Join Most Reverend Gerald M. Barbarito on Friday, December 15, 2023, at 4:00 in the afternoon as he celebrates the joyous occasion of the Christmas Mass.

Thank you to our sponsors yesterday on Giving Tuesday for their generosity and love. This year, we are blessed to have the Frank & Vera Ferola Charitable Foundation, Inc., generously offer to match donations on Giving Tuesday up to $25,000!

November 24, 2023
Faith looks upon the cross of Jesus Christ and sees the King. The Gospel of St. John especially portrays Jesus as King as He reigns upon the cross. It is from the cross that He extends His arms over the world in an embrace of love. It is from this cross that blood and water flow upon the world from His wounded heart that we might be redeemed. As we look around the world and find war, so much strife and discord, division within our own nation, it is only God’s mercy extended to all which gives meaning and purpose. God’s power is revealed in His mercy. This is what we celebrate on the Solemnity of Christ the King, and it is for this that we are most grateful as we celebrate Thanksgiving.

“This truly is a vibrant, faith-filled community for which we give thanks,” the bishop said in his homily. “And as this morning we break ground for a new family life center, which will be used in order to continue to build up and strengthen this parish, what’s so important is our getting together, our supporting each other.”

As we dive into the season of giving this month, let’s explore how the very action of giving can lead to a more altruistic life, improve our mood and even makes us happy.

The celebration of Thanksgiving gives us reason to reflect upon gratitude and to cultivate it more within our lives. It is a virtue of which St. Paul constantly speaks and asks us to cultivate as exemplified in his words, “Dedicate yourself to thankfulness. Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col 3:14-17). We have much for which we should be thankful, and we should give praise to God for it. May our thankfulness help us to realize more and more our dependency upon God, whom we praise for the gift of life.