A Letter from Fr. Paul - March 18, 2018

Ministry opportunity of the week: Holy Week services are inspiring and commemorate central events in the life, death, and resurrection of our Savior. Invite family members, friends, and/or neighbors who do not attend services regularly to accompany you for these special days. Research has shown that sometimes all someone needs is an invitation and they return to worshipping with the community.

I received a note from Fr. Diego and our sister parish sharing how delighted the parishioners of the community Viucalvitz are with the recently completed catechetical center, ready in time for Lenten activities. We helped provide materials, they provided the labor. Pictures will follow. PACT: Pius Parishioners Always Come Through!!

Tuesday evening, March 20 at 7 pm, we will have a communal celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Three priests will be available for individual confessions afterwards. Please take advantage of this opportunity to prepare for the celebration of Holy Week. Confessions are heard every Saturday from 4 to 4:30 pm in a room off the chapel.

The heart is a universal symbol of love (think of all the Valentine cards and candies), probably because it is the source of life: it is when our heart stops beating that we are dead. Our first readings in Lent have presented to us the covenants God made with His people. This weekend, our last set of readings before Holy Week, God describes through Jeremiah the final covenant that He will make with His people, the “new and eternal covenant”:

I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD…

Jesus put this covenant into words with the commandment of love: love God and neighbor. It moves us past the head. It helps us grow past trying to win God’s favor by obeying laws, inviting us into relationships of the heart, relationships of love. It invites us to mature spiritually from a child who obeys laws to an adult who loves. As we enter the last days of Lent, let us ask the Lord to help us to mature, to help us to grow in our ability to love. And let us support each other in prayer. 

-- Paul James Portland, SDS