From our Pastor

Happy Easter, Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

Kathy From our Pastor, Uncategorized

Dear Parishioners,

 On behalf of the parish and school staff, I would like to wish you and your family a Happy Easter. Easter is the most important feast in the Christian calendar and it is a great joy for us to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord.  It is not just the end of our period of penance and sacrifice, but the beginning of a new life in Christ the risen Lord. Easter brings so many promises of God to us, life is stronger than death, love can overcome hate, goodness ultimately triumphs over evil and eternity and glory with God in Heaven are our destiny. 

 As the “Exsultet”, the great Easter song or the great Easter proclamation states clearly that the grace of this most wonderful event “dispels all evil, washes guilt away, restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy; it casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride…” may these things come true for all of us as we keep moving forward.

 Thank you for your care and support for St. Valentine Parish and the School. We are indeed blessed to have your selfless and loving dedication.

 I pray that the Risen Lord may continue to bless each one of you and keep you safe with His Peace and Courage and may the Easter Joy continue to fill your hearts and homes throughout this season.

 Happy Easter, Christ is Risen, Alleluia!

Fr. Socorro Fernandes

 Pallottine Collection 2021

Kathy From our Pastor

     On Palm Sunday a Second Collection will be made that will go toward the works and missions of the Pallottines in India. I know there have been several 2nd collections during Lent, we are not asking for a big amount; whatever you give will go a long way for the good of the missions. And if you are not able to do that, then just offer a prayer for our missionary works and you will feel blessed.

      Since the last time I have written about the Pallottine Missions a lot has happened in our Province which is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Province (ABVM). Until December 2019 we were Three Provinces in the whole of India. Since January of 2020 ABVM Province gave birth to Our Lady of Good Health Province and Gloria Dei Region. This has taken place in order to accommodate growth within the order. I have been appointed as the in-charge of the Mission Coordination work for ABVM Province.

 As I have mentioned before, our ministry here helps our Province in India to continue and to support our missionary works including the formation of seminarians. Besides that here is a glimpse of some of the activities we are now engaging ourselves in:

 · Home for the destitute and the aged. (A place for the destitute both men and women.) Presently we have 28 residents. Here we have two dormitories, for men and women. As the destitute are with varied psychological backgrounds, it’s difficult to keep them in one dormitory. The need of the place is to construct individual rooms for both men and women and also to make provision for the increasing number of residents and to accommodate them. Another requirement is the sustenance of the house. We are developing a dairy farm as one of the sources of income to achieve self-sustenance. We also help people with medical aid.

· Tuition Center’s in our missions: poor children are given tuition. Establishing the tuition centers is the need. There isn’t a structure to accommodate these students. Either we bring them to the church campus or any of the villages and impart education. Secondly, we support the teachers by paying their salaries from the Mission Secretariat.

· Educational scholarship to the students in mission areas (An annual program that has been carried out over the years now). Especially the poor who cannot afford to pay their school fees, financial help is given.

· Educational outreach: During this year of the pandemic, we have reached out to the students through our educational institutions: particularly distribution of smart phones and laptops as an aid to attend online classes to the needy who otherwise would have had to skip this academic year.

· House construction: Financial aid is given to the less privileged to have a better living facility. Financial aid is also needed for the construction of places of worship and presbyteries in mission stations.

      Out of the 13 years since the Pallottines started ministering here, I have been blessed to serve you for 7 years. Your prayers, words of encouragement and your support helps me to keep serving you all the more. Let us keep up our good works. May our Founder St. Vincent Pallotti and our Patroness Mary Queen of the Apostles continue to guide me as I minister to you.

 

     Thank you everyone for all your beautiful birthday wishes.  It was truly over whelming!!  

 

   God Bless you.

 Fr. Socorro

 

3rd Sunday of Lent

Kathy From our Pastor, Weekly message

In today’s first reading from Exodus God offers His people another covenant. This one is much more personal – the words are His words, carved into stone by His hand, and spoken to each one of us.  The covenant with Noah gave us hope after chaos.  The covenant with Abraham showed us the extent of God’s love.  Through Abraham and Isaac we saw how the father so loved God that he was willing to give his only son – a foreshadowing of the role Jesus would play many generations later.  Now, with the Ten Commandments we hear in Exodus 19:5, “I will bestow mercy down to the thousandth generation on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments – my covenant.”

 Is this new covenant a new set of restrictions?  They are, in fact, a part of a larger collection of laws known as the Covenant Code (Exodus 21-23).  But, in reality the Ten Commandments are all about love. John Parsons of Hebrew for Christians has summarized them this way:

1. “I am your only deliverer, the One who loves and chooses you;

2. Love me exclusively;

3. Regard my love as sacred;

4. Rest in me;

5. Honor your life and its history.  Do no harm to others:

6. Forsake anger,

7. Abandon lust,

8. Renounce greed, and

9. Abhor lying.

10. Refuse envy.

 

Know that you belong to me and that you are accepted.  Love others as you are also loved.”

 In the Mosaic covenant, God swore eternal devotion to his people and they swore their devotion in return. 

 Consider what Jesus said, in the new covenant, about the greatest commandments – “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36-40).  With this Mosaic covenant, God shows us His love and outlines how we can show Him ours.

 Have we thought about the Ten Commandments as a covenant of love?  Have we considered that they are, as we heard in today’s psalm, “the words of everlasting love?” The third week of Lent reminds us of yet, another covenant God made with His people.  This week, our meditation could center on looking at how we live our lives in the love expressed in the covenant made with Moses. 

Join us for Stations of the Cross at 7 pm in Church.

 

Confessions will be heard prior to Stations of the Cross from 6—7 pm in Church.