Dear Friends,
We begin our Forty Hours devotions with the 12 Noon Mass this weekend in conjunction with our parish feast day (September 14, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross). Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will be in Church and conclude with the evening devotions at 7 PM. The evening devotions will include Evening Prayer, Homily, and Benediction. On Tuesday, we will also have an outdoor procession and afterwards small social.
As you know Father Louis Monica is our homilist this year. Ordained May 2020, Father was parochial vicar at SS. Peter & Paul, West Goshen until this summer. He is now the School Minister at Archbishop Ryan High School, Philadelphia. His theme for his homilies is Rekindling Devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament: Back to the Basics.
What a timely theme coinciding with the just initiated three-year National Eucharistic Revival by our Bishops who are working on a grass roots revival of devotion and belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The lack of belief in Jesus’ Real Presence is so truly sad when you realize and appreciate how many saints over these millennia have affirmed and given evidence of how Jesus heals, converts, forms, and unites those who come to Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Think of our own Saint John Neumann and Saint Katharine Drexel as well as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Saint John Paul II in our lifetime. Without Jesus truly, fully, and substantially present in the Eucharist, we are really lost. From Him, present in this Sacrament of the Altar, flows all our energy and grace to be His witnesses, His disciples in this broken and damaged world.
How inspiring is Blessed Carlos Acutis who from his earliest years recognize Jesus in the Eucharist. This young Italian died in 2006 at age 15 and yet in his short life this self-taught programmer established a website of all the Eucharistic Miracles of the Church. “On the site, he told people that "the more often we receive the Eucharist, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven."” A sports enthusiast and video gamer, he had a heart for those in need. He was instrumental in the conversion of his mother and other relatives bringing them to daily Mass. He encouraged everyone to be all that God created them to be.
I pray through the intercession of this young teenager, Blessed Carlos Acutis, that all our parish family members will make it a priority to come to Church during our Forty Hours devotions to spend some time with our Lord and to join us in the evening devotions.
God bless you, God love you,
Monsignor McCulken
