On Tuesday afternoon, we celebrated our second monthly Mass at a new Independent/Assisted Living Community in Waldorf (Harmony House). We had a mix of Catholics and non-Catholics attending. I began my homily with a simple statement:" IF YOU WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN, RAISE YOUR HAND!" There was not a single hesitation. Immediately, Catholics and non-Catholics all raised their hands! We all want to go to Heaven. We all want to be saved. But the key questions remain: who will be saved? HOW CAN WE BE SAVED? JESUS says to Zacchaeus the chief tax collector in Jericho and all of us repentant sinners: “TODAY SALVATION HAS COME TO THIS HOUSE...THE SON OF MAN HAS COME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE WHAT WAS LOST." (Luke 19:1-10, this Sunday's Gospel). The instant conversion of the repentant Zacchaeus, a great sinner, gives all of us great HOPE. In last week's Gospel (Luke 18: 9-14), it was also a tax collector who was praying in the temple: "LORD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER" and went home "justified". JESUS IS OUR SAVIOR. HE CAME ON EARTH to seek the lost souls, like Zacchaeus and all of us, and to bring us back to God the Father: HE CAME TO SAVE US. Last week...

Several weeks ago, I was called to visit someone dying. Nothing extraordinary. Every week, Fr. Jan and I receive such calls from families, nursing homes, hospitals, or hospice...This was a home visit far away from our church. The family had no connection at all with our parish. To maintain total confidentiality, I will call the dying person Gertrude (not the real name). Gertrude had not gone to any church for many many years. During her illness, she had rejected the visit of any priest. But God had a plan. In her youth, Gertrude had received all the sacraments. Then she got married in the Catholic Church and had all her children baptized and confirmed. But as the children grew up into adults, she stopped going to church. When I met her, she was...

WE LIVE IN A TROUBLED WORLD: FIRST. The War between Russia and Ukraine is escalating. It began 8 months ago. When is it going to end? Russia's aggression is threatening the entire world: a nuclear attack on Ukraine could lead to a Third World War. Would a nuclear conflict lead to the END OF THE WORLD? or would the threat of a nuclear attack lead to PEACE? Will the leaders of the most powerful nations find the way to a lasting PEACE? Or once again, will War keep leading to more and more HATRED, and more future Wars? ONLY GOD CAN PROVIDE REAL PEACE: PEACE IN OUR HEARTS! SECOND. Beyond the battle of armed forces, another battle continues to rage: THE BATTLE...

Today I give some further reflection on my encounter with the "Little Prince" of our neighborhood and his young friends while "Walking in Waldorf" (see my column of last week). FIRST, several of you have commented on the refreshing "innocence" and "humility" of these young children. Yes! We live in a world where innocence and humility are being lost. Jesus constantly reminds us that we need to be "like little children" to enter Heaven. How can we be child-like? By being truly HUMBLE as a little child in presence of God OUR FATHER and Mary OUR MOTHER) and by TRUSTING totally IN GOD (as a little child trusting in his parents). In answer to...

I love to walk in our neighborhood. It is good to relax, enjoy the beauty of nature, reflect in silence, pray, or sometimes engage in a con- versation with a neighbor, but always pre- pared to be "surprised" ...like a child. Earlier this week, I passed by a large number of young children (six or seven) playing in the street. I had never seen them before, probably new neighbors. I simply said "Hello". One of the boys responded:...

BISHOP DORSONVILLE is coming to our parish in two weeks: Sunday October 9. You are all invited to join! Come to the FEAST! Come to the FIESTA! We are celebrating the 11th Anniversary of our Hispanic Community. Happy Birthday! God has blessed us with one of the most diverse communities in the Washington area. As a mid-size parish, we remain a family of families, welcoming everyone. Welcoming everyone has been part of our parish culture from the very beginning 42 years ago! We are grateful to our "pioneers". We welcome...

"In five hours I will see Jesus! May the will of God be done in all things! I have confidence in the love of Jesus. I know that He will order his angels to bear me in their hands." These are the amazing words JACQUES FESCH wrote five hours before his death. Unlike all of us, Jacques knew the specific hour and day of his death. His lawyer had told him that his public execution (beheading by the guillotine) would take place at 4 am the next day. Jacques had...

Do we believe that "FOR GOD EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE”? Do we believe that GOD CAN TRANSFORM US? Can we see the LOVE OF GOD in our own life? GOD THE FATHER HAS SENT US HIS SON so that we can all have LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE. JESUS CHRIST IS GOD. HE IS LOVE. HE IS MERCIFUL LOVE. The Gospels show us the POWER OF GOD through the life of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: HIS POWER, HIS GRACE, HIS MERCIFUL LOVE. JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US. WE CAN ASK AND WE WILL RECEIVE. We just need to DESIRE. We just need TO RECEIVE HIS GRACE. HE will then transform us. Earlier this week...

As we are ENTERING THE YEAR OF SAINT JOHN BOSCO on our 42nd anniversary next Sunday, September 11th (our parish birthday is September 15), I invite you to reflect on the JOY OF BEING CHRISTIAN! To be a Christian is to ENCOUNTER CHRIST and to PUT HIM FIRST IN OUR LIFE. It all begins at BAPTISM. Baptism, as the sacrament of faith, is the basis of the whole Christian life. In Baptism we die and rise with CHRIST. We are reborn as adopted children of God through WATER and the HOLY SPIRIT. We become members of Christ's Body, the Church. We become a Temple of the Holy Spirit (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1262-1271). Once BAPTIZED, nobody can...

Do you remember last week's Gospel or the one before? Have you read this week's Gospel before coming to Mass? When was the last time you opened your Bible and meditated on a Psalm, Proverb, or one of Jesus' parables? In a more and more secular world, a key question for us Christians is: how can we strengthen our personal relationship with God? How can we love GOD? For Jesus Christ, the first and greatest commandment is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:36-37). How can we...

About 20 years ago, I was working in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. We were helping some former communist countries associated with the Soviet Union to join the European Union by making recommendations on new economic policies. This gave me the opportunity to visit Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. On my first visit to Bulgaria, the Government officials invited us to a working dinner in a Russian restaurant. It was very dark. Practically no lights. Only a few candles on each table. The food was good. The discussion was intense...

At every Mass we pray as a community together with all the Saints in Heaven, who are an integral part of the Church. Every Sunday Mass, we can remember two special Saints whose first-class relics are sealed within our new altar dedicated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory last January: Saint John Bosco and Saint Maria Mazzarello, both Italians who lived in the 19th century and are both closely related to the devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians. Every daily Mass in our Chapel, we can remember two other Saints, two early martyrs (second and third centuries) whose bones -first-class relics - are sealed within the altar of our Chapel:...

"SEEK WHAT IS ABOVE, WHERE CHRIST IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. THINK OF WHAT IS ABOVE, NOT OF WHAT IS ON EARTH" says St Paul in his letter to the Colossians (beginning of Chapter 3). This is a powerful message given 2,000 years ago. How does it apply to our current world in 2022? When I was a child, my brother and I loved to spend time watching the thousands of stars in the sky. We were also looking for the sudden apparition of "etoiles filantes " or "shooting stars" in English. On a special night, we even saw...

Today Jesus teaches us HOW TO PRAY: " FATHER, Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. GIVE US EACH DAY OUR DAILY BREAD AND FORGIVE US OUR SINS for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the test." (Luke 11:1-13). This is a continuation of last week's Gospel when Jesus visited Mary and Martha. Jesus had left Bethany and had gone PRAYING, and when he had finished one of his disciples asked him: " LORD! TEACH US HOW TO PRAY". We are so familiar with the "OUR FATHER PRAYER" that at times we pray it without thinking about the meaning of the beautiful words that Jesus has given us. Luke gives us words somewhat different from...

What is God's promise to us individually? What do we expect from God? Is our HOPE in God or in the world? We were invited last week to reflect on the amazing encounter between Abraham and God (first reading, Genesis 18: 1-10) "The LORD appears to Abraham as he sat under a tree at the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. Looking up Abraham saw THREE MEN standing nearby ". Abraham bows to the ground in AWE of GOD! He then provides great hospitality to the three men representing GOD: "he waits on them under the tree while they ate." Then God gives a promise: one of the three men says...

Many of you were touched by the POWERFUL PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN last week. We hear this Gospel only once every three years in the YEAR OF LUKE (YEAR C, Luke 10:25-37). It is one of Jesus' most famous parables. It is Jesus' answer to the Jewish scholar's question: "WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?" (see my column of last week). It teaches us how to live a Christian Life and to be saved! It is all about CHRISTIAN LOVE! GOD IS LOVE! LOVE IS GOD! Our secular world uses the expression...

Reminding us of the two greatest commandments of LOVE: "LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART ...AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF", Jesus invites us today to reflect on a key question: WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? Jesus is teaching us a major lesson through the powerful PARABLE of the GOOD SAMARITAN. A scholar of the law is testing Jesus: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" This encounter leads Jesus to tell the story of a man falling victim to robbers as he was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho: they stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest, then a Levite when seeing him passed on the opposite side of the road. A third person, a Samaritan traveler was moved with compassion and took care of the victim pouring" oil and wine" over his wounds. He then took him to an inn and cared for him... Jesus gives the major lesson of this parable by asking...

“Alain, I want to have pictures of your Corpus Christi Eucharistic Procession in the Catholic Standard!" Our Cardinal addresses all the priests of the Archdiocese by their first name. As we are over 200, I am always surprised that he remembers all our names. My surprise last Saturday was the Cardinal’s last-minute simple but unusual request to me as he was leaving the Sacristy of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on the joyful morning he had just ordained 10 new young priests. We had only a few hours before our Corpus Christi Procession. My first reaction was...

Have you ever walked with Jesus outside the walls of our church? COME AND JOIN BISHOP DORSONVILLE THIS SUNDAY JUNE 19. He will lead our outdoor Eucharistic Procession at 12:30 PM right after celebrating with us the 11:30 AM Mass. You may wonder why a Bishop is coming to Waldorf: we are celebrating the completion of our First Year of EUCHARISTIC RENEWAL on the Day of CORPUS CHRISTI, the SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. This all began with our " Little" Eucharistic Miracle a year ago. Do you remember the abandoned Consecrated Host at the foot of our statue of Our Lady of Fatima...