From the Pastor - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 9, 2024

Today's readings prepare us for the penitential season of Lent.


In our Gospel, a leper knelt before Jesus and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out and touched this diseased man and healed him. He then encouraged the man to show himself to the priest and offer himself a cleansing, referencing what was commanded in the Law of Moses. By completing these rituals, this man might be reinstituted into the community.


Let us approach this holy season of Lent like the leper. By our faults, we have distanced ourselves from God and His community. The leper reminds us Who to go to so that we might be healed. Let us approach the Lord this season on our knees asking for forgiveness and healing from our offenses, saying, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” There is no doubt that, if we have a contrite heart, Jesus will stretch out His hand in forgiveness and His mercy will touch our lives.


And like the leper, we too should go forth from being healed with a commitment to cleanse ourselves from the lasting effects of sin. Lent is a time to offer acts of reparation through Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving so that we might be purified in all areas of our life and walk with the Gracious Healer, Who sacrificed His life for our sake.


This holy season of Lent is an opportunity to be healed and cleansed on our journey as disciples of Christ. Let us consider what we can do to offer acts of reparation so that we might be purified and one day partake in the resurrection of Christ. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2024

 

Pastoral Pondering

Ready or not, Lent is coming, and it starts this Wednesday! There will be plenty of opportunities to participate in the Lenten season at the parish, but it is also important to prepare interiorly. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence and all Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence, but that doesn't mean that we can’t fast and abstain on other days as well. These practices of self-denial must be used prudently, but they can do a great deal at helping us detach from the things of the world and focus on our spiritual treasure during these approaching 40 days. Let’s pray for one another as we make our Lenten journeys this year.


Some Parish Updates – After many years of serving the parish and being a tremendous help to me, Leanne Vaccaro will be retiring at the end of the month. In addition to managing the office and the human resource needs of the parish, Leanne has assisted the priests and the Director of Operations in the day to day demands of parish life. Sometimes Leanne knows where I am supposed to be better than I know where I am supposed to be 😊. At any rate, she will be sorely missed. She does plan to continue her work with OCIA and Young at Heart, so she will, thankfully, still be around. We are in the process of searching for someone to fill her position.


Over the past year, the Diocese has been studying the need for a new cathedral. With the Catholic population growth in this area, we have known for some time that the Cathedral of Saint Patrick is often not able to accommodate large Diocesan celebrations. For this reason, St. Mark has been hosting the Diocesan ordinations over the past several years. Hence, various task forces have been working and studying the matter to make recommendations to the Bishop. Because of this, after December of this year, there will be a moratorium on individual parish capital campaigns.



One of the clear needs indicated in the recent parish survey was more space. When Msgr. Kerin originally had the site plan developed, he projected having another building to meet the growing needs. Since no parish-focused efforts will be allowed until after 2030, the Pastoral Council believes that we should move forward with plans to build added space and renovate the Msgr. Kerin Center to serve the parish in the years to come. We are in the preliminary stages at this point, but I wanted to make you aware of the discussions that are occurring. Such an undertaking, as many of you know, requires the formation of various committees to plan and carry out a building campaign as well as guide such an effort moving forward. Stay tuned for updates. If anyone has a burning desire to be of assistance, please reach out.


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - Divine Mercy Sunday

By John Putnam • April 25, 2025
Today, the Second Sunday of Easter, is Divine Mercy Sunday. Our Gospel reading from St. John is often called the story of “Doubting Thomas” but the passage involves so much more than the encounter with the skeptical apostle. It is rich with lessons of Christ’s mercy to all, including an encouraging word from our Lord especially for us, His modern-day disciples. While Thomas traditionally takes all the bad rap for his doubts, we see that none of the Apostles were at their best when Christ first appeared to them after His resurrection. They were actually in hiding, cowering behind a locked door, paralyzed by fear and doubt. But Jesus appeared right in their midst in spite of the lock on the door. Was it to rebuke them for their lack of faith? Quite the contrary. He comes on a mission of mercy. He comes to offer them peace and the restoration of their relationship with Him. And even more, He commissions them to become ministers of His mercy, by giving them authority to forgive sins. At that moment Christ gives to all of us the supreme gift of mercy — the sacrament of Reconciliation. What a precious and powerful gift! This Sunday is a perfect time to reflect on how well we make use of this gift. Do we really appreciate its healing power? Could we become better stewards of this gift by going to Confession more often? We must also reflect on how well we extend mercy to others as Jesus did to Thomas that day. Let’s commit ourselves to becoming faithful disciples and stewards of Christ’s mercy. We will be those very ones to whom Jesus gave a “shout out” during His encounter with Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” — in His merciful love. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering The mercy of God is at the very heart of the Catholic faith. It's not just one of God's many attributes — it is His very essence revealed in love . As Pope Francis often reminds us, “The name of God is mercy.” In Scripture, we see God's mercy from the very beginning. After the fall of Adam and Eve, though justice demanded consequence, God clothed them and promised a Savior. Time and again, throughout the Old Testament, we see Israel turning away from God — and yet, He never stops reaching out with compassion, calling His people back to Himself. That mercy takes on flesh in the New Testament — in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the face of the Father’s mercy. He dines with sinners, touches the untouchable, forgives the unforgivable. Think of the woman caught in adultery: “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” Or the prodigal son - who finds not punishment upon return, but a father running to embrace him.  In the Catholic Church, mercy is not just a concept — it is sacramental. We encounter the mercy of God tangibly in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. There, in the confessional, we do not meet a harsh judge, but Christ the Good Shepherd, lifting us up and carrying us back home. No sin is too great. No past too far gone. St. Faustina, the apostle of Divine Mercy, reminds us that God’s mercy is an “ocean” — and we are just little drops. But mercy isn’t meant to stop with us. It flows through us. As we receive God's mercy, we're called to be merciful: to forgive, to withhold judgment, to show compassion to the poor, the suffering, the lonely. The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy are concrete ways Catholics live this out. So, when we speak of mercy, we speak of the very Gospel. God, rich in mercy, reaches into our brokenness, and instead of turning away, He embraces it, transforms it, and redeems it. With the death of Pope Francis, the Church enters a period of transition. The Pope’s legacy is one of concern for the poor and those on the margins. His writing and teaching often focused on the immense mercy of God and his love of the Gospel. Our task is to follow his example and strive each day to allow Gospel joy to guide us and lead us to bring Christ to the world. Let us also pray for the Universal Church, the cardinal-electors who have the immense responsibility of selecting a new successor to St. Peter, and for all of us that we may come together as a Church family and ask God to bless us with a new shepherd.

From the Pastor - Easter Sunday

By John Putnam • April 20, 2025
He is risen! He is truly risen! This is what the celebration of Easter is all about — the truth that Jesus was crucified for our sins and three days later rose from the dead, conquering death once and for all. We know it’s true, but this Easter Sunday, let’s ask ourselves if we live as if it’s true. Do we live as witnesses to the glorious reality of the Resurrection? A witness, of course, is one with first-hand knowledge. Our readings today focus not only on the Resurrection itself, but also on those who were witnesses to it. In the Gospel, St. John describes the very first witnesses to the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene, John (“the disciple whom Jesus loved”), and Peter. Each had an individual “experience” of the empty tomb. Each went up close to see for themselves what Jesus’ love had accomplished. How can we as Christian stewards all these years later see for ourselves and so become His witnesses? We “see for ourselves” when we prayerfully read the Scriptures knowing they are a living love letter from God with a message to each one of us. We “see for ourselves” each time we receive the precious Body and Blood of our Lord in the Eucharist. We “see for ourselves” when we experience His personal and healing power in our hearts during Reconciliation. We “see for ourselves” when we pour out our lives in loving service to those around us and experience the deep satisfaction that only comes when we are imitating our Savior. This Easter, resolve to live as if the saving power of the Resurrection is true. Experience Jesus for yourself every day from now on. You will be a powerful witness to the truth that He is risen! He is truly risen! © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2025 Pastoral Pondering From an ancient Holy Saturday homily: "What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled. Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son. The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. ‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise. ‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person. ‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden. ‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image. 'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one. `I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you. ‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.  "The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."
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