In November we celebrate Black Catholic History Month. The Archdiocese of Washington organizes a pilgrimage to Black Catholic roots in Southern Maryland on Saturday, November 16th. The event will begin at 2:00 PM at Saint Peter Claver Catholic Church at 16922 St. Peter Claver Church Road St. Inigoes, MD 20684. Bishop Roy Campbell will celebrate Mass at 4:30 PM. For more information, please contact Karen Fowler, at the Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach by phone: (301) 853-5347 or by email: [email protected]

The twenty-sixth Sunday of Year B brings one of the most shocking statements of Jesus that can be found in the gospels. If we take these words literally, it seems that those who are to follow Jesus need to cut off their arms, their feet and to pluck their eyes out. As he says, if those things make us sin, we need to separate ourselves from them in a radical way in order to avoid eternal damnation. Well, it doesn’t sound very appealing to our modern sensitivity. But what does that really mean?

With regret we inform that our Parishioner Otis Williams passed away on Saturday, September 21st. The Memorial Mass for the repose of his soul will be celebrated at Assumption Catholic Church on Saturday, October 12at at 10:00am. Please, keep the soul of Otis Williams and his family in your prayers. Thank you.

Knight of Columbus and Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Church invite to the Crabs on the V Street Boulevard fundraising event on Saturday, October 5th between 1:00pm and 4:00pm. All you can eat on premises only steamed crabs, hotdogs, and corn on the cob. Beverages will be provided, water, soda and draft beer. Tickets of $65 will be available after each Mass in September or by requesting: [email protected]

Just a few weeks ago the Olympic Games in Paris ended. For two weeks we were excited to watch many US athletes winning as they competed in various sports. They had put a lot of effort and determination to win not only their medals, but also fame, our recognition and appreciation. However, each person has some area in life to strive for greatness—competition is part of our daily life. It can be sport, politics, business, science, or just human relationships. We want to prove or at least to appear to be better than those who are around us. These can be noble and good desires, but as everything in this world, they also can twist and become obsession, a source of jealousy, of ill and destructive emotions that can lead to pursue empty and fleeting goals in life.

Every day we utilize all kinds of means of communication to reach out to others, to work, for fun. Advanced technology offers us a plethora of those means which have significantly changed our lifestyles. I think none of us can image anymore living without a cellphone, social media, internet, etc. We take for granted the fact that at any moment we can connect by video call with a person who lives on the other end of the world, for free. Something unthinkable just a couple of decades ago. However, the simplicity and availability of different means of communication does not mean that we can have at the same time a real connection with another person.

With the twenty first Sunday, Year B we are back on track with the readings from the gospel of Mark. This Sunday gospel focuses on the accusation made by Pharisees against Jesus and his disciples, namely, of having their meals with unclean hands. Being concerned not so much with the hygienic rules, but with the ritual purity norms, the Pharisees trying to discredit Jesus in front of the people. They try to present him as an ’unclean’ and for their reason as one who does not deserve to be given any attention. In this way, they try to eliminate him as their opponent in the fight for the spiritual leadership among the people.

Our long-time parishioner Sharon Mason passed away on August 19th. The Funeral Mass is scheduled for Tuesday, August 27th at 12:00 AM. The viewing will start at 11:00 AM. Please, keep her soul and the family in your prayers.

The gospel for the twenty-first Sunday, Year B brings to an end the discourse on the bread of life delivered by Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum. In the lengthy exchange with those who witnessed to the miracle of multiplication of loaves, Jesus challenged them to look not for the food that perishes but that which gives eternal life. This is exactly what Jesus wants to give to each one of us.

This Sunday we celebrate in our parish the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The solemnity is normally observed on August 15th but since it is our parish feast we transferred it to the next Sunday. Taking advantage of this celebration I would like to thank all of you for your support and dedication to our parish. I’d like to thank especially our parish staff and those involved in the various ministries: ushers, choir members, lectors, catechists, Bereavement Ministry members, Finance and Parish Council members, Young Seniors, altar servers, our outreach ministry personnel and volunteers and all those not mentioned here. Please remember that your service, time and efforts are appreciated and valued. Thank your for everything you do for our parish community.

The gospel reading for the nineteenth Sunday, Year B continues Jesus’ bread of life discourse delivered in the synagogue in Capernaum. Having been fed with the miraculously multiplied five loaves and two two fish Jesus’ interlocutors demand from him another miracle after the pattern of the manna given to the Israelites in the time of Moses. In his dialogue Jesus is trying to lead them to discover that he is the true bread from heaven that gives eternal life to those who believe in him.

The gospel reading for the eighteenth Sunday, Year B begins the discourse of Jesus on the bread of life. The miracle of multiplication was just an introduction to this very important speech of Jesus. Having realized what had happened, the people went to look for him and they found him in the synagogue in Capernaum. As Jesus himself admitted, they looked for him because he gave them food to eat. He satisfied their basic needs, and now they wanted him to do it again and again. They sought to make him their king, so they didn’t need to be exposed anymore to any precariousness of life. And this is not what the mission of Jesus is about. He knows perfectly well that human weakness always tries to manipulate God for its own particular purposes. It tries to tailor God into its own human concepts and plans, while Jesus came to do something different—to usher us into a completely new reality.

Knights of Columbus invite you to ‘Crabs on the Boulevard” on Saturday, August 10th from 12:30pm to 2:30pm at Saint Teresa of Avila Catholic Church at 1244 V Street SE, Washington DC.

Just a week ago, the 10th National Eucharistic Congress was concluded with a solemn Mass at Lukas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. The five-day event gathered over fifty thousand attendees from all over the country together with 200 bishops, more than 1,200 priests and a good number of religious. Along with the preceding the congress pilgrimage the event was part of the National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year initiative of the U.S. bishops launched in 2022 to increase understanding of and love for Jesus in the Eucharist. The event aimed at revitalizing the Catholic Church in the United States by reaffirming the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and encouraging Catholics to become Eucharistic missionaries in their everyday lives.

Last Sunday we heard in the gospel reading about the mission of the apostles sent by Jesus two by two to announce the gospel. Well, for our secularized and pragmatic mentality this kind of mission may seem completely pointless and crazy. In the end, the disciples went without any human resources: no money, no car, no appointments, no food. There were to trust completely on God’s providence. In our times we avoid any form of improvising, we want to be effective, efficient and prepared. And yet, to many’s surprise, the Twelve not only returned happy recounting what had happened, their missionary work turned out to be very fruitful and be received unexpectedly well.

If you are grieving the loss of a child, no matter the age of your child, how long ago your child died, or the cause, you are invited to attend an one-day retreat that centers on the spirituality of the grieving process on Saturday, September 14th from 9:30am to 7:00pm. The retreat will be hosted by St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg, MD and is sponsored by The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington Office of Family Life and the Emmaus Ministry for Grieving Parents. It will offer the opportunity to focus on your spiritual journey after the loss of your child. No one is expected to participate in activities or share more than they are comfortable sharing. Please feel free to simply come and listen. For more information, please contact the Office of Family Life at [email protected] or 301-853-4546. Registration deadline is September 6, 2024.

The East of the River Youth Rally will take place on October 5th, 2024 at Mount Calvary Catholic Church. The event will start at 10:00AM and conclude with a Mass at 4:00PM. Rev. Stephen Sohe will be the speaker.

Summertime is this part of the year when most of us go on vacations, we look for some rest from our responsibilities, and make plans to find a moment just for ourselves. After the whole year of work, we deserve to take some break from the daily routine. Every year, exactly during this time the Sunday gospels speak about Jesus sending out his disciples two by two on an evangelization mission. They are to go to prepare the coming of their Master by preaching, exorcisms and healing. The same mission of announcing the good news of Jesus is still being carried out today by the Church to those who want to find true peace and rest.

The 35th Annual East of the River Revival will start on October 7th and run through October 9th, 2024 at Mount Calvary Catholic Church on 6700 Marlboro Pike in Forestville, MD 20747.

A couple of years ago media reported that a Belgian student Laurent Simmons received a degree in quantum physics from the University at Antwerp at the age of 11. In an interview published in a Dutch newspaper this young genius shared his big dream worthy of science fiction: “Immortality, that is my goal. Not for myself but for other people.”, he said. The longing for immorality, the longing for an immunity from sickness and suffering has been accompanying us since the outset of humanity. In the gospel for this Sunday, Mark presents Jesus as the divine physician who brings healing to our infirmities and suffering, as the one who brings answer to the scandal of death.