View of Rome

Monday evening we attended Evening Prayer at the North American College which is the seminary for American seminarians in Rome. Msgr. Tom Powers took us up to the roof of the College where we had a spectacular view of the Vatican and the entire city of Rome. (The rainbow is real!)

Jesus and Mary

We visited two beautiful churches here in Rome - Santa Maria in Traspontina and Santo Spirito in Sassia. The first has a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I blessed several scapulars and enrolled a few people in the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular. Then we went to the second church which is the national shrine of Divine Mercy. 

Pope mobile

After Mass, Pope Francis greeted each member of the diplomatic corps. There were so many countries with representative at the canonization that it took more than half an hour. Then he got into his Pope mobile and greeted the enormous crowd. Here are a few shots from where I was: 

Arriving for canonization

I was able to get a ticket for the clergy section in St. Peter's Square. Unfortunately it was not one to give out Holy Communion but it was a seat and I was so excited just to be there. Pope Benedict came into the Square a few minutes early and then the procession started. When Pope Francis entered, one of the first things he did was greet Pope Benedict. Two Pope at a Mass canonizing two Popes!

Pastor's Corner, April 27, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and I am in Rome for the canonization of two great popes and saints - John XXIII and John Paul II.
Saint John XXIII was born near Bergamo in northern Italy and ordained a priest in 1904. In 1925 he entered the Vatican diplomatic corps and served in Bulgaria, Turkey and France. In 1953 he became the Cardinal Archbishop of Venice and was elected Pope in 1958. He is best known for calling the Second Vatican Council. Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always opposed... errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.”
Saint John Paul II was born in Wadowice, Poland, in 1920. He was ordained a priest in 1946 and a bishop in 1958. He attended all the sessions of Vatican II. Elected pope in October 1978, he was the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. In his 27 years of papal ministry, John Paul II wrote 14 encyclicals and five books, canonized 482 saints and beatified 1,338 people. He led the Church across the threshold of the third millennium of Christianity. “Christ is the center of the universe and of human history” was the opening line of his 1979 encyclical, Redeemer of Man. One of the most enduring images from his pontificate is the personal and private conversation he had with Mehmet Ali Agca, who had attempted to assassinate him two years earlier. 
Let us pray for many of our intentions through the intercession of these two great saints.
In Christ,
Msgr. Baker

Quo Vadis

During a persecution of Christians St. Peter decided to leave Rome. On his way out of the city - along the Via Appia - Peter met Jesus who was walking toward Rome. Peter asked, "Domine, quo vadis?" (Lord, where are you going?) Jesus said, "I am coming to Rome to be crucified again." Peter understood that he needed to turn around, go back to Rome and risk martyrdom, which eventually took place about 64 AD. Here is a picture of the miraculous footprints left by Our Lord in the Chuch called Quo Vadis built on the spot of His encounter with Peter. 

Call of St. Matthew

At the Church of San Luigi we saw the famous Caravaggio painting of the call of St. Matthew. I will leave it to the 8th graders of St. John Vianney School to discover the meaning of the symbols in the painting. 

Allentown connection

We are wandering Rome today as the crowds assemble for the canonization tomorrow. With a group of young adults

from Allentown and Philadelphia we visited the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena at the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva where we prayed for our special intentions. 

Priest in Rome

I arrived in Rome yesterday and today I had breakfast with a group of young people from Allentown and Philadelphia and Msgr. Francis Nave and Fr. Chris Butera. Here we are outside a bar enjoying cappuccino and cornetto. 

On our way to Rome

Today, Friday, we are leaving the Holy Land and are on our way to Rome. I am with Bishop Timothy Senior, Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia, Fr. Carlos Benitez, Rector of Redemptorus Mater seminary in Philadelphia, and Bishop Jerzy Maculewicz, the first Catholic Bishop of Uzbekistan. Bishop Maculewicz has an interesting connection with the Diocese of Allentown. He was baptized by Fr. Walter Ciszek who was a Jesuit priest born in our Diocese who spent 20 years in Siberia. Fr. Ciszek's canonization process is now being studied in Rome. Here is Bishop Maculewicz waiting in the tel Aviv airport for our flight to Rome. 

Wailing Wall

After visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre we went to the Wailing Wall which is also called the Western Wall. It is the only remaining wall of the ancient Temple of the time of Jesus that was not destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. It is probably the most sacred site recognized by the Jewish faith outside of the Temple Mount itself. The Jews consider the area like a synagogue and so we could only enter with our heads covered. Many leave pieces of paper with prayer intentions on them in the cracks of the wall. There I prayed for the parish and those intentions in the Intention Book. 

Calvary

It was very moving to enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Church has three important places within it: Calvary, the Deposition (where Christ's body was cleaned and wrapped in the shroud) and the tomb. I prayed for the entire parish and for those intentions in the Intention Book. 

Near Jericho

Today we traveled from Tiberia to Jerusalem. Along the way we stopped at a rest stop near the ancient city of Jericho, which is mentioned several times in the Gospel. At the rest stop you could ride a camel for $2. I didn't try but some priests did!

Friends old and new

After leaving Rome 5 years ago I've lost touch with some friends. I found one here in the Holy Land! Here is a "selfy" with Jose Aparecida who use to be a Brasilian priest and staff member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative text but is now an Auxiliary Bishop in Brazil. 

Fr. Carlos is the rector of the Neocatechumenal Way seminary in Philadelphia and has been my roommate for the past few days. He is a new friend. Here we are outside the shrine of the Primacy of Peter. 

International

It is amazing to see how international the group is. I has lunch with Fr. Patrick from Ireland who works in South Africa and Fr. John who lives in Australia. Yesterday I has a great conversation with a priest from China and I rode the bus with a priest from Equador. All of the conferences are given in Italian but we also try to communicate in Spanish and English. Here is a picture of our group preparing for Mass last night. 

Peter's Primacy

Read John 21: 1-25. The Risen Lord appears to his disciple on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and he asks Peter, "Do you love me?" You can hear him

asking each one of us the same question. The rock is where Jesus asked Peter whether he loved Him and them Jesus said to Peter, "Feed my sheep." The shore is where Jesus told them to throw the net on the right side of the boat. 

 

Multiplication of loaves

In John 6: 1-15 we hear of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Today we visited Tabgha which is the spot where the miracle took place. There has been a church on the spot from the earliest centuries. This miracle is the beginning of Our Lord's discourse on the Eucharist. I prayed for a great love of the Eucharist for the whole parish. 

Intention book at Sea of Galilee

The hotel where some of us are staying is a stone's throw from the Sea of Galilee. I prayed for the whole parish and especially for all of those intentions given to me in the Intention Book which had been in the vestibule of the Cathedral. In the place of the call of the first disciples, I prayed that the Risen Lord will help us to be faithful to his call to discipleship. 

Jesus was here

O. K. Maybe this will be the last shot of the Sea of Galilee. I'm fascinated by the fact that Jesus lived here, preached here and performed miracles all around here. I can just imagine Jesus calling the disciples right from this sea shore. 

All over the world

There are bishops and priests from all over the world who are here. They personally introduced everyone who had come to the conference. You get a deep sense of the universality of the Catholic Church. Today I has lunch with my new friend Fr. Jose from South Africa.

Kiko and the mayor

This morning the founder of the Neocatechumenal Way (the sponsor of the conference here in the Holy Land), Kiko Arguello, spoke to is about the for conversion as the basis for the new evangelization. We then received a surprise visit by the mayor of Galilee. He is Jewish but he spoke of his esteem for Christians and how the conference center has strengthened the relations between Jews and Christians.

The sea again

We had a conference this morning in a hall which overlooks the Sea of Galilee. The conference includes bishops and priests from every continent. Here is a panoramic picture from outside the hall. The sea is in the background. 

The group

We gathered this morning for our initial conference in a retreat center on the top of the Mount of the Beatitudes. They just announced that there are translators for Chinese, Russian, Spanish, English, and Vietnamese. I guess you could say that we are an international group! Here is a panoramic picture of the group. 

Sea of Galilee

We arrived in Tel Aviv and took a 3 hour ride to Galilee. Here is a picture of the famous sea. 

Security

I arrived a bit early to the airport. No traffic and no difficulties in security. I arrived so early that they threw me out of the gate waiting area. They needed to do a security sweep of the gate. I guess flights to Israel demand special security. I'm just using the time to pray and get started on my blogging.

Pastor's Corner, April 20, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed.

May Our Risen Lord shed His blessing upon you and your family. As you read these lines I am preparing or have already begun my journey to the Holy Land for the week of Easter and then fly to Rome for next Sunday's canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

I have with me the intention book in which so many parishioners wrote their special intentions. I promise to pray for each of them at all the holy sites I will soon have the privilege to visit. I carry all of me I my heart as I trace the steps of Our Savior and then become a part of a canonization of two great saints.

The Holy Land is such a special place for Christians because we can literally see what Christ saw, walk where He traveled, and be present at all the places where He preached, suffered, died and rose again. In a special way I know the scriptures will come alive for me in a special way in such a holy place.

I hope to blog about my experiences and even video blog on my "Doors of Faith" YouTube channel. Don't forget to check the parish website throughout the week and also click on the YouTube channel where my homilies usually are in order to view the updates. 

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Pastor's Corner, April 13, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Today is  Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. It gets its name from the reading of the Gospel of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem and the Passion of the Lord. This is also the Sunday which begins the holiest of weeks on the Christian calendar.

Meditating on the suffering that Jesus underwent is one of the most fruitful kinds of prayer we could possibly do. It is a meditation on divine love and mercy. It is a meditation on the very heart of God and the Good News which Jesus proclaimed and lived during the first Holy Week.

This week at the Cathedral we will celebrate the usual liturgies and by doing so we will "enter in" to these great moments of divine love. On Holy Thursday we will be immersed by the liturgy into the great moment of Christ's sacramental self-giving in the institution of the Holy Eucharist and also the institution of His sacrament of self-preservation through the priesthood. Both sacraments began in the Upper Room on the night before He died.

Then, on Good Friday, we will be drawn to Calvary as we listen once again to the proclamation of the Passion, venerate the Cross, and receive Jesus in Holy Communion.

Finally, on the greatest night of the Church's year, we will celebrate the Easter Vigil and be a witness of His empty tomb. The Church will unleash her Sacraments of Initiation as several of our brothers and sisters will become Catholic by receiving Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion.

I hope you can join us for these great Holy Week liturgies.

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Jesus of Nazareth

One of the great treasures from the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI is the "Jesus of Nazareth" trilogy. The second part reflects on Holy Week. I am re-reading this profound meditation of the Gospel report
of the words and action of Jesus during the first Holy Week as a way to enter more deeply into the liturgies and scriptures which lie ahead of us. I hope you too might read this wonderful book.

Pastor's Corner, April 6, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,  

One of the most beautiful and poignant devotions celebrated during Lent are the Stations of the Cross. This devotion is an example of what Pope Francis talks about in "The Joy of the Gospel" when he writes that “Popular piety enables us to see how the faith, once received, becomes embodied in a culture and is constantly passed on” (123).

Tradition says that the Blessed Mother often visited the scenes of her Son's passion. After the legal recognition of Christianity in the 4th Century, the pathway was marked and St. Jerome reports that Christians from around the Roman Empire came to visit the holy places and follow the path Jesus took to Calvary.

In 1462 an English pilgrim described how his fellow pilgrims went from Pilate's house to Calvary, praying various "stations" which commemorated events and encounters of Our Lord on the way to His death.

When Muslim Turks invaded and controlled access to the Holy Land, suppressing any veneration in public of the stations in the city of Jerusalem, the devotion was carried to European churches, especially with the efforts of the Franciscans. Stations of the Cross were erected inside the church and prayers helped people to meditate on Our Lord's passion and death. 

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Pope as penitent

If you are wondering whether or not you want to go to confession, take a close look at who is going to confession in this picture:

We will have our Lenten Penance service this coming Monday, April 7 at 7 pm. Confession is available before every daily Mass and before every Sunday Mass during Lent. Follow the Pope's example and you can't go wrong.