To Live the Great Commandment: Love of God and Love of Neighbor

Diocesan and Parish Census 2024

Father Johns Weekly Message

EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL AND THE MARRIAGE VOW: I DO

Every second Sunday of February, the Sunday closest to St. Valentine’s Day, is World Marriage Day, which celebrates the marriage between a man and a woman as the foundation of the family and of society, and honors the beauty of marital commitment, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and joy. Presently only 50 percent of adults are married. 25 percent of millennials — those now between 26 to 41 years of age — say they will never get married. Amid such statistics, World Marriage Day is an important occasion for the Church to emphasize the gift of marriage, to pray for married and engaged couples, and to foster a culture that helps young people to whom God has given the vocation to marriage to adopt the mentality virtues that will be conducive to recognizing and living that vocation well. The best way in which we can row our boat together is by building and fostering strong families that are Christ-centered. The most paramount way to achieve it is through God fearing couples who choose and decide to strive permanently to live a life of love, fidelity and commitment. The essential truths about Christian marriage all derive from the truth about the marriage between Christ and his bride: because Christ will never divorce his bride, Christian marriage is indissoluble; because Christ is always faithful, human spouses are called to the same fidelity. The greatest help that a couple can receive in being faithful to loving each other as Christ loves his bride the church is the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist has always been our primary source of nourishment. Love suffers. Jesus leads the way for us to imitate and follow. As a married couple, we approach life’s struggles from the view of St. Paul: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13) It is through the shared life in the Body of Christ and, more particularly, through a shared life in the Eucharist that marriage becomes authentic. Building a Eucharistic marriage involves the same loving and sacrificial giving to each other as the Lord has given us in the gift of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is a visible sign of the gift of grace that is essential for unity within the Body of Christ. It can strengthen a couple's faith and open their hearts to God's love. Pope John Paul II wrote that the Eucharist is the source of Christian marriage, and that the eucharistic sacrifice represents Christ's covenant of love with the church. Eucharistic marriage is built on the same loving and sacrificial giving as the gift of the Eucharist.

The words “I Do” are the most powerful in human history when exchanged by a man and woman in the arena and environment of a wedding. In this holy exchange you by a meaningful consent accept to change your status, sense of belongingness, name, lifestyle, living arrangements, habits, choice of friends, you agree that you are no longer an “I” but a “We” or “Us.” This happens because you have found your best friend, your soulmate, the love of your life, the one to whom you can risk everything even the instinct to self-survival and preservation. It is only to this valued person (spouse) that you can wholeheartedly risk and promise a life-long commitment for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poverty until death do you part.

May l acknowledge and congratulate in this community all those who have been married for 1,2,3,4,5…10,20,30,40,50,60,70 years. You are the living beacons of hope and testimony in our lives that marriage life is real and a blessing. And you should remember that thousands of people have been touched by all of you in good and enduring ways. They have witnessed, through your journey, marriages that have blossomed over many years. They have seen you share joys and sorrows, as well as challenges and successes. You are all a testament to lasting marriages, true covenants of faith and love for life. The love of Christ has blessed and sanctified your marriages. At this time of confusion and many challenges in our culture and society regarding the truth and meaning of marriage, your witness is greatly needed: Your lives are a testament to the dignity of this great gift and blessing bestowed by God our Creator from the beginning of the human race. This is the image of God: love, God’s covenant with us is represented in that covenant between man and woman. And this is very beautiful! We are created in order to love, as a reflection of God and His love. When a man and woman celebrate the sacrament of Matrimony, God as it were ‘is mirrored’ in them; He impresses in them His own features and the indelible character of His love. Marriage is the icon of God’s love for us. This is the reason that l will be inviting all married couples in our parish to renew and celebrate their commitment and fidelity before the end of this year’s Eucharistic Revival.

I look forward also to thank and congratulate those engaged couples who will courageously and decisively come forward to enter into the most holy sacrament of matrimony here at any of our four churches of Holy Family Catholic Community. Do not delay but call the office to begin the preparation for your “big day.” This is a personal note for you engaged couples from Pope Francis: "Make [your wedding] a real celebration – because marriage is a celebration – a Christian celebration, not a worldly feast! What happened in Cana 2,000 years ago happens today at every wedding celebration: that which makes your wedding full and profoundly true will be the presence of the Lord who reveals himself and gives his grace. It is his presence that offers the 'good wine', he is the secret to full joy, that which truly warms the heart. "It is good that your wedding be simple and make what is truly important stand out. Some are more concerned with the exterior details, with the banquet, the photographs, the clothes, the flowers…These are important for a celebration, but only if they point to the real reason for your joy: the Lord's blessing on your love." May the Lord continue to give you the love that stands at the foundation of your marriage. Each day, He renews and strengthens your love. He does so particularly at every Mass you attend. Here at the altar, we remember that Christ loves us to the end, giving up His Body and pouring out His Blood for us. This is the love that marriage is meant to express: free, total, faithful, fruitful and self-giving. Jesus nourishes us with His Body and Blood to help us to love as He has loved us. I cannot wait for your wedding day—may you be embraced by God blessing surrounded by your family and good friends, Fr. John

For the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation and Marriage, please call the office at 585 728 2228 or the Rectory 585-335-2700 for arrangements and resources. Call the same for  services, and memorial Masses for your deceased loved ones.

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Mission Statement

To live the Great Commandment
Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  And
'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
Matthew 22: 37-38