Thank you everyone so much for your prayers during my retreat! They were such a gift! It was an incredibly blessed and grace-filled time and such a gift to receive on the vigil of becoming pastor of the parish. Long-story short, the days of prayer assured me of just how good, loving, and provident our God is. And I was assured of one particular thing: That I cannot do it. May seem like an odd take away, but it’s true because it is in fact God who desires and will accomplish every good thing. Allowing ourselves to be drawn to Him is our task. As we admit our poverty – our littleness – and rest in his presence, promises, and power, we can have true freedom and peace from which every good thing flows. Humility leads to faith, faith leads to hope, and hope helps us to love. A book that was a great blessing on the retreat was “Interior Freedom” by, French priest, Fr. Jacques Philippe.
Keep selling those raffle tickets and personally inviting your friends and family to our Celebration weekend! Maybe a little homework would be asking God to put on your heart whom He wants you to invite and reach out to that person in some way this week. Be attentive and God will speak.
This Friday and Saturday are the Solemnities of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart, two important and beautiful feasts as they help us to understand Jesus and Mary’s great love for us. St. Pope John Paul II had this to say about the Sacred Heart: “In the Sacred Heart, every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden. The Heart of the Lord Jesus is the starting-point of the holiness of each one of us. From the Heart of the Lord Jesus let us learn the love of God and understanding of the mystery of sin. Let us make acts of reparation to the Divine Heart for the sins committed by us and by our fellow men. Let us make reparation for rejecting God’s goodness and love. Let us draw close each day to this fount from which flow springs of living water. Let us cry out with the Samaritan woman “Give us this water”, for it wells up to eternal life.”
