My Dear Friends:

Our ministries are back in full force after a quiet, restful summer. Over the next two months, we have so many events and ministries starting up that we are honestly scrambling to find enough room in the bulletin to fit all these announcements. A very good problem to have as a parish. So many parishioners have come back from vacation ready to set the world on fire with the gospel. 

As we begin this new ministerial year, I invite all of the members of our ministries and all our parishioners on a small pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity (La Ermita de la Caridad) so that we may entrust our pastoral work this year to our Blessed Mother. Please mark your calendar: on Wednesday, September 4th at 8:00 p.m. we will be celebrating a Mass at La Ermita for our parish and for the success of all the ministries of Little Flower this coming year. 

Speaking of pilgrimages, next year is a Holy Year in the Catholic Church and the Holy Doors in the Papal Basilicas in Rome will be opened. We are hoping to soon announce a pilgrimage to Rome in 2025 so that we can walk through the Holy Doors and travel to the Eternal City. 

Finally, as I have been saying in Mass the last few weeks as we wrap our reading of the sixth chapter of John today, I encourage you to listen to or watch the talks given at last month’s Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. These are treasures of catechesis. Just go to YouTube and search “Eucharistic Congress,” and you will find that EWTN did an amazing job of curating all these talks. They will lift your soul and teach you things about the Mass that you did not know. What a better way to kick off the ministerial year than by diving deeper into our faith! 

God bless you all,