Dear Brothers and Sisters of St. Andrew the Apostle,

Please read the bulletin or our parish website for all the St. Andrew's news and events. Here is a glimpse of what is coming up in the coming weeks:

• Our Parish Lenten Mission, "Finding Christ in Lent," begins this weekend as Fr. Jack Riley preaches at all of our Sunday Masses. The mission continues with Eucharistic Adoration, Confessions, evening reflections on Sunday and Monday at 7:00 PM, and a 7:00 PM closing Mass on Tuesday, March 18. More information can be found in the bulletin and on the parish website. I look forward to seeing you there!
• Our high school youth group gathers tonight (Saturday, March 15) in the Padre Pio Room after the 5:30 PM Mass before spending time in Eucharistic Adoration.
• Our Knights of Columbus are hosting a food drive to support the Diocese of Arlington Catholic Charity's St. Lucy Food Pantry. This weekend, they will collect the blue donation bags you picked up last week filled with the requested donations for the needy. This is a great way to practice giving alms this Lent!
• Our St. Ann and Joachim 55+ Group is meeting after the 12 noon Mass on Monday, March 17, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. More information here.
• Wednesday, March 19, is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. While not a Holy Day of Obligation, it is a Solemnity, which is the highest feast of the Church. Masses are at 6:30 AM, 9:00 AM, and 8:00 PM (Latin Novus Ordo).
• On Thursday, March 20, Bishop Burbidge will Confirm our young men and women who have been preparing for this sacrament for the past two years. Let us pray that they may be open to an outpouring of the Holy Spirit!
• The Knights of Columbus are hosting their annual Lenten Men's Retreat, led by Fr. Wilton, on Saturday, March 22, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the St. John Paul II Shrine in Washington, DC. All men of the parish are welcome! More information here.
• The St. Andrew's Women's Lenten Retreat will be on Saturday, March 29, at the Benedictine Monastery at Linton Hall, from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The cost is $45. Fr. Wagner and Fr. Stephan Starzynski will lead the retreat. Please register here.

... Pope Francis is still recovering from respiratory symptoms resulting from bronchitis. At this point, he has been hospitalized for over twenty days. Please continue to pray for his healing, strength, and consolation.

... I look forward to our Parish Lenten Mission with Fr. Jack Riley. Fr. Riley chose the theme, "Finding Christ in Lent," which he will develop over his homilies this weekend and Tuesday evening, and his talks on Sunday and Monday. Fr. Riley is the Spiritual Director of the San Damiano Spiritual Life Center in White Post, VA. I first met him before I was in the seminary when he was the pastor of St. Louis in Alexandria. That was not my parish, but I used to go there for Confession, which Fr. Riley offered frequently - usually several times a day! I found his counsel to be extremely wise and it helped me tremendously to grow in my spiritual life and, eventually, be open to the call to the priesthood. We are blessed to have him for this mission! Let us pray for him and for the fruit of his preaching and Confession during this blessed time for our parish.

... This week we are blessed to have the feast days of two great saints on our liturgical calendar. On Monday is the Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop, missionary, and patron saint of Ireland. Some are surprised to know that St. Patrick was not Irish but was instead born in Britain, the son of a deacon. He was kidnapped at the age of sixteen and taken to Ireland where he was enslaved for six years. He spent most of that time as a herdsman, growing in faith as he spent much of that time of isolation contemplating God. When he escaped to Britain, he was ordained a priest and named a Bishop. As a Bishop, he returned to Ireland and worked to spread the Gospel to the country that at that time had little knowledge of Christianity. We pray for his intercession that we may share his virtues of mercy and missionary zeal!

On Wednesday, we celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph. As solemnities are the highest feasts of the Church, the obligations to fast or abstain are lifted. If St. Joseph falls on a Friday, we are not obliged to abstain from meat. In this spirit, when a Solemnity falls within Lent, we see it as a day for feasting, not fasting. So feel free to take a break from your Lenten fasts and celebrate this great saint. The traditional treat for the Solemnity of St. Joseph is Zeppole di San Giuseppe, which are Italian pastries. Here's a complicated recipe for those more culinarily inclined.

We honor St. Joseph as the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We can imagine the quality of his virtue to be chosen as the guardian of Mary and Jesus. We do not know much about him from the Gospels, where not a word that he spoke is recorded. Yet we see his faith and alacrity to respond to God's will in how he took Mary into his home when she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:18-25), moved the Holy Family to Egypt to escape Herod's persecution (Mt 2:13-15), and returned after his death (Mt 2:19-23).

There is a Litany for St. Joseph, a great prayer to honor the Protector of the Church. Another title given to Joseph in this litany is Terror of Demons. Terror can be seen as the highest form of fear. When we experience terror, we tend to be frozen, unable to act.

St. Joseph is the terror of demons because they so fear his power. In her Diaries, St. Faustina Kowalska wrote that St. Joseph promised to protect and help her, especially when she struggled with anxiety and temptation. Exorcists have also given testimony to the power of St. Joseph's intercession. So if we are looking for someone to protect us from our daily anxieties or from temptation from our favorite sins, St. Joseph is a great choice!

... Our Knights of Columbus petitioned the postulator of the cause for Blessed Michael McGivney for a relic to venerate here at St. Andrew's, and we received that relic in time to have it for public veneration at the end of 12:30 PM Mass this Sunday. We will also display the relics for veneration after the 7:00 PM Mass on Tuesday, which will close our parish mission. Learn more about Fr. Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, here. Learn more about the veneration of relics in this recent article in the Arlington Catholic Herald.

... The Baltimore Orioles chose Zach Eflin to be their starting pitcher on Opening Day. That's a great honor reserved for the best pitcher on the team. The Orioles' management broke the news to Eflin in the most adorable way - they had his wife and little daughters tell him.

The four pitchers with the most Opening Day starts in history are Tom Seaver with 16 and Randy Johnson, Stever Carlton, Walter Johnson, and Jack Morris with 14. All four are in the Hall of Fame.

This is Eflin's first Opening Day start, and likely he will not be a Hall of Famer. He's not even considered the best pitcher on the Orioles. That would probably be Grayson Rodriguez, who is injured and therefore not available to start on Opening Day. However, he is the best pitcher for the job on that day and thus he is honored to be given the task.

It is a good reminder that we all have varied skills and talents, even in the spiritual life. Some people have greater natural virtues. For others, prayer may come easier, or they are gifted with great consolations. We need only to look at the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is "full of grace," to know that some people are granted more by God to serve Him and His Church.

We cannot be jealous of the gifts of others. Instead, we are to thank God for those gifts and encourage others to share their gifts in service to Christ and his Church. Of course, we are called to do the same with the gifts we have received from the loving hand of God. In the spiritual battle, we may not be given the honor of being the Opening Day Starter, but when called upon, we must give our best in the fight for victory against sin for ourselves and those we love. In that way, we share in the honor together. And with Christ as our head, we know that we also share in His honor, as well as His victory over sin and death. There is much cause for rejoicing when we see all things as coming from the hand of God for our good and the good of all.

... Know of my prayers for you in this sacred season of Lent and especially during this retreat. In this Jubilee Year, I know that the Lord is abundantly pouring out His grace for all of us. Please pray for me as well. May we all strive to be great saints.

In Christ,

Fr. Wagner