Dear Friends,

A very happy Divine Mercy Sunday to you! What a beautiful gift of the Church that we can devote this Second Sunday of Easter to celebrating God’s mercy. Whether we realize it or not his mercy has been present from the moment of our baptism, when God first invited us into His family and gave us the grace of truly calling Him “Father”. This has been his invitation from baptism, that we would recognize that God is not distant, but desires to be in relationship with us as a father is to his children.

Dear Friends,

Jesus Christ is Risen! Our journey through Lent has reached its endpoint, this glorious Easter Sunday. This is the day that Jesus continually speaks of in the gospels as He referenced the need for the Son of Man to die, but on the third day rise. When He told the disciples this after the Transfiguration, St. Mark tells us that they asked each other what "rising from the dead" could mean (Mk 9:9-10). This is the day that brings clarity to the confusion the disciples felt and in a very real sense to our own confusion.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On this Palm Sunday we have begun the Holy Week in which we celebrate the sacred mysteries of our salvation by Christ's final days on earth. Today we start with his triumphant entrance into the Jerusalem. The solemn procession at the beginning of Mass is re-enacted by us through the sacramental of blessed palms carried by us, the beloved children of God.

The Lenten season concludes this Thursday and the Easter Triduum begins. The Mass of the Lord's Supper is celebrated on the evening of Thursday at 7:00 PM (Bilingual) followed by Eucharistic Adoration at an altar of repose until midnight. In this liturgy, Christ takes his disciples into the upper room for the Passover. Then we accompany him to the garden of Gethsemane and then we follow him to his bitter passion.

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is a great joy for me to introduce myself to all of you. My name is Father Dan Connealy and for the past three years I have served as a priest in Flagstaff, Arizona at San Francisco de Asis parish and Holy Trinity Catholic Newman Center on the campus of NAU. I am very grateful and humbled that Bishop Olmsted has appointed me Parochial Administrator of this wonderful parish.

I was born and raised in Phoenix. I am the 6th of 8 children, three of my brothers and sisters still live here in the Valley. Growing up at Most Holy Trinity parish, I attended elementary school there through 8th grade. I then attended Shadow Mountain for high school where I played baseball, basketball, and swimming. After graduating I went to the University of Pittsburgh on a swimming scholarship. It was in Pittsburgh that I first began to seriously discern a call to the priesthood. The Newman Center there had a perpetual adoration chapel which I was able to stop in at before going to swim practice. In the silence there I felt the Lord's continued invitation to consider the priesthood. After two years in Pittsburgh I left to enter the seminary.

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

"Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning…" These words are taken from the Entrance Antiphon for Laetare Sunday also known as the Fourth Sunday of Lent.

This Sunday during Lent calls the Church to rejoice and to be joyful. Joy has been my experience throughout my time as your pastor. The people of St. Joan of Arc Parish have shared your hopes and dreams as well as your disappointments and sorrows. We have laughed and cried together. You have seen my weaknesses and limitations. You have always been patient and you have shown me love and appreciation. Through it all, you have taught me how to be a pastor.

I am grateful for the many ways you blessed my life. I take with me so many wonderful memories and blessings. We have prayed many prayers together. We have celebrated new life together as we celebrated the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, First Holy Communion, Reconciliation, Marriage, and Anointing of the Sick. You have let me a part of your families and welcomed me into your homes. You have allowed me to serve you as your priest and as your pastor. I am most grateful to have been your spiritual father and I tried to share to love of Jesus Christ with you.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Many of you know about the Charity and Development Appeal, the CDA. It is our one annual appeal that supports so many in our community. What you may not know is that the CDA is often the basis for many of our organizations who help seniors, the homeless, those who have lost jobs, women who have been abused and of course, families in crisis.

The CDA is love and faith in action. Through the Charity and Development Appeal, your gift will go farther and help more people. It can help more than one parish, more than one program and more than one agency. If you have already completed a pledge or made a gift online, thank you for your support!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Many faithful Catholics are waking up to the reality that we are in a spiritual war - and every moment we are either falling under Satan's power or growing in our relationship with Christ. The culture of death is real. The stakes are high. Issues like alcohol and drug abuse; contraception, abortion, abuse, pornography and cohabitation are destroying families.

Our Lord knows that we all turned against God in some way. He wants to free each one of us. Jesus offers us a way to begin again by way of the cross. As the Scrutiny prayer says: "by the cross Jesus defeats Satan, the source of sin and death."

As we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I invite you to pray his exorcism prayer. It is called the Breastplate of St. Patrick. By offering this prayer, we are putting on armor to protect us from Satan.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Have you ever asked God to give you another chance? Your day has come… (actually 40 days). That is also the point of Lent— God gives us another opportunity to seek His mercy and experience His love. Maybe you need this Lent in a way we have not needed Lent before. Here is a simple way to look at repentance: Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?

Who is in need of repentance? That would be everyone! We all need to change some patterns of behavior, some bad attitudes, some bad habits… though maybe not entirely. Who are you in God's eyes? Who has God made you to be? Who do you need to turn toward to be forgiven? Who do you need to forgive?

What do you need to repent of? What behaviors or attitudes get in the way of your peace? What is weighing heavy on your heart? What thoughts plague your mind? What sort of things do you spend your time doing that are preventing you from moving closer to God and who He made you to be?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Lenten Season begins on Ash Wednesday, March 6, 2019. On Ash Wednesday, St. Joan of Arc parish will offer a 6:30am Mass, Confession from 7:00am – 8:25am, 8:30am Mass, a 12:00pm Liturgy of the Word and Confession from 5:30pm – 5:55pm, 6:00pm Mass in Spanish. Everyone who comes to Mass or the noonday Liturgy of the Word will receive ashes on their foreheads. The symbolism is powerful. The ashes are reminders that each one of us came from dust and will return to dust one day. The ashes on our foreheads are in the shape of a cross. Wearing this sign on our foreheads proclaims to others "I live for Christ".

For non-Christians, the Lenten season means nothing. But those who would like to grow in their relationship with Our Lord, Lent is a time to offer personal sacrifices by giving something up like a favorite food, doing greater works of charity, and praying more intently.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Being a disciple of Our Lord Jesus can be tough. He does offer some very difficult teachings; It can be a challenge even for the most devout Catholic to follow Our Lord and His teachings. This Sunday we hear some of the most difficult teachings of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Our faith involves believing in God which means having a relationship with Him. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Sadly, many people (even people who call themselves Catholics) say they don't believe in God at all.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the downhearted and rejected. The message in today's Gospel reminds us to act with compassion. Be the Love that Gives Hope with your gift to the Charity and Development Appeal (CDA). Your gift, big or small, will make a difference in the lives of many people.

For those who have not yet made a pledge, please do so today! These programs and services reach beyond the boundaries of any one parish to all of our community. Support works of mercy in our Diocese. Make a pledge, fill out your donor card today or donate online at dphx.org/CDA, and be an instrument of God's love and mercy through your gift to the CDA.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Sadly, the unwillingness to offer real sacrifices and the lack of true love has led many people to believe that life is disposable. This tragic way of thinking has impacted our world in many negative ways i.e., marriages, families, workplaces, government, the economy, communities and even the Church.

It is so easy to become puffed up with pride and a false sense of self-reliance; many selfishly choose their own path; many seek to maximize personal pleasure and avoid giving of themselves in sacrificial love to others and therefore miss the beauty of God's creation all together.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The New York state legislature voted Tuesday on legislation to allow the so called "fundamental right" to abortion in state law and eliminate protections for preborn babies until birth. The bill asserts that "Every individual who becomes pregnant has the fundamental right to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child, or to have an abortion." The bill also erases the state's recognition of preborn babies older than 24 weeks as potential homicide victims, removes abortion from the penal code entirely, and allows licensed health practitioners other than full doctors to commit abortions.