Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Folks,

So we have cleared the halfway point of Lent! Next week we start our added confessional schedule, with as many opportunities to schedule confessions as I could manage to work onto the calendar. I am grateful for the work of Fr. Riley, during our parish retreat as we were able offer hours and hours of extra confession opportunities!

As I was looking for inspiration for this week’s bulletin note, I came across these words of Our Lord to St. Faustina recorded in her diary.

“I am love and mercy itself. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. … My mercy is greater than your sins, and those of the entire world. … I let My Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come then with trust to draw graces from this fountain. … The graces of My mercy are drawn by the means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.”

“Let no soul fear to draw near to me.” I was afraid of going to the dentist as a child. One conversation with an older sister brought out that she too was scarred
by our childhood dentist! I sometimes said, “I am an unrepentant dentist hater!” Ouch! But as a priest, I have found a dentist that I trust who is gracious and kind and who doesn’t inflict mountains of pain! I know that so many people have had an unpleasant moment in confession, and are afraid to go back. On behalf of every priest, I ask for mercy for the times we are tired, or grumpy, or just fail to understand! And I exhort you to not be afraid to draw near to Jesus.

More Trust = More Mercy. I was struck there that Jesus says there is only one vessel that can draw his mercy from the fountain of grace: trust. Sometimes I bring my own coffee mug over to the school in the morning, because I want the biggest mug of coffee I can handle! If we want to know how to fill up our souls with His mercy; here he gives us a hint. Put aside doubts, fear, even anxiety to trustingly come to Jesus. By ‘put aside’ I don’t mean eliminate entirely because that is probalby not in your power. I mean don’t let them stop you from choosing to draw near to Jesus, that itself is an act of trust and opens fountains of mercy.

pax,

Father John Mosimann

Let me applaud some victories here!

At the beginning of Catholic Schools Week, we announced that we had just hit the ‘Halfway There’ mark of our Capital Campaign. That was six weeks ago. This week we hit 4.2 million pledged. Yep, do the math, that is $700k over the last six weeks! I am so glad that so many families are getting on board and truly giving sacrificially!

We also announced an art contest for our parish school, Holy Cross Academy, and this week we were so proud to be able to announce the winners! The theme was designing our dream school chapel or an element for the chapel.

We had more than a hundred submissions which made selecting winners very difficult, but we found inspiration in every submission! We were so inspired that we decided to name more winners and hand out more prizes!! The first place winners are here in the bulletin this week. A joyful thanks to all of the students who shared their artistic and design talent with us!

And Stars! Stars Everywhere! So many of the submissions for the dream chapel had stars on the wall, or ceiling, or in stained glass, or hanging from the rafters! I told the children this week that because of their inspiration, I will instruct the architects to incorporate stars into the chapel design and decoration! That way they will know that they have helped to shape how their chapel will lift their minds and hearts to the Lord!

Victories all around: fundraising success, art contests, and chapel inspirations! Our Lady of Victories, pray for us!

pax,

Father John Mosimann