The Most Holy Eucharist

Holy Week
Sacred Paschal Triduum
Schedules

Sunday Mass anticipated on Saturday evenings

4:00pm English — 7:00pm Español

Sunday Morning Masses

8:00am, 9:30am and 11:00am

Monday through Friday Masses

8:45am

FOOD CUPBOARD

Mondays and Fridays between 12:00noon and 2:00pm
Any exception to this schedule is listed on the Parish Calendar
As of March 2024, our pantry is in need of cereals, breakfast bars, juices, baking goods, cookies/snack cakes, canned meats, meals and fruits.

ORDER of PENANCE

Saturdays: 3:00pm – 3:30pm
First Fridays: 8:15am
Call the Parish — (215) 672-7280 — for other opportunities

ORDER of BAPTISM of CHILDREN

Español: El primer domingo de cada mes despues de la Misa de la 11:00am
English: Last Sunday of each month after 11:00am Mass
For teenagers, young adults and adults who desire to be baptized, to be confirmed and/or to become a Catholic Christian, kindly call the Parish Faith Formation Office, (267) 803-0774.

ANOINTING of the SICK

For those who are homebound, experiencing serious illness or upcoming surgery kindly call the Parish — (215) 672-7280 — and we can arrange easily a time for this Sacrament and, if the desired, the Sacraments of Penance and Most Holy Eucharist

ORDER of CELEBRATING MATRIMONY

Information will be forthcoming shortly. In the meantime, contact the Parish (215) 672-7280

CONSECRATED LIFE and HOLY ORDERS

For women and men discerning a call to Consecrated Life, contact Sr Gabrielle Mary Braccio, RSM at the Archdiocesan Office for Consecrated Life, (215) 587-3795.
For men, married or single, discerning a call to be a Deacon, contact Msgr. Gregory Fairbanks at the School of Diaconal Formation, (610) 785-6244.
For men discerning a call to be a Priest, contact Fr. David Friel at the Vocation Office for the Diocesan Priesthood, (610) 667-5778.

Lent

Following the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday with the blessing and distributing of blessed ashes, it is important to ponder this graced “campaign of Christian service.” (Collect, Ash Wednesday) While many have thoughts automatically associated with Lent, it is good to take a deeper dive into the gift of this Holy Time as this Holy Season is more than an exercise of will-power to ‘give something up.’

On the First Sunday of Lent, the Church always listens to the account of Jesus going out into the desert to spend nights in communion with His Father. Jesus’ 40 nights and days in the desert are intense. He battles the Evil One who holds before Him delights of this world as well as security grounded in wealth and power. True, there are elements of this world that are good and necessary. Human living requires water, food and shelter, to name only a few. These are primal drives deeply written into our DNA for survival and they, like other drives, exert great leverage on our lives. Jesus teaches with both His words and deeds that our ultimate survival depends, not on elements of creation (even good and rightly used elements of creation), but on a relationship with God our Father that Jesus makes possible with the grace of Holy Spirit.

Approaching Lent as a response to deeper relational living with the Person Jesus puts all in right or proper perspective. Lent can not be about what I do, what I give up, what I (fill in the blank, etc.) Lent, as will all dimensions of Christian living, must start with the initiative of Jesus’ call, then my response as an individual and our response as Church, the Body of Christ. Consequently, the questions we ought to be asking as Lent unfolds, ‘Jesus who do you want me to be?’ Then, and only then, can I ask, ‘what then, Jesus, do you want me to do with Your help?’

Wonderfully, the Church – impelled and assisted by the grace of Holy Spirit — offers us guidance to live Jesus call to deeper communion through this Holy Season. Grounded in the deeds and words of Jesus, the Church proclaims, “Lent is ordered to preparing for the celebration of Easter, since the Lenten liturgy prepares for celebration of the Paschal Mystery both catechumens, by the various stages of Christian Initiation, and the faithful, who recall their own baptism and do penance.” (Universal Norms on the Liturgical Year and Calendar, 27.) Lent, then, is focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus as encountered in Baptism, thus a time of purification and enlightenment. Catechumens, who become elected for Baptism at the Easter Vigil this year, and the Faithful who renew Baptismal Promises at Easter, are joined in a singular journey, with an intense Baptismal focus, on the death and resurrection of the Person, Jesus.

Catechumens (Elect) respond in a more intense way in their catechetical preparation for Easter grounded in the Word of God. The faithful join with them in grace-initiated and grace-sustained acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that respond to Jesus call, as we heard on Ash Wednesday, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” For the faithful – those already baptized into Jesus‘ death and Resurrection, sealed with the gift of Holy Spirit and nourished with Jesus‘ own Most Holy Body and Blood – pondering the renewal of Baptismal Promises and acting on them can lead us deeper into the mystery of Lent:

Do you renounce Satan?
… and all his works?
… and all his empty show?

Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God?
Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you?
Do you renounce satan, the author and prince of sin?

Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father?
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?

Becoming a Catholic Christian

Are you or someone you know interested in becoming a Catholic Christian? Do you know of a child over the age 7 who has not been baptized, or baptized Catholic but not confirmed and/or receiving Holy Community? We offer an opportunity to come together in a small group to grow in our relationship with the Divine Person Jesus. Sessions focus on Jesus’ new life that unites one and all with God our Father in the power of Holy Spirit. We reflect on Jesus’ teachings as carried on in the daily life of the Church and so are formed to celebrate the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults at Easter. There are separate sessions for children, youth and adults. You are welcome to participate with your questions, your insights and your faith story in a warm accepting setting. For information please contact the Faith Formation Office, (267) 803-0774.

Ladies Retreat

Take some time out of your busy schedule to reconnect with the Lord; enjoy the faith and friendship of others and recharge your soul with a prayer, wine and chocolate retreat. We are blessed to welcome Amy Brooks, our retreat Master. She is the founder of Prayer Wine Chocolate and the owner of Catholics Online, LLC. Our Women’s Retreat will be held on Friday, 12 April 2024 in the Parish Center. Each lady is asked to bring a blank notebook and a pen. If you have a few holy cards that you are not sure what to do with, bring them along. After a brief explanation of praying with a journal, all will be invited to gather supplies in order to decorate the front of their journals and start an entry. Wine will be provided. Please bring an appetizer and your favorite chocolate to share. For planning purposes registration is necessary. Doors will open at 5:00pm for fellowship. Retreat will begin at 6:00pm. Cost $20.00 per person. Please complete the form found in the bulletin and return to the Faith Formation Office no later than 5 April 2024.

Eucharistic Revival Holy Hour

The Parish-focused second year of the Eucharistic Revival officially began on 11 June 2023. During this year of the Eucharistic Revival, one of our goals at Saint John Bosco Parish is to promote and encourage increasing Eucharistic Devotion.

You are invited to join us for a Holy Hour at 10:00am in our Adoration Chapel on 7 February 2024, 3 April 2024 and 5 June 2024.

Treat yourself to some quiet time in prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. The Holy Hour provides each person an opportunity to bring before Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament, the cares, concerns, joys, sorrows and thanksgivings that we all experience each day. Come join us as we pray together, as the Apostles did, in the presence of Jesus.

Come as a family or as an individual as all are most welcome.

I Thirst: 40 Days with Mother Teresa

Walk with Saint Mother Teresa throughout the season of Lent with I Thirst: 40 Days with Mother Teresa.

Join us for a Lenten Prayer Study on Fridays at 9:30am in the Faith Formation Office in the Parish Center for 7 weeks starting 9 February 2024. Each session will be accompanied by a book discussion between Dr. Ben Akers and Fr. Daniel Moloney.

You can purchase the book on Amazon. Please bring the book with you to each gathering.

I Thirst provides an opportunity to spend a few minutes every day with Mother Teresa and the thirst of our Lord. It provides an opportunity to grow in intimacy and to meet the thirst of God with our own thirst for him.

Please let us know if you plan to attend by calling the Faith Formation Office, (267) 803-0774.

Wedding Anniversaries

Your life as a couple through the years has been a witness to the sacramentality of Marriage and celebrating your anniversary will strengthen the graced-bond between each of you, your children and the parish community. As a parish, we will pray for couples celebrating a wedding anniversary. All couples who wish to participate can submit their names, anniversary date and contact information. Please email the information and your names will be listed by month in the Sunday Bulletin and on the Saint John Bosco Electronic Message Board.

O God, Creator of all things,
Who in the beginning made man and woman
that they might form the marriage bond,
bless and strengthen the union of
our parishioners that they may show forth
an ever more perfect image of
the union of Christ with his Church.
Through our lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.