Dear Parishioners of St. Bonaventure-St. Benedict the Moor.

I need your help. Our Annual Catholic Appeal’s network of services has had to be flexible in this unprecedented time, and we anticipate we will need to maintain this response to meet the growing demand for support. Your partnership is critical as we navigate this situation.

Our mission remains the same, but COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our annual needs.

• We now serve over 100,00 meals daily across our Diocese in response to the 300%

increase in demand.

• Over 120 parishes offer daily livestream coverage of Mass and 144 parishes communicate daily with parishioners using social media.
• Our educators were required to quickly implement innovative distance learning tools.

They remain committed to forming the hearts and minds of our Catholic youth.

• We have 30 hospital chaplains currently deployed across our boroughs consoling the sick and most vulnerable.
• And of course, our devoted clergy, who remain at the frontlines of this pandemic. They continue to enrich our lives spiritually and have partnered with our network of support services to address the local needs developing across our Diocese.

As a committed parishioner, friend, and Catholic, we need your support to uphold our mission. I am grateful to the 145 people who have made a generous commitment to the 2020 Annual Catholic Appeal. This unwavering support has allowed us to reach S16,863.40 of our $28,993

goal. We are $12,099.60 away from our goal.

If you have not made a pledge this year and are able to do so, I ask that you join me in demonstrating that WE ARE THE CHURCH, TOGETHER by considering a gift to the Annual Catholic Appeal.

You may make your gift online at  annualcatholicappeal.org or text ACA to 917-336-1255 or call 718-965-7375 ext. 1602 and have a pledge card mailed to your home.

We thank you in advance for making a gift commensurate with your means and circumstances!

Fr. Bartholomew Mrosso  M.afr

Pastor

Sisters and brothers today we celebrate the presentation of our Lord to the Temple. The temple is a place where people meet and worship God. The temple is a sacred place because God has chosen to dwell in it. And therefore
when people want to express their communion with God through prayers and sacrifices they go to the temple. In
short the temple is the house of prayers and Sacrifices.

Sacrifices to God

When we offer sacrifices to God in terms of material things, we are merely expressing our gratitude to God for what God has provided us. Through our sacrifices we telling God that all what we have belongs to you, and our lives do not depend on the material things we possess. God is the source of our life. God is the one who sustains our life and at the end of our human existence on earth, our life will return to God.

Our sacrifice to God is not only limited to material things, but offering of our own selves is the highest level of expressing our total dependence on God. When we offer our whole life to God, it implies that we consecrate our life to God who sanctifies us.

Presentation of Jesus

The parents of our Lord presents the Child Jesus to the temple as a way of fulfilling the Jewish laws that demands every first born child to be consecrated to God;

“ The Lord said to Moses, “Dedicate all the first born males to me, for every first born male Israelite and every first born male male animal belongs to me” ( Ex. 13:1-2)

By presenting the child Jesus to the temple, the parents of Jesus are acknowledging that the child belongs to God. God is the true father of this Child. The child is not their personal property. The parents have just collaborated with God in bringing this child to the earth. But the Child belongs to God. God is the real owner of this child. The parents are stewards of God’s Child. As parents, they are to fulfill their parental responsibilities of bringing up this child. Once this child grows up, he will depart from them, and commit himself to the mission of God. At the early age of seven Jesus reminded his parents that he belongs to God and not to them(Lk 2:49-51).

Sisters and brothers this feast of the presentation of the Lord to the temple reminds us that we all belong to God. Life is a gift from God and it can only be possessed by God. This feast also teaches us that Christ has been offered to God for the salvation of all people.

Fr. Barthlomew MROSSO M.afr
Pastor