From the Pastor – Solemnity of All Saints
October 30, 2020
From the Pastor - Solemnity of All Saints
On this Feast of All Saints, we have the profound joy of celebrating our big brothers and sisters in Christ: the saints! This is an especially meaningful feast for us as Christian stewards.
At our Baptism, we all receive the call to holiness and discipleship — in other words, the call to sainthood. If we wish to go to Heaven, we must strive to become saints! Thankfully, through the stewardship way of life, we can each discover our unique path to do just that.
In our Gospel passage from Matthew, Jesus reveals His Beatitudes. In them, our Lord lays out the characteristics that mark His disciples, His saints-in-the-making. As we examine, tweak, and update our commitments to the stewardship way of life, we must always keep these Beatitudes in mind as a measure of our progress towards saintliness.
The “blessed” that our Lord speaks of are not the different types of good people who get to go to Heaven. Rather, the “blessed” are the characteristics of the disciples of Christ. These characteristics — poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, clean of heart, peacemakers, persecuted for the sake of righteousness, and insulted — can only be obtained with an abundance of grace. But we are children of God, so we have access to the infinite treasury of God’s grace.
Armed with that grace and the stewardship way of life, we can have firm hope that one day we will join our big brothers and sisters in the never-ending joys and celebration of Heaven. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants 2020
Pastoral Pondering — While it doesn’t happen often, it is nice when a special feast day falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time. It gives us an opportunity to go deeper into the mystery of the particular celebration. This week we are pleased to have Father Joseph Aytona of the Fathers of Mercy with us. Father is leading a mission focused on St. Joseph as part of the Diocesan observance of the Year of St. Joseph. St. Mark is very happy to be hosting this event. We will gather each night from 6-8 p.m. and confessions will be offered each night.
On Election Day this Tuesday, we will expose the Blessed Sacrament in the main church following the 9:00 a.m. Mass and will continue through the mission Tuesday evening. This is an opportunity to pray for our country and ask for God’s assistance.
From the Pastor
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!
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!