From the Pastor - 1st Sunday of Lent

February 24, 2023

As we begin the beautiful and challenging season of Lent, our readings this week remind us why we need these 40 days so much. They also suggest a particular strategy we Christian stewards might take as we make the journey toward Easter.


Our first reading takes us all the way back to Genesis, reminding us of our Creator and the loving care and lavish gifts He gave to our ancestors, Adam and Eve. He created them out of pure love and provided abundantly for them.


Life was good in the Garden! Until the first couple allowed just a sliver of doubt in the goodness of God to enter their minds.

Swayed by the words of the serpent, they became ungrateful and distrustful despite God’s great love for them and all the gifts of creation He had provided. Sound familiar? These are the same temptations that threaten to pull us away from God today.


Our Gospel passage from Matthew shows us by the example of Jesus Himself one way that we can attain spiritual strength and grow to become more effective disciples and stewards. In this passage, we find our Lord in the desert, fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Like Adam and Eve, He is confronted by the evil one. But unlike our fallen parents, our Lord triumphs definitively over the devil’s lies and sends him slithering away.


How did He do it? By knowing the Scriptures and by proclaiming them confidently. And by His perfect trust in the Father.

This Lent, let us embrace this 40-day spiritual reset. Let us prioritize our use of time by committing to prayerful study of the Scriptures and trusting more deeply in the Father’s love. We will surely be better stewards by Easter. © Catholic Stewardship Conference, 2023


Pastoral Pondering

This weekend we have asked Elza Spaedy to speak at the Masses about Healed and Restored, an apostolate that serves women who have experienced trauma in their lives, especially trauma caused by sexual abuse. Elza went through her own process of healing a number of years ago, and through experiencing her own healing through God’s grace, knew that she was supposed to help others do the same.



In addition to her various speaking engagements, Elza and her cooperators are looking to establish a center where these women can come to seek God’s healing and mercy. There is so much hurt in the world today. Often these hurts leave those experiencing them with feelings of hopelessness and even despair. God desires to offer them his healing grace. This particular apostolate is extremely important at this time in our culture, and I wholeheartedly support the efforts of Healed and Restored.


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Divine Mercy Sunday

By John Putnam • April 10, 2026
The great feast of Easter has begun, Christian stewards. Let us rejoice and be glad! Just as we embraced the discipline and fasting of Lent, let us fully embrace the joy and feasting that the next 50 days offer. We are called to be good stewards of the Easter season. Our first reading, from Acts, gives instruction on how to do this. Here, St. Peter says that our Lord, “commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead… that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” How do we ordinary people preach and testify to all God has done? We do so through how we live our ordinary lives — through the intentional use of our time, talent, and treasure for the kingdom of God. Putting God and others ahead of ourselves in every aspect of our lives is the most eloquent preaching we can do. Boldly and joyfully embracing a stewardship way of life is our most powerful testimony. As Christian stewards, we are the modern-day witnesses of an incredible miracle prompted by unfathomable love — the death and Resurrection of our Savior for us. Let us rejoice and be glad and let’s make sure our lives are a testimony to this amazing grace! © Catholic Stewardship Conference, 2026  HAPPY EASTER!

From the Pastor - Easter Sunday

By John Putnam • April 3, 2026
The great feast of Easter has begun, Christian stewards. Let us rejoice and be glad! Just as we embraced the discipline and fasting of Lent, let us fully embrace the joy and feasting that the next 50 days offer. We are called to be good stewards of the Easter season. Our first reading, from Acts, gives instruction on how to do this. Here, St. Peter says that our Lord, “commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead… that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” How do we ordinary people preach and testify to all God has done? We do so through how we live our ordinary lives — through the intentional use of our time, talent, and treasure for the kingdom of God. Putting God and others ahead of ourselves in every aspect of our lives is the most eloquent preaching we can do. Boldly and joyfully embracing a stewardship way of life is our most powerful testimony. As Christian stewards, we are the modern-day witnesses of an incredible miracle prompted by unfathomable love — the death and Resurrection of our Savior for us. Let us rejoice and be glad and let’s make sure our lives are a testimony to this amazing grace! © Catholic Stewardship Conference, 2026  HAPPY EASTER!