A Letter from Fr. Paul - February 4, 2018

Ministry opportunity of the week: support the 2018 Catholic Stewardship Appeal which has the theme “Dare to Lead.” The money collected in this annual campaign is used exclusively in 5 areas. I will highlight one area for each of the next weeks. Today I highlight Catholic Charities of Milwaukee, which last year helped 43,970 people in need, certainly a worthwhile cause. Please watch for the mailing which will arrive soon and be as generous as possible.

This coming weekend is the last one in Ordinary time before Lent begins. As we did for Advent, we have two handouts that will be available in the back of church this coming weekend: a booklet of daily Lenten reflections by Henri Nouwen entitled Christ Our Hope and a Lenten calendar of activities for children. Please take advantage of these resources to enhance the Lenten experience for you and your family. Fr. Peter Schuessler, SDS will be celebrating the Masses because I will be in Racine with the candidates for the second of our four weekends this year. Please keep us in prayer.

Mark presents Jesus at the beginning of his Gospel as having a very busy day: he preached in the synagogue; he drove the unclean spirit out of a man; he went to Peter’s house and cured his mother-in-law; and he continued healing and casting out demons. We then hear: Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.

Jesus needed time with His Father. He needed to recharge His batteries. He needed guidance in His life and He found it in quiet time with His Father. The One Percent Challenge which we received for Lent last year invited us to do the same.  The Post Game Review  that we received last month invites us to reflect and grow at the end of the day.

If Jesus needed to do this, certainly we do also. I hope and pray that you are taking advantage of these opportunities. If not, I invite you to begin. And let us support each other in prayer.