Have you heard Jesus call you? Since our baptism Jesus calls us to be holy. He loves us. He wants us to be with Him now and then forever in Heaven. He has a beautiful Plan for each one of us. He keeps calling us as He knows the best way for us to go to Heaven. Last Saturday, September 21st, we celebrated the great Feast of the Apostle Matthew. Like all of us Matthew was a sinner. He was a tax collector. One day he was sitting at the customs post, Jesus passes by and calls him and simply says to him: "FOLLOW ME”. Immediately Matthew gets up and follows Him. This is one of the most dramatic encounters with Jesus. Matthew must have heard about Jesus' miracles, but he does not know him. By saying YES to JESUS CALL his life is totally changed. Jesus and his disciples come and eat at his house immediately. Other tax collectors join them. From that day on, Matthew follows Jesus, becomes one of the 12 Apostles and writes one of the most powerful Gospels. Are you listening to Jesus calling you? What is Jesus calling you to do for Him? On the Feast Day of St Matthew, we were blessed to have two Sulpicians priests...

In today's Gospel (Mark 9:30-37), Jesus' disciples are debating who is the greatest among them. Jesus had just told them he was the Messiah, he was going to be killed, and three days later he will rise again. They did not fully understand what He said. But they debated who was the greatest disciple and who would be the leader. Jesus responds by giving them a great lesson of HUMILITY: “The one who wishes to be first shall be the last of all and the servant of all" (Mark 9:35). We often refer to PRIDE as the "mother" of the seven capital sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, anger, envy and pride) and to its opposite HUMILITY, as the mother of all virtues. None of us is totally humble and none of us is totally proud. We are somewhere ...

Our parish was born on September 15, 1980! HAPPY 44th BIRTHDAY OLHOC!!! May God grant us many many more years of evangelization in Waldorf: “Bringing all to Christ, Sharing Christ with all, Being One in Christ." Every individual birthday is an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends! It is an opportunity to give thanks to God for all the blessings He pours upon us. A parish birthday celebration is quite similar. I see a parish as a family of families! Let’s celebrate this Sunday with great Joy and let us thank God for all the many blessings he has poured upon our parish and parishioners since the day Cardinal Hickey established us on September 15,1980, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Sorrows, and chose our name “Our Lady Help of Christians”. Here is the beginning of my Introduction to the booklet “OLHOC at 35; Wednesday September 15, 2010: just five years ago, this was the first day...

One parishioner came to see me last week with a copy of the beautiful booklet “35 YEARS at OLHOC”. This booklet was prepared by a few parishioners and distributed when we turned 35 ten years ago. That meeting was prompted by last week’s column announcing our entrance into our 45th Year with Celebration on September 15. From that brief conversation a new project was born: to prepare a similar booklet “45 YEARS at OLHOC” and distribute it on September 15, 2025! This little project, which we will do, led me to reflect on the entire 45th year under the title: “Walking with Jesus in the Eucharist: September 15, 2024 to September 15, 2025. We appreciate your feedback on how we can make this 45th Year memorable and spiritual for all parishioners whether old-timers or newcomers. Last week, I focused on Three Ways as we enter this New Year: 1. 40-Hour Adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist September 12-14; 2. Joining the nation-wide initiative “Walk with One”; and 3. Beginning a new parish activity “Millions of Monicas” September 14. We then had a planning meeting of the Parish and Finance Councils last Saturday focusing on...