This week...
Oct. 11 - Oct. 17, 2020
St. Patrick Church
Mass times:Saturday Vigil Mass: 4:30 PM
Sunday Mass: 8:00 AM
10:00 AM In the Church and livestreamed on facebook
5:30 PM
Mon. - Sat.: 8:00 AM Daily Mass in the Church and livestreamed on facebook (Rosary prayed daily after every Mass-livestreamed)
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: Wed. 8:30 AM - 7:00 PM followed by the Rosary and Benediction (Livestreamed on facebook)
Sat. 11:00 AM: Rosary for the end of Covid 19 virus Conference call number: 717-275-8940 PIN Number 369 8340#
Saturday: Confessions 3:30 PM-4:30 PM
On Sat. Nov.7th at 10:00 AM we will have a remembrance Mass for the dead. Please click on the link below for details about how to have your loved ones remembered at this Mass.
PASTOR’S WEEKLY MESSAGE 28
“I HAVE MY BANQUET ALL PREPARED…COME”
God’s word to us today is about guests being invited and not responding to the invitation. What does Jesus want us to understand when He shared this parable? Jesus meant more than the invitation to a wedding. For God sends out different kinds of invitations to us. You may wonder…what kind of invitation does God send us? The greatest invitation God extends to us is the call to become His children. God gave us life when we were born on this earth. But He also wants us to share in His life—making us His children. This, He does through Baptism. Many of us have already answered that first invitation from God. Some of you are also preparing to answer this invitation, as you prepare for Baptism.
God, too, invites us to grow in friendship with Him. One way of doing this is by speaking to Him every day through prayer. We all know that for friendship to remain strong between ourselves and our friends, we need to talk to them. If we do not, slowly our friendship becomes weak and dies. So, it is with God.
God wants His life in us and His friendship with us to become stronger and stronger. Therefore, through Jesus, He invites us to eat the food He has especially prepared for us. This food is His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
Jesus speaks other words of invitation to us. He says: “Learn from me.” He wants us to follow His example. He wants us to take on His thoughts and His ways, so we can become more like Him. Jesus invites us to trust in God, our Father, for all our needs. He tells us: “Look at the birds of the air…look at the flowers in the fields…” Jesus assures us that if God takes care of those, He can not fail to care much more for us.
All these are invitations to us from God. And every day, He sends us smaller ones, too. A person in need comes to ask for my help… A stranger comes my way asking for information… A sick friend asks me to go with her to the hospital. A neighbor who mourns the death of a child needs my comfort… An old woman asks for assistance… All these, and many others, are invitations from God—to me…invitations that call for my response and ask me to do something. What kind of a response do I give to God? Do I answer His invitations, or am I like the people in Jesus’ story? Am I too busy with other things or too concerned with my own occupation to bother about God’s message?
Of the people in the Gospel story, we are told: “They were not interested.” Is this also what happens to me sometimes? God invites me but…I am not interested just now… Later, perhaps… Just now, my thoughts are elsewhere, my efforts are given to other things. Yet, God’s invitation remains. The prophet, Isaiah, has described the feast God prepares for us in words that we can all understand. He speaks of: “A banquet of rich food, and choice wines.” It is a feast where there will be no sadness or mourning. “The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek.” And, “He will destroy Death forever.” The feast God has prepared for us is not a celebration of only a few days. It will be an eternal celebration—a feast that will last forever—the feast of Heaven!
The invitation to Heaven! Is there anyone among us who would want to miss it? Of course not! And…how can we make sure not to miss that wonderful invitation? By answering all the various invitations God addresses to us, day-by-day. Are you ready and willing to respond to the daily invitations God extends to you?