Dear Friends,

“By itself, faith accomplishes nothing. For even the devils believe and shudder. No, faith must be joined to an active love of God which is expressed in good works.”
—St. Maximus the Confessor

These words from Saint Maximus may remind us of the reading from the letter of Saint James we heard a few Sundays ago when he said, “Faith apart from works is dead.” Saint Maximus even goes so far as to say that even the devils have a technical faith as they know who God is and believe in his power. We see this in the various episodes of exorcism in the gospels, where Jesus casts out evil spirits.

Dear Friends,

I would like to express my profound gratitude for your active participation in a number of activities our parish has been involved in the last couple of months. Among others, we began by doing a census, which was followed by a survey to determine the size and needs of our parish. Even though the participation was not as we had hoped, it gave us some idea of the direction our parish desires to go.

Dear Friends,

This month of October is usually known as Respect Life Month in our Catholic Church. And so, in this article, I am going to ask all of you to do everything in your power to respect life. One way I am asking you to do this is by voting NO to Proposition 139, as the Bishops are asking us to do. This is because, as you know by now, this proposition opens the door to enshrining a constitutional right to abortion in Arizona, including even removing safeguards for girls and women currently in place at abortion clinics.

Dear Friends,

For the last five weekends of September, our reflections centered on stewardship, covering its three pillars of time, talent, and treasure. This weekend, as members of our parish community, it is our time to commit. As a community, we want to reaffirm our resolve and commitment to faithful stewardship to the support of our parish. As we do so, let us keep in mind that this is a sacred moment for us to reflect on our relationship with God and our role as stewards of His resources.

Dear Friends,

Last week, we, Priests and the Bishops of our Diocese gathered in Flagstaff for our annual convocation. While it was radically different from the convocations we had in the past, it was nevertheless hailed as one of the best we have had in recent years. Our presentations focused on the hidden life of St. Joseph through the lenses of artists. Elizabeth Lev, the renowned Vatican Church art historian, and author who made these presentations, captivated the priests and the bishops with her very thrilling talks and sense of humor, making the three days of the convocation look like half a day. This was not a mean feat to achieve, considering that she was talking to priests who are often hard to impress.

Dear Friends,

Over the past three weeks, we have emphasized in different ways that, as Christians, we are all called to be good stewards of the resources God has entrusted to us, which include our time, talent, and treasure. One of the most significant ways we can demonstrate our faith and commitment to our parish, which I want to focus on this week, is specifically by sharing our financial resources. In this article, I want to emphasize three points: the importance of generosity, the benefits of giving, and the practical ways you can share your financial resources with your parish.

Dear Friends,

In the last two weeks, our homilies focused on Stewardship, inviting us to recognize that all the things we have: our time, talent, and treasure are gifts to us from God. Both last week’s homilies and article discussed the stewardship of TIME, emphasizing the need for us to spend time with our Loving Father. It was essentially about creating time for prayer and for our brothers and sisters. Understood this way, stewardship of time becomes a very important aspect in developing our relationship with God and our community.

Dear Friends,

This is a famous quote from one of the Church’s great modern saints, Maximilian Kolbe; a Franciscan priest who lived his life leading others to Christ and gave his life at Auschwitz in order to save the life of another. We recently celebrated the feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe and his call to recognize the poison of indifference is even more relevant today.

Dear Friends,

For the past five weeks, our liturgy focused on the Bread of Life Discourse from St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 6. However, beginning this Sunday till the end of the month, our Sunday liturgy will shift focus on Stewardship. You may recall that for several months in the past, I spoke about and wrote articles on stewardship. I am convinced therefore, that stewardship is by now not a new concept to our parish.

Dear Friends,

Over these past four Sundays we have spent time reflecting on the Eucharist as we explore the words of Our Lord in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel. As we move into this final Sunday, I believe it is worthwhile to look back on the rich teaching of the Eucharist provided by Jesus in the Gospel of John in order to grow in our Eucharistic devotion as individuals and as a parish.

Dear Friends,

This weekend, our homilies will be the fourth, based on the Bread of Life Discourse taken from John, Chapter 6. We have devoted these five weeks to reflect on the Eucharist because as Catholics, the Holy Eucharist really matters to us as the Source and Summit of our Faith. The beauty of all this is that the Eucharist truly embodies Christ’s uninterrupted Presence among us twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week in all the tabernacles around the world.

Dear Friends,

We are now in the seventh week since the actual construction of our perpetual adoration chapel commenced. I am extremely excited about the progress so far made. Though you may not see much behind the barricade, we have already done the plumbing work for the bathrooms and laid the foundation for the building. These are the most important aspects of the structure of the chapel, (Mt. 7:24-26). As we wait for the concrete for the foundation to set, I look forward with even greater anticipation and excitement for the superstructure to soon take shape. We expect this to commence soon.

Dear Friends,

We have just concluded the National Eucharistic Revival in the United States, which ran from July 17-21. By all accounts, it was said to have been one of the most successful Catholic revivals in our country and the first in 83 years. Over 60,000 Catholics attended, enthusiastically participating in Eucharistic Processions and Adoration, and had many opportunities to listen to inspiring speeches. This number included more than 1,100 priests, 1,200 religious, 600 deacons, 600 seminarians, and 200 bishops and cardinals.