hypocritical as the U.S. Bishops point out: “While fish, lobster and other shellfish are not considered meat and can be consumed on days of abstinence, indulging in the lavish buffet at your favorite seafood place sort of misses the point.”

Almsgiving: Almsgiving is a sign of our care for those in need and an expression of our gratitude for all that God has given to us. Works of charity and the promotion of justice are integral elements of the Christian way of life we began when we were baptized. We can be grateful to God that our Parish has the best track record on this – not only during Lent but throughout the year – thanks to our parishioners practicing solidarity with those in need, with our
very active St. Vincent De Paul Society, taking lead in this.

In this context, I wish to promote a wonderful initiative that Bishop Checchio has just launched, inviting us to put mercy into action by doing 40 works of mercy during this Lent and Easter seasons. Titled “40 Act Impact,” this campaign is established to remind us Catholics in our diocese that just as God has impacted our own individual lives, we are called to go out and do the same for others. For more info, go to https://diometuchen.org/worksofmercy

Wishing us all a meaningful and fruitful Lent,

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal