Fr. Rick’s Pastoral Messages 3/12/23

Pastoral Messages from Fr. Rick   3-12-23

Senior Activity Center – Please see the flyers in the gathering space to discover the many activities offered to seniors in our area.

Share the Fun:  Remember that we are a ‘Hospitality Parish’ with a major outreach to our many visitors. Please sign up to help host our Sunday morning Coffee and Muffin gathering. Sign up list is in the gathering space.

Living Faith Daily Devotional booklets are still available in the back of the church and the gathering space.  Especially good for Lenten meditations.

CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES: NEXT WEEK’S SPECIAL COLLECTION

 OUR HOLISTIC APPROACH: CRS uses a holistic approach called integral human development to help people reach their full potential. This long-term, dynamic process facilitates collaboration across civil society and the public and private sectors. It is based on the idea that human development cannot be separated into component parts and that personal well-being can only be achieved in the context of just and peaceful relationships. To promote such transformative and sustainable change, we engage people at every level—individual, family, community, regional, national and international. To help our staff and partners implement our approach, we provide them with a comprehensive user’s guide.

OUR GLOBAL NETWORK: CRS works with a vast network of partners worldwide to carry out our work. We implement nearly all of our programming in partnership with local organizations. Our first partnership is with the Catholic Church and with local churches around the globe. We also work with a range of other organizations and institutions, including governments, researchers, foundations, businesses, impact investors, and implementing partners of all sizes. All of our partnerships sustain, guide and direct our life-saving and life-enhancing work.

The ability to work within the context of cultural and religious differences further engenders trust among those we serve and the partners with whom we work side by side. By investing in people and strengthening institutions, we help local organizations lead their own development, increase the impact of joint programming, and produce sustainable solutions.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR APPROACH TO PARTNERSHIP AND FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN PARTNER WITH US.  OUR COMMITMENT TO MONITORING AND EVALUATION.

Annunciation of the Lord: March 25 Novena

The celebration of the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord commemorates the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to inform her that she was to be the mother of our Savior. After giving her consent to God’s word, Mary conceives Jesus in her womb and becomes the mother of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. God becomes incarnate in the womb of a woman, and “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14).

In modern times, this feast day has taken on special meaning in Respect Life ministry. Scientific advances have allowed us to confirm that life begins at conception. This solemnity helps us to recognize the gift of new life from its very beginning. It calls us to reflect on how we are to care for, protect, and welcome new life, as the Blessed Mother did for the Christ child.

The Solemnity of the Annunciation also coincides with the anniversary of the papal encyclical Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life). This Church teaching on the value and inviolability of every human life remains an indispensable source of truth for all people. Written by Pope St. John Paul II, Evangelium vitae was appropriately given in Rome on March 25, 1995.

PLEASE JOIN THE PARISH IN PRAYING A SPECIAL NOVENA FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE CULTURE OF LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES.  STARTING ON MARCH 17 AND ENDING MARCH 25, PRAY THE ANUNCIATION NOVENA, AND IF YOU LIKE AN ACCOMPANYING ROSARY, EACH DAY AT YOUR CONVENIENCE.  COPIES OF THE NOVENA ARE AVAILABLE IN THE GATHERING SPACE.

Homily References and Reflection: Third Sunday in Lent

Catechism of the Catholic Church on PRAYER:

CCC: 2560 “If you knew the gift of God!”⁷ The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.⁸

CCC: 2561 “You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”⁹ Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to the plea of the living God: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water!”¹⁰ Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God.¹¹

When have you been ‘cornered’ by the love of God and then felt refreshed?

How have you shared your experience of God thirsting for you? Especially with those closest to?

How did they react or respond?