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 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy Third Sunday of Lent! How’s your Lenten
commitments going? Are you staying true to what you said you were going to do,
to show your love for Christ? This weekend is our Men’s Christ Renews His
Parish Weekend. We congratulate all of the guys making the weekend and all of
them putting the weekend on. We’re praying for you guys! Have a great weekend!
Today at 10:00 AM Mass we are celebrating with our RCIA
folks the First Scrutiny. Today and for the next two weeks, we will be praying
for the forgiveness of sins and the protection against all that is tempting and
evil for our Elect. The Three Scrutinies are extremely important parts of the
RCIA. They are important for those in their final preparations for the
Sacraments. They are also important for all of us praying, as they remind us of
how dangerous sin, temptations, and evil really are to our souls. Please keep
our Elect, all of our Catechumens and Candidates for full membership in our
Church, in your prayers during these next few weeks. God is doing some of His
best work right now in our midst. We don’t want to miss a thing!
This coming week, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast
Days of two of its greatest saints: Saint Patrick of Ireland on March 17th,
and St. Joseph, the Husband of Mary, on March 19th.
Before we get to the green beer for St. Patrick’s Day, and the hazelnut
biscotti
for the St. Joseph’s Table, let’s reflect on what these two Feast
Days and these two great saints really do mean to our Church.
St. Patrick of Ireland, 389-461 AD, was not from
Ireland. St. Patrick was from England, even more probably in Wales. St.
Patrick was an evangelist. As a missionary, he took the Gospel and the Faith
that he had received from England to Ireland, founding the metropolitan See of
Armagh. St. Patrick’s great commitment to the Faith and to the Church, and his
sacrifices for both, are well-known. St. Patrick won the people of Ireland over
for Christ, by his great love and devotion. The entire country became Catholic,
and all these centuries later, Ireland is still known as one of the most
Catholic countries on this planet. St. Patrick did his job as an evangelist and
missionary very well. Maybe before we pick out which green shirt to wear on
Tuesday, and before dye anything green, or start singing old, Irish ballads, we
should examine how we are doing at evangelization and being missionaries of the
Gospel to others. Today, the spread of the Faith is up to us. We are the new
St. Patricks. And whether or not others get called and invited to find their
rightful place in Jesus’ Church is up to each one of us! Forget about drinking
on St. Patrick’s Day, and do something that St. Patrick would really be proud of
you for doing: Share our Faith! In 2009 we have more “unchurched” folks than
ever right here in Hamilton County. How many of them have you invited to Mass?
How many of them have you talked to about your Faith?
St. Joseph would have been born somewhere between 25 and
45 B.C. most likely in Nazareth. It is estimated that he would have died
between 10 and 25 A.D., although we really don’t know. St. Joseph disappears
from the Gospels following the finding of Jesus in the Temple. St. Joseph was
the father and husband without compare. He was chosen by God to the foster
father to God’s Own Son, Jesus, the husband of Mary, the Mother of God, and the
provider and protector of the Holy Family. Can you imagine the responsibility?
St. Joseph had to have been one of the most extraordinary men to ever walk the
face of this earth! St. Joseph reminds all of us, husbands and wives, sons and
daughters, just how important our families are. The family is the domestic
Church! If Faith and a love for God are not built up in the family, there is no
way that they are ever going to be built up in the Church! This Thursday, March
19th, is the Feast of St.
Joseph. Traditionally, we are to wear red on St. Joseph’s Day. There is an
Italian tradition of having a St. Joseph’s Table on the Feast, with all kinds of
rich, Lenten (i.e. – no meat!) foods. Like many of the saints born in other
parts of the world, the Italians have always taken St. Joseph on as one of their
own. The Feast of St. Joseph is a time to invite family and friends over for a
good meal, still remembering it is Lent, but giving thanks to God for this
awesome saint!
May you enjoy both of these Feast Days! Next weekend is
the Confirmation retreat. Yes, we are in the season of retreats! Please pray
for all of our Confirmation candidates as they make their final decisions about
the completion of their initiation into the Church.
Have a great week! Don’t forget your Lenten commitments
in the middle of the Feast Days!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
An atheist can’t find God for the same reason that a thief can’t
find a policeman.
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