My Dear Friends, Holy Week is here! The most important week of the year. And so I present you with a very simple question: how do you intend to spend this week? We cannot go about the activities of the next seven days as if it were just another week. The events of Holy Week …
Continue reading “April 2nd – Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord”
My Dear Friends, As we begin Passiontide and are two weeks away from Easter, I urge all of you to make a good Lenten confession, if you have not already done so, before Holy Thursday. Elsewhere in this bulletin, you will find the Holy Week Schedule plus a specialized schedule with all the times we …
My Dear Friends, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14) “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) I’ve got a problem with people who proclaim a God who punishes us for …
My Dear Friends, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done.” (John 4:29) She woke up that morning and went about her normal routine. The Samaritan woman went to draw water from the well not knowing that on that very day her life would be altered forever. We see how slowly but …
My Dear Friends, Excerpts from Father Manny’s Homily on The Temptations of Christ: “If you are the Son of God…” That is how the Tempter addresses Jesus in the first two temptations. How many times have we addressed Jesus in the same way that Satan does in the desert? “If you are the Son of …
My Dear Friends, If you have a sharp ear when you go to confession this Lent, you will notice a minor change to the Prayer of Absolution that the priest says at the end of confession. Don’t worry. This does not affect you and it only applies to the English prayer. Last year, the Conference …
My Dear Friends, “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44) This is such a difficult gospel. While it is indeed Good News, the gospel is not supposed to be easy. Jesus is going to challenge us, make us uncomfortable, all for the sake of purging from …
Continue reading “February 19th – VII Sunday in Ordinary Time”
My Dear Friends, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24) Why do we go to Mass? Is it habit, ritual, obligation, …
Continue reading “February 12th – VI Sunday in Ordinary Time”
My Dear Friends, Last year our parish celebrated 114 weddings! What a gift! Since this is one the biggest ministries we have as a parish, I thought it would be only right, as we celebrate National Marriage Week, to speak about the vocation to marriage and allow an old friend to assist me. When I …