Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Jerome,
Pax Christi semper vobiscum!
I would like to thank many of you who tried to come for the Novena in honor of Saint Jerome. We are halfway in our preparation to the day of our commemoration. Please come and pray with us if you have not attended yet in one of those nights of our Novena. I am sure that Saint Jerome will intercede for us in heaven for whatever need we carry before him in prayer. The Solemn Mass during the Feast will be on Thursday, September 30th at 6:15pm. It is our custom before the pandemic to bring something to share for the fellowship after the Solemn Mass on his Feast. I think, given the condition of the current situation of Covid-19, (as many of us already vaccinated) perhaps we could bring something to share after the Mass so we could have a simple fellowship along the small alleyway between the church and the Parish Center. Please bring something that you would like to share to honor Saint Jerome during his feast day. I recommend that simple appetizers would be good enough for us to create an atmosphere of fellowship and a parish camaraderie.
Following the Feast of Saint Jerome would begin the month of October. If you still remember, while the world was halfway to recovery from the pandemic last year, we prayed the Holy Rosary to ask the Blessed Mother’s intercession while we were doing the procession inside the church. There would be a bit of change this year regarding this beautiful tradition. Beginning the first day of October, which falls on a Friday, our devotional prayer of the Holy Rosary and torch procession scheduled on each Friday during the month of October at 8 o’clock in the evening. The procession will be held in the big parking lot on Paulina and Morse weather permitting. In case of an inclement weather, we would do our prayer and procession in the church. Please mark your calendar so we can gather ourselves together in praying the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Mother to ask her again to intercede for us for an end to Covid-19.
In anticipation for the day of the Faithful Departed, the candles of dedication are available by the main entrance of the church beginning next week. I encourage everyone to make an earlier purchase of those candles for the sake of anticipation. We want to make sure that we have enough candles to commemorate our deceased friends and family members on November 2nd.
Finally, I would like to thank our parish groups who sent their representatives for the election of the new chairperson for the Parish Council. Let us pray that our newly elected members of the Council remain enthused and inspired by the Holy Spirit to envision the mission of Jesus Christ to our parish as well as to accept being the pastor’s collaborators towards the accomplishments of our parish projects and ministries. Let us continue also to remember that our decision together in uniting our heart and mind for the sake of the parish ministry is what the Lord desires. As the Gospel reading pointed out this weekend, anyone who does the work of God should never be perceived as our competition in fulfilling the mission. We are called to serve, let it be our sole motivation to live our vocation according to what God envisions for us.
I shall see you next weekend. Have a blessed week.
Sincerely in Christ and Mary,
