The Adoration-Healing Service

First, I would like to thank Fr. Mecca for initiating this service.  The service was held in the church on Friday evening, June 23rd, starting with Adoration at 7 PM.   Fr. Sean Kulacz then gave a short presentation about healing followed by the service with four prayer teams.  Over 150 people came, and Fr. Sean and his prayer teams prayed over all those who presented themselves for the next 3 hours without a break.

Second, I want to thank all those, both on and off the Committee, who assisted with set-up and during the service.  For more information about Healing, Fr. Kulacz and the prayer teams, visit: https://encounterschool.org/fairfieldcounty/. 

John Feeney, Worship & Spirituality Committee.

@Iglesiastpeter

@stpeterdanb

Adoration and Healing Service at St Peter Church in Danbury, CT

There will be an Adoration and Healing Service at St Peter Church located at Main St., Danbury on Friday, June 23rd at 7 PM.  Laying on of hands (by choice) for healing in body, mind and spirit.

Fr. Sean Kulacz of Holy Family Parish and Encounter Ministries will be here along with his Prayer Teams for Adoration and to perform the Healing Service.  All are invited! **Bring a friend along as well.**

For more information, visit http://www.stpeterdanb.org or call 203 743-2707.

@stpeterdanb

@iglesiastpeter

How do You Remain in His Love?

This morning’s reading in John’s Gospel 15: 9-15 has the unusual expression that Jesus uses when talking to His disciples. This is part of the Vine and the Branches discourse. The meditation from today’s Word Among Us(May 11, 2023) that follows helps to explain how one might actually do that.

 DAILY MEDITATION: JOHN 15:9-11

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. (John 15:10)

We know that we are supposed to love Jesus. But how do we do it? How do you love someone that you can’t touch, see, or hear?

Jesus gives us a simple answer in today’s Gospel: keep his commandments.

Now, we often equate love with passion. But keeping Jesus’ “commandments” is more likely to bring to mind a tedious and demanding list of rules, not deep sentimental or emotional feelings. In fact, it can sound about as exciting as washing a sink full of dirty dishes! 

But the truth is, a love that does not include keeping Jesus’ commandments is a love that lacks depth. It’s as if a man were to tell his wife that he loves her but then spend next to no time with her. His words would have little meaning to her, wouldn’t they?

In a similar way, we show our love for Jesus through our actions, especially by the way we love other people. God wants us to treat each other with the same dignity, respect, kindness, and forgiveness that Jesus has for them. As Jesus said immediately after today’s Gospel, “This is my commandment: love one another” (John 15:12).

Loving others doesn’t have to involve grand gestures. We can show our love most clearly in the ordinary ways we serve each other. Volunteering to help out a neighbor with a home improvement project. Helping a child with homework. Caring for a sick spouse. It’s acts like these that show our love and that keep us rooted in Jesus’ love.

Some days it may seem that your acts of love go unnoticed or unappreciated. But God is always pleased with your efforts, even if you can’t see any immediate result. He is using you to bless his people!

So instead of looking at Jesus’ commandments as chores, try thinking of them as your path to joy. Remind yourself that he has given you his command to love “so that my joy might be in you” (John 15:11). You are building his kingdom by your actions—and you are keeping yourself safe in his love at the same time. How could you not rejoice?

“Jesus, teach me to love as you love so that I can know your joy.”

Acts 15:7-21
Psalm 96:1-3, 10

@stpeterdanb

 

Jesus Gathers Us into a Family

In the Gospel reading on Saturday, April 1st, the day be for Palm Sunday, John’s gospel (Jn11:45-56) gives us the Session of the Sanhedrin. Many members are upset to hear about Jesus’ popularity among the people and that he will be entering Jerusalem. The High Priest, Caiaphas, makes a startling prophesy!

The publication, Word Among Us, provides a Daily Meditation on the Mass readings everyday and the one on April 1st was excellent and follows here.

Daily Meditation

To gather into one dispersed children of God. (John 11:52)

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, when we will walk with our Lord through all the events of his passion and death. And today’s gospel gives us a perfect lens for viewing those events. When Caiaphas, the high Priest, told the Jewish leaders, “It is better for you the one man should die instead of the people,” he probably didn’t fully understand what he was saying (John 11:50). But John tells us that Caiaphas had prophesied: through his death, Jesus would “gather into one of the dispersed children of God” (11:52).  In hindsight, we see that this is exactly what Jesus was doing: he was gathering all people to his Father.

When he entered Jerusalem, Jesus gathered his people to celebrate God’s closeness and acclaim his kingship (John 12:12-19).  In doing this, he foreshadowed the celebration of heaven, when he will gather people from every nation to worship before the throne of God (Revelation 7:9-17)

When he celebrated the Passover, Jesus gathered his disciples to wash their feet and offered them his body and blood (John 13:1-20; Matthew 26:26-28).  Even more, he commanded them to “do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19). He made a way to gather all his future disciples as well – even us! We can rejoice together at the Eucharist and proclaim Jesus’ death until he returns (1Corinthians 11:26).

When Jesus accepted Pilate’s unjust condemnation (John 19:16), he gathered all sinners to himself. By offering himself on Calvary, he took upon himself every sin so that through him, every sinner can receive forgiveness (1Peter 2:24; John 3:16).

Finally, when the risen Jesus forgave Peter’s betrayal he reestablished him as the chief apostle, the one who would continue to gather believers in Jesus name (John 21: 15-19). The Lord never stops gathering his people to himself!

As you enter Holy Week, remember that Jesus is gathering you in. He is bringing you home to his Father and to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Let him draw you close. Receive his mercy and forgiveness and take your place in his family. 

“Lord Jesus, get me into your family.”

#stpeterdanb

St. Peter Church in Danbury, CT-Mass for Healing & Health on World Day of the Sick and Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

The Mass will be offered at St. Peter Church, Main St Danbury, CT at noon on Sat., Feb. 11th. The priests of the Danbury Deanery (the 11 parishes in Danbury) will concelebrate and administer the Sacrament of the Sick to those who wish for healing-physical, emotional, mental or spiritual-during the Mass. Let family members and friends know of this liturgy to be celebrated for them.

@StpeterDanb