Last weekend, there was much excitement at OLHOC! Let me quote some of the words used or texted: “Wow Father. What a great blessing. No doubt it is a Eucharistic miracle! ...God is great: Eucharistic Miracle in "my church"...God's name be forever praised. MY LORD and MY GOD! Love Eucharistic Adoration...What a great miracle, somehow my Faith is ignited and in full blast. Hallelujah, Ave Maria! Awesome, Our powerful God.” What was this all about? The possibility that a Eucharistic Miracle had happened at OLHOC. First, one of our volunteer sacristans had sent to some parishioners a picture of a consecrated host that had been found on the floor of our church and had been disposed of in a vessel with water in the sacrarium of our sacristy. As the host was almost dissolved...

Jesus is asking all of us as his disciples, "WHY ARE YOU TROUBLED?"( Luke 24:38). Like many of us today, Jesus' disciples are confused. They do not understand what is going on. They have little hope for the future. They are told by several women about the empty tomb early that Easter Sunday morning. Then Peter had run to the tomb and also had found it empty. It is a long and painful day. They are all perplexed. What is going to happen to them? They are afraid that the Jews will arrest them and also crucify them! They locked themselves in a small "upper room" in Jerusalem. Now two of the disciples have just joined them, returning from EMMAUS where the Risen Lord has appeared to them. At that very moment, Jesus himself appears to all of them. They are startled. They are terrified. Is he a ghost? Maybe they are afraid that Jesus, their beloved master and guide for three years, is going to condemn them harshly for not having followed him all the way to Calvary (only one of them,John,was there). Jesus is asking all of us, "WHAT TROUBLES YOU? WHAT WORRIES YOU RIGHT NOW?" In so many ways, all of us are...

Pointing to the AMAZING, HUGE painting of Jesus Divine Mercy just given to us by the family of the artist Orlando Lagman, I asked one of our young children last Sunday, what do the two large streams of WATER and BLOOD coming out of the PIERCED HEART OF JESUS represent? He did not hesitate, WATER represents BAPTISM AND CONFESSION; BLOOD represents the EUCHARIST! I gave him an A+! He was right on the mark! He is a pious child. He loves to come to church. He loves to read the Bible. He may be a future priest! I wish we could clone him and have many, many children like him! I hope that like this child we can always remember that JESUS DIVINE MERCY keeps pouring upon us these two large streams of GRACE which we can receive frequently, the WATER OF RECONCILIATION which cleanses our sins in CONFESSION and the FLOW OF BLOOD, the EUCHARIST which we can receive at every Mass. It is a simple two-step approach: first, whenever we commit a major sin, we go to the priest in confession to receive the ABSOLUTION, allowing the second step, receiving the EUCHARIST in state of grace! We just celebrated...

Last Thursday, our church was packed for the celebration of the Lord's Last Supper: HOLY THURSDAY, the first day of the TRIDUUM of the HOLY WEEK. When I say packed, I mean that we reached the maximum number of people allowed by the current 6-foot distancing. It was great to see so many people back in church. It was music to my ears to hear so many people tell me, "Father, I am so happy to be back." THE JOY OF BEING BACK had begun on PALM SUNDAY. IT IS CONTINUING! PRAISE THE LORD! Let us pray that more and more people will come back to join us to celebrate the Eucharist together as an assembly in our church! Over 200 people participated in Holy Thursday Mass of the last Supper. The Narthex was packed with about 30 people (maximum allowed currently) and the Father Martin Hall with 60 people. The Altar Guild had done a wonderful job decorating the Father Martin Hall to allow the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the end of the Mass and until midnight. They had used their spiritual imagination and had decorated the Hall with Palm Trees and Flowers and had renamed the Hall, "THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE." The good surprise for all of us was when...