In this week’s Pastor’s Corner, we are hopeful of the prospect of how the remedy of Christ’s healing ministry can also bring us to a higher place in allowing us to remove any spiritual blinders that cause our spirit to be dismayed or in conflict, blind and unable to be open to God’s voice. It is with that inspiration that I am grateful for the commentaries of those who often share how they benefit from these weekly reflections. So many of you have shared how in the darkness of our moments, the words shared resonate and heal your spirit. There will always be negative energy when humans are concerned, as sad as that is, because not everyone is capable of seeing like the blind man saw, because we are broken and flawed, like those in Jesus’ day that did not have the ears to hear. The silver lining in the clouds is that some actually do hear and receive and see the goodness of the Lord in all things and live out their lives illuminated by God’s Divine Love, which makes all the difference.

Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well is seeped with meaning.

We have here an encounter that would not be otherwise, because the sects of Jews in those days did not mingle, and Samaritans were outsiders, as well the fact that Jesus sits a while with this woman, whose heart is broken, and whose soul is wounded, after all she’s had multiple relationships with men, and is spiritually empty, she even more so draws from the source itself, Jesus, sitting a spell with Him, and taking in His every word.

Dear Parish Family,

Here we are the Second Sunday of Lent and are drawn to consider the themes of ascending and transcending. We find ourselves with Jesus, Peter, James, and John atop a mountain, Mount Tabor to be exact to witness the transformation of Jesus, as He appears in dazzling white.

This is an amazing prospect really because we bear witness to the transfiguration, and that the disciples with Jesus now see Jesus in a new way, and a new light. The vision shows Jesus associated with the likes of Elijah and Moses, and so His identity and mission become more clear to those three disciples, who when they descend the mountain bring that knowledge and mission of Christ to life.

Dear Parish Family,

A Blessed Lenten Season to all. I pray we all come out on the other side changed for the good, more joyful in the Lord, more loving, charitable, and forgiven. The Season of Lent has formally arrived. Pick your game plan and follow it. Confession should be first on everyone's list. Make it happen.

It never ceases to amaze me, that out of all of the holy days during the year, Ash Wednesday continues to attract the crowds it does, and it's not even a holy day of obligation. What is it, about Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent? Why do people fill our churches to the brim, and are excited to gather just so they can get dirt on their head? It's an amazing phenomenon that every year, some churches run out of ashes! This is something to contemplate because it holds the key as to how we will choose to mark this season as a special time set aside to move deeper into the converted life.

Dear Parish Family,

Here we go again, Sacred Scripture, and a Gospel message deeply seeped in some practicalities for living like a Christian. This isn’t intended just to get on everyone’s case. It’s not meant to be a badgering session, but simply a wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee moment. Take in the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of coffee—even if coffee isn’t for you, one has to admit the aroma is delightful! How may we consider changing our minds unless we are awakened? Can you imagine that the Word of God is meant to challenge us? It’s meant to inspire us for sure, yet at times it is also meant to correct us.

Dear Parish Family,

Show me Love, Show me Compassion, Show me Kindness, Show me Faith, Show me Hope, Show me Peace.

Jesus’ final commandment deals only with LOVE—to love another, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to love our enemies! You got it, Jesus demands that we love our enemies. What if those same enemies are related to us in some way by way of family, community, or on the job, or even within a community of faith?

Dear Parish Family,

May God’s continued blessings be upon you and yours. It is hard to believe that Lent is fast approaching. We have great plans for this coming Lent to help us move more inward, to allow the season to be a time of preparation and repentance.

Dear Parish Family,

Can you imagine going through life day in and day out, waiting for our ship to come in, anticipating the abundance of what is to come? God’s surplus of a bountiful harvest, His provision, our thirst quenched, our hunger satisfied. We all long for the spirit of prosperity, the spirit of abundance, abundance of blessings, that is.

This is the state we find the disciples of Jesus in as their nets are sunk deep in the lake, hoping and waiting for a good catch. Well before they left their nets on the shore to follow Him, they trusted Jesus. After almost giving up, they did as He asked and cast their nets again. They were disappointed and worried because they caught nothing. Jesus changed the outcome in an instant, so much that the nets were filled to the brim and they nearly sank their boat pulling them in. We find these ordinary fishermen tired, frustrated, angry, disgusted with the toil of their labor, and failing to turn up anything—until the Lord intervenes.

Dear Parish Family,

I pray the New Year has been off to a good start. It has been for us as staff, as we manage to continue to achieve some of our goals and tasks in creating our new confessional, hand-crafted by our own Felipe Ruiz. The confessional is a lovely addition, creating the perfect ambiance. We were blessed to receive some much-needed moisture this week, and the beautiful light blanket of snow made for a poetic setting around the parish grounds of St. Catherine Laboure.

How Are You A Conduit of Good News?

Today’s Gospel is meant to inspire in us the reality of how we are connected to living the gospel and magnify the presence of Christ in the world through one another. We are challenged to take a long hard look into our hearts and purify them clean with good will.

Dear Parish Family,

Today’s Gospel gives us an account of Jesus’s first miracle turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

This miracle is important because it teaches us that with God there always is an appointed time for all things. How many of us realize this with the inner workings of our own lives?

Dear Parish Family,

There soon will be four avenues of communication used regularly to convey our message--the bulletin, the announcements, the digital marquee, and our soon to launch brand new engaging parish website. These are the only formal means of parish communication.

Our new confessional is in. It is working out nicely. The confessional box is a centuries-old way of providing appropriate space for the sacrament to be conducted.

Dear Parish Family,

Rejoice Gaudete Sunday This third Sunday of Advent we turn the corner toward the coming of Christmas. Our glimmer of hope has pierced the darkness, and we are filled with JOY. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life, we forget that it is in the simplest moments that we become replenished and our hope is restored.

Dear Parish Family,

The Divine Remedy is Love! ❤️❤️

The holy season of Advent in meaning is a combination of understandings that celebrate the reality of the First Advent the Nativity of the Lord, and the Second Advent anticipating the Second Coming.

Dear Parish Family,

First Sunday of Advent

The Advent Season is a time of rebirth in our faith as we return to the spiritual womb, where we joyfully anticipate our coming forth. It is here that we sit a while in darkness, only to relish in the return of the light. These darkest days of the year, are symbolic of our journey within, to a place of joy and solitude. Holy solitude is a welcoming place, because it is a time to be alone in the Lord, in a place of sacred silence. It is in the darkness of the womb, that we become strengthened and nourished, turning with every seasonal shift as the Winter Solstice unfolds keeping rhythm and time in step with Emmanuel God with us. The heart of the Advent message is that though we are enveloped in darkness, we are drawn to God’s wonderful light, and that his light is an awakened encounter, causing us to contemplate this holy anticipation of his coming into the world 2000 years ago, and his return in glory. Stay vigilant, prepare yourself, pay attention for we know not the hour. We crave the light more than ever, as we desire to live in truth, and how in the expectation of his coming, we ask ourselves, will we be ready?