Welcome

October 13 to 24 with Fr. Briggs

Join Fr. Briggs from October 13th-24th, 2024, on a pilgrimage to Spain and Southern France. This pilgrimage is offered through ProRome Tours, and will travel in the footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Bernadette, and St. Teresa of Avila. Space is limited to 45 pilgrims, and is open to all. Visit the ProRome Website or scan the document below to register. 

Tuesdays through June 25

St. Philip parishioners can partake in a chronological journey of the Gospels. Based on a study by Father John Riley, retreat master and spiritual director at the diocesan San Damiano Retreat Center, participants will be provided with daily readings from all four Gospels in the order they occurred.

The study will run through June 25 with discussion meetings held every Tuesday night, after the 7 pm Mass in Room 4. You need not come to every meeting, its is not too late to join.

Contact the rectory or Suzanne Webb at suzannedwebb@hotmail.com for more details.

Bishop Burbidge invites you to the Diocesan Jubilee Fest at Warren County Fairgrounds in Front Royal, Virginia on Saturday, June 8, 2024! Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Diocese of Arlington with your parish family and thousands of faithful from across Northern Virginia.

Kick off the festival by giving thanks to God with the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, celebrated by Bishop Burbidge. Following Mass, enjoy live music by headliner Celtic rock band, Scythian. The event is free, but registration is required for free food. More details and registration details can be found here.

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is hard to believe that we are already over halfway through the Easter Season. While for some of us, it may seem as though Easter Sunday was a long time ago, for me, I feel like it was not long ago that I was preparing for the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Masses. April does fly by quickly, especially with the arrival of warmer weather.

In this Fifth Sunday of Easter, we come to the conclusion of our discussion of the Marks of the Church. Over the past three weeks, we have discovered that the Church is One, Holy, and Catholic, illustrating to us the unity found in the Church, the common destiny that the Church shares, and the universality of the Church that embraces all men and women across nations, races, and cultures. In this week, we ponder the final Mark, namely, that the Church is Apostolic.

What does this mean, we may ask? This Mark of the Church means that our Faith is based upon the foundation of the twelve apostles who were sent out by Jesus to preach the good news to the four corners of the world. Since all the apostles had personal knowledge of Jesus, we can be sure that the teaching they have given to us through their successors is the same teaching they received from God himself. By being united to the Apostles, we can be certain that our faith is the same faith that they held in their lives, and which they were willing to die for rather than renounce.

Some of us could ask, “Why do we have to remain connected to the Apostles? Can I just believe in Jesus without having my faith rely on these twelve men?” That is a very good question, and it is often asked by our Protestant brothers and sisters. However, as we see in the Gospels, Jesus gives authority to the Apostles on many occasions (Mt. 10:1-7, 28:18-20; Lk. 9:1-6; Jn. 20:21-23). This authority extends to not only to the power of curing the sick and working of miracles, but even to the forgiveness of sins and the binding and loosing of things in heaven and on earth (Mt. 16:18-19). Clearly, Jesus shares in his authority with these twelve men.

This authority that Jesus gives is not meant just for these twelve apostles, but also for their successors. When we look at the Acts of Apostles, we see that even before Pentecost, the Apostles wished to preserve the authority they had received from Jesus by choosing a new successor for Judas. Just like the soldiers who cast lots for Jesus’s robe on Calvary (Jn. 19:24), so too the twelve apostles, after much prayer and deliberation, cast lots to determine who would carry-on the teaching they had received. In the end, they chose Matthias, a man who had followed them from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (Acts 1:21-26). In this, we see that the apostles were given the task of preserving the teaching they had received from Jesus by appointing successors from among their followers.

In our present day, the Church remains apostolic by remaining loyal to the successors of the Apostles, namely the bishops of the world in union with the Pope. By remaining faithful to their teaching and tradition, and the teaching that we receive from Sacred Scripture, we can be assured that our faith is based upon Jesus and his closest followers.

May Christ’s Peace be with you,

Fr. Briggs