Faith Formation classes are cancelled today. Please check emails for further information.

December 18-19

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

    We have come to the final Sunday of Advent and the anticipation of celebrating the Birthday of Our Lord will soon be upon us.  One of the ways of participating in the joy of this holy season is the exchange of gifts  We give in order to show our appreciation or our love and devotion to those close to us.  We try to make our gifts as personal and meaningful as we possibly can and sometimes we are right on target and other times we may have given a gift that evokes a puzzled look on the recipient’s face.  Surely we always mean well.

Sometimes the world is puzzled when we proclaim that God became man and has made His dwelling in our midst.  For some it is a difficult message to swallow and when we offer this gift of Good News it may not always be well received.  Nonetheless it should never curtail our desire to give what others need the most, i.e. to know how much God loves them.

      When we reflect on what God has given us we can only respond with great generosity.  As St. Elizabeth responded to the visitation of her cousin Mary: “Who am i that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”  all of us can ask the same question in regards to our Lord.  And yet He has come to all of us and for all of us.  Not with puzzled faces but with joy-filled hearts we embrace the Gift that the Father has sent us and with gratitude give what we have received.

May you and yours have a Blessed and Merry Christmas,

Father Langan

December 11-12

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Glorious feast of our Lord’s Nativity is coming and the vesture of the day, marked by the color rose, reminds us that He Who is the light of the world comes to dispel the darkness of sin and its consequences. We indeed rejoice on this Gaudete Sunday.  Rejoicing comes easy when we are unburdened from our sins and so we heed the herald’s call for repentance.  People asked the Baptist:  “What are we to do?”  In other words, How are we to get ready? And he clearly reminds them that there must be a change of heart and mind.

We have the wonderful advantage of living in anticipation of the Second Coming of the Lord.  We think of the blessed gifts we have already received from the Lord, the Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation and all of the Seven Sacraments.  Before Jesus came the ancients had the Word of God and His Holy Law.  We are so privileged to have God Himself in our midst.  What more could we possibly ask for?

Perhaps what we could ask for is the return to the Faith of those who have drifted from it.  Christ and Him alone is the reason to have faith and in His unbounded generosity to us has given, in the fullness of the Catholic Church, all we need.   Therefore let us rejoice, and as we make our final preparations for the celebration of Christmas, repent and find solace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Thanks to all who prepared and beautifully decorated Holy Family Hall for the reception of Father Dominic and our new parishioners.

Please remember that this coming Wednesday evening in Holy Family Hall at 7 PM,   we will have the first of our listening sessions in preparation for the upcoming synod.  In preparation you are encouraged to review on the Diocese of Scranton website the questions that will be addressed.  All are welcome to attend and participate.

With Blessings,

Father Langan

Vigil, December 7th:

4:00 PM St. Bernard, Beach Lake

6:00 PM St. Mary Magdalen

December 8:

7:25 AM St. Mary Magdalen

12:05 PM St. Mary Magdalen

5:00 PM St. Joseph, Rileyville

There will be a 9:00 A.M. Mass in St. Mary Magdalen Church on Thanksgiving Day.

In preparation for the upcoming holidays, we will be hosting a mandatory Altar Server Training for all current and prospective servers on Saturday, December 4 at 11:00 AM  (please note change in time) at St. John the Evangelist Church.  Any 4^th – 8^th grade who is interested in becoming an altar server is invited to join.  Please contact the Parish Office so we have an idea on how many will be attending.

November 20-21

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As Americans it is not easy for us to wrap our heads around the concept of monarchy.  We see things through the lens of our democratic-republic system of government and we know how messy that often is.  When we think of kings and queens they can seem to be “out of our league” and unapproachable.  That may be so for earthly rulers but hardly the case when it comes to our Divine King and Sovereign.  Jesus Christ came amongst us as the Good Shepherd, gentle and kind, Who laid down His life for His sheep.  He extracted no recompense from His followers except to love God above all things and to love our neighbor as well.

It would be quite inappropriate to project our notion of earthly kings or rulers on the Lord Jesus.  He has come to bring us together in His kingdom, one which is ruled by charity and self-sacrifice.  What a joyful consolation for us knowing that we are drawn into this kingdom.  We have a place here and now and our shepherd-king has shown us how to live within it.  He asks for our humble but necessary cooperation to build up the kingdom founded upon the throne of the Cross.  Every time you look upon that cross-beamed throne see the Real King and once again pledge your loyalty and allegiance to Him Who has already made a place for you in His Eternal Kingdom.

With this Solemnity we come to the near- end of the Year of Grace 2021.  It has been a difficult, challenging and upsetting year for many but it should not defeat us.  Next Sunday begins the Holy Season of Advent and we implore God’s good favor upon us that the days ahead may bring good health, less fearfulness, and a deep inner peace to all distressed hearts and souls.  Though Advent always seems to fly by, try to take time to let the joyful expectation of the season permeate the depths of your soul for Emmanuel comes once again to renew the world.

With Blessings,

Father  Langan

The health and safety of everyone who attends Mass at Saint John the Evangelist Parish is of critical
importance to us.

Our parish was notified that an individual who was present at the 10:30 a.m. Mass at Saint John the
Evangelist Church later tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, November 16. We are sending this
notification to fully inform and protect our community.

The Diocese of Scranton strongly recommends that all people wear masks while attending Mass,
regardless of their vaccination status.

Everyone in our community is encouraged to know and keep alert for any potential symptoms of COVID19, which may include (but are not limited to) fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing,
muscle pain, headache or a loss of taste and smell. If anyone develops any of those symptoms, they
should contact their healthcare provider.

Our parish community wishes to extend prayers for healing and comfort to the individual who is
experiencing illness and for all those affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Missionaries in Our Midst

I am grateful to God for the gift of faith, family and my priesthood, and to all of you and your pastor for the generous opportunity to appeal here in your parish on behalf of my home diocese at this year’s World Mission Appeal. My name is Fr. Dominic sabi from the Diocese of Sunyani, Ghana. I am working in the Diocese of Scranton along with four diocesan priests, Fr. Philbert Takyi Nketiah at St. Jude’s church, Mountain Top, Fr. Clement Amankwaah, Christ the King church, Archbald,Fr Stephen Asomah Amponsah, Our Lady of snows, Clarks summit, Fr Sixtus Evans Appiah Kyereme, St. Mary’s parish, Nantecoke as missionaries. 

We are here because it has become necessary to reciprocate the generosity of the many American missionaries who made generous sacrifices and brought the Catholic Faith to us in Ghana many years ago, and helped to nurture its growth to maturity; we are so glad to do same as a diocese and as individual priests. But to be able to continue to offer this needed help, we need more priests. We have more vocation but the high cost of priestly formation in a crumbly economy of a developing country like Ghana is so daunting on us as a diocese. That is why we need your financial support on this year’s World Mission Appeal.

• In total, the diocese spends about $75,000 (400,000 Ghana Cedis) on our 65 major seminarians annually (about $1,150. per seminarian).  
• This expenditure highly strains the finances of the Diocese and painfully limits its efforts to provide other highly needed social services such as good Catholic Education, quality healthcare and potable water to many poorer rural communities we serve.

Drawing inspiration from the statement: “World Mission Sunday joins all the Catholics of the world into one community of faith”, I humbly invite you as a member of this one community of faith, to consider making a generous donation to support this worthy course, or better still, be a benefactor to one seminarian. Who knows? The priest you help to form today, may be serving this parish in some few years to come just as Frs. Clement, Philbert, Stephen, Sixtus and I  are serving here now. Please, support this appeal by giving a cash donation or write a check to St. John the Evangelist for  World Mission Sunday.

Blessings,

Father Dominic

November 6-7

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As you well know the Month of November is dedicated to praying for the repose of the souls of our beloved dead and their eventual entrance into Heaven.  The wonder of being in the communion of saints is that we are connected beyond the realm of death and are very much able to interact through the grace of prayer and sacrifice.  We on earth implore the assistance of those who behold the face of God to watch over, protect and encourage us to make our journey home to the Lord.  And we are truly grateful that they intercede for us.

Likewise, the souls in purgatory are dependent and grateful to us as we intercede for them.  They rely on our prayers and sacrifices that their time in purgatory may be expedited and their entrance into glory may be hastened.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the most important means by which the suffering souls may be consoled and look forward to their eventual enjoyment of the Beatific Vision.  There are however other means by which these souls may be purified.  I draw your attention to the most recent declaration from the Holy See:  “Due to the ongoing pandemic, the Apostolic Penitentiary-in response to requests from bishops around the world-is once again extending opportunities to gain indulgences for the benefit of the faithful departed.  By means of the decree the indulgence is extended to the entire month of November.  When the faithful visit a cemetery and pray the Apostles Creed, the Our Father, Hail Mary and pray for the intentions of the Pope, a  plenary indulgence will benefit the soul for whom that holy act is offered.  A cemetery visit may be made each day.  The person making the visit should, within 20 days make a good Confession, receive Our Lord in Holy Communion and renounce all attachment to sin.  This personal sacrifice will in cooperation with the supreme sacrifice of Christ bring refreshment to the souls in purgatory.  Recalling the words of Our Lord:  “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

May our humble sacrifices bring release to those we love.

With Blessings,

Father Langan