Parishioner's Loss due to Fire: Visit GoFundMe Link to Help Out

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A family of four (with children ages 2 and 7) who are parishioners have lost their entire home in Nutley, NJ to a tragic fire.

Thankfully, no one was injured in the blaze. However, the community has come together to help them by creating this GoFundMe link to help offset the costs of dealing with this crisis. Please visit the link today to donate:

https://gofund.me/35058527

RCIA Blog: What will we become?

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What will we become?

Every great person was in the beginning a small, helpless baby in the arms of his or her mother. What that baby may be one day was a mystery except for the mother who knew her baby would always be special. God, like the very best of mothers, sees our potential, that is, what he has called us into life to be. God knows even when we do not.  

Among the amazing facts of life is that we are always the same and different than we were before.  A 65-year-old man is the same and different then when held in his mother's arms. What is the answer to this paradoxical riddle? Philosophers have come up with various theories about this strange reality.  St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor of the Church (c.1265 AD), and in turn by the Church, embraced a theory by the classical Greek philosopher Aristotle (c.330 BC). Aristotle explained this paradox by defining two primary characteristics of all things: matter and form. Matter, for Aristotle, was the indistinguishable stuff or material of all things. Form is what we recognize and gives the matter sensible (available to the senses) characteristics. Aquinas used this concept to explain that the soul is the form of the body. The body is the physical stuff and the soul is what makes us what we are (human beings) and who we are (Deb, Greg, Brian, Alissa, Jen, etc.)

The most interesting part of the matter and form philosophy is that it fits well with Holy Scripture. St. Thomas drew on the idea that matter, physicality, has within it two states of being; potency and actuality. Potency is what the thing has the potential to be or become.  Actuality is what we perceive it to be right now. Every living thing has within it, potency, or the potential to grow, mature, and die. It is actualized in a particular time by size, shape, and age with certain attributes. The acorn is actualized as small, compact, and bursting with potential.  Its potency is that it could be a might oak tree one day. Its natural path of life is to achieve the potential for which it was created.

Aquinas used Aristotle’s explanation of being to explain God’s intent for the creation of men and women. Human beings are created matter and form, body and soul, to achieve our natural full potential. We understand our natural full potential as attaining the gifts of Adam and Eve before the Fall. They had one supernatural gift (sanctifying grace and lack of original sin). And three preternatural gifts, infused knowledge (lacking ignorance), immortality (lacking mortality, sickness, death), and integrity of passions (passions are aligned with the will, lacking struggle between what is right to do versus what I want to do).

Because of their Fall from grace, we suffer from the four wounds: Original Sin (lack of sanctifying grace, and thus righteousness), ignorance (lack of knowledge), concupiscence (passions no longer integrated under reason, the war within us between what is right and what we want), mortality and sickness (the body no longer strengthened). Yet, within us is the potential to rise above these wounds. Jesus Christ was born, lived, died, and rose again so that we may achieve our highest potential as true sons and daughters of God. We are only able to do this by the grace of God.

Aquinas wrote extensively about the effect of grace upon us. We experience our progression from potential to actuality. We hold an infant, help a toddler to stand and walk, play with a child, guide an adolescent, tolerate young adults, encourage mature adults, and help and care for elderly adults. These stages of life actualize the potential in each person. St. Thomas held that the actualization we experience of our bodies, our physicality, is not experienced in our souls. Our souls are spiritual, not physical, and so do not have potency or potential to change which is associated with matter. Our souls are fully actualized but they are injured by original sin and the wounds of the Fall. Unlike other living things, who progress from potential to actuality in their natural lives, like the acorn to oak tree, we humans cannot. The Fall injured us body and soul. 

Our medicine must address both aspects of our humanness. Jesus Christ came to heal both. The Church continues Jesus’ mission for salvation by offering the sacramental life. The sanctifying grace of baptism heals our soul. The sacramental grace we receive in the life of the Church engages us physically and nourishes our souls. What will we be become? It is natural and proper for us to become sons and daughters of God who created us and loves us. We cannot do it on our own. We need God’s grace. Jesus Christ redeemed us by his sacrifice. His Church offers us the sacramental life of grace that aids our natural potential. “The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, to give divine life” (CCC 1131).        

– Frank Miller

Prayers Requested for our Pastor, Fr. Larry

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Our pastor Fr. Larry will undergo a heart catheterization on Thursday, December 8th, and the following day, December 9th, will undergo surgery to replace a heart valve.

Please keep him in your prayers, as this will be a major surgery with a long recovery.

If you would like to send him a message of encouragement, you may email him at frlarry@stachurchbloomfield.org.

 

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit:

God of Health and Wholeness,
We offer this prayer
For our dear pastor and friend Fr. Larry
as we desire for him to be restored
to the balance of good health.

We pray for a successful surgery and for the
medical staff who will be working with him
so that he may fully recover,
and return with renewed zeal
to the daily life that we share. Amen.

RCIA Blog: Eve of the New Year

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Sunday, November 27, 2022 is the first Sunday in the new Church year and the First Sunday of Advent. A time of anticipation and hope while we live the shortening of days, and greater dependence on electric lights to see our way around.

Stumbling around in the dark is at best unpleasant and at worst dangerous to body and soul. Darkness as in a dark room, affects every bit of how we maneuver. If we can, we will illuminate with lamps, candles, flashlights, and cell phones. Getting the better of darkened rooms and other areas we need to pass, makes us creative. We inherently need to overcome darkness and are better for it.

The analogy of a world in darkness waiting for the Light of Christ is a cornerstone Christmas message. We all happily add to additional lighted decorations as a sign of the holidays. It is part of Christmas time for all, Christian or not. Christ is the Light of the World and we gratefully participate in lighting up the longer nights.

Shortly after the listing of the Beatitudes, Jesus declares his disciples to be lights of the world.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:14-16).

Do what is good, do it in the light, do it so that others may see its goodness and seek to reproduce it. St. Paul further encourages us:

“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So, live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true” (Ephesians 5:8-9 ).

It seems our natural desire to avoid darkness and seek the light is an echo of the Natural Law written in our hearts by the Hand of God: “Do what is good and avoid what is evil”. It too is universal to human beings. Our desire to see the light and shun darkness is also an innate desire to seek Jesus Christ where he may be found, in the light.

In doing so, we produce what is good and avoid every evil thing. This is our annual resolution in the Church’s New Year.

- Frank Miller

Mass Schedule for Advent and Christmas Season 2022

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Reconciliation (Confession) Schedule:

  • Advent Reconciliation Service will be held Monday, December 5th at 7pm at Sacred Heart Church.

  • Confession at STA church will be held Saturdays December 3rd, 10th, and 17th at 1pm as well as Monday, December 19th at 7pm.

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

  • Thursday, December 8th at 9:00am, 11:30am, 7:00pm

Christmas Mass Schedule:

  • Saturday, December 24th Christmas Eve: 4:00pm, 6:00pm, 10:00pm (Music Prelude included at 10:00pm). Adult Choir will sing at 10:00pm, Youth Choir will sing at 4:00pm.

  • Sunday, December 25th Christmas Day: 8:00am, 10:00am, 12:00pm. All masses celebrated with traditional Christmas carols.

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God:

  • Saturday, December 31st 5:00pm, Sunday, January 1st 8:00am, 10:00am, 12:00pm

Solemnity of the Epiphany (Annual “Bell Sunday”):

  • Saturday, January 7th at 5:00pm, Sunday, January 8th 8:00am, 10:00am, 12:00pm

Parishioner Brandon C. Reflects on the 2022 Word on Fire Good News Conference

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A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the Good News Conference run by the Word on Fire Institute in Phoenix. It was a three day conference, where the overarching theme was “beauty”.

The first day the main presenter was Bishop Robert Barron. He had a meet and greet session, and celebrated mass. After mass he gave a wonderful keynote speech on the beauty of the tradition of the church.

The main point of his talk was when you’re evangelizing, it can be beneficial to lead with the beauty of the church, and then moving to the good, and finally the truth of the faith. He presented an interesting perspective, saying that true beauty is undeniable. Presenting someone with the beauty of the Sistine Chapel, or traditional music, or even beautiful works is undeniably attractive. And then once showing someone the beauty of the catholic tradition, you can present the good and the truth of the faith.

“True beauty is undeniable.”
— Bishop Robert Barron

The second day the main presenter was Father Mike Schmitz. Once again there was a meet and greet, he celebrated mass and then gave a keynote speech.

The mass was for All Saints Day, and he gave a wonderful homily. He had two main focus points, the first being: all it takes to become a saint is to never stop saying yes to God. If you are able to completely surrender yourself to Gods will (a second running theme of the weekend), you will be able to say yes to Him at every turn of life. And this is what makes the saints who they are. The second point of his homily was the importance of growing as a community. He said how it can be difficult if not impossible to do truly amazing acts on your own. But if we can come together as a community of faith, sainthood is possible for each and every one of us.

“All it takes to become a saint is to never stop saying yes to God.”
— Fr. Mike Schmitz

That evening he gave a wonderful keynote speech on the beauty of hope. The talk revolved around keeping hope through struggle. He started with the story of Genesis and continued with a few present day examples. He talked about how especially in times of struggle its important to keep your faith strong, and to surrender yourself to God.

The final day there were a couple other keynote speakers. The one who stood out the most was a women named Britt Fisk, whose talk was on the beauty in losing control. Britt came out and said how she felt out of place talking on the same stage as some of the giants of the modern day Catholic church. She then proceeded to give the most moving talk of the entire weekend.

Britt said how like most of us, she lived her entire life trying to be in control of everything, and one day it all started to fall apart. She told her story of having a disabled child, and then being diagnosed with cancer in the middle of the pandemic. She talked about how in these moments, where life seems to be spiraling out of control, those are the most important moments to turn everything over to God. She talked of how her faith was what got her through those challenging times. She ended her talk with a video of her daughter walking (which doctors had said would never be possible for her), and left the stage to the loudest and longest ovation of the weekend.

It was a wonderful weekend to hear from some great men and women of the church. It was a nice reminder to see the beauty in everything, and to surrender yourself to Gods will.

Update from Fr. Jonathan

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Fr. Jonathan sends his greetings and prayers from Nigeria to all of us at STA church!

It’s been over a month since he left, and he looks forward to returning to us at some point next year. Please keep him in your prayers.