- Join or start a summer bible study group.
- Plan an outing with your family.
- Introduce yourself to a fellow parishioner with whom you are unfamiliar.
- Pray for peace on Memorial Day.
- Help a neighbor who is physically unable to clean their yard.
- Invite someone to attend a weekend liturgy with you.
- Make a blood donation.
- Show genuine hospitality to visitors at your church.
- Don’t text when you drive.
- Reduce your stress by getting outside and getting some exercise.
- Drive courteously.
- Make contact with a relative you haven’t seen in a long time.
- Take time to pray each day.
- Treat your family or loved one to a day at the museum.
- Volunteer to participate in a community cleanup effort.
- Make a gift to your diocesan annual appeal.
- Plant flowers, shrubs or trees in a park or other location.
- Collect stuffed animals from friends and neighbors, write messages to tie or clip onto the animals and give them to a local police department to use in comforting children.
- Don’t drive while impaired by alcohol.
- Donate gently used clothing
Category: Parish News
Third Sunday of Easter Weekend of April 30/ May 1, 2022
This weekend’s Gospel reading from John enjoys a number of themes not least of which has to do with hearing Christ’s call to live differently but returning to our “comfort zones.” Even after seeing the risen Lord and receiving his blessing and missionary charge, his disciples go back to what they were doing before Jesus first called them. Instead of continuing Jesus’ ministry, they return to the life they knew. When faced with the choice between embarking on a new way of life or staying where life is familiar and comfortable, they chose the latter. Good stewards know that Christ has called them to open their hearts and live in a different way. How often do we retreat from the Lord’s call so that we may remain with what is comfortable and familiar?
Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Weekend of April 23/24, 2022
In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear it proclaimed that many “signs and wonders” were performed in public by Christ’s followers, a demonstration that produced two results. First, the people of Jerusalem outside the Christian community were awed by what the disciples were performing. And in the midst of all this amazement, many were being converted. Good stewards know of the evangelizing power emanating from their daily acts of love, compassion, kindness and generosity. They believe that if they stay focused on Christ each day, every act has the power to transform a broken world. What “signs and wonders” will we perform today?
Let’s Be Good Stewards of the Earth!
April 22 marks the celebration of Earth Day 2022. This annual event, which began in 1970 and launched the modern environmental movement, reminds us all that the care and protection of our earth and natural environment is of urgent concern. Indeed, caring for the earth and its resources is a moral obligation, one in which Christian stewards must play their part as stewards of God’s creation. We have listened carefully to recent pontiffs sounding the clarion call for the safeguarding of God’s creation. Pope Benedict XVI was sometimes called “the first green pope” for his continued plea that we respect the environment. Under his direction, solar panels were installed at the Vatican, and Vatican City signed up for a project that offset carbon-dioxide emissions.
Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who took the name of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology, has frequently spoken about protecting the environment. In his first Mass as pope, Francis called on us to be “protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.” Stewardship of the environment has become an ever-deepening part of our spiritual consciousness. For the Christian steward, caring for our earth and its resources is not an academic subject but a personal and practical one.
There are a number of ways we can celebrate Earth Day and demonstrate our commitment to protecting our environment. Even small actions can have great consequences! Pick up litter, recycle, turn off the water when you brush your teeth, switch to online bill payments, use public transportation, turn down your water heater, install energy efficient lights. If we stop to think about it, there are dozens of ways we can lighten the tremendous burden we place on our environment in order to promote a healthy ecosystem; especially those of us in North America who use such a high percentage of the world’s resources. The challenge of maintaining a clean environment is a matter of urgency, as the results of climate change can be seen regularly now. We are called to be good stewards of the earth. Let us celebrate Earth Day 2022 by making changes to the way we treat God’s creation. Let us establish a cleaner, healthier earth that will be sustained for generations to come
Stewards of the Easter Season
Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen! If you’re thinking this greeting comes a little late, since Easter Sunday was April 21, think again. As Catholic Christians, we celebrate the Easter season for seven weeks, until the fires of Pentecost once again inflame our hearts on June 9. Indeed, how could we not continue to celebrate this event that has changed everything for us?
It’s easy to slip into a cultural way of thinking about our great feasts. Many people have the Christmas tree taken down at the end of New Year’s Day, rather than waiting for Epiphany. Likewise, most of us have long ago put the Easter decorations away. But the Christian steward is aware of the beauty and meaning of the seasons in the liturgical calendar.
The Easter season remains a special time for recommitment to the Lord. One word for this period is “mystagogia,” and those who were newly baptized at the Great Easter Vigil are especially familiar with this term. It literally means that we delve more deeply into the mystery of our faith. But exploring this mystery is not just an endeavor for new Christians. As we prepare for Pentecost, we prayerfully examine what the Resurrection means in our own lives.
For Christian stewards, it’s a time to reevaluate how faith in the Risen Lord informs every aspect of our lives – how we labor, how we play, the way we pray, how we allocate our resources, where we spend our time, how we love, how we extend our compassion to others. If Christ is truly risen – an astounding and life-altering belief – then this Easter time brings immense joy and a continuing desire to know the Risen Lord.
The Scripture readings of the season are especially helpful. We hear once again the stories of the appearances of Jesus to his friends; how often they failed, initially, to recognize him in his glory. The Acts of the Apostles tell us of the struggles and the excitement of the new community of believers. We spent forty days in the penitential season of Lent.
Now, we are embarked on fifty days of joyous celebration. Let us experience this joy throughout the Easter season, so that when we celebrate Pentecost, we may truly find our hearts on fire with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Night of the Easter Vigil April 16, 2022
Alive in Christ! That’s what we are. Among the many readings of Easter, Saint Paul reflects on this “newness of life” in his letter to the Romans. The Christian life is a resurrected life. It is new life, one of truth, inner joy and genuine fulfillment. God has transformed our lives for all eternity, and that transformation is what it means to be a Christian. Do you know the resurrected life? Have you genuinely experienced it? Good stewards have; and in their commitment to the Lord, they know what it means to be alive in Christ. It is time to rejoice. He is risen! Alleluia!