Category: Fr. Abraham’s Weekly Column

Dear Friends,

We have been hearing a lot about the National Eucharistic Revival during the past three years, with its national phase, diocesan phase, and the parish phase. In our parish, we have done many events, practices, and devotions – thanks to our enthusiastic Eucharistic Revival Committee. Among those, our weekly Monday adoration is of special importance as so many of our parishioners continue to come on a regular basis to spend half an hour or more in silent prayer and communication with Jesus present in the Eucharist every Monday between 6-8 pm.

The concluding celebration of the National Eucharistic Revival will be in Indianapolis where the 10th Eucharistic Congress will be held from July 17 – 21. This is the First US National Eucharistic Congress in 83 Years. This is a pivotal moment in both American history and the legacy of the Catholic Church. In preparation for this Eucharistic Congress a walking pilgrimage is already on the way to Indianapolis. While pilgrimages have a long legacy within the Church, this is the first undertaken at such a scale – walking coast-to-coast with Our Eucharistic Lord, with four routes from the north, east, south, and west of our country:

• Marian Route (North) starting from: Mississippi Headwaters, Lake Itasca, MN
• St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route (East) starting from: New Haven, CT
• St. Juan Diego Route (South) starting from: Brownsville, TX
• St. Junipero Serra Route (West) starting from: San Francisco, CA

Pilgrims on our route, the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Route, began walking on May 18 with Pentecost Vigil at the tomb of Blessed Fr. Michael McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut. The Seton Route will be punctuated by many meaningful stops. Pilgrims will visit holy sites, embrace the sacraments daily, and publicly proclaim Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist as they accompany him on his way to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress.

Even though we may not be able to walk this pilgrimage or to attend the Eucharistic Congress, we are invited to join this National Eucharistic Pilgrimage for short distances or join for one of the many events scheduled along the way.

We are privileged that the Seton Route will pass through our Diocese of Metuchen this week, on May 27-28, 2024. During these two days, the Diocese of Metuchen will welcome the National Eucharistic ‘Perpetual Pilgrims’ (the few young adults who will make the full journey to Indianapolis are called the ‘Perpetual Pilgrims.’) as they process from the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi to St. Peter the Apostle University and Community Parish, New Brunswick, and St. Augustine of Canterbury in Kendall Park.  We are invited and encouraged to eat, pray, and walk with them as they witness to the world that Jesus is here, present in the most Blessed Sacrament, and that he accompanies us -all of us – on our pilgrimage of our individual lives.

Next Sunday is the solemn feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – more popularly known as ‘Corpus Christi.’ Here at St. Matthias, we plan to continue our beautiful tradition of the Eucharistic Procession around our campus after the 5 pm Mass on Saturday. All are welcome to join this prayerful devotion.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

There are three important celebrations calling for our attention and reflection this week.

First, Happy Feast of the Ascension of the Lord! Biblically, Ascension took place 40 days after the Resurrection and so the actual Ascension Day falls on a Thursday – which is what we used to celebrate. But last year, the bishops of New Jersey decided to permanently transfer the Solemnity of the Ascension to the following Sunday. The bishops’ discernment to have the Ascension on a Sunday is very welcome for more of the faithful to participate in this feast and to be more conscious of the mission Jesus gave before ascending to heaven: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation…” (Mark16:15). To be a Christian is to be a proclaimer and an evangelizer.  There is a difference between preaching and proclaiming.  We preach with words but we proclaim with our lives.  We do this when we learn about Jesus and his teachings by our daily study of the Bible and the teachings of the Church, experience him in personal prayer, reception of the Sacraments and works of charity, and convey to others Jesus whom we have experienced with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Second, Happy Mother’s Day! We salute all our Mothers today! The opening sentence of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia, offers the perfect context for Mother’s Day: “The joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church.” We are truly happy to celebrate the vocation to motherhood as we honor all Mothers of our parish this weekend.  The Pope beautifully describes the impact Mothers have on children: “A mother who watches over her child with tenderness and compassion helps him or her to grow in confidence and to experience that the world is a good and welcoming place. This helps the child to grow in self-esteem and, in turn, to develop a capacity for intimacy and empathy.” Thank you dear mothers, grandmothers, step-mothers, single mothers, and spiritual mothers for living out your vocation, this divine call, despite the overwhelming challenges to be a mother in our times.

Third, happy feast to us all on the feast of our own parish patron, St. Matthias – on May 14. The name ‘Matthias,’ similar to Matthew, means “gift of God.”. The Acts of the Apostles describes the process of choosing Matthias to replace Judas: “it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” (Acts 1:21-22) Since there were two candidates fitting these conditions, the Apostles “cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.” (Acts 1:26). According to various traditions, Matthias preached in Cappadocia, Jerusalem, the shores of the Caspian Sea (in modern day Turkey) and Ethiopia.  He is said to have met his death by crucifixion in Colchis or by stoning in Jerusalem. We honor St. Matthias as someone who knew Jesus personally, and was a witness to the resurrection, meaning that Jesus wasn’t dead, but is very much alive. May our patron saint help us to increase our intimacy and friendship with Jesus.

Happy Feast of Ascension! Happy Mother’s Day! Happy Feast of St. Matthias!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

I wish to highlight two feasts we keep this week. Tomorrow, April 29, is the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, a very fascinating figure in church history for many reasons. When we realize that Christian theology has been largely shaped by men, her contribution to theology is very significant. No wonder that the Church not only canonized her but also declared her as one of the few women doctors of the church.

Catherine was a Dominican Tertiary, living in the 14th century in Siena, Italy.  The corruption in the church and in the society during her day caused her great distress.  She loved both but speaking truth to those in power was one of her great gifts.  Catherine was passionate for the reform of the church and did not hesitate to challenge the church and she did bring about reform in the church. How did she do it when she did not even have much formal education?

The answer is her deep mystical spirituality. She knew Jesus on a personal and intimate level. Her interior life was so aligned with the divine that she was able to speak the truth of God to anyone – no matter how high that person was in the ecclesiastical or political ladder. Thus she was bold enough to instruct popes and cardinals, as well as adjudicate quarrels among statesmen.

“No more simony, no more unbridled luxuries, no more dealers in blood, no more swindlers in what ought to be the temple of God,” St. Catherine wrote to Pope Urban. After meeting with Catherine in Florence, Pope Urban, in his pomp and worldliness, turned to his advisors in amazement. “This little woman confounds us,” he said. “For while we are afraid, she stands without fear, and by her persuasions, she gives us courage”. Catherine inspired confidence in the pope by reminding him of his vocation. When writing to Pope Gregory IX during the infamous Avignon crisis, she called him out on a private vow he had made to return the papacy to Rome.

These vignettes from her life show us her radical witnessing to the prophetic message of the Gospel. If you can read her biography, the details will amaze you. She is model to all of us and an honor to all women in particular.

This week we enter the month of May with the feast of “St Joseph, the Worker.” Human labor is one of the important means of achieving holiness. It was Pope Pius XII who instituted the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker in 1955, in order to foster deep devotion to Saint Joseph among Catholics, and in response to the “May Day” celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists. This feast extends the long relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers in both Catholic faith and devotion. Beginning in the Book of Genesis, the dignity of human work has long been celebrated as a participation in the creative work of God. By work, humankind both fulfills the command found in Genesis to care for the earth (Gen 2:15) and to be productive in their labors. Saint Joseph, the carpenter and foster father of Jesus, is but one example of the holiness of human labor. Without the spiritual element of work, we will succumb to its drudgery, and consider our labors as toil. But when we order our work to praise God, we experience, in some way, the joy and blessedness of labor which Adam experienced in the Garden of Eden.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

We are now pretty familiar with the tradition of having a number of adults receiving one or more of the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation) through our RCIA  (or OCIA, the new name that the Bishops have proposed). We had a total of eleven people receiving these at the Easter Vigil this year: Jason Olmedo-Hernandez, Phyllis Carbone, Gigi Fortuna-Clase, Beverly Gilliam, Norvin Gilliam, Maxwell Lumax, Claudia Roque, Chelsea Lopez, Amanda Fortuna Clase, Josh Lumax and Alexis Lumax. We congratulate these neophytes. Now, that is a word we don’t hear often. A “neophyte” (its Greek root means the newly planted) is a term used for those who have been initiated as full members of a religion like Christianity or Judaism or one who has joined a religious order. In our context, a neophyte is one who has been incorporated into the fullness of the life of the Church as the Body of Christ. Now these new members enter into the final phase of the RCIA process which is known as Mystagogy, which simply means learning about the mysteries. The RCIA instruction no.244 says: “This is a time for the community and the neophytes together to grow in deepening their grasp of the paschal mystery and in making it part of their lives through meditation on the Gospel, sharing in the Eucharist, and doing the works of charity. ….” 

What is interesting is that the Church’s focus of the mystagogy is the Community into which these new members have been incorporated! It means that mystagogy is a time for us all to grow in understanding the paschal mystery. The entire purpose of the RCIA process is to lead the participants into a relationship of communion and intimacy with Jesus. As the community of St. Matthias, we are an important part of mystagogy.

Our RCIA process is coordinated by Anne-Marie Francis and Mary Frances Reavey with their teammates Gondee Tibay, Mercy Ekwere, Dee Christmas and Carmen Calvimontes.  They have been doing an amazing job every year as they guide these men and women in the ways of our faith. I wish to thank them sincerely for rising up to the challenges and carrying out this ministry of faith formation and evangelization of those who wish to be part of the community of faith in Jesus Christ. They are true models and torchbearers of faith.

Let us remember that we all are called to be models and torchbearers of Christian witness and experience to the neophytes as well as to all those we meet in our daily living. The Sunday Mass is key to a successful mystagogy because the three ways mentioned above – meditation on the Gospel and sharing in the Eucharist which leads us to the works of charity – are meant for the whole community’s full, conscious and active participation.

I have a request: you may know some adults who may not be baptized, or who are baptized but have not received Communion or Confirmation. Why not speak to them about receiving these Sacraments of Initiation? Why not invite them to join our next RCIA class? That is another sign of you becoming a witness to Jesus.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal

Dear Friends,

Jesus Christ is Risen! He is truly risen! These are the traditional greetings of Eastern Rite Catholics on Easter Sunday, and I address you with these words of faith. May the blessings of the Risen Christ be with each of us as we joyfully celebrate the history-changing Resurrection of Jesus Christ, whose death on a cross for our sins preceded his resurrection and multiple appearances to the apostles after his resurrection.

Why is Resurrection so important? If Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again three days later, then it changed everything. It is the only instance of a human being raising himself from the dead in human history. Why is Resurrection so important for us Christians? St. Paul gives the best answer: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is our faith.” (1 Corinthians 15:14).

Yet, there have been skeptics who questioned the resurrection. There are many reasons to repudiate their doubts. You can read all about that elsewhere in this bulletin, under the heading: “Why we believe in the Resurrection.” But I loved what Wolfhart Pannenberg, the German philosopher, said: “The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, then you have to change the way you live.” Belief in the Resurrection forces us to change the way we live. That’s what happened to Paul who changed from being the fiercest persecutor into the staunchest promoter of Christianity.

Easter will become meaningful to us when we realize that Jesus lives among us whenever we gather in His name. Not only for the Eucharist or for Lenten small groups, but also when we come together for every association or ministry meeting and whenever we organize any parish event – both of which are in abundance here at St. Matthias. He is present in our homes when we gather as a family not only for meals or prayer, but also for any family event. When we reach out to the less fortunate with help, we lift up the hand of Jesus. When we listen to one who is troubled, we make Jesus present to that person. In these and many other ways, we give witness to the mystery of Jesus living among us. Indeed, we become the Body of Christ for the world. Let us experience more of that Easter Joy!

Easter Blessings to you and to your dear ones!

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Abraham Orapankal