Welcome

October 13 to 24 with Fr. Briggs

Join Fr. Briggs from October 13th-24th, 2024, on a pilgrimage to Spain and Southern France. This pilgrimage is offered through ProRome Tours, and will travel in the footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Bernadette, and St. Teresa of Avila. Space is limited to 45 pilgrims, and is open to all. Visit the ProRome Website or scan the document below to register. 

Tuesdays through June 25

St. Philip parishioners can partake in a chronological journey of the Gospels. Based on a study by Father John Riley, retreat master and spiritual director at the diocesan San Damiano Retreat Center, participants will be provided with daily readings from all four Gospels in the order they occurred.

The study will run through June 25 with discussion meetings held every Tuesday night, after the 7 pm Mass in Room 4. You need not come to every meeting, its is not too late to join.

Contact the rectory or Suzanne Webb at suzannedwebb@hotmail.com for more details.

Bishop Burbidge invites you to the Diocesan Jubilee Fest at Warren County Fairgrounds in Front Royal, Virginia on Saturday, June 8, 2024! Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Diocese of Arlington with your parish family and thousands of faithful from across Northern Virginia.

Kick off the festival by giving thanks to God with the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated by Bishop Burbidge. Following Mass, enjoy live music by headliner Celtic rock band, Scythian. The event is free, but registration is required for free food. More details and registration details can be found here.

Dear Friends in Christ,

What a blessing it is for us to have this Season of Easter! For us Catholics, this time is filled with much rejoicing, and we are joyful that Christ has given us the hope of eternal life. While much of the world celebrates Easter for just one day, Easter Sunday, we are invited to continue the joy of Christ’s resurrection for many days, fifty days, to be exact. For me, this time of year is one of my favorites, not only because of the warmer weather, but for this truth of our Faith that the power of death is always conquered by the hope of new life.

As we continue our journey through this season of Easter, we resume our discussion of the four Marks of the Church. From our discussion last week, we learned that the Church is One since God is one (Num. 6:4), and he desires for all humanity to be united as one under Jesus (Jn. 17:21). While this unity is found most concretely in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, we hope to attain perfect unity when we are in full communion with God and with one another in Heaven.

This week, our focus shifts to the second Mark of the Church, namely that the Church is Holy. When we think of holiness, we often think that holiness is something that only Saints, priests, and religious brothers and sisters have, not something for the common person. However, as Jesus reminds us throughout the Gospels, we are all called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Mt. 5:13). He was not only speaking to the elite priests and scribes when he said this, but he was speaking to the disciples who had gathered to hear him teach the way to enter into his kingdom. As I mentioned in a previous bulletin letter (January 14th, 2024), the call to holiness is universal, and it helps us to conform our lives more closely to Jesus and to one another.

For many of us, we can ask, “If the Church is meant to be holy, why do some of its members live their lives doing un-holy actions?” To understand this, we must remember that all holiness comes from Christ who is perfect himself, and who calls all to perfection (Mt. 5:48). However, all of us here on earth within the Church are still in need of purification from our sins, and so we are constantly in the process of being renewed by Christ (CCC #827). While we live on this earth, the Church embraces all men and women, laity and clergy, into her embrace, and invites them to conform their lives more closely to Christ.

When we think of holiness, we can often think that it leads to a life that is boring and dull. However, to counteract this viewpoint, we are given great examples of holiness in the lives of the Saints. Each Saint is unique in the way they lived out holiness in their lives. For example, Blessed Bartolo Longo was a satanic priest who lived in Italy, but who converted to the Catholic Church through the intercession of the Blessed Mother and her Rosary. St. Maria Goretti not only chose to die rather than give up her purity, but she even forgave the young man who murdered her. And Blessed Carlo Acutis was a young teenager who not only enjoyed video games, but had a passion for the Eucharist that inspired him to create a website for Eucharistic miracles. Holiness is not something dry and lifeless, but is something that is enriching and vibrant.

May Christ’s Peace be with you,

Fr. Briggs