Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

It’s Tuesday night, we’re finishing up Confirmation rehearsal for this weekend, as well as two periods of Religious Education Confessions tonight. Today we ordered the flowers for Easter Masses and did some final planning for Easter Sunday. And it’s snowing outside on the Solemnity of the Annunciation! Enough, right? March 25th last year was already Monday of Holy Week!

God is full of surprises. Take the observance we have, for example, of the Annunciation of Mary. It is the feastday of the Incarnation of Jesus. In fact, I wonder why they don’t call it that? It is clearly the Mystery that everyone is thinking of at Christmas, the Solemnity of the Nativity of our Lord, or Birth, but the actual event happens in silence, nobody realizes it. The Son of God actually became Man at the moment of his conception by the Holy Spirit in Mary. It should be proclaimed from the rooftops: the feast day that is ultimately Pro-Life. And yet, it was a secret at least to Mary and Joseph, the shepherds at the birth, finally all of us at the Epiphany. And it goes by unnoticed by most people every year, exactly nine months before the birth of Jesus.

I’m guessing that Mary shared the story among the Apostles and her friends and it became part of the Tradition of the Church’s deposit of faith somewhere between the writing of the Gospel of Mark and the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. It is an intimate moment that can only be described by the one who received the Word of God.

I say God is full of surprises because this just isn’t how we would do it, is it? We would be facebooking and tweeting and texting and blogging. You know it’s true, and you know we are a little crazy. But God does all of this in silence. He has begun his work, he has a plan. The plan is unfolding already, and he begins to reveal it little by little – first to shepherds, then pagans, then everybody who listens to him and grows in faith. The faith grows because, as God is revealing his truth, there is positive proof that God is already working which allows our faith to grow on the fact that God is already present. It isn’t a life-or-death choice that confronts us. It is a Word that comes to us that is already in motion, a fruitfulness that we can already see. In the context of the past, it makes sense to our rational nature. Of course, that is no surprise: God made us with a rational nature, human reason, and then speaks to us in a way (words and deeds) that is reasonable. It is in our power to know, understand, grow in wisdom and share the truth that we have found.

It’s like this in all of life. If you find yourself confused, or not fully understanding something about God, or life, or death, or spirituality, or the gifts through which God is calling you to full life in him — well, just wait a bit for the revelation to unfold. So much of our life in God is waiting for him to reveal what we need when it is his time, and we receive it in patient trust knowing that God isn’t going to ask us to do something and then leave us alone to somehow make it happen by ourselves. We know that the plan is in place, the work is already begun, even if we don’t clearly see it right now, because that is how God is. He prepares the world for what is coming, and then helps us to grow into his call.

It is the center of Lent now. It might be the deepest moment of inquiry that you have ever known, it might be a time of doubt, even confusion. The world has done its best to overshadow the message of Jesus and we need to acknowledge that for the evil that it is. But with our confidence in God and his plan we know that all we need to be is attentive and faithful. Keep listening! Keep watching! In time we will see the depths of his love for us, the way in which he lays down his own life so that we might live, and suddenly it all makes sense.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

Lent came later this year and still took us by surprise. But it has been an amazing season so far. I wonder what God has in store for us yet; we already have such a full and particularly special season of events this year.

And you have responded. There is nothing more satisfying in ministry than when you realize that what you are blessed to offer is truly needed and a blessing to those in your care. We have rarely seen such a response as we had this week at the Parish Mission talks of Fr. Corrado. His message was so relevant and personal to everyone because he has a particular gift of speaking the truth in a way that we can hear it, I think. I saw a lot of people surprised by what they probably already knew but just never heard it put so simply and clearly. He has given us a message that needs to be shouted from the rooftops and deeply received in our hearts. Thanks for coming.

Again, the 5-week series on Scripture and the Mass… well, I didn’t think we would probably get even a dozen to come on Sunday nights. Typical to me, I had an announcement ready to say that we didn’t have enough response to keep it on the calendar and would try to reschedule later in the spring when people might have more time to plan. Well, the available room’s capacity is 60 and the response was so great that we had to add an additional Sunday afternoon class – both classes are filled to capacity. Thanks for coming.

Adoration this week for 40 Hours – well, perhaps thanks to new technology and online sign-ups – we had all the times completely filled for adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist for the entire cycle of hours. Last year we had difficulty, asking and asking. I get the sense a shift has taken place here, people are praying more, people are more involved. The message is heard and seen in our actions. So, again, thanks for coming.

We continue now in the season of Lent with a particular focus on all those who are preparing for sacraments. You may have noticed all the little sheep on the steps of the sanctuary. Each one was placed there when our children finished their First Reconciliation last week. At each prayer service throughout the week we listened to the parable of the Good Shepherd who goes out into the valleys and thickets and looks for the lost sheep. I asked the kids before confession, “Who is the lost sheep in the story?” Every time, they replied, “We are!” Reconciliation is a powerful reality, and the lambs on the steps are a strong visual of how the gift of reconciliation is given to our community in a new way through all these children. So, remember to pray for them during this season.

Also, we pray for all the Elect and the Candidates (adults and young people), who are preparing in RCIA or Religious Education to receive the sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist – at the Easter Vigil. I had hoped to place their photos in the vestibule of the church this year so you can recognize them, maybe we will get it done for the season of Easter after they have become members of the Church… but we must remember to pray for all of them now, as they are in these last weeks of preparation. At various Masses coming up (3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays of Lent) we will have what are called “Scrutinies,” opportunities for the Assembly to pray for them at Masses, to help them to be ready for the grace and joy of the sacraments. These are also great reminders for ourselves, to renew our desire for the same grace and joy.

Finally, don’t forget the Living Stones on the steps in front of the altar. As in other years, you are invited to place a stone there for anyone you have invited to come back to the Mass, family members or friends who have been away. The Stones are powerful reminders for us to pray for them, too.

God bless you.