SR. HELENE'S COMMENT CORNER

From all of her years of experience in a variety of ministerial rolls,

our own Sr. Helene shares with us some of her wisdom and insights, exclusively for our Weekly Parish Updates!

Why Ashes?

One of the best attended Masses in the Catholic church is held on the first day of Lent where Catholics are signed with ashes. Now, I am not saying that all who are signed ‘stay’ for Mass , because the Church often empties after people are signed. There is something about being ‘signed with ashes’ that touches one’s soul!...

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From the Desk of Fr. John Mullee

Dear Friends in Christ,

The upcoming observances of National Marriage Week (February 7-14, 2024) and World Marriage Day (Sunday, February 11, 2024) are opportunities to focus on building a culture of life and love by supporting and promoting marriage and the family.  The USCCB Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth offers many resources. The theme for 2024 is “Love Beyond Words.”

We know that Lent is coming upon us quickly. I would like to offer a few thoughts to consider as we prepare for Lent:

• Ash Wednesday is February 14^th. Please be attentive to the bulletin and website for all the opportunities to silence our hearts to reflect on the Paschal Mystery. I hope my prayers will open my heart on what God wishes me to focus on:   Will it be increasing acts of charity, more prayer time, giving up more of those leisure activities that distance me from God, celebrating more frequently the Sacrament of Reconciliation? These are all things we can ponder in our heart. 

• Remember the rules of fast and abstinence.   Fasting applies to everyone who has reached the age of 18 years and continues until age 60. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are Fast Days: only one full meal, with two smaller meals and no snacking.   All the Fridays of Lent are days of Abstinence. This applies to everyone from 14 years of age until God calls you home. This means that you are not allowed any meat.   Please join us for fellowship and a great meatless meal Friday’s during Lent.

• Some other opportunities during Lent: We will offer additional confession times and I am leading a series on Catholicism and the Saints. 

• As many of you know, I am a global fellow with Catholic Relief Services. As a seminarian I travelled with them to the Holy Land and Nicaragua to visit their numerous ministries that serve our human family. Our parish and school family will be participating in Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl again this year.

My eternal thanks you for your support of Catholic Charities: We can all follow the leper’s journey in Mark’s Gospel, as he came to believe that it was only through Christ that his brokenness would be healed. St Monica knew this with every fiber of her being, and in the end, brought her son Augustine to know deep in his heart that he was loved and forgiven.

“Because God has made us for Himself,

our hearts are restless until they rest in Him”

(St Augustine)

Lenten Blessings friends

Fr John

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.–John 6:35

The Bread of Life—which we receive through the Eucharist—fills us with God’s grace and love. The Eucharist feeds us. It nourishes us. It unites us with God and one another as members of the same body of Christ. And it is through our communion with the Bread of Life that we are called to share bread for life.

Jesus tells us, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” When we receive Jesus through the Eucharist, our hearts are filled with his love and the call to share that love with our sisters and brothers in need around the world.

During Lent, we’re invited to act on this call through our Catholic tradition of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. When we practice these Lenten pillars, we enter a living relationship and unite our hearts with God and with one another.

With CRS Rice Bowl, the Lenten pillars will guide us to encounter Christ through our global family in Uganda, El Salvador and Indonesia—through our sisters and brothers who are finding ways to overcome hunger and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Every Lent since 1975, millions of Catholics across the United States have come together through CRS Rice Bowl to support people struggling with hunger and poverty—both at home and around the world. And because hunger and poverty continue to be some of the most critical concerns of our time, we’re still needed to make a difference.

As we go through these next 40 days, let us remember the words of Jesus, our bread of life, and be nourished by him in the Eucharist to walk with our global family.

Let us begin this holy season by praying,

Dear Jesus,

You call us, as members of the body of Christ, to serve one another.

This Lent, may we be your eyes, to see with compassion.

May we be your hands and feet, to serve with love.

By encountering you in the Bread of Life,

may we joyfully share bread for life with all members of our global family.

Amen

Catholic Charities Appeal 2024

Dear brothers and sister in Christ,

I am writing to encourage you to participate in this year's 2024 Catholic Charities Appeal. I am proud of the generosity of St Monica parishioners and your willingness to give to Catholic Charities each year. 

Thank you for your generosity! For information about this year's appeal, you can click here  https://www.catholiccommunity.org/support/catholic-charities/catholic-charities-appeal/overview

If you have not yet participated in the Catholic Charities Appeal you can donate online, by clicking here: https://www.catholiccommunity.org/give/catholic-charities-appeal 

Thank you again for your generosity that touches the lives of the over four hundred thousand of our brothers and sisters who are helped through Catholic Charities.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. John

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