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Our parish last weekend – Easter weekend to be precise – was more alive and abustle than at any time since the lockdown of March 2020. It was awesome seeing so many “old” faces back in the church, many of whom had not been here for a very long time. It almost felt like things were back to normal – almost. Read more.

In the midst of the trials and challenges of the world around us, we as Catholics and Christians live in the “sure and certain hope” of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is our defining belief – and the grace that sustains us during these most uncertain times. Read more.

It might seem like the Lenten Season has passed quickly, certainly I feel like it did. We now enter into the most sacred time of the year – the Easter Triduum. Due to the various restrictions still in place for churches we will need to exact great care and prudence, but after Christmas and Ash Wednesday, we seem well poised to do so. Read more.

The Fifth Sunday of Lent is our entry now into the deepest part of the Lenten Season. Our focus on the cross becomes clearer as we prepare for the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem with Passion/Palm Sunday next week. Let us take this opportunity to prepare ourselves well for the Triduum. Read more.

Spring is on the horizon! The weather this past week was a wonderful taste or perhaps tease for Spring, and with the thawing of the snow we were finally able to put the Lenten crosses on Bethany Road and to install the outdoor Stations of the Cross. If you go to the Lent page of the website the audio prayers for the Stations can be found there. Please feel free to come and drive through the property and pray the Stations of the Cross. We continue with the public prayer of the Stations on Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm in the church, followed by the speaker. Read more.

We are seeing some positive signs of coming out of the worst part of the pandemic, though we certainly cannot let down our guard. As you know, next weekend we will return to daylight savings time so that gives us a sense and hope that Spring is on the way. Read more.

Our Lenten journey is off to a good start here and we are looking forward to the celebrations to come. Unfortunately the snowpack has prevented us from putting up the outdoor devotionals that we had planned, but hopefully we will be able to have that up and running soon. I hope that you are enjoying the modified Soup and Scripture series. There is also another cooking and scripture reflection coming soon! Read more.

Here are the reasons why some things change at Mass during Lent.

This weekend we will inaugurate the Annual Catholic Appeal in our parish. Those of you who are past contributors have already received the promotional materials in the mail. I am sure that some of you have already made your contribution, while others have put it aside to remit later this month. Read more.

This week we begin the Lenten Season. It is hard to believe that it was Lent a year ago when we went into the lockdown. To some extent it seems that our Lenten journey continues. This is the time when we take stock of all things in our spiritual and moral lives, and open ourselves to the challenges and growth where the Lord is calling us. It is a time to heal our brokenness, and to deepen our love of God, neighbor, and self. We will be providing many resources through our website to assist in this journey. We will also be offering Stations of the Cross (Wednesday evening) followed by a reflection in Scripture. Lent is our time to enter the wilderness with Jesus, allow ourselves to be tempted, and pray for the grace to overcome the weaknesses which beset us and cause conflict in our lives. We pray for healing for all of us, that we might come to know the Lord’s loving mercy and compassion in our lives. Read more.

Well, this was quite a week. It has been a long time since we had this much snow. While it is beautiful as it falls, it is certainly a challenge to clean-up (and for us, rather expensive). Unlike the “good old days” – and by that, I mean prior to 2019 – the students in our school did not get to enjoy any snow days as the virtual learning capability means that school can remain “open” even under the worst conditions. We did celebrate Catholic Schools Week, with a great line-up of on-line presenters. Each day the students had a chance to interact with people connected to our school. Unfortunately, many of the other formative and faith-filled aspects of CSW were sacrificed due to the virtual week.

We have just about reached the astronomical mid-point of winter. Tuesday, February 2nd might be famous around these parts as Groundhog Day, but here we will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This is the traditional end of the Christmas Season, forty days after Christmas. Read more.

I hope this finds everyone well. Yes, there is still much around us to be disconcerting, but grounded in our life of faith and the certainty that such a wonderful gift bestows upon us, we all walk in hope. No matter our feelings about the happenings in our country and throughout the world, we respond always first in prayer and gratitude. As we maintain attitudes of gratitude for the many blessings which have been bestowed upon us our eyes are opened to see the positive and not the negative, hope not despair, love not hate. Read more.

As we celebrate this weekend the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, we also observe the relatively new “Sunday of the Word of God”. By an initiative of Pope Francis two years ago, this day reminds us that we are indeed a “People of the Book” – that our history, our tradition, and the core of our faith is grounded in and through the Bible – the eternal Word of the Father. As a sure sign of hope in the midst of the uncertainty of the world around us, it was reported this past week that: ”a Catholic podcast featuring a priest reading and analyzing the Bible has been at the top of the Apple Podcast charts since January 2nd, ahead of secular podcasts produced by such organizations as The New York Times, NBC News, and NPR. ‘The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz),’ produced by Ascension Catholic Faith Formation, part of Ascension Press, features episodes containing two to three scriptural readings, a reflection on those readings by Fr. Mike Schmitz, and a prayer. Each episode is about 15 to 25 minutes long, and a new episode is set to be released each day of 2021.” Read more.

Fr. Mike Schmitz is joined by renowned Catholic Bible scholar Jeff Cavins to talk about The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, their personal experiences with the Bible, and what it means to live life through the lens of Scripture.

Today, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, marks the end of the Christmas Season on our liturgical calendar. Now begins the short, yet important preparation for the coming Lenten Season, which begins on Ash Wednesday (February 17th). Given the pandemic restrictions we do not yet know what Ash Wednesday will look like, but I am sure that it will be much different than times past. Read more.

Hopefully, we all had a safe, healthy, and reasonably enjoyable Holy/holiday season. It was surreal in many ways, for sure. I am sure it’s not a stretch to say that I hope and pray that 2021 will be a much better year for all of us. With the hope and promise of a vaccine being available for most of us by this spring, the end seems around the corner. I hope that the letter in the bulletin a few weeks ago outlining the moral implications of the vaccine will have allayed any fears or doubts about receiving the vaccine. I am sure by the time that I am eligible to get it I will be in line. I cannot say that I don’t get a bit concerned each time that either Father JM or I have to go to the hospital, a long-term health care facility, or even a parishioner’s home. Read more.