St. Peter Catholic Church
Beloved in Christ, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven" (John 6: 51). Living bread! Yes, Jesus likens himself to bread, a living one at that. Like manna of old, bread sustains the...
St. Peter Catholic Church
Beloved in Christ,

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven" (John 6: 51). Living bread! Yes, Jesus likens himself to bread, a living one at that. Like manna of old, bread sustains the life of God's people as they become weak due to the wear and tear of existence. But the bread, in this case, has spiritual life in it because its origin is divine; it is a living bread that came from heaven, from God. It is the source of life since its origin is heaven. Jesus, the living bread, sustains our life on this earth. Spiritual nourishment is what the Lord's Prayer means when we ask God to give us this day. We pray daily to him to provide us with our sustaining bread. This daily need for spiritual nourishment reminds us of the importance of our spiritual practice. Jesus, the living bread is a beautiful truth! Jesus is the bread that nourishes and sustains our spiritual life. Life takes its toll on us; it drains and empties us. We do need the living bread to replenish and renew us.

The word of God, the living word of the Bible, also sustains us "for the life of the world" (Jn 6: 51).. This Sunday, in our walk through the mass series, we will focus on the liturgy of the word. We started with the introductory rites, which Gloria concluded. The word of God feeds and nourishes us. Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, respectively, we, too, are called to eat the word of the Lord (Jer. 15: 16, Ez 3: 1). Like the food that Elijah was given to strengthen him through the journey (1 Kg 19: 7), the liturgy of the word also serves as food for our soul as it traverses through life in the world. The readings at mass are based on a three-year cycle, which echoes the three-year reading cycle in the Jewish religion. A three-year cycle reading consists of the Old Testament text, the Psalms, the New Testament epistles, and the Gospel. These readings span the length and breadth of the Bible, and if a Catholic were to attend mass for three consecutive years, they would have covered almost all of the Bible. Let's take a biblical walk through the liturgy of the word that includes the readings, homily, creed, and intercessory prayers.

Last week, we had an hour of Eucharistic Adoration as reparation for the secular world's blasphemy and indifference toward the Last Supper, the Sacred Mysteries. I am thankful for the attendance of many. For those unable to attend, I encourage you to make your eucharistic reparation at any of our parish's multiple and almost daily expositions of the Blessed Sacrament from Monday to Friday. Jesus awaits you in the Tabernacle as well. Step into church at random times to adore the Living Bread. You will get to know Jesus better by these pious acts.

The solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary highlights liturgical celebration this week. There will be a vigil mass on Wednesday and masses during the day on Thursday. Please see the bulletin for details.

Tomorrow, Monday, August 12, is my birthday. I will celebrate it with a presentation on Prayer in the Parish Hall at 7 p.m. I will share my personal experience of Prayer with you. You are invited! Bring a friend with you, especially someone interested in knowing more about the Catholic faith.

In Christ,

Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

Beloved in Christ,

A lot of commotion was created last week over mocking the Last Supper, a pivotal Christian mystery, at the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris. The sad occurrence has strengthened my appreciation for the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. Whether the mockery was a subtle one, as some of us perceived, or, as the secular world and some Christians argued, a misunderstanding of the Greek Dionysius festival by Christians, the fact remains that it generated a lavish response from many Catholic bishops, condemning the despicable display and encouraging Catholics to speak up and offer reparations for the blasphemous act. On the heels of the National Eucharist Congress, a living testimony to a renaissance of our Catholic faith and devotion to the Real Presence, the bizarre Olympic opening ceremony spurred me to an added passion for the Sacred Liturgy. It gingered me to spend additional time this past week adoring the Blessed Sacrament as reparation for the abuses directed at Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

I encourage you to do likewise. Let the dishonor displayed against the Sacred Mystery in the secular space and culture increase or inspire greater love and devotion to the Eucharist and an opportunity to pray for the conversion of the ignorant, secular world to Faith. Do attend mass more frequently, approach Jesus in His Sacred presence in the tabernacle in our church with more reverence, and give more time to Eucharistic adoration. We have more and more opportunities provided in our parish to offer frequent devotion to the Eucharistic Lord. I expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration from 7:00 am to 7:55 am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. There is another period of adoration on Thursday from 6:30-7:00 pm. Our monthly hour of Eucharistic adoration in songs and silence comes up tomorrow, Monday, at 7:00 pm. I am pleading again with families to attend this monthly parish adoration. If we want our children to grow up loving Jesus personally in the Eucharist, our monthly Eucharistic adoration provides an opportunity to fulfill that goal. I am impressed with the attendance at daily masses this past week and expect the attendance to keep getting better. Be generous with your time; Jesus awaits you at mass. You cannot outdo Jesus in generosity.

August is a spectacular month, not just because it's the month of my birth but because each of its thirty-one days celebrates a special feast of our Lord, our Lady, or a saint. This month, in particular, is a traditional period to intensify our devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I encourage you to attach additional importance to honoring our Lady by praying the rosary daily and imitating her life of obedience to God.

This weekend, our parish welcomes Fr. John Baptist Opargiw, MCCJ, a Ugandan, as he preaches a mission appeal on behalf of the Comboni Missionary. It's important to remember that all Catholics are called to support mission work worldwide. This is part of our sacred duty to the spreading of the Gospel. I urge you to be generous in supporting Fr. John Baptist's mission appeal. Thank you.

See you next week as we continue our catechesis on the Mystery of the Mass. I will explore the Liturgy of the Word biblically and historically. Ours must remain what St. Anselm of Canterbury describes as faith seeking understanding (Fides quaerens intellectum). The more we understand, the better our approach to Eucharistic worship.

In the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

Beloved in Christ,

"When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, 'This is truly the prophet, the one who is to come into the world.'" (Jn 6: 14). Jesus did many signs (miracles) revealing his identity as a divine person, the incarnate one, the God-man who came to save the world. The sign or miracle Jesus performed in the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel points to the miracle of the Mass. Jesus' miraculous feeding of the crowd gathered around him across the sea of Galilee allows us to reflect at length in the next couple of weeks on the mystery of Mass, the theme of the recently concluded VBS. When we look back at events last week, in addition to the VBS, the National Eucharistic Congress also comes to mind. I have spent hours watching YouTube videos of the array of spiritual talks and liturgical celebrations offered at the Congress, and I am inspired to dwell more on the meaning and significance of the medley of mysteries that make up the celebration of the Eucharist.

The significant spiritual bouquets presented at the National Eucharistic Congress demand our response. Our response will be a four-week liturgical and biblical walk through the mystery of Mass. We will look into the Introductory Rite this Sunday. We respond to the summon of the Lord by leaving our homes to come into his presence this Sunday. We begin with the Introductory Rites, which consist of an entrance chant, greetings, penitential act, Gloria, and the collect. What is the origin of these components of Mass? What is their significance in offering the right worship to God? How may we participate in them as the Church intends so that they impact our lives profitably? Let's dig into these sacred mysteries in the remainder of my homily.

We shall resume our teachings on the mystery of the mass series two weeks from now because next week is mission Sunday. Fr. John Baptist Opargiw, MCCJ from Uganda, will preach a mission for the Comboni Missionaries. Hosting Fr. Opargiw is our parish participation in the Diocesan Missionary Cooperative Plan. I strongly encourage us to be welcoming and generous. I did something similar in the Archdiocese of Chicago two weeks ago, and the parishioners at St. Francis Xavier, La Grange, warmly welcomed me.

Looking further into this current week, we have attractive spiritual offerings. You will notice that each day of this week marks the celebration of a saint. In addition to celebrating the memory of a saint from Monday to Saturday, this Friday and Saturday are devotional days of First Fridays and First Saturdays, respectively.

I look forward to an increase in daily mass attendees this week. If God provides or frees up our time to attend mass daily, we should return God's favor by attending cheerfully.

Have a happy Word Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

In the Heart of Christ,

Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

Beloved in Christ,

“The blood of Christ” (Eph 2:13). In the pious and liturgical tradition of the Church, July is the month devoted to honoring the Precious Blood of the unblemished Lamb of God-the price of our redemption. I want to highlight this fundamental Catholic devotion this Sunday in July to ignite or renew its broad practice in our time. Promoting this devotion is in sync with the distribution of the Precious Blood at mass this Sunday and the celebration of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, which comes to a close this Sunday. The National Eucharistic Congress is designed to bring about revival and facilitate the life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Our emphasis on the Precious Blood this Sunday is also meant to bring to mind our recently concluded parish Vacation Bible School's theme, the Mystery of the Mass.

In recognition of the most august sacrament highlighted by the conclusion of the National Eucharistic Congress, an occasion focused on Eucharistic revival, I want to invite and encourage you to commit to the devotion most intimately linked to the Holy Eucharist, the devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ. There are many things to be said about the precious blood of Christ, which is the source of our salvation and protection against evil. The only thing I will, however, do on this occasion is to direct you to a papal encyclical by Pope John XIII on the promotion of devotion to the Precious Blood ( I will share excerpts with you shortly) and encourage you to pray frequently the Litany of the Precious Blood approved by the Vatican for private and public recitation. Here’s an excerpt from the papal document on the promotion of devotion to the Mos Precious Blood of Jesus:

“As we now approach the feast and month devoted to honoring Christ’s Blood —- the price of our redemption, the pledge of salvation and life eternal — may Christians meditate on it more fervently, may they savor its fruits more frequently in sacramental communion. Let their meditations on the boundless power of the Blood be bathed in the light of sound biblical teaching and the doctrine of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. How truly precious is this Blood is voiced in the song which the Church sings with the Angelic Doctor (sentiments wisely seconded by our predecessor Clement VI [10] ) :

Blood that but one drop of has the world to win

All the world forgiveness of its world of sin…

The Blood of the new and eternal covenant especially deserves this worship of latria when it is elevated during the sacrifice of the Mass. But such worship achieves its normal fulfilment in sacramental communion with the same Blood, indissolubly united with Christ’s eucharistic Body. In intimate association with the celebrant the faithful can then truly make his sentiments at communion their own: “I will take the chalice of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. . . The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve my soul for everlasting life. Amen.” Thus as often as they come worthily to this holy table they will receive more abundant fruits of the redemption and resurrection and eternal life won for all men by the Blood Christ shed “through the Holy Spirit.”[13] Nourished by his Body and Blood, sharing the divine strength that has sustained count less martyrs, they will stand up to the slings and arrows of each day’s fortunes — even if need be to martyrdom itself ffor the sake of Christian virtue and the kingdom of God. Theirs will be the experience of that burning love which made St. John Chrysostom cry out:

Let us, then, come back from that table like lions breathing out fire, thus becoming terrifying to the Devil, and remaining mindful of our Head and of the love he has shown for us. . . This Blood, when worthily received, drives away demons and puts them at a distance from us, and even summons to us angels and the Lord of angels. . . This Blood, poured out in abundance, has washed the whole world clean. . . This is the price of the world; by it Christ purchased the Church… This thought will check in us unruly passions. How long, in truth, shall we be attached to present things? How long shall we remain asleep? How long shall we not take thought for our own salvation? Let us remember what privileges God has bestowed on us, let us give thanks, let us glorify him, not only by faith, but also by our very works.”

Thank you for your devotion and participation. Have a blessed week.

In the Most Precious Blood,

​ Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

Beloved in Christ,

"Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two" (Mk 6: 7). With the calling and sending of the Twelve by Jesus, he established the pattern of evangelization: the calling and sending of Christians to proclaim the Good News to the world. The Second Vatican Council says that Christ established the Church to evangelize, and evangelization is not restricted to priests and religious but to all the baptized. In the first reading for this Sunday's mass, Amos, a Judean from Tekoa, is rejected because he is not from a prophetic family. Still, he insisted that he was compelled to preach conversion to northern Israel by a commission from God (Amos 7:12-15). All baptized Christians are likewise sent on missions to the world. According to our state of life, we are all missionary disciples called to share in the call to engage and evangelize our culture.

A couple of Sundays ago, we had a missionary group here at St. Peter to share their missionary efforts and seek our support. Thanks for your generous contributions. In two weeks, we shall host another missionary group, the Comboni Missionaries. Thanks for your anticipated generous donations in support of this mission of evangelization. Our generous contributions will go a long way in supporting the proclamation of the Gospel to places and people who need to be evangelized. You are participants in the mission of evangelization through your prayers and monetary contributions. Participation in the mission appeal is a response to Jesus' call to spread the Gospel of salvation to all parts of the world. As a Dominican and a preacher of grace, I share the obligation to promote the Gospel by preaching mission appeals wherever I am invited or sent. This weekend, I am at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, La Grange, Illinois, to preach on a mission for the Dominican Province of Nigeria and Ghana.

As a priest of the Order of Preachers, I am fulfilling the mission of evangelization established by Jesus by preaching a mission appeal in the Chicago Archdiocese this weekend. But remember, you don't have to be a priest to participate in this crucial ecclesial task. You can evangelize with all the gifts you have received from God wherever you find yourself. All Christians are called and sent by Christ to evangelize. The world urgently needs a church that bears witness to the Gospel. Our world is spiritually and morally broken in many regards; only the light of the Gospel can bring it to order. You and I, irrespective of our state in life, are called and sent to shine the light of the Gospel on our world, which desperately needs it.

Vacation Bible Study kicks off this Sunday. I see this church program as an evangelization tool to inspire the Eucharistic faith of your children and their parents. I praise the efforts of our CRE, Georgann Azzalina, and her team in bringing this evangelization task to birth. I encourage parents to be actively involved where necessary. I especially ask that parents participate with their children in a teaching-based Eucharistic Adoration on Thursday at 6 p.m. and the mass, which follows at 7 p.m.

Continue to have a beautiful summer of sunshine.

In Christ,

Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP

Beloved in Christ,

Please, Lord, grant me a living faith. My supplication comes from a deep place of discovery after a sincere introspection and interrogation of my practical faith in Jesus and his promises. A scripture verse from this Sunday's Gospel reading accounts for my honest search for where I stand in the personal exercise of faith. In Mark 6:6, Jesus laments the "lack of faith" in him by his people. Among his kin and in his native place, there is a lack of response to Jesus' message because they could only see in him the son of the carpenter and Mary, a common and familiar person with no distinguishing pedigree or status. Their lack of faith and rejection of Jesus and his message echo the stubbornness and rebelliousness of the Jewish people to the divine message brought to them by Ezekiel (Ez 2: 2-5). In the last two Sunday mass gospel readings, we saw contrasting responses to faith in Jesus. Two Sundays ago, we heard of the disciples' insufficiency of faith in Jesus while in a boat assailed by storms, and last Sunday, we heard of the living faith displayed by the woman with an issue of blood and Jairus' father. Jesus expects and demands deep faith from us whenever we approach him in prayers and worship. Do we always approach Jesus with the expected faith, or do we lack adequate faith in Him? What do we need to have the required faith that summons mighty deeds from God? What do we need to grow and exercise a living faith when we pray? I liken efforts at growing faith or healing a lack of trust in Divine Promise to the taking of supplements daily to increase my low potassium level. I religiously take some prescribed medications and eat specific fruits to increase my potassium level, and I have seen an improvement. In like manner, we can go on a spiritual diet to nourish our faith. What are the essential nourishments needed to increase and deepen our faith? I want to prescribe spiritual food to strengthen or increase our faith. A constant intellectual (mind) and spiritual (heart) reading of the Sacred Scripture is mandatory to see our faith mature to the level needed to live an abundant spiritual life. The Holy Spirit inspired the Bible and will encourage us to live in faith when we study it daily. The second element in our spiritual diet that brings about the kind of faith Jesus demands of us is a devout prayer life. Prayers are the oxygen of life of faith. We must invest in intense conversation in the Spirit to increase our faith. When I refer to daily prayer, it includes daily mass attendance and a deliberate invocation of the Holy Spirit to spur us into spontaneous prayer. Our prayer regime, of course, must consist of a structured daily prayer that includes meditation on the Holy Rosary and Divine Office- the official prayer of the Church. I recommend additional spiritual diets for a stronger faith. Still, the two suggested in this message suffice for now to avoid slipping into a lack of faith in our relationship with Jesus. In conclusion, I invite you to join me in raising hands in supplication to God; Lord, please grant me a living faith.

​With Living Faith, Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP

​Beloved in Christ,

"Give thanks to the Lord, his love is everlasting "(Ps 107:1). Like last week, my reflection is inspired by the responsorial psalm for this Sunday's mass and it makes a lot of sense why it is so. I centered my message last Sunday on the importance of giving thanks to God for all his goodness to us- it is what we are created for, I emphasized. As I write these words this morning from my aunt's place in Akure, Western Nigeria, with her Alsatian dog (German Shepherd) circling around me with excitement and joy, the prominent subject on my mind is the fifth anniversary of my appointment as pastor of our lovely family of St. Peter. It was on June 17th, the same day my NBA team, Boston Celtics won the 18th championship of the franchise. Hurray!

I'm thrilled and filled with thanks to God for my five and a half (my first six months here before my appointment as pastor was as a parish administrator) journey of faith with you all, my beloved family. It has been a journey similar to that of God's chosen people that Ps. 107, a hymn of praise to God for his love and mercy, chronicled and celebrated for God's amazing intervention. We see Jesus doing same incredible deeds of intervention in the life of the apostles in the gospel that made them wonder "who then is this" (Mk 4:41). It is the Lord of everlasting love and mercy. I have experienced his continuous love and mercy through you all in all my years here so far. All I can do, and will continue to do, is "give thanks to the Lord for his mercy, " for wondrous deeds he has done for the children of Adam (see Ps. 107:22).

As I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving to God, I also extend thanks to you for your mercy and love. I'm still on this journey with you. From my flaws, I'm learning to be a better pastor at your service. Keep praying for me. We have unfinished business and I plan to stay the course until I accomplish that which the Lord has sent me to do here in St. Peter's, Elizabethtown. I'm thankful, and I love you. That dog won't stop barking for my attention, so I guess I need to stop here. I'm writing this on Juneteenth holiday, I hope you had a great celebration.

See you for July 4th celebration.

With thanks,

Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP

​Beloved in Christ,

"Lord, it is good to give thanks to God " ( Ps 92:2). This Sunday's mass responsorial psalm aptly captures my feelings as I write this message from Lagos, Nigeria. I had a smooth journey from Baltimore to Lagos, I got to see my sisters again in two years, I met my cute and adorable grand-niece for the first time, and I had an opportunity to celebrate my mom's birthday with her. Without any hesitation, I agree that it is good to give thanks to God without whom any good and joyful things come about.

It is good to give thanks to God because by doing so we recognize that there's nothing good we have out of our own doing but the product of our generous God. Our rendering of thanks to God is an act of faith and worship. Isn't that what we are made for- to love and worship God as a people of faith? In giving thanks to God we grow in virtue of humility and become more Christlike.

Do you consider thanksgiving to God for all blessings received a good thing? Then you have to show it by giving thanks to him the moment you wake up in the morning and for every breath you have throughout the course of the day. A Christian who give constant thanks to God is a devout Christian hastening the growth of the Kingdom of God. As a Eucharistic rooted family, let us do the good act of thanksgiving to God by attending mass with devotion at least once a week, on Sunday at the least. Let's fill every day of this week, and of our entire life, with thanks- it's an act pleasing to God.

One more good thing to do. Let us give thanks to God for providing Frs. Dominic Okoye, OP and Charles Ukwe, OP to offer the Holy Eucharist for our community this week and beyond. Thank you, God!

In thanksgiving,

Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP

Dearly Beloved,

"Here are my mother and my brothers" (Mk 3: 35). Jesus revises the concept of the family for us in this verse of the Sacred Scriptures. The crowd around Jesus tells him that his mother, brothers and sisters are outside asking for him. Jesus did not disregard or ignore his blood family in this seemingly rude and dismissive response that everyone around him who does the will of God is his mother and brothers; instead, he teaches us that the family of Jesus is broader than the limited sense of blood ties. What ties us to Jesus and makes us part of his family is a life devoted to doing the will of God. Anyone reading or hearing this homily is a brother and sister of Jesus if they do the will of God.

We here at St. Peter are part of the family of Jesus because we strive to do the will of God. This past Sunday, our obedience to God's will by our public witness to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Sacred Host on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ testified to our belongingness to Jesus' expanded sense of family. In following the will of God to bear testimony to our faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, we made a Corpus Christi procession from our Church on the hill through downtown Elizabethtown. We ended with benediction at the Historic Church. We had a reception on the lawn behind the rectory, where many of us were satisfied with the food and drink provided by our ever-present and providing Council of Catholic Women. I am thankful to all who made it a victorious Corpus Christi procession: the Guards of St. Michael, Knights of Columbus, altar servers, and many others who worked behind the scenes. Thanks for making this family, our parish family, a reality. May Jesus grant peace, joy, faith and growth to our parish family, a family built on doing the will of God.

Since we are talking about God's family, I will not fail to mention that I do not reduce the importance of blood family. I love my family and friends and can't wait to see them again tomorrow when I arrive in Lagos, Nigeria. I haven't seen my mother, sisters, nephews, and nieces (and grand-niece) in two years, and I can't wait to spend quality time with them again. Please pray for my flights and vacation at home. I will miss you, but I will keep in touch.

Meanwhile, you will need the sacraments celebrated while I am away. Some priests have been contacted and will be available to offer the Sacraments for the parish for the three weeks I'll be gone.

In Christ,

Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

​Beloved in Christ,

How do we promote devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist? Belief and devotion to the Real Presence of Christ were significant reasons for establishing the solemnity in the thirteenth century. As the church did in the thirteenth century, we must do today: we must ponder the meaning and importance of the sacrifice of Mass in restoring life to humanity doomed for destruction due to our futile conduct inherited from our human ancestors (see 1 Pt. 1:18-25) ). In my homily on Wednesday morning mass, I asked: "What is the cost of our redemption from condemnation?" Presenting St. Peter's answer, I said our redemption came at the expense of the "precious Blood of Christ."

The blood of Christ, the "blood of the Covenant" (Mk 14:24), is the source of our redemption. The blood of the new covenant is of more excellent value than the blood of young bulls offered as holocausts by Moses to obtain reconciliation of his Jewish people with God ( Ex. 24:5). It is not "the blood of goats and bulls " offered for our "eternal redemption" (Heb 9:12); instead, it is the Blood of Christ, the blood of the New Covenant. There is healing and liberating power in the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God. I encourage devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ. When invoked in faith, it offers protection against the wiles and tricks of the devil. It contains the fullness of the Eucharistic sacrament, the soul, and the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of Christ is contained in either the blood or the flesh. We hear this truth proclaimed in the Sequence: "Blood is poured and flesh is broken, yet in either wondrous token Christ entire we know to be" (Corpus Christi Sequence).

Now that we are reminded again of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blood and Flesh we receive each time we go to communion, how should we respond? Again, I return to the Sequence for the answer: "From your heart let praises burst" (Sequence). We must respond in praise and thanksgiving as a testimony to our faith. Let your heart and your entire life be loud and public praise of Jesus's actual presence in the sacrament of his Blood and Body.

The doctrine of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is part of why we have the Corpus Christi procession. Our public procession through the neighborhood of Elizabethtown from the church on the top of the hill to the Historic Church is part of showing our belief in Real Presence and our love and adoration for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament displayed in the monstrance. In our public testimony of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, we must show that our hearts are filled with joy and thanksgiving by singing hymns and songs of devotion, love, and deep joy. Do not hold back your joy; praise Jesus with all you have. Let us bring Jesus into our community with a joyful heart and profound faith. May Jesus bless Elizabethtown and all its inhabitants with his grace as we bore him high and joyfully in our Corpus Christi procession.

With praise and thanksgiving to God, we celebrate our parishioner, Rev. Craig Alexander, ordained this past Saturday morning, June 1; please do not forget to attend his Mass of thanksgiving and reception next Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Mass.

I will also be on a three-week vacation to Nigeria starting June 10th. I look forward to seeing my mom, sisters, nieces, nephews, and my new grand niece! Keep me in your prayers. Thanks.

In His Praise,

Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

Beloved in Christ,

"Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth" (Ps. 104: 30). Today, the Mother Church celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and Mary, Mother of Jesus. The feast of Pentecost is also considered the birthday of the Church. It signifies a new beginning, a breath of new life for the church. What happened in the Upper Room on this day fulfills the psalmist's prayers for God to send his spirit upon the earth to renew it. The Church is constituted and renewed by the Holy Spirit to testify to the truth about the Lordship and Gospel of Jesus. St. Paul recognizes the necessity of the sending and empowerment by the Holy Spirit to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior to the world: "No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12: 3). This is true. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to testify to Jesus and His Gospel in the world effectively. We must carry out the demands of Jesus in the world, but only with the help and power of the Holy Spirit.

Renewal in the Spirit is what this feast reminds us about. What we need to do, and what we already started doing by our novena to the Holy Spirit, is invite anew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us to revive and renew His gifts and fruits in us. With this purpose in mind, that is, the renewal of the Church, I invite you to return to church at 6 pm for our parish extended celebration of Pentecost. We will hear the Word of truth, pray for a new outpouring of the spirit and healing, and, like the apostles on Pentecost, speak of "the mighty acts of God" (Acts 2:11) in praise and worship led by our parish-based band, Forgven. It will also allow us to fellowship and share in light refreshments as we celebrate the birthday of the Catholic Church and the two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of our historic St. Peter Catholic Church! Yes, we are that old!!

This past week, we celebrated our parish's annual forty-hour—the Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Most. Reverend Ronald W. Gainer gave us excellent sermons on the Holy Eucharist as a mystery to believe, adore, and live. His deeply theological and pastoral reflections richly blessed us. Let's use all we learned from his teachings in our individual and parish lives. I must once again offer words of appreciation to all those who participated actively in our forty hours, especially those who committed to a period of Adoration late into the night, Michael Checco and the choir, St. Michael's Guard, altar servers, Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, CCW, Men's Club, the parish office staff and others. I am proud of you all. We pray that our parish may experience revival in Eucharistic Worship. In my understanding, without the Eucharist, there is no Catholic Church. Period! We need Eucharistic revival.

As Eastertide draws to a close today with the celebration of Pentecost Revival at 6 p.m., let us prepare for two significant feasts coming in succession: the Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi. These fabulous feasts are going to keep us spiritually on our toes!

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

Beloved in Christ, Blessed Mother’s Day

In this Sunday's Mass Gospel, we heard that Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, praying to His Father that his followers "may be one" just as Jesus and His Father are one (Jn 17:12). Given Jesus' statement about oneness, I would like to urge us, members of St. Peter Catholic Church, to be of one heart, one purpose, and one will in our worship. The Eucharistic worship, the Holy Mass we gather to celebrate daily, supports the oneness of heart by the way we rise, sit, kneel, and sing in unison. We carry out many aspects of sacred worship as one people. The call for unity in liturgical acts does not take away our differences and peculiarities in any way! Our differences should be seen as a blessing, but they must fuse to form a wholesome unity, reflecting the diversity but unity we find in the Holy Trinity. I then seize the moment to explain a significant change we plan to make to set up our sanctuary to aid the unity of worship and strengthen our faith and worship of Jesus in the Eucharist.

We all know that the church in America is presently going through a year devoted to Eucharistic revival. There is an urgent call to renew our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. A considerable part of that faith is the reservation of the Eucharist in the Tabernacle in order to take Jesus to the dying as viaticum and the sick, unable to join us at mass. "Tabernacle" is derived from the Latin word for "tent." It is a suitable box, opaque, stationary container where the Sacred Host is reserved outside Mass. It was not until the fifteenth century that placing the Tabernacle on the altar became popular, and the church did not mandate it until the nineteenth century. Change, organic in nature, took place through the centuries on where to place the tabernacle for more excellent liturgical benefits of the faithful. Where does the church stand today on the placement of the tabernacle? Good answers are provided in the General Instruction on Roman Missal (GIRM) and Catechism of the Catholic church. According to CCC 1183, "The tabernacle is to be situated in churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor. The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar."

After consecration, the priest genuflects, takes the host, and invites the assembly to gaze up at Eucharistic Jesus and adore him: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who take away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb." This communal rite declaration reminds us of the centrality of Jesus at mass. We should be able to quickly behold him in the center of the sanctuary, on the altar or the tabernacle, and render him worth worship due Him. Placing the tabernacle right in the center of the altar area makes Jesus much more visible when we step into the church, sign ourselves with Holy Water, and genuflect in Adoration.

When I was made administrator of this parish in 2018, part of the note handed to me was a request by some parishioners for repositioning the tabernacle to the center of the church. Many of you have also made that request, and I also buy into it because it makes a more effective statement about the centrality of the Eucharist and our belief in Real Presence. I requested permission from the Diocese years ago, and it finally granted my request about two weeks ago! This change will support much more meaningful worship and has liturgical and theological support. More so, it appears to be the desire of many parishioners. I pray we all respond to this positive development with a united spirit and concerted effort.

Since we are talking about the Eucharist and the Tabernacle, it is an excellent time to remind us of the importance of our parish celebration of forty hours, which begins this Sunday. Bishop Ronald Gainer, a gifted speaker, is our homilist. Please make it a priority for us to come together to drink from the water of wisdom in the Eucharist that his excellency will offer us. Let us come together, of one mind and spirit, to adore Jesus truly present in the Eucharist.

Next week is the church's birthday, the solemnity of Pentecost. We are going to celebrate it as well as our parish's two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary. I would also like to celebrate the fruits of our parish, especially those recently confirmed and members of the Youth group who did an excellent job of the Living Stations of the Cross presentation on Good Friday. I look forward to seeing you all at the parish hall at 6 pm for special recognition and worship.

Today is a special day for our mothers. We appreciate their love and sacrifices for the family, and we can never offer enough thanks for their sacrifices. Please make sure you join me in wishing them Happy Mother's Day! We love you, our loving mothers.

Let us continue to pray the Novena to the Holy Spirit. Veni Sancte Spiritus!

In His Joy, Fr. Bernard Alayode, OP

​Beloved in Christ,

"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you" (Jn 15:12; 13:34). The Beatles' 1967 song, "All You Need is Love, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, captures it in its simple but poignant lyrics, "There's nothing you can do that can't be done...All you need is love." The song reflects Jesus' commandment of love in this Sunday's gospel reading. Jesus Christ, the epitome of Love, mandates us, his followers, to love one another as He loves us. To love in Jesus' way is essential to make the world a better place, yet it is lacking in our world today. The importance of love in transforming the world as we know it today is indicated in the number of times the word love comes up in the sections of scriptures from 1 John 4: 7-10 (9 times) and John 15: 9-17 ( 9 times) presented for our reflection this Sunday. But we hear of love so often in our culture. The word "love" is mentioned in songs and so often from the lips of lovers. What love are we talking about today? Is it different from the love as seen in our culture and world?

There are many forms of love in the Greek language, the language in which John's Gospel is written. We are probably familiar with philia or eros forms of love. The Greek word John uses today is "agape" (with other derivatives like agapate, agapen, egapesa, etc). "Agape" is the word that conveys the type of love Jesus commands us to have for one another. It is the love that Jesus himself showed us by laying down his life for us. He, who is perfect and innocent, gave his life for us imperfect and sinful people.

When we allow God to love us, we appreciate love and become capable of loving others the same way we have been loved. To love another is a choice we make. It is an act of the will moved by the Holy Spirit. It is not dependent on emotion. When Jesus made a sacrifice of his life for us on the cross, with all the suffering, his feelings were not sweet and pleasant like those of two new lovers in movies and sometimes in life. If we must take our discipleship seriously and live up to it, we must heed the commandments of our Lord and Saviour; we must love all our brothers and sisters with the same spirit and actions Jesus shows us.

If we must love the way Jesus commands, we must fall in love with Him and spend time with him to learn from him. We must then embrace a life of constant union with Jesus in the Eucharist and listen to him daily in the Gospels. It is a choice that comes from the inspiration and help of the Holy Spirit. Let us never hesitate to respond to the invitation of the Holy Spirit to gaze on Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament exposed daily for adoration at our parish, Monday to Friday. Every first Monday of the month is our family time to spend an hour of Adoration with Jesus in silence and songs. If you want to be an effective witness to Jesus, to borrow the words of the song by the Beatles, all you need is love, and you will draw that love in its essence and fullness in the sacrament of love, the Holy Eucharist. Come to Jesus daily in Holy Communion and Adoration.

Please remember the following parish events coming up this month: parish pilgrimage to Padre Pio center, Barto (May 11), Forty Hours (May 12-14), and Pentecost Sunday Revival (May 19 at 6 p.m.). Also, remember to develop the habit of praying the Rosary daily, especially in the Marian Month of May.

All you need is love! Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

In His Love,

Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP

Beloved in Christ,

"He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit" (Jn 15:2). Jesus uses the vine and branches allegory to describe his relationship with us. The connection we have with Jesus through our baptism should yield spiritual fruits. Jesus expects our interior union with him to bear abundant fruits of grace. To aid the production of abundant fruits, Jesus needs to prune us. The art of pruning and fruition is of importance here. In pruning, Jesus shapes and gives order to our spiritual life. We are not allowed to grow in the direction of our choice but in the direction, he deems fit for us to become most productive. As branches on the vine that is Jesus, we must be opened to pruning by Jesus or stop producing fruits and dry up.

What sterile branches of our spiritual life need to be cut off? Have we identified branches of our life that produce fruits but require pruning to grow even more? What exactly is Jesus' pruning tool? Jesus would take away any part of our life that is unproductive, from lukewarmness to sinful habits that get in the way of the flowering of the grace of God. But more importantly, the vinedresser would supply more graces when we surrender ourselves to him through prayer, penance, and a life of charity. There is a need for sacrifices if we want the graces of God to flourish even more in our lives. We must continue to be rooted in the vine that will continue to nourish us with his words, teachings, commandments, and sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and the living sap of the Father's vine, the Holy Spirit. We become more bound and receptive to his life and nourishment when he prunes us.

A significant source of nourishment that unites us more intimately and, consequently, more productively in bringing the life of Jesus into the world is the Eucharist. In this year of Eucharistic revival, we must continue to find ways to increase and make the Eucharist more prominent in our lives. In line with this task, after getting permission from the Diocese, we will return Jesus in the Tabernacle to the center of the altar and, by so doing, make him more strikingly visible to us and remind us that he is the focus of our spiritual life. You will hear more about this in the weeks ahead. However, at this point, I want you to keep your life rooted and grounded in communion with Jesus, the vine who nourishes our life in His precious Body and Blood.

One more thing. I just wanted to remind you about two approaching parish events. The Forty Hours is from May 12 through 14, and Pentecost Renewal Day is May 19 at 6 p.m. Please save these dates and make them your priorities.

In Christ the true Vine,

Fr. Alayode Bernard, OP