Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Welcome to our celebration of the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is good to have you with us this weekend. There is such a strength that comes from gathering together for Mass each Sunday. I hope and pray that you feel that strength and grace in your life too. We are blessed!

Once again, we observe the sad anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision Roe vs. Wade. It’s not the Court’s decision that we remember as much as the millions of innocent lives that have been taken in the womb, as a result of what the Court said. These most innocent of lives were destroyed in their mother’s womb because they didn’t fit into their parent’s plan of the way things were supposed to be for them. This is such a sad day for all who see life as a gift from God. We pray as people of Faith that one day soon, we will not have to remember this terrible day in our nation’s history. But for now, we do. Today we mourn, we pray, and we recommit ourselves to the protection of all life. And we ask God to make each one of us truly pro-life – not only when it comes to abortion, or war, or capital punishment – but also in the way that we treat one another in the parking lot, in the way that we care for the sick and aged in our nursing homes, and in the way that we talk about one another behind our backs. Today, it is not enough to just be against abortion. If we are truly going to be pro-life, then let’s do it all the way!

The U.S. Bishops are asking all the Dioceses of the United States, and in turn, all of the parishes of the United States to observe “a particular day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of Abortion, and of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the Right to Life.” Normally, this day would be on the actual anniversary, today, January 22 nd. This year, since the 22 nd falls on Sunday, the day of penance and prayer is transferred to tomorrow, January 23 rd . It is a day of penance and prayer for all of us to show God our sorrow for the choices our country allows that are counter to His Will. Purple vestments will be worn at Mass, extra time should be spent in prayer, and penance, sacrifices, and fasting are appropriate, to show God our remorse. What can you do tomorrow? Could you stop by the Adoration Chapel for a half hour as a family? Could you give something up for one day? Could you skip a meal? Could you pray a Rosary for an end to abortion? We underestimate the power of what our prayer and sacrifices can do with God’s help. Remember what the people of Nineveh did with prayer and sacrifice after Jonah told them that God was upset? Why can’t our prayers and sacrifices do the same? The truth is that they can. Tomorrow, we ALL need to be doing something. Some day, God will ask all of us living in this age what we did to stand up against these crimes against life. What are you going to say that YOU did? Tomorrow gives all of us a concrete opportunity to do something.

This week we welcome Fr. Lester Knoll to our Parish. Fr. Knoll is the National Director for the Confraternity of Christian Mothers. Fr. Knoll is here for our new Confraternity’s Rite of Enrollment for new membership that will take place after Mass tomorrow night, Jan. 23 rd, in the Daily Mass Chapel. Fr. Knoll will also speak at the Confraternity’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday Morning, after the 8:00 AM school Mass. It is an honor for us to have Fr. Knoll with us. We thank him for all of the hard work that he does everyone in Confraternity of Christian Mothers all over the country.

Fr. Dale is at the Pro-Life March in Washington D.C. this weekend with the Freshmen from Blessed Theodore Guerin High School. We pray for a safe journey for him and the students and the other adult chaperones. Hopefully, they will pray for all of us and represent all of us at the prayer vigils and Masses that are taking place these next couple of day in Washington D.C.

These are wild days. There sure are lots of things going on for everybody. Let us keep one another in prayer!

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

Showing love is like giving a present you can always afford.