"Is The Church About Us, Or Him? Is It About Us, Or the People We're Called To Serve?"

Even if most of them took place earlier in the week, this Holy Thursday morning is the traditional time-slot for the annual "family reunion" of every local church: the Chrism Mass.

Along those lines, from our family to yours, here's fullvid of the off-cuff homily given just now by this shop's own bishop... in what might just be the most potent preach he's given to date from the chair of St John Neumann:



(For reference, beyond Pope Francis' Chrism Mass preach, the other text cited above was the high-octane assessment on the state of the church given during the General Congregations by then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, which was leaked following his election.)

On a context note, today marks the 202nd birthday of the first "little bishop" who became a legend in this place – the first Redemptorist professed on these shores, ordained fourth bishop of Philadelphia 151 years ago on this day, later to become the first (and still lone) Stateside prelate to be raised to the altars.

And in his footsteps, wherever we are, whatever our call, let Neumann's prayer especially be our own today: "Dearest God, give us holiness!"

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