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Women’s Cornerstone
Daily Rosary | Divine Mercy Chaplet | Eucharistic Adoration | Stations of the Cross
Men’s Cornerstone
Parish Picnic
Bereavement Ministry
Parish Picnic
Parish Picnic
Red Sample
Parish Picnic
Ed. Ginter
Spring Concert | Christmas Concert | Presentation MTV |
Piano Men
Parish Picnic
May Crowning | May 9, 10am Mass
All children who received their First Communion in 2020 and 2021 are invited to wear their communion attire at the 10am Mass on Mother’s Day.
After Mass, a flower will be given to each child to present in front of the Statue of Mary outside in the Garden.
Anger to Love
The Lord’s Prayer
(by R. Rolheiser)
YOUNG ROOTS
“Anger to Love”
Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Lent & Easter
by Ron Rolheiser, OMI
“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
(MATTHEW 20:28)
With the current state of affairs whether you’re looking at politics or the churches, it’s a challenge not to become pessimistic, angry, and bitter. But bitterness and anger, no matter how justified, are not good places to stay. Both Jesus and what’s noble inside of us invite us to move beyond anger and indignation.
At the truly bitter moments of our lives – when we’re feeling overwhelmed by feelings of misunderstanding, slight, injustice, and rightful indignation and we’re starting across at those whom we deem responsible for the situation – anger and hatred will naturally arise within us. It’s OK to dwell with them for a time because anger is an important mode of grieving. But after a time we need to move on. The challenge is to ask ourselves: How do I love now, given all this hatred? What does love call me to now in this bitter situation? Where can I now find a common thread that can keep me in family with those at whom I’m angry? How do I reach through the space that now leaves me separated by my own justified feelings of anger? And perhaps most important of all: Where can I now find the strength to not give in to hatred and self-serving indignation?
That’s the ultimate moral challenge, the test that Jesus himself faced in Gethsemane. How do you love when everything around you invites you to the opposite?” (14-15).
“Charity”
Lenten thoughts
“What we would like to do is change the world – make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor, of the destitute – the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words – we can, to a certain extent, change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world. We repeat, there is nothing we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as our friend.”
“40 Ways To Be During Lent”
Ashes to Easter
– Be Quiet –
Please Take a Brief Survey on our God’s Calling Initiative – Deadline Extended to March 30
Back in 2018, we were invited by an organization called Vibrant Faith to be a part of an interdenominational cohort of 24 Churches learning about and focusing on recognizing God’s call in our lives. This Initiative, which was funded by the Lilly Foundation and titled Creating a Culture of Calling, has framed much of our programming and focus during the last few years. We had programs on finding God’s Calling in transitions in our lives, daily email interviews with parishioners and how they saw God’s Call in their lives, morning retreats, Family Faith programs on the call of parenting and the call to holiness in the family. Our Small Christian Communities (Roots) focused on calling and we started a book club which looks at finding meaning and purpose in life. Our Parish Mission and parent retreat with Becky Eldredge in November 2020 focused on God’s Call in the busyness of our lives. We focused on calling in Youth Ministry and Junior high as well. We have done a lot with this initiative!
If you remember, the parish completed an initial survey about calling when we started. We are now asked to complete another survey as we near the end of this project. We ask that you participate if you participated in any of the programs we held, or if you heard us talk about God’s calling from the pulpit, through in person and virtual programs, throughs daily emails, etc. Please think back, and take a few minutes to respond to the survey BY MARCH 30. We would appreciate it, and it greatly helps Vibrant Faith report to the Lilly Foundation about the project, which then enables even more churches to have the same opportunity. Thank you! We appreciate your responses!
The brief survey can be found here: https://samford.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_56ghkV305PryL3g
Be Quiet
Covid-19 Vaccine Appointment Assistance for Seniors
Seniors, are you having trouble navigating the Covid-19 vaccination process?
If you’d like assistance in making a vaccination appointment, contact Michele Baron at 201-327-1313 ext. 847 or mbaron@churchofpresentation.org
Parish-Wide Survey | Please respond by May 31. We want to hear from all of you!
This has been a challenging year for all of us! As we prepare and plan for the Fall, the staff asks for your input into how we can best serve and support you and your family as we begin to emerge from the pandemic. Please take a few moments to complete this survey. We thank you for your time and help!
Be Thoughtful
Putting On the Heart of Christ
“Your Heart Today”
Music by: Manoling Francisco
Gideon Bendicion (Piano) | Joseph Legaspi (Vocals)
“Putting On the Heart of Christ”
Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Lent & Easter
by Ron Rolheiser, OMI
“Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful”.
(LUKE 6:36)
“In the letters of St. Paul, the apostle makes a distinction between life in the flesh as opposed to life in the Spirit.
Life in the flesh is characterized by lewd conduct, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, bickering, jealousy, outbursts of rage, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factionalism, envy, drunkenness, and orgies (see Galatians 5:16-21). When these exist in our lives, Paul cautions, we may not delude ourselves into thinking we are living inside of God’s spirit.
‘In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law’ (Galatians 5:22-23). It is only when these qualities are manifest in our lives that we may understand ourselves as walking in true discipleship.
For Paul, the litmus test for discipleship is not a single moral issue but rather whole way of living that radiates more love than selfishness, more joy than bitterness, more peace than factionalism, more patience and respect than negative judgment and gossip, more empathy than anger, and more willingness to sweat the blood of sacrifice than to give in to the temptations of the moment.
Christian discipleship is not just about our actions; it’s also about our hearts. The essence of Christian discipleship lies in putting on the heart of Christ. Proper morality, defense of truth, and life-giving Church practices follow from that – and, when rooted in that, they become respectful, forgiving, and loving” (16).
“Heaven’s Ladder”
Lenten thoughts from Saints
“Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.”
“40 Ways To Be During Lent”
Ashes to Easter
– Be Patient –
Be Patient
From Self-Preservation to Vulnerability
A Lenten Prayer
“From Self-Preservation to Vulnerability”
Daybreaks: Daily Reflections for Lent & Easter
by Ron Rolheiser, OMI
“So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me,
a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength
that comes from God”.
(2 TIMOTHY 1:8)
Today, among many of us churchgoers, there is growing propensity to self-protect rather than risk crucifixion for the world. We are well-intentioned in this, but, good intentions notwithstanding, our actions are the opposite of Jesus. He loved the world enough to let himself be crucified rather than self-protect.
Jesus’ disciples were forever trying to protect him from various groups they deemed unworthy of his presence, and Jesus was forever clear that he didn’t need or want to be protected.
More importantly, his disciples were also trying to protect him against persons and things they deemed as threats to him. What was Jesus’ response to this effort at protection? We have his words: no more of this! But we don’t have the tone of those words. Were they spoken in anger, as sharp reprimand? Were they spoken in frustration, recognizing that Peter, the rock, the future pope, had so badly misunderstood his message? Or were they spoken in that sad tone a mother uses when she tells her children to stop fighting even as the resignation in her voice betrays the fact that she knows they never will? Whatever the tone, the message is clear that his followers didn’t understand one of the central things about their master: Jesus had spent his entire ministry healing people, including healing diseased ears so that people might hear again. And, on his last night on earth the leader of his apostles cuts off the ear of someone in an attempt to protect him.
Everything about Jesus speaks of vulnerability rather than self-protection. He was born in a manger, a feeding trough, a place where animals come to eat, and he ends up on a table, ‘flesh for the life of the world,’ to be eaten up by the world (JN 6:51). The first words out of his mouth call for metanoia, the opposite of paranoia. In the end, he gives himself over to crucifixion rather than to self-protection. That was Jesus’ response to a world that grossly misunderstood him and violently mistreated him. He opened his arms in vulnerability rather than closed his fists in self-defense.
Ideally, that’s how we should respond when the world is unfair to us. Unlike Peter, who failed to remember Jesus’ message and instinctively struck with his sword, don’t let threats erase what was central to Jesus’ teaching by responding in a manner antithetical to the gospel, hostility for hostility, immaturity for immaturity” (14-15).
“Praying”
Lenten thoughts from Saints
“You don’t know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence of God, and as soon as you have said, ‘Lord, I don’t know how to pray!’ you can be sure you’ve already begun.”
“40 Ways To Be During Lent”
Ashes to Easter
– Be Outside –
Online Mass /
Mass Schedule
Sunday Mass
Saturday 5pm (also live-streamed)
Sunday 7:30am, 8:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am & 6:30pm
Daily Mass (click here to view)
Mon. – Sat. 9:00am (also live-streamed)
Parish News & Events
Please read about all of our upcoming events in the weekly bulletin.
