Resuming Ordinary Time: Following the Lord's Call

02-09-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday!

    I hope everyone has had a great week. This Sunday we resume Ordinary Time after celebrating the Presentation of the Lord last Sunday. Our Gospel presents us with the great catch of fish by the disciples and the Lord's invitation to follow Him.

READ MORE

The Power of Mary's Pierced Heart

02-02-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. John Muir

   What is the secret to sharing in God's power to overcome our difficulties? Mary teaches us this in the prophecy of her pierced heart. This Sunday, the old man Simeon prophecies that when her son faces opposition, Mary's soul will be pierced by a sword. The seemingly pointless agony of a mother helplessly watching her son be mocked, tortured, killed and then cruelly desecrated in death by a spear - somehow this piercing of her heart releases a power by which "the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:35). What to make of this?

READ MORE

Embracing God's Unexpected Gifts

01-26-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. John Muir

A young couple in my parish told me they were expecting their second child, a baby boy. I knew that their five-year-old only child, Emma, had been desperately wanting to be a big sister for years, so I said, "Emma must have been so happy when you told her the news." "Actually," they said, "she burst into tears. She wanted a baby sister!" How often in life God wonderfully fulfills our desires, and we are sad because we don't approve of the way He does it. We want to control the gift and the delivery method.

READ MORE

Lent Parish Mission

01-19-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday,

I hope everyone had a good week. I am out until the end of January taking some vacation before gearing up for Lent. It feels like the Christmas season just ended (which it did) and now we're thinking about Lent (or maybe just me). In any case, the liturgical year continues to gain speed. This year during Lent, we will once more have a parish mission. We are pleased to welcome Fr. Michael Niemczak from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. He currently works at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon. The mission will be a similar format to last year with identical talks in the morning and evening from March 24-26. We hope you can join us.

READ MORE

Baptism of the Lord

01-12-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday,

This Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord and with this celebration the Christmas season comes to a close. After we have celebrated the Holy Family and Epiph- any, the Church skips to the adulthood of Jesus to meditate on His baptism. For us, baptism cleanses us of original sin and any sin we had already committed. Jesus did not have original sin nor any other sin, so why is He baptized?

READ MORE

Happy New Year

01-05-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Dan Connealy

Happy Sunday,

A very happy New Year to everyone! I hope it was a good week and you were able to enjoy the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, as well as ring in the New Year. While we celebrated the liturgical New Year a month ago with the beginning of Advent, we now begin a new calendar year which once more gives us fresh eyes and energy to approach the coming 12 months. I pray that each of you has been able to enjoy the Christmas season and hopefully get a bit of rest.

READ MORE