3/8/2024 Rejoice in the Lord!Dear parish family, How is your Lenten journey going? Have you found it challenging? In need of a bit of a break? On this fourth Sunday, we are still in the middle of Lent. There are still two more weeks before we can wave our palms and enter Holy Week. This is why I think that centuries ago, the church thought it would be a good idea to make the fourth Sunday of Lent be Laetare Sunday. A Sunday when we get to ‘rejoice in the Lord.’ Just like we do during the Advent season (Gaudete Sunday), and just like then our liturgical color is rose. This simple change of color, should make us take that much-needed pause. Today we hear one of the most famous gospel verses; “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Let us Rejoice in the Lord! What wonderful news, it should fill us with joyful anticipation of the victory to be won. Our God’s love for us is unconditional! But just like any gift given, we must be willing to receive it. This is where the continued journey of Lent will help us prepare. Once again I ask, how is your Lenten journey going? Have you had the opportunity to make meaningful changes, to receive God’s gift. Let us take our Gospel, as our guide and reminder of where we have placed the light of Christ. Jesus is the light that has come into the world, to reveal our sins so that they may be forgiven. Yet we prefer the darkness, we wish to keep our sins hidden, even from God. There is nothing our God doesn’t know about us; he knows us better than we know ourselves. We need to bring all of ourselves to God’s light, including those bits of ourselves we wish to hide. Take the remaining time of our lenten season to intentionally make those necessary changes in ourselves that only we know, and then take it to action. As we accept God’s love and gift of salvation, let us in action reflect our love for our God. We will do our part and let the Holy Spirit take over. I will pray for your continued Lenten journey to be filled with hope and blessings, please pray for me too. Siempre Adelante, Tere Delgado Faith Formation Minister 3/1/2024 Is the Lord in our midst, or not?Dear Friends, On any given Sunday there will usually be a connection, a “bridge,” between the first reading (from the Old Testament except during the Easter Season) and the gospel. That bridge is sometimes easy to see, and sometimes a deeper reading is needed. The second reading (from the New Testament other than the gospels) is often on its own “track” but there are times like this week where there is a clear connection between it and the gospel. Paul writes to the church at Corinth: “Jews demand signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” The story from the gospel of John this week is a familiar one. Jesus “cleanses” the temple in Jerusalem, driving the moneychangers out, overturning their tables and spilling their coins. This story has meant different things to me at different times in my life. At one point, I thought its purpose was to help me feel at peace with “righteous” anger. At another, I took it as a cautionary tale about the importance of proper behavior at Mass. Later, I learned that Jesus’ ire was at the moneychangers themselves who were gouging the pious Jews of humble means who came to worship at the temple and needed to buy animals to sacrifice. But it’s what comes next that is most interesting to me: “At this, the Jews answered and said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’” There’s the “bridge” to St. Paul’s letter. “Jews demand signs ...” Jesus answers “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Even for those of us who have heard this reading many times and know that Jesus is referring to his resurrection, it is astounding. The gospel reading ends with a verse that seems foreboding but is actually cause for hope: “Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.” As we all know, human nature is weak and corrupt. Jesus knows that better than anyone. And yet, he chooses to sacrifice “the temple of his body” by suffering and dying for us, sharing in our suffering so that we can share in his glory in the resurrection. If that’s not good news, I don’t know what is! At the 11:00 am liturgy this week, we will hear a different set of readings as our catechumens – those seeking baptism, confirmation and eucharist at the Easter Vigil – undergo the first of three scrutinies. In the first reading, we will hear the story of the chosen people grumbling against Moses because of their thirst as they wander in the wilderness in search of the promised land. At the Lord’s direction, Moses strikes the rock with his staff, and water flows from it. The “bridge” to the gospel is this: We hear the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, where first he asks her for a drink, but then reveals himself to her as the living water that will quench her (and our) thirst forever. In this way Jesus answers the question posed at the end of the first reading, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” with a deeply satisfying affirmative. Siempre Adelante, Dominic MacAller Liturgy and Music Minister 3/1/2024 Mark Vanvakaris
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