Please join us at our Spiritual Adoption Baby Shower. Please RSVP to Fran at flisowski421@gmail.com or at 610.363.7449 by Sunday, April 30th. Finger sandwiches, salads, desserts and beverages (water, lemonade, coffee) will be served. If you are able to contribute any of the menu items, please let us know what you can bring when you RSVP. If you are unable to attend but would like to donate a gift, please place your gift in the pack and play in the narthex. Click the full story to see the gift list.

How do I access this man who lived 2000 years ago? How do I live this call of love? We uniquely encounter the love of God in His Church. But really? The Church? There are so many negative views of the Church. It’s out of touch. It’s full of bad people. It’s just too boring. Maybe when we say “The Church” we mean a little more. The church is the family of God that’s been lovingly gathered through our entire story. It’s the place we were meant to encounter His grace that prepares us for every step of life. The God that is love knows how we’re made – material and spiritual – we need tangible ways to live our faith. We can’t be spiritual but not religious. This is where we’ll find ultimate happiness in life. This is where the God that has been seeking humanity, who wrote the deepest desires onto our human hearts, encounters us. Jesus’ first words to humanity in the Gospel of John are “what do you seek?” The one that asked the question not only knows the answer, He is the answer. The answers to everything. And you find him most profoundly here in His Church.

The Search Am I Saved? | The Search | Episode 6 Episode 6 • 26m 102 comments What Jesus did for us through his life, death and resurrection was the greatest act of love in history. He saved us. He did this for each one of us. Personally. But some might feel unworthy of this gift of love. We may feel we have too much baggage. We may feel unlovable. But God didn’t come to reveal himself to us on a pedestal, he came to enter into our messy human condition. To fix us from within. To transform us from the inside out. Some might be surprised by how generous the love of God really is. We don’t deserve God’s love, but that’s the amazing reality of God’s mercy. This relationship with God isn’t all about our love for Him. It’s about His love for us that changes our lives forever.

The most beautiful part of this story is this we can know God's love, personally. This is the person of Jesus. But how did this seemingly insignificant carpenter born into poverty in a dusty corner of the Roman Empire become the most pivotal figure in all of history? Christianity isn’t simply a philosophy for life – the center of Christianity is a person. We look at the life of Jesus and what he came to do. Ultimately, we need to decide if Jesus really was who he said he was. We can’t sit on the fence. Because if Jesus really was who he said he was, we need to make him the Lord of our lives, and everything changes.

Your life is a story. And it’s caught up in the great story of humanity. This great story, as we see it in the Scriptures, shows us the amazing love story that is God’s pursuit of man. The God that is love created so we can ultimately be with his love. We were made to be with God. Union with God is so central to the purpose of life, we even see the afterlife in these terms. Our definition of Heaven is union with God, and hell is absence of Him. Your life has a plot. Your life has purpose. Your life has value. We need to see how we fit into this big love story to begin to know why we exist. And that love of God isn’t abstract. It has a face and name: Jesus.

Today we seem to think we’ve moved beyond the idea of God, but this secular view of life is a very new and unusual idea to humanity. All through human history man has looked to something outside himself for the answers to life. Why have we given up on God? Do we think science has disproven Him? Do we think society is better off without him? We talk with astrophysicists, chemists, Harvard professors, and more to make the case that it’s not only reasonable to believe in God, it’s essential if you want to have a truly amazing life. Our souls seek their creator, and we’ll never be truly happy unless we seek Him out. As St. Augustine famously said, “You have made us for Yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless. until they rest in Thee.”

To find clues as to the meaning of life, we first look at ourselves. Who am I? Is there more to me than matter? Is there more to us than meets the eye? We talk with neuroscientists, psychologists, composers, and artists to examine the mystery of you. If you’re just a body, then satisfaction in life should come from tending to simple bodily needs. Fill your stomach, be comfortable. But there’s more to you than that. You are material and immaterial. And that unseen part of you craves so much more. As C.S. Lewis once said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

All parishioners and their families are invited to experience a wonderful 7-part video series titled, "The Search" on FORMED.ORG. Together, as a parish community we will progress through the videos, one each week during Lent. Once you have logged into FORMED, select the menu PROGRAMS, then select THE SEARCH. As you scroll down this page, you can explore the Trailer and any of the seven Sessions. Session 1 titled, " What Do You Seek?" explores some of the fundamental questions about life. Enjoy amazing cinematography and engaging discussions. As you watch, consider these two questions: What makes life meaningful? How would you describe your relationship with Jesus? Join us as we begin The Search! https://watch.formed.org/videos/the-search-trailer

FORMED is an ad-free Catholic Streaming Service for Mobile Phone, Tablet, PC and TV, designed to support personal faith formation and spiritual growth! All parishioners enjoy a one-year free subscription. Here’s how to register: Enter FORMED.org in your browser; Select Signup as Parishioner; enter the Zip Code 19341; select SSPJ then enter your email address. That’s it! Your login is your email address. No password is required.

The Search is an innovative video series that tackles the key questions of every human heart. In seven beautifully filmed episodes hosted by Chris Stefanick and featuring other experts from multiple fields of science, medicine, psychology, art, and religion…they examine our place in the larger story of existence. The Search proclaims the Gospel in words that modern ears are ready to hear and images that modern eyes can’t help but see and remember. 

We are extremely proud to announce that two of our eighth graders have been named 2020 Neumann Scholars, Colin Graveley and Raphael Reyes. As part of this prestigious honor, awarded for academic excellence, these students will receive a full tuition, four-year scholarship to the Archdiocesan high school of their choice. They plan to attend Bishop Shanahan in the fall. Please join us in congratulating Colin and Raphael in this wonderful accomplishment!

SSPJ Parish school is hosting their annual Fun Run virtually on Thursday, June 4. As a school family, the Fun Run will be kicked off via Zoom to pray and then the students and their family will spend time outside walking/running together. Funds raised will be used for school improvements. If you can help out and donate, our parish school children would greatly appreciate it. Here is the link: https://app.99pledges.com/fund/SSPJFunRun