Dear Friends,

Even though we have just celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus, I would still like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. Indeed, as we come to the end of this year, my heart is filled with gratitude for the abundant blessings we have received as a parish, as a family, and as individuals. However, at individual levels, this Christmas celebration may never have been the same for some of you because of the loss of a dear one or due to other circumstances.

Dear Friends,

As we enter the final part of our Advent season, the Church invites us to intensify our preparation for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in a few days’ time. Since the beginning of the season, we have had great opportunities here at our parish to prepare by participating in our “Lessons and Carols” led by our own choir and clergy; then we had the “Honor Your Mother” Novena Rosary which our diocese asked our parish and school to lead, followed by a very inspiring and engaging “Advent Mission” led by the renowned and nationally acclaimed Jesse Romero.

Dear Friends,

During this third week of Advent, we celebrate Gaudate on Sunday. Gaudate is Latin for “rejoice,” the first words of the opening antiphon for mass. This Sunday is unique as the third candle lit in the Advent wreath is colored rose rather than violet. Along with the candle, the priests and deacons who celebrate wear rose vestments. In this season of purple, the rose of Gaudete Sunday sticks out as a symbol of joy and rallies us to persevere in our Advent practices as the celebration of our Lord’s birth draws near. The Lord is near, so rejoice!

Dear Friends,

Yes, dear friends, we are already in the second Sunday of Advent. Each year, this season offers us an opportunity to re-examine ourselves and turn away from sin in order to prepare to receive the birth of our Savior in a befitting manner. However, before I go into a bit of detail as to what we are called to do during this season, I would like to briefly share the meaning of Advent.

Dear Friends, I was reminded of a strange dream I had some time back. In that rather strange dream, I was on a journey that took me through a lonely, deserted, and fearful terrain to a destination not quite clear to me. At around midday, totally hot and exhausted, I suddenly came upon what looked like a corpse. In a state of terror, my first reaction was to flee for my life, fearing that the body lying on the pathway was a victim of some wild animal or robbers. Afraid that I could easily become the next victim, the urge to flee grew even stronger.

Dear Friends, “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.” (Romans 12:4-5)

Our parish community at Mount Carmel reflects the Catholic Church in miniature. I observe this in the way that our ministries seek to serve each other and the people outside of our community. I see this in the various prayers offered through mass intentions and devotions for both the living and the deceased souls in purgatory. I recognize this in the celebration of the saints who have gone before us and won the crown of salvation as victors in Christ. In all this we reflect what our Church wisely calls Communion of Saints.

Dear Friends,

We have just gone through an election peacefully, for which we must be grateful to God. However, it is not an exaggeration to say that the period preceding the election and the election day itself were full of fears and anxieties at many different levels. Almost two weeks after the election, fear of the unknown about the future of our country may still be lingering among some of us, while others may be very optimistic. In this article, I want to dwell briefly on the power of trust in God over fear in an attempt to make some sense of our situation.

Dear Friends,

Last weekend, I gave you my state of the parish address, reflecting on my past year as your Pastor and laying out my plans for our parish going forward. I pointed out how excited and blessed I am to be your pastor. I reminded myself, too, as I often do, how grateful I must always be to God and to the several people that God brought into my own life over the years. That now includes you! It is this sense of gratitude that always brings a bright smile to my face, if you are wondering!

Dear Friends,

Since this weekend, my focus is on addressing the state of our parish at all Masses, so I decided to give a brief reflection on the liturgy of this 31st Sunday of Year B. Whereas the readings of this weekend focus primarily on Love: Love of God and Love of neighbor, my mind was drawn to the title of this article. I think this is for a good reason: who or what we love greatly influences our worship. Who and what do we worship in our society today?

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.