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The Pastor’s Corner
If all is going well on our pilgrimage to Italy, we will have been to Rome and attended an audience with Pope Francis, visited the four major basilicas of Rome (St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Paul's Outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major), as well as the Vatican Museum. Hopefully, I will also have had dinner with our seminarian, Ben Pitre, last Wednesday and was able to drop off a "care" package from his family and our community. We also will have travelled to the Abbey of Montecassino, the home of St. Benedict, as well as another Benedictine abbey, the Abbey of Santissima Trinita.
Today, we are visiting the Grotto of Michael the Archangel, through whose intercession we pray each day for our protection and care at our daily Mass. We will also visit the San Giovanni Rotondo, the home of Padre Pio, and have our Sunday Mass in the chapel there. This week, we will visit Loreto, Florence (famous for its Renaissance art and architecture), and Assisi (the home of St. Francis (Pope Francis' patron) and St. Clare). We will then return to Rome for one last view of the skyline, and then return home. Thank you for your prayers for us, and please continue to keep the group in your prayers for a safe return home. Know that we are keeping you in our prayers as we visit these holy places. We pray that they, and the saints’ lives that we learn about will inspire us to know God more deeply and to imitate Jesus in our daily lives!
Last weekend, we passed the halfway point of Lent. Our focus now slowly shifts from the fundamentals of removing sin from our lives and being more fervent in our prayer (Our Love of God), almsgiving (Our Love of Neighbor) and fasting (The discipline necessary to live a Christian life, that is, to Love God and our Neighbor), to the Paschal Mystery (suffering and death leading to new life). It is a good time to take advantage of Sacramental Confession and to meditate more deeply on the coming commemoration of Jesus' Passion, Death and Resurrection during Holy Week. If we have not been faithful to our Lenten goals, it is never too late to begin! If we have succeeded in our Lenten goals, we thank God for the Grace of conversion. If we have failed in our Lenten goals, then we are humbled (in a good way) and realize our weakness and our need for God's strength. In any case, we don't give up, but keep trying! God knows that we all struggle to live a good life in imitation of His Son, and delights in our effort, knowing it leads to a strengthened relationship with Him. Our continuing struggle gives us new life in Christ, and thus we live the Paschal Mystery every day, looking forward to our Easter Resurrection at the end of our earthly life.
I look forward to seeing you next weekend, Palm Sunday, as we begin Holy Week. May God bless you with the Grace of conversion as we enter these last few weeks of the Lenten Season!
Now is also an appropriate time to look ahead to the Easter Season. There will be much going on after Easter in our parish, so please mark your calendars and, if possible, attend the following celebrations:
April 12, 2015 - 1st Communion (10am Mass);
April 26, 2015 - Annual Parish Easter Picnic following the 10am Mass (alternate weather date is May 3);
May 24, 2015 - Confirmation (5pm Mass).
These parish celebrations of the sacraments and our parish picnic highlight the joy of the Easter Season in our parish community. As we continue to make our Lenten journey, let us renew our efforts in the discipline of prayer, almsgiving and fasting so we can more deeply appreciate and celebrate the gift of Easter!
God Bless
Today, we are visiting the Grotto of Michael the Archangel, through whose intercession we pray each day for our protection and care at our daily Mass. We will also visit the San Giovanni Rotondo, the home of Padre Pio, and have our Sunday Mass in the chapel there. This week, we will visit Loreto, Florence (famous for its Renaissance art and architecture), and Assisi (the home of St. Francis (Pope Francis' patron) and St. Clare). We will then return to Rome for one last view of the skyline, and then return home. Thank you for your prayers for us, and please continue to keep the group in your prayers for a safe return home. Know that we are keeping you in our prayers as we visit these holy places. We pray that they, and the saints’ lives that we learn about will inspire us to know God more deeply and to imitate Jesus in our daily lives!
Last weekend, we passed the halfway point of Lent. Our focus now slowly shifts from the fundamentals of removing sin from our lives and being more fervent in our prayer (Our Love of God), almsgiving (Our Love of Neighbor) and fasting (The discipline necessary to live a Christian life, that is, to Love God and our Neighbor), to the Paschal Mystery (suffering and death leading to new life). It is a good time to take advantage of Sacramental Confession and to meditate more deeply on the coming commemoration of Jesus' Passion, Death and Resurrection during Holy Week. If we have not been faithful to our Lenten goals, it is never too late to begin! If we have succeeded in our Lenten goals, we thank God for the Grace of conversion. If we have failed in our Lenten goals, then we are humbled (in a good way) and realize our weakness and our need for God's strength. In any case, we don't give up, but keep trying! God knows that we all struggle to live a good life in imitation of His Son, and delights in our effort, knowing it leads to a strengthened relationship with Him. Our continuing struggle gives us new life in Christ, and thus we live the Paschal Mystery every day, looking forward to our Easter Resurrection at the end of our earthly life.
I look forward to seeing you next weekend, Palm Sunday, as we begin Holy Week. May God bless you with the Grace of conversion as we enter these last few weeks of the Lenten Season!
April 12, 2015 - 1st Communion (10am Mass);
April 26, 2015 - Annual Parish Easter Picnic following the 10am Mass (alternate weather date is May 3);
May 24, 2015 - Confirmation (5pm Mass).
These parish celebrations of the sacraments and our parish picnic highlight the joy of the Easter Season in our parish community. As we continue to make our Lenten journey, let us renew our efforts in the discipline of prayer, almsgiving and fasting so we can more deeply appreciate and celebrate the gift of Easter!
Father James Brady
The bulletin for the week of March 22, 2015 has been posted. Click here to see it.
The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.
Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.
Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.
And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.
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