Cardinal Gregory is coming to dedicate a new altar at the 11:30 am Mass on Sunday January 23rd. It is a great honor for our parish and all our parishioners. This will be his second visit in less than two years. I hope that many of you will be able to join us and welcome him as you did on the occasion of our 40th anniversary in September 2020.
We are grateful to God for the generosity of the two parishioners who have funded this latest OLHOC project for a new altar and have chosen to remain anonymous. We are also grateful to the members of our Parish Council who unanimously recommended this project and have been closely associated to its design and implementation. It is worth noting that the construction itself of the altar was done locally and also involved one of our own "artist" parishioners who has chosen to remain anonymous.
The ALTAR represents Jesus Christ at every Mass. It is central to the CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST. GOD is the one giving us this new altar at the right time in the short history of our parish. Following our little "Eucharistic miracle " of last April, we have refocused our attention to the greatest MIRACLE that happens on the Altar at the time of Consecration: the REAL PRESENCE of the Body and Blood of Christ!
Everything we receive is a Gift from GOD, with the exception of sin. Everything in our own church is sacred and belongs to God, including our new steeple, which was blessed by Cardinal Gregory in 2020 and is the most visible external sign of the presence of God in our church. But nothing is more sacred than the ALTAR AND THE TABERNACLE.
Our current tabernacle (the "golden box" for our little children) is also a wonderful gift from an anonymous parishioner (nearly 15 years ago when Father Crowley was pastor). Every tabernacle is most sacred as it contains the BODY OF CHRIST throughout the year, and we kneel to that presence of GOD before we proceed to our seats when coming to Mass. When we renovated the nave four years ago, we made sure that every new aisle will be aligned with the tabernacle.
However, during the celebration of the Mass, the ALTAR takes precedence over the tabernacle. This is why the priest bows to the altar. The Altar is truly central to the celebration of the Mass as described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1383): "The altar, around which the Church is gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist represents the two aspects of the same mystery: THE ALTAR OF THE SACRIFICE AND THE TABLE OF THE LORD ... St Ambrose said: THE ALTAR REPRESENTS THE BODY OF CHRIST AND THE BODY OF CHRIST IS ON THE ALTAR... The liturgy expresses this unity of sacrifice and communion in many prayers."
The current altar in the main church, which was conceived as a moveable altar given the multiple needs of our parish community at its very beginnings, will become the main altar in our newly renovated chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The new altar will be fixed to the floor of the sanctuary in the main church and will contain first-class relics (bones) of two great saints with special connection to Mary Help Christians: St John Bosco and St Mary Mazzarello. Those two relics were given to our parish by Father Timothy Zak, the Provincial Superior of the Salesians of Don Bosco (Eastern USA Province). St John Bosco was an ardent devotee of Mary Help of Christians and a follower of the spirituality of St Francis de Sales. He founded the Salesians, today the second largest community of religious men (over 15,000) dedicated to educating youth. With St Mary Mazzarello he founded the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (known as Salesian sisters), which today are the largest community of religious women in the world (over 11,000). St John Bosco's quote favored by the Salesian sisters is: "Trust in Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and Mary Most Holy and you will see what MIRACLES are."
Before those two relics are inserted by Cardinal Gregory inside our new altar on January 23rd, we would like to give an opportunity to many parishioners to venerate them: they will be displayed at each Mass in our church beginning at 7 pm this Wednesday January 12, first Mass of the TRIDUUM of The HOLY CHILD (Santo Nino) through Sunday January 16, Feast Day of the Holy Child including the special Holy Mass at 4 pm (see information in flyer in weekly bulletin).
With the celebration of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord this Sunday, we are closing the Christmas Season and entering into Ordinary Time. We are grateful to God for having given us so many blessings this Christmas Season. May the Fire of the Holy Spirit keep our hearts aflame with the Joy of Christmas throughout the New Year 2022!
One in Christ,
Fr. Alain