Dear Brothers and Sisters,

One of the truly dramatic scenes in Sacred Scripture is when one of the temple guards strikes Our Lord on the cheek and Jesus did not strike back. Jesus simply asked, "why did you hit me?" (Jn 18:23)

Our Lord does not resist to the evil person. This does not mean Jesus is a doormat to be walked on. Jesus speaks to His attacker because He wants that man's conversion. In the same way, Our Lord invites us to do good not only to lovable people, but even to the unlovable. Every one of us has been unlovable at times. God knows our every thought, motive and action - and He continues to care for each of us. Jesus' example of forgiving those responsible for humiliating and torturing Him shows us the way. Those people responsible for humiliating and torturing Him are you and me.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

To be Christian is to love God. To follow Christ requires us to live and act and believe a certain way. God is very clear about obeying His commandments. Our Lord reminds us of the importance of these commandments when He says, "Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Part of keeping Our Lord's commandments involves serving and loving our brothers and sisters in need. So, who are our brothers and sisters in need? Everybody! Everyone needs love. We express God's love through serving one another. This is important because doing good for others especially the poor and vulnerable reminds us of who we are as God's children. WE are poor and WE are vulnerable. God has saved us from death through Jesus' perfect sacrifice. Any good we do for others is only because of the goodness of God who has loved us first. Apart from God, we are incapable of loving others. Apart from God, we will do nothing good for others. GOD IS GOOD and GOD IS LOVE.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Each year we are given the chance to Share the Light of Christ. Through the annual Charity and Development Appeal you are able to make a difference in many people's lives. Here are some ways you can make a difference:

Your gift to the CDA supports over 70 community and charitable organizations that assist individuals and families in need or in crisis. These organizations provide an open door to improve the lives of thousands of people across 4 Arizona counties (Mohave, Maricopa, Coconino and Yavapai). The CDA serves the needs of local communities beyond the boundaries of any one parish. As a result more people are served across communities as well as within parishes.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This Saturday (February 8), we celebrate the Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita who was canonized in 1992. She was born into a prestigious family in 1869 in the Sudanese region of Darfur. Her father was the brother of the village chief. A loving family of three brothers and three sisters surrounded her and she lived a happy, carefree life.

So imagine this happening in your family. Sometime between the ages of 7 and 9, Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped from her home by Arab slave traders who had already kidnapped her elder sister two years earlier. Forced to walk barefoot for 600 miles, she was purchased and resold three additional times into slavery. So traumatized by her abduction, she forget her own name and was named Bakhita (Arabic for lucky) and was forcibly converted to Islam.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

January 22nd marked the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision called, "Roe v. Wade." With this decision by our Supreme Court, all legal protection for unborn children was severely diminished if not taken away completely. Since that time, millions of girls and young women have undergone procedures that intentionally destroyed their own children. We pray for their healing and we do not judge them. Few people understand the various pressures that led them to such a decision.

While it may be tempting to judge another person for their actions, Our Lord offers us a holy option. The way a person chooses to live impacts those around them for good or for bad. When we seek holiness, others are drawn closer to God. When we choose to live in sin, our decisions can hurt those around us. Of course everyone fails to make good decisions at times. Our Lord calls us to be honest with our failings and to repent. When a person repents, that person gives himself or herself more completely to the Lord. This will move others to repent and to seek God's mercy as well. Although we are not personally responsible for the bad decisions of others, our life and our decisions - for better or worse - do affect others.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We at St. Joan of Arc Preschool are making plans for the start of a new school year. Already the classrooms are beginning to fill up with eager students ready to learn about God and the things of God. We offer a variety of classes based on the age of your child, along with a Before Care/After Care/Lunch Bunch program that extends the day from 7AM-2:30PM for working families:

Mini 3's (T & Th) 9am-12pm… the child must turn 3 by 12/31 and is fully potty-trained prior to the first day of school.
3 Year olds (M & W & F) 9am-12pm… the child must be 3 by 9/1.
Mini 4's (T & W & Th) 9am-12pm… the child must be 4 by 12/31.
Pre-K (M-Th) 9am-1:30pm… the child must be 4 by 9/1.
Pre-K (M-F) 9am-1:30pm…the child must be 4 by 9/1.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In today's Gospel, we hear a strange conversation between Our Lord and John the Baptist. It is strange because John called people to repentance, to turn away from sin and turn to God. Jesus had no sins. Jesus is the Savior. Jesus doesn't need to repent, and, therefore, He has no need to be baptized. And yet, Our Lord shows up by the river and gets in line anyway. John sees him and objects, but Jesus insists on taking His place right beside the rest of the sinners.

This is exactly what Our Lord does for us at every Mass. Whenever we receive Holy Communion, we are receiving God himself as our nourishment. Our Lord could not be any closer to us than He is in Holy Communion. He desires to take His place right with us!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany. What exactly is an epiphany? Some would say that it is a sudden, profound realization of something important; a breakthrough; a deep and profound understanding of something once mysterious. The Church uses the term to describe God as being made manifest in Jesus Christ. On Christmas we focused on Jesus' humanity. On Epiphany we turn our attention to Christ's divinity. We pause here today, just like the wise men, to pay this Divine Child homage and adoration as only a true King deserves. Next week we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, a dramatic leap forward in Jesus' life when we celebrate the initiation of Jesus' public ministry.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Mary and Joseph did everything they could do to protect the Christ child. They had already had to deal with so many hardships. The Holy Family then has to leave everything and move to a foreign country to avoid the king, who wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus is just a week old and already there is trouble. Surely there was another way. Couldn't God have somehow just "taken care of Herod? Why did the Holy Family have to suffer so much!

I think most of us have asked ourselves the same question especially when there is a family crisis or a tragedy. It can be a real test of our faith that comes when we come face to face with some sort of injustice or undeserved illness, some crisis in our family -- an unexpected death, an accident, someone slanders us, our health or we lost our job. It can be very easy to feel like God has forgotten about us. In those dark moments, we can fund ourselves asking the question again: why was this necessary?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent. Because so many of us will be traveling over Christmas, I want to take this opportunity, on behalf of our parish staff, to wish all of you a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Over the next few days, we will be wrapping up our Christmas preparations—decorating, buying and wrapping presents, sending cards, and baking. Of course we must remember the most important preparation of all… spiritual ones.

One thing we could all pray for are the visitors coming to our parish. Each Christmas, our churches are filled with visitors who come to pray before the Manger; go to confession; and experience the beauty of the Catholic liturgy.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are called to expect the Lord's return at any second. We are called to be joyful about it. Do you have joy in your heart?

This Sunday is the Third Sunday of Advent. It is also known as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath. Gaudete means to rejoice. It's as if the lightening of the color from purple to the lighter rose should be reflected in our attitudes. Our Lord is inviting us to rejoice!

You might be surprised to know that the Advent season is a season that calls us to fasting and penance. Fasting and penance are ways to prepare our hearts and minds as we lead up to the feast of our Savior's birth. The whole season of Advent reminds us of the joy that is to come. It is also a 'break' that gives us a chance to recall the hope we have because of the coming of Jesus.

From December 9-12, the American Church celebrates the appearances of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe in present-day Mexico City. It was during these days in 1531 that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego. The Virgin Mary appeared 5 times as a sign of God's mercy and love, most fully and perfectly expressed in the conception of God the Son in her womb.

On December 12, 1531, the local bishop, Juan de Zumarrága, asked Juan for proof that Mary had appeared. In a later encounter, Our Lady asked Juan Diego to gather roses from the hilltop (where roses are not common, especially during winter). He did, collecting them in his cloak or tilma. Later, opening the cloak in the presence of the bishop, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was discovered to be imprinted on the tilma itself.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The word Advent means coming, and the season prepares us to celebrate the coming of Our Blessed Savior. Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical year for the Roman Catholic Church. On the first day of Advent, which begins this year on December 1st, the Church celebrates its New Year's Day. The date for the beginning of Advent falls each year on the Sunday closest to November 30th - the feast day of Saint Andrew the Apostle.

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that Advent is part of the Christmas celebration. In fact, Advent is a separate time of preparation all its own. For the Catholic Church, Christmas doesn't begin until the first Mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve and it continues until the "Octave of the Epiphany" which occurs on January 14th.