My Dear Friends:

We have celebrated. We have built. We have restored. But now it is time to officially bring to a close our centennial celebrations, for there is still much work to be done to make Jesus Christ known to all and to bring his presence into our community.

We have been blessed as a community because in his infinite wisdom, our Lord sought to bring all of us as a community to this pivotal moment in the life of our parish. At our gala last weekend, we had a time capsule ceremony where members of our community placed items to be received during the parish’s bicentennial in 100 years. That ceremony bridges our generation to a future generation. You think back to the Scriptures and the work of the apostles who laid the seeds of our faith. You think back to the humble beginnings of our parish and those first parishioners who quickly scrounged enough pennies together to construct our first church, which is now Comber Hall. You think back to when they erected our current church in all its glory. Archbishop Wenski said it best three weeks ago at Mass: “we stand on the shoulders of giants.”

But there is still much work to do for the sake of the Gospel because the work of making Jesus Christ known to all never ends. We renovated a church, commissioned and built a magnificent pipe organ, and are on the verge of breaking ground on a school multi-purpose center because they all give glory to God. They are our contributions to the legacy of our founders. We are simply building on that which they left us.

This past month has been a celebration of these accomplishments as they reach their culmination. About 8 years ago, all these centennial projects were but mere dreams, some etched on the back of a napkin in a coffee shop. Most of these ideas were conceived before I became pastor of Little Flower. The organ, the beautifully renovated church, and the multi-purpose center were made possible because of the overwhelming generosity of the good people of our parish and so many generous souls who are known to God alone.

Finally, as we turn the page to what the Lord has in store for us in a new century, I cannot help but give thanks to Almighty God for being the pastor of the Church of the Little Flower, unworthy as I am, during this pivotal moment in her history. I am reminded of the words from the Gospel of Luke: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do (Luke 17:10).’”

I am overwhelmed by gratitude and humility every time I approach our altar to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass for all of you. The Eucharist, the center of our life as a parish, is literally thanksgiving, and as we live this historic moment, this priestly heart is grateful to all of you and grateful for 100 years of this extraordinary parish. Thank you all for your contributions to our Centennial Celebrations, and as I say in our Dear 2126 video: “the next 100 starts now!”

God Bless you All,