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.