Happy Sunday! Happy Labor Day Weekend to everyone! I pray everyone is staying safe and enjoying a restful weekend. This weekend's first reading comes from the book of Sirach. Sirach belongs to the Wisdom literature of the Bible. The author offers the listener simple and important advice. "My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.

Happy Sunday!

This week we celebrate a number of wonderful saints. Monday the 25th is the feast of St. Louis the King and St. Joseph Calasanz. Wednesday is the feast of St. Monica, followed by her son, St. Augustine on Thursday. Finally, on Friday, we celebrate the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. While there is plenty to say about these wonderful days, I would like to draw our attention to the Office of Readings for St. Louis. This reading comes from a spiritual testament he wrote to his son.

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone has had a great week. For the past month and half or so we have been doing donuts and coffee outside on Sunday mornings. I am grateful to our Knights of Columbus and the various ministries that have helped coordinate this. It's great to be able to step outside and enjoy fellowship before heading home on Sundays.

There was a young mother in my parish community who was depressed due to financial strain. She prayed for help. One morning before Mass, she placed on the counter a zip-lock bag filled with jewelry and old coins. Smiling, she explained she had been fixing an old cabinet and found the items hidden deep within the walls of her home. One particular coin could be worth as much as $900,000. The contents of the bag-previously unknown to them-were now their prized possession. Their plans changed that week. They had to learn how much it was worth.

Happy Sunday!

It's great to be back in Flagstaff. I had a nice few weeks travelling, attending a conference on Catholic Education, baptizing my nephew, presiding at a wedding, and seeing some extended family. While it's always nice to have time away, I am grateful to be back!

Once I went to a hospice facility to celebrate Last Rites for an elderly dying man. His family had told me that he had been uncommunicative for days. At the conclusion of the ritual, we began to recite the Our Father prayer. To everyone's surprise, his lips moved, clearly mouthing the words to the Lord's prayer. Stripped of most of his faculties, the man could still pray those precious God-given petitions. A lifetime of prayer had planted the words even deeper than his failing consciousness.

Happy Sunday, brothers and sisters,

My name is Lorena Vera-Trejo, and like many of you, I came to this beautiful city of Flagstaff as a visitor, but I decided to stay. In the late 80's I felt welcomed by the kind Catholic community of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I met a great man and we were married in the beautiful chapel of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

I used to be a bad neighbor. I'd get wrapped up in my life and ignore those around me. Then I found sage advice from Benjamin Franklin to this effect: to be a better neighbor, ask someone to do a favor for you. It's counterintuitive, isn't it? Tell strangers that I need their help? Yuck. I'll risk looking needy. Worse, I'll be indebted to them. But I tried it, and it works like a charm. Recently I asked my neighbor Alan for a hacksaw, and Inga for an egg. They kindly obliged, and our friendship is growing.

Peace and Blessings!

My name is Skyler Wilkie, and I am so ecstatic to step into this role as the new Youth Minister here at SFdA! I feel like I have the home field advantage, seeing as I was born and raised here in Flagstaff! I know many of you as the people who have helped me and guided me in my life with Christ.

Happy Sunday!

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, the two great pillars of the Church. We do not often have the opportunity to celebrate this solemnity on a Sunday so it's a gift when this happens. In one way this day reminds us of the many ways in which God works. Through St. Peter, a fisher- man, God chooses to show his power and his desire to sustain the Church.

Happy Sunday!

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, also called Corpus Christi. It is an opportunity for each of us to pause and reflect on the mystery and beauty of the great Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The Church professes that at Mass the Body and Blood of Jesus becomes truly present under the appearances of bread and wine. It is not a symbol, but a reality.

Happy Sunday!

A very Happy Father's Day to all of our fathers in the parish. As we celebrate Father's Day we also celebrate Trinity Sunday. This special solemnity invites us to turn our gaze to the Heav- enly Father who pours himself out for us and teaches us authentic love. The Church teaches us that the Father eternally begets His Son Jesus Christ.

Happy Sunday!

This coming week we have Vacation Bible School! I am grateful to Cathy Carlsen and Kath- erine Buckley for their coordination of this event. They do an amazing job coordinating their teams to put on a great week for our kids. Thank you to all of our volunteers!

The famous 20th century St. Padre Pio said once that he would wait outside the gates of heaven until the people in his life had entered. I'm not sure that I, or frankly many people I know, would say that and mean it. Yet that is precisely the kind of attitude we see in Jesus as he prays for us in the Gospel today. Having celebrated the Ascen- sion of the Lord just a few days ago, we now hear the Son of God at the Last Supper pray to his Father "that they may be brought to perfection as one" (John 17:23). What does this mean for us?