Weekly Message from Fr. Bob
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. ( Psalm 118:24) On this 30th Sunday of Ordinary time, the gospel of Mathew 22: 34-40, gives us the rich message of loving God and neighbor. It is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets as affirmed by the Lord himself. It is pretty much the summary of the Bible. So, what is Love? It is not a feeling or an emotion. As St. Thomas Aquinas says it is willing the good of the other. It transcends feelings and emotions and concentrates on concrete decisions and actions which flow from that Will. We see the true love on the Cross. God the Father made the concrete Decision of sending His Son Jesus Christ into the world through the Blessed Virgin Mary who gave Him Birth and raised Him. The Son of God willingly gave himself up to death on the Cross for the redemption of the whole humanity. By rising from the dead on the third day, he brought us salvation. It started at the Last Supper when the Lord gave himself to us in the Eucharist under the appearances of Bread and Wine as the eternal Sacrifice of the new Passover marking it as the new Covenant. That Love of God is celebrated during the holy Mass every day. As 1John 4:8 says that GOD IS LOVE, the understanding here is that God always wills the good of His children. Let all of us as God’s children rejoice in and reaffirm this truth at all times. We love God by our true worship of Him and by following His Commandments like the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints had done. BENNET AND ELIZABETH PUMO,JR: We congratulate Ben and Liz on being the recipients of St. Jude medal for the year 2026 from Sacred Heart Parish, St. Joseph, Dade City. Ben and Liz have been the Parishioners of our Parish for the last nine years. They regularly practice their Faith by attending Sunday Masses and Holy days of Obligation. They have been tirelessly working for the Parish Fall festival being in the Committee, in the Parish kitchen, catering to the Parish Volunteer appreciation dinners and being generous to the Parish. Ben is a member of the Parish Council, and head of the Christmas Card display ministry in our Parish. Beyond the Parish, Ben serves as deputy grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Council 1768 located at St. Antonio, Florida. As a talented cook, Ben delights many people with delicious food. He was featured on Fox 13 on a Cooking segment. Ben also serves on the Farm Bureau. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. ( Psalm 118:24) In the gospel on this 29th Sunday of Ordinary time, our Lord is telling to give to God what belongs to God and to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. (Mathew 22:15-21). The Lord wants us to be the best citizens by observing all the rules and regulations of our country. Giving God the top most priority and fitting Worship due to Him, and doing corporal works of mercy would be ‘giving to God what belongs to God’. WORLD MISSION SUNDAY: This weekend we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of World Mission Sunday instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1926. While every baptized Christian is a missionary disciple, not all of us can go overseas to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. Some of the members of the Clergy, the Religious and the laity are actively involved in spreading the Lord’s Good News in areas where the local people have never heard of the Lord. Our present holy Father Pope Leo XIV has chosen the theme “One in Christ, united in mission” for this year’s world mission Sunday. The holy Father calls the entire Church to unite in prayer, Eucharistic celebration, and a special financial collection to support the missionary work, education, and social care across more than 1130 mission territories. Our second collection this weekend would benefit the world mission Sunday purposes. Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen served as the National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, now known as the Pontifical Mission Societies, USA, for 16 years during which he raised millions of dollars and material aid to support the catholic missions around the world. He promoted the World Mission Rosary with different colored decades of beads to pray for the missions across the five continents. MARY ANDRYSIAK: This weekend we say ‘Farewell and Shalom’ to one of our active parishioners and a former Staff member Mary Andrysiak. Mary joined our Parish in 2015 along with her mother Marge Andrysiak who passed away in 2025. She served the Lord and the Parish in multiple ministry roles such as: A. RCIA director (now known as OCIA) from 2017-2024 B. Project support for the deanery’s Courageously Living the Gospel plans from 2019-2022 C. Lector, Extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, Counter, and sacramental Register coordinator from 2017-2026 D. Baptism coordinator from 2025-2026 Mary has been the recipient of St. Jude medal in 2021 in recognition of her exceptional Service and spreading the Good News of the gospel within the parish. At the end of this month she will be moving to Fort Myers to be close to her family. Mary sincerely loves and appreciates the Sacred Heart Parish family for their friendship and support over the years. On behalf of our Parish, I thank Mary for her selfless service to the Lord and His People. God blessed her with the gift of a sweet and gentle nature through which she brought many People to the faith during her tenure as the director of OCIA. She will touch many more souls. She has made the right decision of moving to be close to her immediate family in Fort Myers. I have invited Mary to visit us and to keep in touch. GOD GO WITH YOU, MARY! God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. ( Psalm 118:24) It is only during the Ordinary time of the year that we get to hear the parables of our Lord. For the last few Sundays, we have been listening to different parables told by our Lord. This Sunday, the parable is about a king organizing a wedding banquet in honor of his son. When the invited guests refuse to come to the banquet, he orders his servants to go to the highways and byways and bring in the guests. Again this parable is aimed at the Jewish leadership ( the pharisees and the scribes) who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah. The ordinary Jewish people represented by the Apostles accepted the Lord as the Messiah. It is our fervent prayer that the present day Jewish People would accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the old testament. The Month of October: In the Catholic Church, the month of October is traditionally dedicated to praying the holy Rosary, asking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Courage and Commitment to protect, preserve and promote the gift of human life. Let us also ask our Blessed Mother to pray that the Holy Eucharist which is the eternal Sacrifice of the new Passover of the new Covenant, instituted by her Son and our Lord Jesus Christ, would be celebrated until He returns. The Eucharistic Miracles: As part of our study of the theology of the Eucharist, let us concentrate on the Eucharistic miracles this weekend. So what is a Eucharistic miracle? Of course the transubstantiation which is the transformation of substance of the bread and the wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ at the time of the Consecration during the Mass, is itself a miracle. This miracle happens at every Mass. The Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity which is the Real Presence of Christ is hidden under the outward appearances of bread and wine. A Eucharistic miracle is an unexplainable physical manifestation of the transubstantiation. It means that an individual or a few people are given the grace to see the actual flesh and blood of Christ without being hidden under the appearances of the Bread and Wine. God allows such an extraordinary phenomenon to happen in order to strengthen the weak faith of a person or a group of people. For example, a priest from Lanciano, Italy, in the 8th century, experienced doubts regarding the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. Once during the Mass, as he pronounced the words of Consecration ” This is my Body——-This is my Blood ”, he saw the actual flesh and blood of the Lord in the Patten and the Chalice while the outward appearance of bread and wine disappeared. This is called the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano. The Church teaches that we do not need such Eucharistic miracles to believe in the real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. The powerful and everlasting words of our Lord are enough for us to believe in the Eucharistic presence of the Lord. The Church considers the Eucharistic miracles as private revelations allowed by the Lord to strengthen the weak faith of the people. I have been celebrating the holy Eucharist for the last 35 years as a priest. I do not need a Eucharistic miracle to believe in the real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. His Words alone are enough for me to believe: “ This is my Body—-This is my Blood ”. As your Pastor, I share the same Eucharistic faith you. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “ This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. (Psalm 118:24) From ancient times vineyards are a common sight in Israel so much so that they are mentioned in the Bible. The first reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah 5:1-7, and the gospel of Mathew 21:33-43 compare the vineyards to the people of Israel. The bad tenants mistreating the servants of the owner of the vineyard and killing the owner’s son was a direct hint to the leadership of the Jewish People who rejected the prophets and the Son of God. Our Lord Jesus did not mince words when he told the Pharisees and the Scribes that the Kingdom would be taken away from them and given to a people that will produce its fruits. The same message applies to us today if we do nothing to spread the Kingdom of God. THANK YOU!!!: I thank the organizing Committee, the sponsors, the vendors and all the volunteers who worked hard to make our St. Joe Fall festival a success. It is a community building event which brings people together. Therefore it is worth the hard work. Thank you and God bless you and your families. BLESSED ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN: This weekend we take a break from the study of the theology of the Eucharist and concentrate on the Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen whose beatification Mass took place on September 24, 2026 in the Dome at the America’s Center, St. Louis, Missouri as 50,000 Catholics took part in it. He was given the title ‘Blessed’ during the Ceremony of the Beatification which is one step closer to being declared a saint. Let us take a brief look at his life. He was born on May 8, 1895 to a farming couple Newton and Delia Sheen in El Paso, Illinois. As an altar boy at the age of 8, Fulton sheen received a prophetic blessing from the Bishop John L. Spalding of Peoria diocese. The story is that When Bishop Spalding was celebrating the Mass, the altar boy Fulton Sheen dropped a wine cruet. After the Mass, Bishop Spalding spoke to the frightened boy and made two bold prophecies about him. The first, that Fulton Sheen would one day study at Louvain in Belgium; second, that he would someday become a Bishop. As a teenager, Sheen went to high school in Spalding Institute, Peoria, Illinois. As a young man, he attended St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and was ordained to the holy Priesthood on September 20,1919. Two years later he went to pursue advanced study in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. There was the first prophecy of Bishop Spalding fulfilled. After his return from Belgium, Father Fulton Sheen taught Philosophy and Religion at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. for 23 years. It was there that he excelled as a Professor, writer and orator. He also did radio broadcasting called ‘The Catholic hour’ through which he eloquently explained the catholic doctrines. On June 11, 1951, Father Fulton J. Sheen was consecrated a Bishop. Thus the second prophecy of Bishop Spalding came true. Bishop Sheen took part in the second Vatican Council where he impressed the future Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI with his eloquent talks. In 1966 he was appointed the Bishop of Rochester, New York. Having resigned from that responsibility in 1969, Bishop Sheen spent the rest of his life in preaching and praying. Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of the Titular See of Newport, Wales. He was acclaimed as a great evangelist thanks to his television series ‘Life is worth living’, and a number of inspirational articles and books. In the midst of his fame, Archbishop Sheen never forgot to make his daily ‘holy hour’ in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We give Thanks to God for the inspiring life of Blessed Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “ This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” . ( Psalm 118:24 ) From time to time we hear the phrase ‘ If you love someone, prove it’. Another common phrase is ‘ Actions speak louder than words’. In the gospel of Matthew 21:28-32 for this 26th Sunday in Ordinary time, Our Lord told us the parable of a father with two sons. When the father asked the sons to do a task, the first son said ‘No’ at first, but repented and changed his mind and did that work. The second son said ‘yes’ but never cared to do what his father asked him to do. The message for all of us is if we love God, we do His Will which is doing our daily duties faithfully. ST. JOE FALL FESTIVAL: I ask all of you to please invite your family and friends to come and enjoy the St. Joe Fall festival organized by our Church on our Church Campus here in Dade City, FL, on Saturday, October 3, 2026 from 9 am - 3 pm. THE PASCHAL MYSTERY: Usually we hear priests and deacons talk about the Paschal Mystery during the season of Lent as we approach the Holy Week. The Paschal Mystery means the Passion, death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. It begins on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper where the Lord instituted the holy Eucharist, his agony in the garden, Carrying of the Cross, Crucifixion, death on the Cross and finally his glorious Resurrection on the third day. In our understanding of the theology of the Eucharist, Paschal Mystery stands at the Center of it. The Catechism of Catholic Church, number 571 says: “The Paschal Mystery of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection stands at the Center of the Good News that the Apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God’s saving plan was accomplished “once for all” by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ”. The temple priests used to slaughter the poor lambs on the altar in the sanctuary of the temple and sprinkle their blood over the people as a gesture of the remission of their sins even though the blood of the animals had no power to forgive sins. That was part of the old Passover. At the time of our Lord, the people who witnessed the Crucifixion of our Lord returned to their homes beating their breasts thinking that it was a Roman execution. The place where our Lord was crucified (Golgotha or Calvary) was outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Digging deeper, the Church Fathers and Biblical Scholars had viewed the Crucifixion of Jesus not as a Roman execution but as the Sacrifice of the new Passover of the new Covenant which started in the upper room at the Last Supper when the Lord instituted the holy Eucharist giving himself willingly to us as the Lamb of God under the appearance of Bread and wine. Therefore at Calvary when the Lord was crucified, he offered himself freely as the Priest and the Victim. Thus in the new Passover of the new Covenant, there is no need for an animal to be slaughtered. The Lord Jesus by willingly dying for us on the Cross became the Lamb of God whose Blood has the Power to forgive our sins. From the death of Jesus on the Cross as the Completion of the new Passover Sacrifice of the new Covenant to the glorious Resurrection on the third day is the paschal Mystery we celebrate in every Mass as the Sacrament. The risen Lord who was seen by the Apostles before he went to heaven is present in the holy Mass. That’s why the holy Mass and the Paschal Mystery are integrally connected. I truly believe that the continuous Celebration of the Eucharist which is the Sacrifice of the new Passover of the new Covenant until He returns, will indeed transform the world as we wait for his second Coming. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine
