Happy Sunday!

It is so good to see the parish buzzing again! Mass attendance continues to increase. I want to extend a warm welcome to all of our new families. I have had the opportunity to meet many of you but know there are many more. We’re glad to have you join our St. Joan of Arc family!

Religious Education is well under way, Tuesday and Wednesday nights bring lots of life to the parish grounds! Verso l’Alto is also going and we had our largest group of teens at the kickoff night.

Happy Sunday!

Recently I ran across an article about St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It reminded me of a list that I saw while I was in college and had forgotten about. The list is 15 ways to cultivate humility. It was a list her sisters were familiar with and which I’ve found very helpful. Humility is sometimes a difficult virtue to understand. The most important thing I have learned about humility is that it is always grounded in truth. False humility is not grounded in the truth. As we strive to grow in humility it can be helpful to ask ourselves if a certain statement or action is rooted in truth. Humility does not lie about the truth or try to cover it up, but acknowledges the truth at appropriate or necessary moments. Here is the list from St. Mother Teresa. I hope and pray you find it useful.

Happy Sunday!

I am very excited to announce that we reached our matching gift! Thank you so much to everyone who signed up for recurring online gifts or who increased their gift. The Diocese of Phoenix informed me that we would receive the match of $27,060 in October. This is a wonderful accomplishment and we are very thankful for all of you in helping us reach this goal.

From the time we are born into this world until we die, our human radar picks up signals about how to respond to life. What we picked up on when we were very young carries an even greater power. The messages we receive and process tell us what we are “supposed” to do with our feelings, how to understand and cope with disappointment, anxiety, failure, death, illness, and what to expect out of life. As life unfolds for us, these radar messages kick in and resonate in us at very deep levels. Sometimes what we have learned is helpful and sometimes it is not. The stories we have been told, especially when we are young, about how life is best lived and how to negotiate its pain carry a heavy weight.

Dear Friends,

When the children were little it was called “nap time.” When they got a bit older it was called “quiet time,” and so it has been ever since. The idea is that everyone has to go to his or her room for at least an hour and do something quiet. On one level, we all just need a break from each other and from the noise of a busy house. For parents of little children, it breaks up the afternoon and gives the children a schedule. But even as the children get older, quiet time is important. Our college age children come home and ask, “When is quiet time?” They have learned to desire the peace and quiet; it has become a habit for them. I have said that if I were king of the world and could make it so, everyone would have to stop what they are doing and read a good book for at least one hour every day. This is because ultimately quiet time is good for all of us.