In an effort to strengthen families and revitalize our parish, I would like to invite each family in our parish to consecrate themselves to the Holy Family and to devote themselves to the ideal model of familial love set by Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
To help families live out the joy of Christ, Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori has composed a prayer through which families are able come together to consecrate themselves under the protection of the Holy Family. In this prayer, families ask for the aid or intercession of the perfect Son Jesus Christ, Mary our perfect mother, and Joseph who is a model for every father. The Knights of Columbus offer this consecration to help families to grow in holiness and draw closer to the Holy Family.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent. Because so many of us will be traveling over Christmas, I want to take this opportunity, on behalf of our parish staff, to wish all of you a Blessed and Merry Christmas!
Over the next few days, we will be wrapping up our Christmas preparations—decorating, buying and wrapping presents, sending cards, and baking. Of course we must remember the most important preparation of all… spiritual ones.
One thing we could all pray for are the visitors coming to our parish. Each Christmas, our churches are filled with visitors who come to pray before the Manger, go to confession, and experience the beauty of the Catholic liturgy.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters,
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice!
This Sunday is the Third Sunday of Advent. It is also known as Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath. Gaudete means to rejoice. It's as if the lightening of the color from purple to the lighter rose should be reflected in our attitudes. Our Lord is inviting us to rejoice! What are we rejoicing about? For God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son... He is Emmanuel, God with us, and Savior of all people, who has come and set us free... so rejoice!
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters,
Since circles have no beginning and no end, the circular shape of the Advent Wreath is used to symbolize God the Father and eternal life. The wreath holds four candles which are lit over the four weeks of Advent. The light of the flame is a visual reminder that Christ is "The Light of the World" (John 8:12). There are three violet (purple) candles and one rose candle, each representing 1,000 years. Added together, the four candles symbolize the 4,000 years that humanity waited for the Savior.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters,
Welcome to Advent! As a faithful Catholic, you may be asked what is Advent? Simple answer: Advent is the four weeks leading to Christmas that are meant to prepare us for the birth of Christ. As the Catechism reminds us: Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. Christmas is the mystery of this "marvelous exchange": O marvelous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity (CCC 526).
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we celebrate the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Solemnity of Christ the King. Today we find ourselves standing at the foot of the Cross. Jesus has been crucified and is dying. Our Lord Jesus, who never sinned, is being executed as a common criminal for a crime He did not commit. He was beaten, crowned with thorns, and forced to carry a cross up a hill where He is crucified. He has endured abuse, was jeered at, mocked by soldiers and taunted by the crowds and also by a common criminal who hangs at His side.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I really enjoy this time of the year in Phoenix and in our parish. The weather is beautiful, our programs are in full swing, and people just seem to be more pleasant. It is a great time to stop, rest, and focus on our gratitude! Thanksgiving Day is all about giving thanks to God for His countless blessings in our life.
I have so many reasons to be thankful to God for the wonderful people of St. Joan of Arc. In recent months, our parish has made significant strides in our understanding of stewardship. People continue to register as parishioners and new parishioners are becoming more active members of our parish. More and more folks are realizing that we are all stewards of God's many gifts. Many of you have come together to provide the fixings for Thanksgiving dinner to many families through our St. Vincent de Paul pantry. It is so inspiring to see. Your generosity and thoughtfulness will make a beautiful difference to so many families this Thursday.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Pope Francis, quoting Pope Benedict XVI once wrote: "If indeed 'the just ordering of society and of the state is a central responsibility of politics,' the Church 'cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice.'"
As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops remind us, "Our nation faces many political challenges that demand well informed moral choices: The ongoing destruction of a million innocent human lives each year by:
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The way our culture currently recognizes Halloween is more than scary… it is wrong. Let me attempt to clarify a few things. This week we will celebrate the Feast of All Saints, which is celebrated every November 1st. This celebration dates back to the fourth century. It was originally called the Feast of All Martyrs and it was celebrated on May 13th. The words "martyr" and "saint" originally meant basically the same thing — someone who is a witness to Christ even unto death.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters,
Our Lord has blessed St. Joan of Arc parish with some very generous parishioners who enable our parish to continue to function in wonderful ways. Specifically, your generosity has enabled our parish debt to be paid down by almost $100,000 this year… leaving us a total debt of $107,775. Our plate collection increased by $10,000 over last year and the "Debt Reduction" collection also increased by $6,000 over last year. We have seen our parish increase in the total number of parishioners but the number of families who come to Mass regularly changes dramatically depending on the time of the year. The visitors to our fish fry helped us to raise over $20,000 this year.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters,
Last week I introduced Our Lord's teaching on the Sacrament of Marriage. First and foremost, the Sacrament of Marriage is meant to be a sign of the love between God and us. Because marriage is to be a sign of love between God and us, marriage is meant to permanent throughout our lifetime. But what happens when it is not meant to be permanent? We have to look again at what Our Lord teaches us about marriage. Simply put, Jesus gave us this teaching on marriage. It is a lifelong, unbreakable union between a man and a woman. Marriage is like a mirror image of the union between God and his people which is meant to be an unbreakable union.
READ MOREDear Brothers and Sisters,
Today Our Lord offers us His teaching on marriage. To our modern ears, the teaching from Our Lord sounds severe, even insensitive: "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery." In our current day, we find that divorce seems to be almost a normal way of dealing with conflict in a marriage. But divorce is nothing new because it was obviously around during the time Our Lord walked on the earth.
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