CATHEDRAL OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Altoona, PA is a welcoming and compassionate community of believers striving to grow as God’s people.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we offer lifelong faith formation for children, youth, and adults; and we live out Christ’s invitation to serve our sisters and brothers.
We gather to worship in prayer and song and invite all to joyfully participate in word and sacrament, especially the Eucharist.
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN THE CITY OF ALTOONA, PA SINCE 1851.
SUPPORTING THE MINISTRIES OF CATHEDRAL PARISH
By clicking on the Get Involved link, you will find valuable information on how to make a financial donation to the Cathedral. The weekly offertory, the annual Catholic Ministries Drive, Bequests, and contributions to our Endowments are ways by which the blessings God has given to you become a blessing to the parish.
PRAYER FOR THE NEW POPE
O God, who in your providential design willed that your Church be built upon blessed Peter, whom you set over the other Apostles, look with favor, we pray, on Leo XIV our Pope and grant that he, whom you have made Peter’s successor, may be for your people a visible source and foundation of unity in faith and of communion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. Excerpt from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010 International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.
DAILY MASSES
Monday-Saturday-Noon
WEEKEND MASSES
Vigil, Saturday at 5:00 P.M.
Sunday Masses at 8:00 A.M., 10:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.
Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Church at 11:30 A.M.
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
Wednesday at 7:00 P.M.
Saturday: at 12:30 P.M.
By appointment: by calling or texting 814-937-8240
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 18, 2025
GOSPEL MEDITATION
O Jesus, you are the eternal High Priest, the Good Shepherd, the Source of life. Through the singular generosity of Your most sensitive heart, You have given us our priests for the purpose of fulfilling in us that plan of sanctification which Your grace in-spires in our hearts. We beg You come to their aid with Your merciful assistance.
O Jesus, may they possess faith which energizes their actions, Hope which is unshakable in trials, And charity which permeates their endeavors. Through their constant meditation, may your word, Which is an outpouring of eternal wisdom, Become the everlasting nourishment of their interior life; And may their con-duct and suffering reflect the example of Your life and Passion, So as to serve for our instruction, and as a beacon of consolation in our sorrows.
O Lord, grant that our priests be detached from all worldly interests, and labor only for Your glory. With a pure conscience may they persevere in their duties faithfully until their dying breath. And when death has claimed their bodies, and they place back into Your hands the account of their faithful stewardship, May they enjoy in You, Lord Jesus, their divine teacher on earth, the everlasting reward of the crown of justice in the splendor of the Saints.
–Father John Muir
EVERYDAY STEWARDSHIP
Today’s readings on this Fifth Sunday of Easter contain inspiring but challenging messages for us Christian stewards. The Gospel from John includes the well-known verse: “My children… I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” What a succinct description of a stewardship way of life: “love one another as I have loved you.” It sounds so simple, but simple does not necessarily mean easy.
Living a life of service and self-sacrifice is not easy because it requires us to continuously fight against our selfish inclinations. But the more we empty ourselves of “self” by serving others, the more room we make in our hearts for God to pour His grace into us. Amazingly, the more we give our lives away to others, the more He fills us up with Himself who is love it-self.
As we face the hardships that come with living as Christian stewards, we can continue to rejoice in the wonder of the Resurrection this Easter season, finding great joy in following in our Lord’s footsteps and in loving as He loves.
2025 Catholic Stewardship Consultants
PRACTICING CATHOLIC – RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS
I once wrote an article about several women residents of a local nursing home. In researching the piece, I discovered that they had grown up in the same neighborhood as my grandmother, and that one of the
women was, in fact, my grandmother’s dearest childhood friend. When I visited this woman to take her photograph, she took a long look at my face, and I could see in her eyes that she was reaching back in her memory
across the years.
She said: “You resemble her.” I wept on the way home. My grandmother died when I was nine, and for the last several years of her life she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. I have always deeply grieved the time we
lost, the relationship we could have had. I have hazy fragments of memory from before her illness that lead me to believe we loved each other very much.
Being told I look like my grandmother by someone who knew her well — being identified as belonging to her in some way — was one of the more beautiful things to happen to me. When we love someone, we want to be associated
with them. We want to be recognized as theirs somehow. And if we love Christ, we should want to be known as belonging to him. We should want those who see us to know we are his.
The only way we can resemble Jesus is through love. It is his most recognizable quality, his most famous trait. This is how all will know that you are my disciples. As Catholics, we are always talking about finding ways
to live our faith boldly, unapologetically, publicly. Good — we should! But if we want people to know we are Catholic, we should love them. Bravely. Recklessly. Sacrificially.
As he loves us.
– Colleen Jurkiewicz Dorman