Happy Easter!

He is risen! Today we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ! I grow in appreciation for Easter every year. It’s something you take at face value as a child. You hear, “Jesus died and rose from the dead.” As a child you hear it and that’s it. In my adult life, having faced death more and more, I understand the finality of it. It makes the Resurrection all that much more joyful and fantastic.

Happy Palm Sunday!

Holy Week has arrived. Today we celebrate the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. Throughout the Gospels we hear of Jesus turning his attention to Jerusalem, that he is making his way to the holy city. Jesus continually sets his sight on Jerusalem, the City of David, not only because His Father’s dwelling is there in the Temple, but also because it is where He plans to accomplish his mission. In Jerusalem He will endure His Passion, He will suffer greatly, and He will rise. But first, we must join Him on this entry, we join Him in this procession where Hosanna is sung.

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone had a good, safe, and restful spring break. This week on Tuesday is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. On this special feast day the Church looks to this silent patron of the universal Church. The silence is part of the wonderful mystery of St. Joseph. Throughout the Scriptures, while St. Joseph is mentioned, he is not recorded to have said anything. He is a man of discernment, prayer, attentiveness, and sincerity. Certainly, this is not an exhaustive list, but these traits stand as a model for each of us too.

Happy Sunday!

Spring Break week is here for the parish. This means that our Mexico Mission crew will be leaving today to build a home for the poor in Mexico. Please keep them in your prayers that they may have a safe journey, a fruitful week, and return in good shape Thursday! Please keep the Elect in your prayers. The Elect are catechumens who will be receiving Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation at the Easter Vigil this year. Each of them have traveled a unique path and we are so glad to be welcoming them into the Church this year.

Happy Sunday!

This Sunday we celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Lent. It seems like no time at all and we’re nearly halfway through the Lenten season. I want to thank all the groups who have provided the Soup Supper on Friday and who will in the coming weeks. It is a delightful evening with good food and good company! If you’ve never joined us before I hope you can make it this year.

Happy Sunday,

This weekend we are very glad to welcome Fr. Adam Potter from the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Fr. Potter will be preaching all the English Masses this weekend in preparation for our Lenten Mission which he will lead from Monday to Wednesday. The theme for the mission is “Streams of Living Water”. There will be identical morning and evening sessions each day. The morning sessions will begin at 9am in the Church and the evening sessions will be at 6:30pm, also in the Church. We hope you can join us for any or all of the sessions!

Happy Sunday,

I hope everyone’s Lent is off to a great start. Throughout Lent we will have Stations of the Cross every Friday at 7:00pm. When I was growing up this was a regular part of my family’s Lenten devotions. As a child it always seemed like stations took such a long time! My brothers and I were not always very cooperative when it came time to head to Stations of the Cross. However, I’m grateful my parents “made” us go. I’m grateful they insisted on us attending something that we didn’t want to attend.

Happy Sunday,

I hope everyone has had a good start to February and is staying warm in the midst of the cold and snow! This week we begin the great season of Lent. Ash Wednesday begins these 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in preparation for the Easter celebrations. We have a full day of Masses, Liturgy of the Word services with ashes distributed, and confessions. Please see the bulletin for the full schedule (Wednesday confessions will be on as normal).

Dear family in Christ;

As LENT is approaching, I would like to share with you the following important aspects that I believe need to be mentioned again: hat is Lent? Lent is a 40-day period that typically begins in February or March (depending on the liturgical year). We’ve already touched on the fact that Lent holds an important place for followers of Christ. We want to imitate Him the best way possible, beginning with Lenten observances.

Praise be Jesus Christ!

For those of you who do not know me yet, I am Fr. Carlos Gomez Rivera, your Parochial Vicar here at San Francisco de Asís Parish. I have been with you nearly two months. Please allow me to tell you a little bit about my life.

Happy Sunday!

It is already the third week of January! It’s hard to believe we are almost one month into the new year. As we celebrate the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time we hear from Psalm 25. The first verse we hear is this: “Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths, Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.” The Psalmist, in great humility, asks God to teach him His ways.

Happy Sunday!

This weekend we are back in Ordinary Time and our second reading comes from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. He writes in it, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”

Happy Sunday of the Epiphany!

2024 is here and we are off and running. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. It was great to see so many of you and your families as well as those who were visiting. I am grateful to our staff and volunteers who helped everything go so smoothly.

This Sunday we celebrate the Epiphany. The Church has directed our attention on this feast towards three different events in the life of Christ: The Magi presenting their gifts to the Christ child, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, and the Wedding at Cana.