Pastor's Corner

I hope you’ve had an opportunity to focus on the Operation Rice Bowl calendar during this Lenten season. We are invited to study the difference that Catholic Relief Services has made in the countries of Madagascar, El Salvador, and Timor-Leste (one of the newest countries in the world). I was surprised to learn that the Timorese are 98% Catholic. Our generous gift to Operation Rice Bowl as well as the CRS collection helps provide the resources for people thoughout the world to help themselves.  For example Edwin Carlos, a 17 year old living in El Salvador, decided to join a group of 220 students who are learning it is possible to farm while restoring the environment. Like so many others he and his family have started a home vegetable garden which helps cut down on deforestation. Thank you for widening your vision of the world during this time of isolation.

Several members of our community recently entered their names into the Book of the Elect. This event marked their movement from being inquirers regarding the Christian faith and more specifically Catholicism to those who are moving closer to celebrating the Easter sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist. On the third, Fourth, and Fifth Sundays of Lent at the 11:30 am mass they will be celebrating the three Scrutinies. In fact at those three masses we will hear the A cycle of readings which include the Woman at the Well, the Man born blind, and the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead. At the other weekend masses we will focus in the B cycle readings. Through the symbols of water, light, and new life the elect are invited to reflect on anything that might come in the way of allowing the presence of Christ Jesus to break forth in their lives. May we hold them in prayer during this time. Not only will the usual Saturday evening Mass be livestreamed on these weekends but the 11:30 am mass as well.

Have a blessed Lent!

 

 

During this Lenten season we are invited to focus on our stewardship of time. How do we balance our work, play, study and prayer? Where does God fit into all these categories? This pandemic of the past eleven months has forced us to reshuffle our priorities. Hopefully our relationships with our families have deepened. Lent would have us strengthen our relationship with God through prayer, the Eucharist (even if it is through live streamed masses,) spiritual reading, and almsgiving.

Time wasted with God is time well-wasted. I hope you have taken the time to peruse our parish faith formation newsletter. It contains something for everyone. I appreciate the creativity of our pastoral staff and parishioners who make this happen. May we use our time in such a way that gives God the praise, the honor, and the glory.

I was saddened to learn of the death of Clint Peterson on Thursday, February 11th. The preceding Tuesday Clint fell after taking out the garbage at the rear of the house. His head landed on the pavement and he never regained consciousness. He and his wife Judy were founding members of our parish community. They were married sixty and a half years. They had seven children, 25 grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren. Clint was an electrician by trade and assisted the parish when it needed help with its buildings. He and Judy helped the parish establish a Saint Vincent de Paul Conference. They were involved with Marriage Encounter, Pregnancy Aid, and were extremely generous in various donations to St. John’s. I personally will really miss his quiet presence among us. His memorial mass was this past Tuesday. May Clint rest in the peace of Christ.

 

Lent, which begins this Wednesday, cannot be separated from Easter—not then and not now. Just as it was for the early Christians, it is a time for us to prepare our hearts and reflect more deeply on our baptismal call to continuing conversion. This call to conversion is at the forefront of Lent from the first day of the season. On Ash Wednesday, people flock to churches to receive ashes and to be told, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” or “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” These two formulas for the imposition of ashes offer insight into the meaning of this season. The first formula is a memento mori, a remembrance of death. Even in our world, where rituals surrounding death are increasingly sanitized and privatized, this formula reminds that the reality of death is undeniable. The second formula is a call to repentance—urging us to turn away from sin and toward the Good News.

Both of these formulas also invite us to deeper meditation on our baptism and the Paschal Mystery. The first tells us that we shall die and return to dust, but we already know that we need not fear death. After all, we have already been “buried with Christ in the death of baptism” so that we may “rise also with him to newness of life” (RCIA,222.) The second echoes the message of John the Baptist, who spent his ministry “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” Luke 3:3).

Because of COVID-19 we will be dispensing ashes differently this year. Instead of signing your forehead with a cross there will be a sprinkling of ashes on the top of your head. If you cannot attend any of our three services you may visit the parish office during the day and one of our staff will dispense the ashes on your head. May you have a blessed and fruitful Lenten season.

The following is a segment of my winter reading list: Courage for Truth and Witness to Freedom both by Thomas Merton, The Picture of Durian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu, Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson, The Dead Are Arising by Les Payne, The Answer is by Alex Trebek, The Evening And The Morning by Ken Follett, A Passage to India by E. M Foster, Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, Voices from Chernobyl by Svethana Alexievich, Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, The Clouds by Aristophanes, The Hamlet by William Faulkner, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaciio, and the final volumes of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I’m still working on a few from the Autumn list. If you’d ever like a free book or two from my parish office just let me know.