Author: Nathalie Godet

“Spirit Tech Connect” Thank You!

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Thank you to everyone who has donated to our GivingTuesday “Spirit Tech Connect” campaign to help us purchase video/live-streaming equipment for our church community.  For those who may not have had a chance to donate and would like to do so, we will continue to accept donations.

Watch our video and listen to our volunteers.  Then DONATE at:  https://secure.givelively.org/donate/st-matthias-church-school/givingtuesday-spiritual-tech-connect-campaign.

You may donate:

  • online (credit card, Apple Pay, Bank Transfer) at the above link
  • via Parish Giving
  • by check made out to “St. Matthias Church” with “Spirit Tech Connect” in the memo line (and mailed/dropped off at the Parish Office or in the Sunday collection basket at Mass)
  • by texting SPIRITTECH to 44-321

Know that we are very grateful for your participation. Every donation counts and brings us closer to our goal!  Thank you for your generosity!

 

First Sunday of Advent

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

Before even recovering from the Thanksgiving busy-ness, Advent season is upon us! Advent invites us to pay attention to the special music, prayers, reflections and church environment calling us to slow down and ponder this epoch-making event in history – the birth of Christ. Though a very special time for spiritual preparation for Christmas, Advent can pass us by as we get lost in the bright lights and hectic holiday rush. So, what should we do, not to lose the fruits of this important season?

One way to be living the spirit of Advent is to have some Advent devotion. A daily short reflection on an advent theme or Scripture will help us tremendously. Many resources are available online. A few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to read that the LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention published Advent devotional books. According to Stan Norman, a Church historian and provost of Oklahoma Baptist University, Baptists have begun to see the usefulness of traditions once viewed as too liturgical or high church as these practices “seem to provide a bit of structure in a tradition that has maybe gone too far without structure.” This shift is also seen with other Christian Churches that have begun to offer tips about having Advent wreaths, candles and calendars for observing this holy season.

The popular and traditional practice of Advent wreath reminds us certain aspects of this sacred season. There are various explanations for each candle on the evergreen. Here’s how one tradition thinks of the four candles: The first purple candle is called ‘Prophecy Candle’ in remembrance of the prophets, primarily Isaiah, who foretold the birth of Christ (Isaiah 7:14). This first candle represents hope or expectation in anticipation of the coming Messiah. The second purple candle is the ‘Bethlehem Candle’ symbolizing the manger of Baby Jesus (Luke 2:12) representing love. The pink or rose-colored candle on the third Sunday is the ‘Shepherd’s Candle,’ symbolizing joy (Luke 2:8-11). The fourth candle, purple in color, is the ‘Angel’s Candle,’ representing peace (Luke 2:13-14). Here at St. Matthias, a family or an individual from our community will light these candles at each of our weekend Masses. Let us take to heart its meaning and symbolism and live them.

But there is another excellent practice that is often overlooked or taken lightly: the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Advent and Lent are traditional liturgical seasons when Catholics make an extra effort to cleanse their souls. A good confession can be one of the best ways to welcome the Lord Jesus into our hearts and thus enter into the joy of Christmas. Both of us priests plan to be available for confessions during the whole season of Advent: weekdays after the 8 am Mass, and Saturdays from 3:00 – 4:30 pm. If these times are not convenient, you can call any of us and make an appointment. I would encourage you to plan early to take advantage of this Sacrament that brings so much peace of heart.

Happy Advent.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

Our Diocese of Metuchen held the ‘Diocesan Youth Day’ on October 23rd at St. Joseph’s Parish in Hillsborough. The Diocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry invited all parishes to celebrate a Mass this weekend, dedicated to the youth of the parish in conjunction with the Church internationally as parishes across the world unite to celebrate World Youth Day. Accordingly, we have designated today’s 12 noon Mass as the Youth Mass for our parish. You will see the participation of our youth in the liturgy, serving as different ministers. The visible presence of our youth is a sign of our desire to invite and involve our young people more and more into the parish life.

You will remember that efforts to revive our youth ministry got a boost with the presence and initiative of Msgr. Curry who is affectionately called ‘Fr. Joe.’ He, together with his vibrant team mentors – young and not so young – kept the youth program going even during the pandemic. As he was transferred, one of his team members – Sue Lenczewski – has agreed to take on the responsibility of coordinating our youth ministry. Sue has been a teacher for 40 years and has always gone above and beyond in advocating for the youth of our local community and inspiring them to be their best selves. She has been a parishioner of St. Matthias for 26 years and along with her husband, Raymond, she is a proud parent of two boys Ryan and Robert. Prior to moving to Somerset, Sue had served as a Youth Minister in Brooklyn, NY.

I am very grateful to Sue for accepting this responsibility to be the Youth Coordinator for St. Matthias which she sees as a group effort for the good of the parish. Assisting Sue are Ken Burns, Kathy Makowski, Keith Slyman, and Deacon John. I am confident that she will help build a community for our youth. There are many opportunities for both the young and the young at heart to mentor our youth and for all of us to be blessed with our youth’s active participation in our community.

Therefore as we locally celebrate World Youth Day, let us embrace the mission of promoting our youth as our common duty and responsibility. I invite you all to reach out and encourage the young people of your families and extended families and tell them that they are the church, and that they have a place and role in our church here at St. Matthias.

We are entering the week of Thanksgiving. But, giving thanks to whom? To God? Let us do our part in disproving the writer who quipped: “All what God gets from us is a short prayer before we dig into the turkey!!” Our Thanksgiving Day Mass at 8 am is a great opportunity for us to thank God as a community (Eucharist means Thanksgiving!) even as we join the rest of our nation in celebrating this quintessential American tradition.

I also invite all of us to pray Psalm 107 which encourages us to be grateful right from verse 1: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.” The rest of the psalm elaborates on God’s goodness with specific examples.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

Veterans Day was this past Thursday. We know that November 11 is the day every year in the United States in honor of the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918 that signaled the end of World War I, known as Armistice Day. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower officially changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day.

We bring all the veterans in prayer to God at all the Masses this weekend. This is an occasion to remind ourselves of the importance to honor all those who have risked life, limb and mind for our country, because freedom isn’t free. This truth was experienced by the early Christians who were persecuted by the Roman Emperor Nero. Today’s Gospel, taken from Mark (written around 65 AD), offered hope to these suffering Christians reminding them of Jesus’ words about his glorious return to earth with great power and glory as Judge, to gather and reward his elect.

Our Liturgical year will come to an end in a couple of weeks. That’s why the readings are about end times. The Scriptures keep reminding us that God will ensure that the righteous will survive the ordeal and will find a place with Him. Through the parable of the fig tree, Jesus warns us all to read the “signs of the time,” reminding us that we must be ever prepared to give an account of our lives to Jesus when he comes in glory as our Judge, because we cannot know “either the day or the hour” of his Second Coming.

Should this bring fear? No. The coming of Jesus is a joyful occasion. Today’s readings give us the assurance that our God will be with us all the days of our lives. We will have the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst, guiding, protecting and strengthening us in spite of our necessary uncertainty concerning the end time when “Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

But some people do become frightened at the thought of dying – whether it is the end of our individual world or that of others. In today’s second reading, the author of the letter to the Hebrews consoles believers who suffer from “end time phobia” with the knowledge that Jesus, who sits forever at God’s right hand, is our mediator. By his sacrificial death, he forgave our sins and sanctified us. Jesus said, “The joy I give you, will not be taken away from you” (John 16:22). That is why St. Paul was able to exhort us confidently: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

Your brother in Christ

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

National Vocation Awareness Week

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

This is National Vocation Awareness Week, celebrated November 7-13, 2021. This is an annual week-long celebration of the Catholic Church in the United States dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.

Yes we all know that we need to pray for more priests, more deacons and more consecrated women and men. But the concept of vocation is much more inclusive. Every baptized disciple of the Lord has a calling from God. You are aware that we have begun a ‘Parish Vocations Ministry’ this year with the intention of making our parishioners realize that the primary vocation given to all of us is to be holy. This call to holiness is lived out in various ways: marriage, family, consecrated state, single state, diaconate and priesthood. The zealous and enthusiastic members of our Vocation Ministry have done a lot of hard work to bring this idea into the minds of our people.

But old habits die hard and it takes a while to change a mindset. So it is not a surprise that the word ‘vocation’ can still bring to our minds only images of priests, nuns and deacons. The truth is whether we are called to marriage or to the priesthood or to the consecrated life, we cannot understand it other than as a way to live out the universal vocation to holiness, that is, to grow in intimacy with Jesus. That is why our Vocations Ministry is organizing a half day retreat next Saturday (November 13) to reflect on everyone’s vocation to holiness. I am very grateful and edified to see the detailed planning the team has done under the leadership of Joe Percoco and MaryBeth Vetter Purcell. Have you signed up for it? If so, you will enjoy it and benefit from it. If not, here are some reasons why you may want to sign up:

– The organizing team has planned a creative and meaningful way of spending this day to the satisfaction of all;
– They have identified excellent resource persons from among our own community who will share their understanding of how God is active in their lives as they respond to the call of God.
– The day begins with continental breakfast at 8:30 and ends with lunch at Noon.
– The spiritual enrichment you get at the end of the day will far exceed your expectations.

Every vocation is accompanied by a desire for self-gift in response to an encounter with God’s love. Does my entering into seminary or the convent look like taking a step deeper into a relationship with Jesus? Can I see my preparation for marriage to my fiancée through the lens of preparing to lay down my life as Christ has laid down his life for me? Does my present state of married or single life manifest the self-less giving of Jesus? Or is there anything that we are holding back, some small coin that we have not yet put into the treasury as today’s gospel about the poor widow’s mite (Mark 12:42) reminds us? No matter what, the Vocations Retreat has something for everyone.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

November 1, 2 & 3 are all very important days for us. The annual observance of All Saints Day and All Souls Day make us think lovingly of those who are no more with us. At all the Masses this weekend, we are remembering in prayer all our dearly departed ones. All Souls Day Mass intention envelopes on the altar during November are a visible reminder to us to keep the memory of our loved ones alive. You can read in this bulletin why the Church gives so much importance to the holy souls. Explaining the true concept of Purgatory as an “existential state” and not a place, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote that it is “the fringe of heaven, a state where heaven’s eternal light has a refining effect on the “holy souls” (not ‘poor souls’), who are held in the arms of Divine Mercy.”

There are many in our parish who are grieving a dear one who passed into eternity this year. We have a very meaningful Memorial Mass this evening to remember them and thank God for their lives with us in a special way. A Scottish poet has written, “If I have done anything in life, it is because I was able to stand on the shoulders of my dad.” The memory of our near and dear ones is a reminder that we need to be grateful to them for their love and sacrifices because they have a big share in what we are today.

The doctrine of “Communion of Saints” that we profess every Sunday is a happy reminder to us, of all those who are gone to God. Pope Francis calls it a “spiritual connection that exists between those who continue their pilgrimage on earth and those who have passed the threshold of death into eternity.” The ‘All Saints’ we honor are not only the canonized saints, but also what Pope Francis calls the “saints next door.” He explains it thus: “I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance, I see the holiness of the Church militant. Very often it is a holiness found in our next-door neighbors, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence. We might call them “the middle class of holiness.”

The feast of St. Martin de Porres is on November 3. Born in Peru to a Spanish gentleman and a freed slave from Panama, of possibly African descent, Martin experienced a great deal of ridicule for his mixed-race origin. Such an early experience of racial and social prejudices could have made him a bitter man, but he chose to hold no anger but love towards all. He joined the Dominicans as a ‘lay helper’ but was accepted as a full-fledged Religious Brother due to his prayer, penance and humility. His days were filled with nursing the sick and caring for the poor. It was particularly impressive that he treated all people regardless of their color, race, or status. The weekend after his feast is an ideal time to launch the Social Justice Initiative that the Parish Pastoral Council has been planning. All the justice-related issues fall under the umbrella of Social Justice Initiative. Our Parish has the St. Martin de Porres Society trying to live and promote the values that St Martin espoused and it is good that the SMDP society has already announced the Racial Justice Initiative. Happy Feast of St. Martin de Porres! Happy Feast of All Saints!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

World Mission Sunday

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

Over one billion Catholics all over the world observe today as World Mission Sunday. This annual observance was instituted in 1926 by a Papal decree issued by Pope Pius XI. Every year since then, the universal Church has dedicated the month of October to reflection on and prayer for the missions. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics gather to celebrate the Eucharist and to contribute to a collection for the work of evangelization around the world.

Why does the Church give so much importance to World Mission Sunday? The Acts of Apostles gives a very good answer: “We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). The Apostles were following the missionary mandate that Jesus gave us all to go and proclaim the good news to all creation (Matthew 28:19-20). This annual celebration gives us a chance to reflect on the importance of missionary works for the life of the Church. It reminds us that we are one with the universal Church and that we are all committed to carrying on the mission of Christ, however different our situations may be.

You know that I myself was a missionary in the north-eastern Indian State of Nagaland and you have heard me sharing my missionary experiences. But when I came to this country, I was quite surprised to hear that there were missionary regions in the USA. “Home Missions” is the name for dioceses and parishes in the United States, including its territories and former territories, which cannot provide basic pastoral services to Catholics without outside help. Basic pastoral services include Mass and sacraments, religious education, and ministry training for priests, deacons, religious sisters and lay people.

For many decades, the Church in the United States has sent missionaries overseas to serve the people of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The home missions are dioceses and parishes here in the United States that need the same kind of support. Surprisingly, according to the USCCB, “the Catholic Church is poorly established in many parts of our country, especially Appalachia, the South, the Southwest along the Mexican border, the Rocky Mountain States, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and remote island chains like the Marshalls and the Carolines in the Pacific.” Generally speaking, the home missions are everywhere that Catholics are few and the Church is fragile. Here’s just one example:

In Montana, the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings has 99 parishes and missions stretching over 90,000 square miles. Many priests in this diocese serve multiple parishes – some serve up to five! Many parishes cannot meet the financial obligations of having a full-time priest and communities often feel disconnected from the larger Church.

So, when the World Mission Sunday rightly raises our awareness of the worldwide missionary efforts in the world outside of the United States, let us not forget the missionary regions closer home in our own country.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal