July 15, 2018

Our first reading is about the prophet, Amos. He was not like most prophets. He did not wear strange clothes; he was not a prophet throughout his life and did not even do strange prophetic actions. He was an average guy, a shepherd. One day, he received the message from God that he was to drop everything and tell the people living north of him that they were facing destruction unless they changed their lives. He felt he had no choice but to comply. Amos was not concerned whether or not the people would accept him or wanted to hear the divine message.

We see the same in the Gospel. Jesus sends His disciples out, two by two, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God. These disciples were everyday people. Jesus sends each one out with a companion to assure the support of like-mindedness in a potentially hostile world. Jesus tells them to carry little luggage and to just proclaim the word and then move on. If people accept the word great, if they don't, leave quickly, but bring the word of God to the next village.

All of this goes very must against the standard procedures of our information age. Standard procedure of our time is to get a test sampling of what people believe or want to believe and then deal with that as a truth. For us Catholics, we must be extra cautious. For example, we are told that the majority of us do not believe in the true presence of the Lord in the Eucharist and that the majority of us question the morality teachings of the Church. It is disturbing to think that Catholics should determine their faith and morals by what the majority of people is believing or doing. The truth is not dependent on the people to whom it is addressed. The truth is dependent on the fidelity of the proclaimer to the message received by God.

The readings today tell us that we do not have the right to walk away from our responsibilities to the Truth. We have to stand for the truth of the Lord, whether it is popular or not, whether it is convenient or not. We have all received the mandate of Jesus to go out and proclaim His Word. Today we pray for the courage to proclaim the truth at work, in our neighborhoods and in our families.

Today… Join in the worldwide mission of Jesus! Join the Propagation of Faith! As disciples of Jesus, we are called to draw others to Christ. More than 2,000 years after the birth of Jesus, some two-thirds of our human family do not yet know Him in faith. Through the Propagation of Faith, we can reach those at work at “the ends of the earth” as we help to support the evangelizing work in more than 1,150 mission dioceses worldwide. We are needed to offer prayer and regular financial help. Please join.

Sincerely, 
Father Joe Piekarski

July 8, 2018

This week's scriptures illuminate the identity and mission of a prophet- a calling that belongs to all the baptized by virtue of our Baptism. God appoints the prophets to a specific mission. This mission is to speak God's word of truth. 

God's word of truth is not a private or personal opinion, but the Word of God communicated through human words. The prophet speaks God's word of truth to those within and those outside the Church. Prophets do not seek to proclaim a message that is easy to be accepted, but seek to speak God's word of truth, no matter how hard it might be to hear and accept. Christ is the paradigmatic example of the identity and mission of the prophet.

The Mass Intention Book for 2019 is open. Please visit the Parish Office for the availability and scheduling of intentions for Masses in the Parish for the approaching year. Because of the demand for Mass intentions, please be considerate of others who also want to make their intentions. Also, all “living” intentions will be sent to retired priests to be fulfilled in a timely period.

July 1, 2018

July is a wonderful time to vacate, to get away for a while. Even Our Lord needed a break from the crowds to relax, reflect and pray. Our Gospel, today, begins at the Sea of Galilee after Jesus came ashore. He was returning from a boat ride with His disciples in which He napped but was awakened by the others to calm a squall.

Now He is being summoned to heal the daughter of Jairus. Going to his home, Jesus disregards the news that the little girl has just died. Jesus responds: “Fear is useless.  What is needed is trust.”  Jesus takes the twelve year old girl by the hand and commands her to get up.  Immediately she arose and began to walk.  
This is one of the three miracles in the Gospels that Jesus performed in raising the dead. Jairus’ daughter was a mere child. Jesus also raised the widow's son, a young adult, as he was being carried to his grave in Nain (Lk 7:11-17) and Jesus also raised His older friend Lazarus (Jn 11:1-44) who had been dead and buried for four days. It appears to us that the evangelists are telling us that Jesus is not limited in raising the dead. Be they tender in age or older, recently deceased or almost forgotten, Jesus can and does raise them all.

In these days when we probably have a chance to reflect, it is comforting to acknowledge the Divine Power of Jesus, over turbulent storms, illness, evil and even over death. The Lord disrupted His need to vacate His routine in order to satisfy our very human needs. We can relax in His care and recall His desire to give everyone of us ... LIFE. Simply, trust in Him.

Mass on the Fourth of July is at 9 a.m. All are invited to celebrate our Nation’s commemoration of independence and establishment as a new nation. It is a wonderful time to remember our freedoms and the task we have, as a Nation, to preserve those certain unalienable rights that we are endowed with by Our Creator. Please keep praying for our Nation that we may be guided in His way.

2019 Mass Intention Book is open. Please contact the Parish Office for the availability and scheduling of intentions for Masses in the Parish for the approaching year. Because of the demand for Mass intentions (from January 1, 2018 to now, our parish has celebrated 71 funerals), please be considerate of others who also want to make their intentions. Also, all “living” intentions will be sent to retired priests to be fulfilled in a timely period.

Sincerely,
Father Joe Piekarski

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist
June 24, 2018

Today we celebrate the birth of Saint John the Baptist. Falling on a Sunday, this year, this solemnity supersedes what normally comes in succession, the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time. St. John’s entry into the world was special because he was called to a special mission and an integral part of salvation history. He prepared the way for the Lord. 

Today’s feast recalls that from the first moment of his life, in his mother’s womb, John had the supreme task as a prophet to point to Jesus as the Savior of the world. He was divinely destined to be named John. He prepared the world for the Lord’s arrival by preaching conversion and signing his followers with the waters of baptism. Popular as John the Baptist was and even looked upon by many as “the” savior, John corrected this misconception and pointed to Jesus saying: "It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." (Jn1:27). John’s mission was fulfilled when he proclaimed in his preaching that Jesus was the Lamb of God. 

We are all part of God’s plan. Like John the Baptist we have been named by God. This took place at our baptism. We have been given the mission to lead the world to God, in ways general to our state of life and specific to our own talents. Like John, we have a responsibility to use our lives to point to the Savior. 

A grateful note is extended to everyone who could and did support the 2018 Annual Catholic Appeal. St. John the Beloved Parish met our goal of $175,000 in pledges and even exceeded this goal by a total of $186,353 in pledges. To date, $101,435 has been collected by the Diocese. Thank you to the 609 gifts that help us achieve our goal. Please continue fulfilling these pledges. Whatever is collected after the initial $175,000 target that goes to the Diocese of Wilmington, will return to our parish. This overage is going toward the security system of our parish campus. As discussed because of increasing global violence in public areas, our parish is seriously focusing on the security of our parish with a better-sophisticated locking system in certain doors and cameras in some areas. Thank you for your cooperation and dedication. God reward your generosity.

June 17, 2018

The agricultural theme of this week’s Gospel coincides with my thoughts of my father on this Father’s Day weekend.  My father enjoyed planting a garden of tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers, etc.  From him, I learned the importance of rotating crops, fertilizing the ground, compost and hydration.  He must have done something right because the tomatoes tasted better then.  In whatever he planned to do or anticipated, my dad’s favorite saying was “God willing.”  

The people who heard Jesus tell the parable of the farmer’s life also shared the wonder of the soil.  The farmer works hard during the day, but he can’t make the seed grow into a plant.  God causes the growth.  Jesus’ point is that like the plants the Kingdom of God is in God’s hands.  The workers in the Lord’s fields must do their best to create the proper environment, but God causes the growth. 

The Church lives on despite the initial persecution from the Romans, despite the internal dogmatic fights and debates of the earlier centuries, despite the Dark Ages and the conquest of the barbarians, despite the corruption from within and outside in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, despite the Christian fratricide of the Reformation and the onslaught of rationalists in the last two centuries, despite the sex abuse scandal and the attacks on Christians by ISIS, and despite two thousand years of martyrdom aimed at destroying the faith, the Church still lives on, and grows.  God gives the growth.  He does wonders with our feeble efforts.  He turns that which is insignificant into that which is substantial…because God is willing. 

As we celebrate Father’s Day, we honor those men who parent us by passing on life in loving fulfillment of duty.  We honor those men who selflessly support and guide us, regardless of their own aspirations, hopes, and hardships.  Knowing that these men protect us, their children, is a great source of security.  And to a higher level, are those fathers who inspire us in faith.  Saint Joseph, guardian of Jesus, models the attributes of a good father. May St. Joseph hear the prayers of our fathers and those who imitate them in our lives.  And for those men who left this world, may they have the reward of the just and honorable servants of God.   
Fathers Piekarski, Coffiey & Martin; Deacons Wuebbels & Fontana; and our staff.

June 10, 2018

Today’s readings present three incidents which are often discussed in religious circles. The first is the way Adam was caught by God after he sinned; he hides himself because he was naked. This really is not about nudity. God created the body and therefore it is beautiful, not something that Adam had to hide from God. No, this is about being exposed before the Lord. Adam wanted to be like God. His desires were more important than God's will. God could not tell him what he could or could not do. Adam hid himself because he was exposed. Adam realized what he was really like, proud, self-centered and disobedient. 

The second incident is in the Gospel where Jesus said that all sins can be forgiven except the sin against the Holy Spirit. What are these? The scribes in the Gospel were also exposed for whom they were. They should have recognized some good in Jesus but there was nothing spiritual about them. The scribes were people who used religion for their own ends. They accused Jesus' good works as coming from the devil. Refusing to see the holiness of the Lord is the sin against the Holy Spirit. This is the only sin that cannot be forgiven. God cannot forgive someone who believes that God does not have the power to forgive him. 

The third incident is also in the Gospel, the references to the mother and the brothers and sisters of the Lord. Jesus’ family is presented here as coming to try to dissuade Jesus from His public action. This phrase is often taken out of context arguing the virginity of Mary. Who were those brothers and sisters? In the context of scripture, Jesus’ family is all believers. Those related to Him in discipleship are concerned, in this passage that He was getting Himself in trouble. A common person had to be crazy to take on the intelligentsia of His nation. But Jesus was not afraid to expose Himself for Who He was. If revealing, exposing Himself meant death, then He would die so the world might experience the presence of God. 

Like Adam, we all stand naked before the Lord. Do we have to hide ourselves, or do we want the Lord to see us exactly as we are? Today we pray that our spirit and actions may be exposed as evidence of true discipleship of the Lord. 

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who directed and supported our Carnival. It was a great success because of the many people who pulled together, again, to create this annual parish event. Therefore, thank you to the Carnival leaders and ALL workers, various committees and volunteers. Your many efforts made this year’s Carnival a memorable one. May you get rest now and know our true appreciation from the Parish Athletic Association and the Parish itself.

Corpus Christi, June 3, 2018

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi, is celebrated this Sunday and a proper time to focus on the meaning, importance, and permanence of the Eucharist. This solemn feast emphasizes our Catholic belief that the bread and wine that is consecrated at Holy Mass becomes and stays the Body and Blood of Christ. Our readings, recall the ritual of ancient days when the blood of animals was used to seal the covenant between God and Israel. The shedding of blood, the life force of all humans, is a most serious gesture of one’s commitment. That is why Christ’s gesture of sealing His covenant with His body and blood on the cross, between God and humanity, is paramount.
In today’s Gospel from St. Mark, our Lord reminds His disciples that the chalice He shared at the Last Supper “IS HIS BLOOD, the blood of the covenant to be poured out on behalf of many.” We look beyond any symbolism to the perfect sacrifice on the cross…and we truly share in it. The presence of the crucified and resurrected Lord goes beyond that moment to every time we “do this in memory of Me.” St. John’s Gospel emphasizes the Eucharistic theme at the multiplication of the fish and loaves (John 6) where he writes: “When they had all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” And later, in this chapter: “I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever.” Allow this feast to rekindle the respect, awe, and love that you probably had the first time you received the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Lord wants to remain in our midst in a very real, tangible way. We are specially graced to have Him in our Church and take Him out into the world within our very hearts.

The retirement of Deacon Thomas Bailey is well deserved by him and avoid, somewhat, for us. Although Deacon Tom will not be on a permanent rotation at liturgies, he will serve his ministry at certain occasions in our parish and will continue to head our Parish R.C.I.A. program. We want to thank Deacon Bailey for his years of dutiful ministry to our parish. He continues to be an inspiration to all of us. May God continue to bless Deacon Bailey in the days ahead.

Remember Our 52nd Annual Carnival starts this Monday, June 4 to Saturday, June 9. It is a week of fun, food, games, music, and of course carnival rides. Carnival hours are 6 p.m. – 10 p.m., Monday through Friday and 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday. Family night is Tuesday, June 5, which includes unlimited rides for just $20.00. Thursday, June 7, is Alumni night and includes drink and food specials all night. Proceeds from the Carnival benefit our parish and our parish athletic association.
Knowing where and when you were baptized is important information that every Christian should memorize because it is the central data needed for receiving and recording further sacraments. It is where the First Communion, Confirmation, and Marriage(s) are recorded, especially helpful for genealogy and record keeping in a mobile society. Also, the baptismal certificate states whether an individual was baptized into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as do all Trinitarian religions…those who believe in the Holy Trinity. 
 

The Most Holy Trinity, May 27, 2018

When a person is baptized into the Name of the Trinity, that person is brought into the connected, intimate life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… God. That is what we celebrate today; we are part of the ultimate force, infinite goodness that created us, redeemed us and sanctified us. Together, we wage war against evil and are commissioned to bring others into the fold of God’s Kingdom. 

Memorial Day is a befitting way to remember those men and women who lost their lives defending our Nation and the values of democracy. They paid the ultimate price. Saint John the Beloved Parish will begin this holiday in prayer, at Mass, on Monday, May 28th at 9:00 a.m. (the Mass that day). We will unite our voices and hearts in offering our beloved dead to the Risen Lord who promises us Eternal Life. May they rest in peace. 

In addition, the Catholic Cemeteries of our Diocese will celebrate the 59th Memorial Day Field Mass at All Saints Cemetery on Monday, May 28th at 10 a.m. Immediately before Mass, there will be a brief military tribute followed by prayers for those who died in service of their country, public servants who have died in the line of duty this past year, and deceased military veterans. Bishop Malooly will be the main celebrant of the Mass that follows. All are invited for this touching, prayerful remembrance.

Pentecost Sunday, May 20, 2018

Everyone is gifted in one way or another. Some are children prodigy like Mozart or Gretzky and others discover their full potential in adolescence like Einstein. Still, others are natural athletes, entertainers or domestics. My one aunt did not discover her woodcarving abilities until she was seventy years old. Even those among us who feel cheated in giftedness…will discover they excel in something that others cannot. Somehow these unique talents are “gifts” because they make each person special and combined with the giftedness of others …make our existence balanced and beautiful.

The Resurrected Lord passed from death to Life and sent us, the Church, His Spirit who empowers us with holy, unique Gifts that make us His disciples. In and of ourselves, we may be weak in avoiding evil but the Spirit gives us fortitude; we may be dull to the spiritual insights but the Spirit gives us understanding; we may need direction and the Spirit gives us Counsel. The Holy Spirit, sent to us by Christ, gives us supernatural graces that help us to follow Him. They enable us to transcend the limitations of human reason and human nature and participate in the very life of God, as Christ promised (Jn14:23).

This great feast of Pentecost marks the end of the Easter Season but the beginning of the Spirit’s endless involvement in us, His Church. May the Holy Spirit overshadow you with His countless Gifts.