Faithfulness to Christ’s Love
Inspires Courage, Service, and Self-Giving LoveJesus taught us that a true friendship with Him means we follow His command to love one another with self-giving love (John 15:12-17).
This is the love He has for us. Moreover, He calls us to “bear lasting fruit” through this love. How do we do that? By living in God’s love always – good works, virtues, and transformed lives that draw others closer to Him.
Always? Yes, even in the hardest of time. A great example can be seen in the acts of first responders.
Every act of courage, whether saving a life, calming someone in crisis, or protecting a community, plants seeds of hope, safety, and compassion that can ripple far beyond the moment. This reflects Christ’s command to love one another.
As he does every year, Fr. Rev. Dennis R. Schuelkens, Jr., of St. Joseph the Worker Parish, School, and Day Care, and also pastor of Sacred Heart of Mary Parish, all in Weirton, celebrated a Blue Mass in honor of the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, and in gratitude for the steadfast service of law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, military members, and all first responders who safeguard our families and neighborhoods.
The students from the grade school and Madonna High School were joined by the local community for the special Mass, Concelebrated by Fr. Binu Sebastian, of St. Paul Church and School; Fr. Justin Golna of St. John Parish, Wellsburg; Fr. Gerald Muoka, of St. Anthony Parish, Follansbee, and pastor at Madonna H.S.; and Fr. Luke Iyengar.
This sacred liturgy not only recalled the heroism of 9/11 but also lifted up in prayer the countless men and women who, each day, embody selfless courage by placing themselves in harm’s way to protect, defend, and serve both our community and our nation.
Through prayer and song, the community prayed for a world that upholds faith, family, and a shared commitment to live together in peace.
Father Schuelkens homily was based on John 15:12-17:
Laying Down Our Lives….
No one has greater love than this than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Life is about love, and love is about laying down our lives, it’s a choice of self-sacrifice.
A good sacrifice brings life in others and in ourselves- in this world, and in the next.
It’s God’s presence that inspires and brings peace through God’s witness of light. We recognize God’s witness of light that shines!
It’s Christ’s light that runs into a place of fear with courage to bring hope.
It’s Christ light that presses forward into lawlessness to restore order.
It’s Christ’s light that pushes back against sickness and injury to bring healing.
It’s Christ’s light that protects and defends humanity.
This is Christ’s call for each and every one of us – to be His instruments of God’s peace.
With deep gratitude, we honor those professions, who by their very nature, bring this light – Christ’s light into places of darkness.
Whether it’s the trauma of planes flying into buildings, or the violence of silencing a discussion of truth, we honor those whose actions bring hope, order, healing and safety.
With this deep thanks to God, we honor you and the witness of Christ’s light that you bring: firefighters, law-enforcement officers, EMTs and members of the military. May you exercise wisdom, courage, and charity in the midst of very often confusion and chaos. And may God’s light shine in us all, each of us are called to be Christ’s instruments of peace.
His homily was followed by a moment of silence, and then the meditation song sung by St Joe’s and St. Paul’s musicians in a duet with harmony – the Prayer of St. Francis:
Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord
And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope
Where there is darkness, only light
And where there’s sadness, ever joy.
Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
Oh, Master grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
In giving to all men that we receive
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
[Note: The words are from a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (however, it cannot be traced earlier than 1912, when it was published as author unknown, in a French magazine The Little Bell/The Holy Mass League, founded by Fr. Esther Bouquerel). The theme of the prayer/hymn is based on the writing of the Prophet Isaiah (Chapter 61) and Christ’s teachings echoed throughout the New Testament. Composer Sebastian Temple turned the prayer into a hymn in 1967.]Photos for this story are from Madonna High School and St. Joseph the Worker School.
