My Dear Friends,

We are a little bit past the halfway point of our refurbishment of the church. Things are, praise God, going very well with a lot of the painting being done around the sanctuary this week and needed structural work continuing at the choir loft. That is a very simplified version of all that was accomplished in refurbishing the church so far but all of this work got me thinking during prayer: if we are restoring to our church and making it like new for our centennial, what are we doing to refurbish, repair, and restore our hearts for our parish’s jubilee? So much work is being done inside our house of worship thanks to your generosity, but what are we doing as a community of faith to prepare our hearts for our centennial?

As your pastor, the greatest gift I could give you, after the Holy Eucharist, is the gift of God’s mercy, and that is precisely where I ask that we begin this interior renovation. On Thursday, September 4th, our parish will make a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity (La Ermita de la Caridad). La Ermita was designated by Archbishop Wenski as a jubilee pilgrimage site during this year of jubilee for the Catholic Church. Embarking on a pilgrimage to La Ermita brings with it a plenary indulgence if you fulfill the following requirements:

• Having a true intention to purify the soul in order to draw closer to God.
• Having received the sacrament of confession and remaining in a state of grace.
• Receiving Holy Communion.
• Praying for the intentions of the Pope.

On September 4th at 8pm, we will celebrate Mass as a parish community in La Ermita, which fulfills one of the requirements above, and we will also pray for the intentions of Pope Leo at that Mass. What I am calling all of you to do is to make a good confession in the days leading up that Mass. You can do it here at Little Flower the Saturday before or at La Ermita which offers confessions leading up to the Mass. The most important part of the list above is what we can control: “having a true intention to purify the soul in order to draw closer to God.”

Contractors, painters, and craftsmen are working hard to prepare your church for our centennial. It is up to us to prepare our hearts for this year of great joy. We start by asking the Lord for forgiveness, which he so generously grants. We hope to see you at La Ermita on September 4th at 8:00pm. Let us begin our year of jubilee with a pure heart!

God bless you all,