Happy Sunday!

I pray everyone has had a good week. This week we continue to hear from the First Letter of St. John. It begins, “Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” St. John has a wonderful simplicity in his writing. The love the Father bestows on us is making us His children. St. John adds very simply, “Yet so we are.” Almost as if anticipating how remarkable such a statement is. It is not open to debate, it is merely that. We are God’s children, no arguing. Sometimes it’s difficult to really understand this. We can hear over and over again that we are God’s children and yet not “feel” it or experience it. One good spiritual practice is to simply sit with this truth. Maybe to ask God in prayer what it means that you are His child. In the silence of prayer God can speak to us and give us a deeper understanding of the love He has bestowed on us.

We often act out of ignorance. Armed with the best of intentions, we think we are seeing clearly and correctly, but we are not. We don’t always understand the full meaning of things and only perceive part of the truth. Hence, our judgments and actions can be impaired by myopic, incomplete or erroneous perceptions. The meaning of life, understanding of human experience, and negotiating life’s challenges can all become skewed without proper understanding and vision. The resurrection of Christ is the corrective to our incomplete and limited view of life. Looking at things with the eyes of faith brings a depth of clarity and understanding to how we see God, ourselves, others, and the world.

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday! Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to the Easter season. I have not written a bulletin letter in a while and want to express my thanks to everyone who made Lent and Holy Week such a wonderful success. We have a great staff here who continually gives of themselves as well as incredible volunteers! Thank you to everyone; you are all a great gift to me and the parish.

Happy Palm Sunday!

This weekend we commemorate Our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week. One of the great gifts I’ve had is to spend time in Jerusalem; this was probably about 6 six years ago at Christmas time. The old city of Jerusalem has narrow streets and is very crowded and noisy. I can only imagine the same was the case in the time of Jesus. His entrance of great joy, causing everyone to sing, “Hosanna!”, would have been quite remarkable. And yet, we know what will happen. Those who welcome Jesus with joy will have their voices drowned out by the Jewish leaders in a matter of days. The Lord freely submits himself to all of those for our good. He submits himself to what might seem to be the great hypocrisy of the crowd for love of us. As we begin this Holy Week we are invited to walk with Jesus each day. I would very much encourage you to read the daily gospel each day and enter into the scenes with Jesus.

Happy Sunday!

This weekend we celebrate the Third Scrutiny in preparation for our catechumens to be baptized, confirmed, and receive Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil. Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare to be welcomed into the Church. We are grateful to God for them! This Friday will be our last Stations of the Cross in the main Church at 7pm. Please join us for this wonderful Lenten practice. Last week we published the schedule for the Triduum liturgies in the bulletin. Please refer back to that for a list of times for confessions and liturgies.

Happy Sunday!

There are a lot of things to be thankful for right now. So much of that is because of you and your desire to let the Lord work in our parish. First, I hope everyone has been enjoying our Lenten mission with Fr. Vietor, “Your Lenten Exodus”. If you have not seen any of the videos please check out our parish website where we have posted each part of the mission. This weekend we sent nearly 30 of our high school students on retreat. Thank you for keeping them in prayer. We are grateful for Mary Lynch and the wonderful work she has been doing with the teens as well as the core team which so generously offers their time each week for the teens.

A pregnant woman was walking in the store and met an old friend. Her friend exclaimed, “You are absolutely beaming!” The new life God placed in her womb radiated throughout her body. It was brightly visible on her face and in her eyes. Transformation and change usually happen from the inside out. It is very rare that simply imposing structure from the outside does any good. Yes, it is true that routines and habits can change when things are done differently. But, for this change to last there has to be an interior renewal and metamorphosis as well. Simply regulating behavior and bringing someone into conformity with accepted protocols doesn’t mean their heart and soul come with them.

Happy Sunday!

This Sunday’s first reading is taken from Genesis 22 where we hear the marvelous account of Abraham following God’s command to sacrifice Issac on a mountain in the land of Moriah. As Abraham lifts his hand to sacrifice Isaac he is stopped by the angel of God. Because of his obedience God blesses Abraham in abundance with descendants as numerous as the stars. In the Gospel we find another mountain but on this one we hear the account of the Transfiguration. We move from the sacrifice of Abraham’s beloved son to the glorification of God’s beloved Son.

Happy Sunday!

We have begun the great season of Lent, the “campaign of Christian service”, as the Church so wonderfully calls it. It is a “campaign of Christian service” because in these 40 days we live even more intentionally the vocation of what it means to be Christian. That is, we live devoted to fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. Fasting so that our bodies may be deprived for a little while of nourishment or delicacy so that we may yearn more for Jesus Christ alone. Prayer, so that we can enter more deeply into our relationship with the living God, which we hope to share forever in Heaven. Almsgiving, because no one is a Christian alone. The plight of our brothers and sisters is our plight as well, and so we offer alms in various ways during Lent to unite ourselves more closely to all Christians.

What is Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is a day of penance and fasting that begins the season of Lent. Every year Catholics remember and relive the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the miracles witnessed by the early Christian community. Lent is the period where we focus on Jesus’ call to conversion and giving ourselves to God, culminating in Jesus’ ultimate and forever sacrifice in his Passion.

Happy Sunday!

We are closing in on the liturgical season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is February 17th. We will have Mass at 6:30am, 8:30am, and 6pm. There will also be a liturgy of the Word service at 12:00pm with the distribution of ashes. This year, the Vatican has announced a different procedure for the distribution of ashes. Robert Cardinal Sarah, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, issued the decree that says the prayer, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return” is to be said once over the entire congregation. Then as people come up in line, ashes are to be sprinkled on the top of the head without saying anything.

If I only knew then what I know now, how different life would be. This sentiment, expressed in myriad ways, is found on every human being’s lips at one point or another. Life may have brought us to a vulnerable place where we see some of the poor choices we made and the effects they are having. Perhaps we fell into some destructive and dysfunctional relationships or behaviors and are finding how they held us captive. Our zeal and passion for life may have drifted away and we are waking up to the reasons apathy has taken hold.