Mary, Mother of the Church

Tomorrow, on May 1st, Archbishop José H. Gómez, Archbishop of Los Angeles and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will join the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in consecrating the two nations to the care of the Blessed Mother under the title “Mary, Mother of the Church.” “This will give the church the occasion to pray for Our Lady’s continued protection of the vulnerable, healing of the unwell and wisdom for those who work to cure this terrible virus,” said Archbishop Gómez in a letter to the U.S. bishops. Each year, the church seeks the special intercession of the Mother of God during the month of May. We encourage you to join in this prayerful opportunity tomorrow, Friday, May 1st at 12 Noon as we all unite in prayer as a nation to entrust this pandemic situation to the care of our Blessed Mother. You may view the consecration here:

For additional information:
https://lacatholics.org/consecration/
http://usccb.org/news/2020/20-65.cfm

Bishop McElroy will also consecrate the Diocese of San Diego to the Blessed Mother from the Diocesan Pastoral Center Chapel which will be available to view on the diocesan website.

Wonderful New About Father Tom!!!

Fr. Tom’s surgery was a success! Thanks be to God! His surgeon was able to repair the mitral valve, the damaged appendage and the hole in his atrium. He also was able to do a procedure to correct the AFib. Pretty amazing. Incredible surgeon! The procedure was done by robotic, so his recovery will be less painful and take less time.

Fr. Tom’s sister, Mary Ellen, was able to talk with Fr. Tom this morning. “As expected, he is in some pain and still a bit groggy, but progressing wonderfully. There is a good chance that he will be able to be moved out of ICU and into a regular room today. The hospital staff has been fabulous, and I am sure he is keeping them laughing with a joke here and there! I will let you know of anything new that comes up. Thank you for all your prayers! Fr. Tom really appreciated them.”

Bishop Joe Coffee said, “Fr. Tom has a big heart; now it’s fixed!”

Please continue to keep him in your prayers as he recovers.

Fr. Tom’s Surgery is Tuesday Morning… Please Pray

Please pray for Fr. Tom on Tuesday, April 28th at 8:00 AM.

His surgery prep time begins at 5:00 AM. The surgery begins at 8:00 AM and will last for eight hours!

Let us all pray together for Fr. Tom and his team of doctors, so he has a successful surgery. Also, pray for a fast and painless recovery.

Prayers are powerful and the more prayers the better!

Let us do our part and pray for our beloved Pastor!

Fr. Tom has a strong devotion to our Lady. If you wish, pray for Our Lady ‘s intercession for surgery.

Third Sunday of Easter Music and Mass Links
(we now have a link to the second song)

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

The lyrics for this week’s songs are in this attachment. John has a new song for us again this week, “Sing a Joyful Song”. This is a link for it: https://youtu.be/5qCCaZUpgSo

The two songs I’ve chosen to share this week are the following:

“The Prayer” by Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Lady Gaga, Lang Lang and John Legend.  https://youtu.be/SYJCYr1I-Sk

and

“His Love Never Fails” composed By Craig Courtney. https://youtu.be/C5NhRg5Kb8I

God bless and stay well!

Janis Cantú

Third Sunday of Easter Mass Online Links

There are two ways to view the video. The first way to view the video is through our parish YouTube account tomorrow (Sunday) morning. You can find the link here

Fr. Emmanuel will also make available the link to the video and text of this Sunday’s homily along with previous and future ones on his blog. You can find the link to his blog here http://frochigbo.blogspot.com/

You can also find the Mass that the Diocese of San Diego has on its website https://www.sdcatholic.org/find-a-parish/on-line-sunday-mass/.

Thank you to everyone who makes this incredible outreach possible.

May God be with you in these trying times!

Share Your Story

Some good news… Here’s a new way all of us in our Parish Family can connect with each other.

Share a story about your experience during this Pandemic! Acts of kindness, funny situations, glory stories, or even just what you’re doing to stay home, occupied, and safe! Even give your witness on how Jesus has changed your life or how you came to be a part of Sacred Heart!

Share on our Parish Facebook and let’s stay connected and in community!

Facebook: Sacred Heart Church of Ocean Beach

Facebook Link
A Letter from Father Tom

Fr. Tom’s surgery is rescheduled for Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Hopefully, there will not be another delay.

Please pray for the team of doctors and Fr. Tom for a successful surgery. Continue to pray for Fr. Tom’s quick recovery.

April 21, 2020

Dear Sacred Heart family,

I have been quarantined since December, and it is nice to see I have had such an influence on so many of you that you have joined me in quarantine. LOL. Seriously though, these are certainly unprecedented times and I pray everyone is doing well and getting the support they need! These past several weeks I have had a great deal of time to pray and reflect. There have been challenges – having such a long wait for heart surgery, $10,000 stolen from my bank account that will not be returned, my car stolen and a close friend passed away from Covid-19. Despite all of that I am filled with great Joy and complete Trust in our loving God. I strongly pray for those who stole from me and others like them. It deeply saddens me that they would Jeopardize their souls for so little. I long for them to know our immensely merciful and loving God and be the beautiful gift each of us our created to be for this world. May they know they are beautiful, and they matter!

I am also so keenly aware that so many have far more difficult trials and crosses than I. I am so Blessed. Perhaps it is the grace of the Easter season and the fathomless gift of Divine Mercy, whose feast we celebrated this last Sunday. We are Blessed, all of us! I hope this quarantine has not gone by as an opportunity to just exercise more binge watch movies and TV. I hope it has not been lost on immersion in technology. What a wonderful time to be with family and friends, even thru technology, and share laughter, love, hugs (virtual) and tears. What an opportunity to read, reflect and pray. To be silent and still with our God. Each of us can make the world more beautiful right now simply by smiling. I pray we all emerge from this difficult time free of the virus known as selfish indifference. May there be an emergence of caring, compassion and love. May so many feeling the sting of hopelessness be addressed by our equal eruption of hope. May our selfless love and charity be immeasurably more contagious than any pandemic. We need to avoid the fears that blind us to the needs of others who share our same needs! Let us prevent the anxiety from extinguishing genuine concern for neighbors. We should wash our hands but not in the way Pontius Pilate did with Jesus, exclaiming, ” I am innocent of the blood of this just man. The responsibility is yours!” As we emerge from this pandemic, unlike Pilate, let us not wash our hands of the responsibility towards the poor, the elderly, the unemployed, the refugees, the health providers and first responders; Indeed all people and our God created world around us.

In such times the true heart and character of a person emerges! We must realize that there is not a light at the end of the tunnel but that we are the light! As venerable Carlo Acutis expressed, “Our goal must be the infinite and not the finite. The Infinity is our homeland. We are always expected in Heaven!”

I humbly ask for your continued prayers as I now proceed with surgery on April 28th placing myself in the trusting arms of Our Heavenly Mother, St. Joseph and His Divine Mercy. Please pray also for the surgeon and his team as well as the nurses caring for so many. I continue to pray for all of you especially with the Rosary and the Holy Mass. God Bless and belated Happy Easter!

Fr. Tom
Pastor
Second Sunday of Easter Music and Mass Links

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

This week we are starting something new! Every week we will be providing the lyrics for the songs John Rodriguez has chosen to sing for the Sunday Mass in an attachment. Some of the songs may be new to you. If I think that is likely, I will provide a link to YouTube so you can hear it ahead of time, if you so choose, so that you’ll be able to sing along.

This week the communion song is Unless a Grain of Wheat by Bob Hurd. I think it may be new to you, so here is the link: https://youtu.be/KHrFcPOmzjc

In addition to that, I will also provide a link or an attachment (or two) for other music that I would like to share with you for your listening pleasure. This week I chose two:

Is He Worthy? by Andrew Peterson https://youtu.be/OIahc83Kvp4

and

My Life Is in Your Hands by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir https://youtu.be/AS6tQYJVO80

I hope you enjoy them!

May God bless you all and keep you safe and healthy,

Janis Cantú

Second Sunday of Easter Mass Online Links

There are two ways to view the video. The first way to view the video is through our parish YouTube account tomorrow (Sunday) morning. You can find the link here

Fr. Emmanuel will also make available the link to the video and text of this Sunday’s homily along with previous and future ones on his blog. You can find the link to his blog here http://frochigbo.blogspot.com/

You can also find the Mass that the Diocese of San Diego has on its website https://www.sdcatholic.org/find-a-parish/on-line-sunday-mass/.

Thank you to everyone who makes this incredible outreach possible.

May God be with you in these trying times!