Prayer for Mothers

Heavenly Father,
from the beginning you have chosen to entrust
the human person to mothers in a special way.
We thank and praise you for the gift of mothers;
for their tenderness, care, and compassion,
for their intuition and encouragement,
for commitment and sacrifice.
Bless all mothers this day.
Keep, strengthen, and refresh them
in your loving care.
May they be blessed by our open-hearted
love and gratitude. Amen.

Feast of the Ascension of the Lord

On this Feast of Ascension, Jesus is commissioning the disciples to go and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. A ‘commission’ means a task or matter entrusted to one as an agent for another. We are entrusted with a mission that Jesus himself wanted to do.

  “After speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took his place at the right hand of God” (Mk 16:19). After the incident of Ascension, Jesus is no more present in this world in the physical human form. Today we are the ones who represent Jesus in this world. We are the ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor 5:20). We are to continue the ministry and mission of Jesus. In Luke 10:1, we read “the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go”. Whenever we preach the Good News to someone, we are continuing the Ascension experience that disciples had two thousand years ago and is making Jesus manifest in this world. Remember that “we are the aroma of Christ” (2 Cor 2:15).

 They will cast out demons, they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous they will be unharmed, they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed” (Mk 16:17,18). As Christians who are sent out to represent Jesus in this world, we are given the share of his power too and are offered victory over demons, sickness, and harmful objects and so on. We must live in this awareness that we are given the victory by the Lord already. We are a victorious people.

 “The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the wonders that accompanied it” (Mk 16:20).Wherever disciples preached the Good News, there were miracles too. By a word Peter cured the crippled beggar who was at the gate of the Temple (Act 3:1-10). But always remember that these wonders happened in the life of the disciples only after they started to preach the Good News. We too will be able to perform miracles if we begin to preach, not any time before that. Therefore, start to Act Now.

 The Feast of Ascension of our Lord is giving us the responsibility of representing Jesus in this world. Let us ask ourselves whether, in this life, have given Jesus to at least one person who was ignorant of Jesus; may be a shop keeper, or a car driver, or our co-worker in the office, or may be a student in our class. Let us be ‘proud of being a Christ-ian.

 Let’s make Jesus Christ visible in this world!

Dear St. Valentine Parish Member,

Each year, we have an opportunity to Unleash the Gospel through our support of the Catholic Services Appeal. The 37^th Annual CSA is now underway, and I am writing to ask you to once again reflect on God’s many gifts to you and in a spirit of Christian stewardship live out our theme of Opening Doors to Grow with Christ.

As many of you know each parish makes a contribution to the Archdiocese, to support various ministries and services the Archdiocese provides to catholic schools, parishes and programs that need support.

Our CSA goal for 2018 is $43,673.00. You have always been generous in the past so I would like to appeal to you this year too to help us meet our goal. Know that any contribution you make is most welcomed and deeply appreciated.

Please pick up your envelope in the vestibule in the back of church today after the Mass. Enclosed you will find a pledge card and a special envelope.  As you fill out the pledge cards please select the giving schedule that is most convenient to you.  You may return the cards and envelope to the Rectory or drop it off in the collection basket over the next few weeks. Please make your checks payable to “St Valentine Church – CSA”.

Thank you in advance for all that you are to the parish and for all the support that you give. May God Bless you for your generosity! 

Yours in Christ, 

Fr. Socorro,

Happy 19th Anniversary to the Priesthood!

This Sunday’s gospel today gives us one of the most striking images of the NT. Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He says, “I am the true Vine and you are the branches, my Father is the Vine grower, remain in me as I remain in you.” But he also tells us that there are unfruitful branches. They are taken away, cut off. Note that these are attached branches. They differ from the unattached branches (vv. 4-6). Jesus said that they are “in me,” but they have a problem: they bear no fruit.

 The unfruitful branches did become attached to Christ. They did have some organic relationship to Him. There was a time, a point, when they began to bud and sprout. They even grew into branches. They… listened to Jesus and the gospel, opened their ears, made a profession, were baptized, seem capable of bearing fruit, appeared to be fruitful branches.

The branches are unfruitful. They are “in” the vine, a part of it, but they simply bear no fruit. What does this mean? An unfruitful branch does not relate enough to Christ; they do not draw enough nourishment from Him, to draw life, to bear fruit, to continue in the Vine. Unfruitful branches are not genuine enough to bear fruit. Their profession is… more profession than possession, more pretending than being, more deception than truth, more counterfeit than real. Unfruitful branches become apostate and deserters – men and women who abandon the faith.

 God will “cut off” the unfruitful branches. The word  cut off means to take away and to remove. In relation to the vine, the branch is pruned removed, and taken away. This is a severe warning to every branch, “in” the vine, to make sure his profession is genuine enough to bear fruit.

 Scripture says at least two things about the judgment of unfruitful branches that sin. First, the unfruitful branches that sin are cut off and removed from the Vine and destroyed by fire. Secondly, the unfruitful branches that sin are chastened and disciplined by being cut off and removed through spiritual death.

The point must be heeded; for Scripture gives severe warnings to believers, that is, to the branches “in’ the Vine. The branches must make sure they are bearing fruit or else face severe judgment.

This weekend Gospel reading speaks about Jesus as the “Good Shepherd”. There are two reasons why Jesus is called the Good Shepherd.

1. Jesus is called the “Good Shepherd” because He gave and sacrificed His life for the sheep.

2. Jesus is called the “Good Shepherd” because He is not a hired or employed shepherd. Jesus is the shepherd by birth. He was born to be the shepherd with all the Shepherd’s rights. The sheep are His and He is the sheep’s. The hired shepherd was just a man passing through who was temporary help. He was a man hired to look after the sheep until the real shepherd came along. He was not the true, permanent shepherd. He was a false, unfaithful and irresponsible shepherd. His interest was not a calling but, a job and profession, money and comfort, acceptance and recognition, position and prestige, authority and esteem.

The false, unfaithful, and irresponsible shepherd has little if any sense of responsibility for the sheep. He seeks to benefit self, not the sheep. He is the shepherd for what he can get out of it, not to serve and care for the sheep. His primary interest is not the sheep but job security: wages and benefits, position and prestige, money and comfort. He values himself much more than the sheep. He seeks His own things and not the things of others. He has not natural care for the state of the sheep. He has no interest in seeking the lost sheep, lest his life be threatened “in the open country.”

The proof that Jesus is the “Good Shepherd.” There are four proofs.

1. Jesus knows His sheep, and they know Him. There is an intimate knowledge between Jesus and His sheep. He knows them, their lives, their being, their all. He knows them by name, individually and personally, in all their joy and blessing, in all their trials and sorrows, in all their wanderings and stumbling’s, in all their need and lack.

2. Jesus knows the Father, the Owner of the sheep. The question naturally arises, how well does He know Him? one thing is of critical importance. When Jesus claims to know the Father, He does not mean that He knows God in the same sense as the other men know Him.

3. Jesus will die for the sheep. He was the “Good Shepherd,” not a bad shepherd; therefore, He would face the enemy of the sheep. He would not run away from His calling and purpose. He would stand and fight the enemy as the Good Shepherd was sent to do.

4. Jesus worked to enlarge the fold, “the sheep pen.” Note the “other sheep” was a reference to worldwide evangelization. It referred to all believers who were not standing there with Him. It included all countries and generations. It foresaw every believer of all time.

The future sheep were to become sheep of His by “listening to His voice.” There is to be one flock, not two flocks. Every believer becomes a part of the Good Shepherd’s flock.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!  Alleluia! 

 Christ is Risen! Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Happy Easter! 

 From all of us here at St. Valentine Parish, Priests, Deacon, and our entire staff, we pray that you and your loved ones may have a blessed and hope-filled Easter. May we accept the grace Jesus won for us with gratitude and amazement, and live our lives as his resurrected people. And being filled with Easter Joy may we share that message to those who still sit in darkness and fear. Archbishop Alan Vigneron wants us all “to move towards the goal of becoming a band of joyful missionary disciples.” In joy, may we answer Jesus’ mission to us, and go out to our brothers and sisters in our own homes and neighborhoods, bringing Jesus and His new life through our words and actions.

With heartfelt gratitude, we would like to thank all those who worked hard to make our Lenten and Easter celebrations so meaningful. Added to that, thanks to our ushers, altar servers, Eucharistic Ministers, lectors, Kevin, Katrina and the choir members, Michael Burden and those who assisted him in changing the liturgical environment, Religious Education teachers and aids, and teachers of the Word for the Little Ones, for all your dedicated and loving service to the parish. We are indeed blessed with such selfless and loving followers of Christ.

 Congratulations to Kendall Drake, Aubrey Locklear, Allison Alexander, Nickolas Bilski, Richard Franz, Bonnie Zelakiewicz, Wendy Wagner, Jodi Williams and Kimberly Mathis who walked the journey and now are fully initiated into the Catholic Church. We pray that you continue to grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus.

May Jesus live in all our hearts, that we may always embrace Him with love and gratitude. And may the Risen Christ bless you and your families abundantly throughout the fifty days of this Easter Season and always.

Rejoice! For He has Risen, Alleluia!

 Fr. Socorro and Fr. Henry

Divine Mercy Sunday—April 8—3:00 p.m. in the Church

 The celebration includes a recitation of the Divine Mercy Chaplet followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.

 In preparation for the Feast, and to gain the greatest indulgence, you should receive the Sacrament of Penance during the Lenten Season; and pray the Divine Mercy Novena and Chaplet daily, starting Good Friday — ending April 7th. A pamphlet for praying the Novena and Chaplet is available in all the vestibules of Church.

 Please join us in celebrating this wonderful devotion.

 “Jesus, I Trust In You”