This upcoming Friday, March 19th is the Solemnity of St. Joseph. It is the highest rank of feasts every year, and in the universal Church normally a holy day of obligation (but not in United States). In addition, this is the Year of St. Joseph. So, we had better celebrate the day! It falls on a Friday of Lent, so it triggers a special treat—the requirement for abstinence from meat is lifted. No fasting on a feast day of highest rank!
Is it time for Spring cleaning? According to Wikipedia, “During the 19th century in America, prior to the advent of the vacuum cleaner, March was often the best time for dusting because it was getting warm enough to open windows and doors (but not warm enough for insects to be a problem), and the high winds could carry the dust out of the house.” Sounds about right to me. I’m eager for Spring to come. The first day of Spring is Saturday, March 20th. But next weekend, Sunday, March 14th, Daylight Savings Time begins—and I’m particularly excited about having more evening light!
Setting the World on Fire:
Setting the World on Fire: How Scripture applies to our world today
“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Luke 12:49, NAB)
This will be a topical Bible study, so not one particular book, but instead jump around with many different passages from different books, but all related to topic studied.
Topics:
Division & Unity
Enemies & (Non)Violence
Apocolypticism
Conspiracies & Trust
Fear, Anxiety, Response
More?
Happy cold Saint Valentine’s Day! My hope and prayer for this Valentine’s Day is to get the third degree. Normally, “getting the third degree” is an idiom meaning “to be interrogated, scrutinized, or questioned intensely or thoroughly by someone.” I don’t want that. But I do want our temperature to at least crack 3 degrees today. And people wonder why I don’t like February.
I am not a fan of February to tell you the truth. I find it cold, dark, rather boring, and I’m impatient for Spring to begin. However, this February, I admit, is kind of exciting. This Sunday the KC Chiefs play in the Super Bowl again. But even more importantly, this month is pretty much the Super Bowl of great faith opportunities, especially retreats, as well.
This week, January 31 - February 6, we celebrate National Catholic Schools Week. It reminds us of the value and importance of Catholic education. We are blessed to have our own parish Kindergarten through 8th-grade school, our own early education center, and also to have several Catholic high schools in our area. I hope you see the great things that are going on in them!
Did you know that this Sunday, the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, is declared to be in the universal Church the Sunday of the Word of God? This was declared by Pope Francis in late 2019 so it still a new thing.
January 22nd is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children and also the 48th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. It is a tragedy of the greatest magnitude that millions of children have lost their lives, and millions of women and families have been wounded by abortion. The gift of life is holy and amazing! We must protect life. Could we imagine for adults that we would place rights of privacy and choice above the right to life? That one could kill another adult as long as a greater right of choice and privacy was claimed? It is ridiculous.
The Archbishop’s Call to Share (ACTS) kicks off this weekend. This is an annual appeal to fund many important ministries of the Archdiocese that we could not do alone as a single parish. It is kind of the equivalent of our annual parish stewardship which funds our parish ministries, which by the way, if you haven’t completed your parish stewardship renewal, it is never too late! I haven’t yet seen our 2021 ACTS goal, but I did see last year’s results which were impressive.