News - February 2018 RSS Feed

Dear friends in Christ,
In this second week of Lent we are invited up the mountain with Peter, James and John as we hear the stirring account of the Transfiguration of Jesus in the presence of Moses and Elijah. This is always one of my favorite biblical passages, and you can see it depicted in one of the stained-glass windows in the church. It shows how Jesus is the fulfillment of the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah), yet fear strikes the disciples and they don’t quite grasp what is happening. What fear is keeping us from recognizing the Lord in our own lives? Do we hear God’s voice? What might we need to let go of in this Lenten season to be able to recognize Jesus at work in our lives?

Dear friends in Christ,
Our journey of 40 days is officially underway as we celebrate the first Sunday of Lent this weekend. I pray that this will be a time of spiritual renewal for all of us. Please keep foremost in your prayers our Catechumens and Candidates who are in the “home stretch” for their entrance into full communion with the Church. We will celebrate the Rite of Sending for 20 of these Catechumens at the 9 a.m. Mass this weekend and later tonight they will be received by Cardinal DiNardo at the Rite of Election that we are hosting at CtR (one of five such services around the Archdiocese today). Our 20 from CtR, along with nearly 1,800 others from other parishes, will make up the largest group of Catechumens from any single diocese in the country.

Dear friends in Christ,
This weekend marks our final Sunday of Ordinary Time before we begin our 40-day journey of Lent. Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday, Feb. 14. Recall that Ash Wednesday is not a Holy Day of Obligation but it is an important day for us as we begin Lent with our foreheads “branded” with ashes. It’s a call to conversion and a sign of our mortality – “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

Dear friends in Christ,
We all know that February is shortest month (and we don’t even get the extra day this year), but we’ve got a lot going on at CtR in these 28 days. Let’s take a look at what lies ahead for us and take advantage of some wonderful opportunities to grow in faith and charity.