Many people make "New Year's Resolutions" to be more physically healthy and there are many avenues to explore and adopt to help a person (or persons) within a family to do this. I can only hope and pray that more people (like all of you) will resolve to be more spiritually healthy and alive in the Lord as we start a new calendar year. There are various avenues we can explore that can help us in this regard. If you haven't logged on to the FORMED website (www.formed.org, access code CNT7WK), I invite you to try it and become a registered member which gives you access on an ongoing basis to reading, video and audio material that can help us to grow in union with The Lord and His church.
I want to encourage the men in the parish to consider two wonderful opportunities for spiritual growth that are coming up in February. One (February 3) is the "Catholic Men's Conference" which is a one-day event in Little Rock at Christ the King Church (4000 N. Rodney Parham Road). Please look for more information within this bulletin and consider participating. One speaker is Bishop Bredan J. Cahill of Victoria, Texas who I have heard a number of times, including a day of recollection for our diocesan priests a few years ago, and I can attest that he is a good speaker. There is a cost ($25) that increases after January 20, so please register as soon as you can.
The other opportunity is a Lenten Retreat for the men of our parish in Little Rock beginning on Monday, February 26 and ending March 1. The retreat master will be Monsignor Scott Friend, the vicar general and vocation director of our diocese who has much experience giving retreats in Arkansas and other places. Due to his sometimes fragile health, he is not doing many retreats anymore, so we are blessed that he agreed to do ours. The space for this retreat (which will have talks, Mass each day, opportunity for quiet, reflective time and fellowship) IS LIMITED to the first 40 to sign-up. Be looking for more details, including how to register, in the coming weeks.
I pray that all of our men will consider one or both of these opportunities that challenge us to get away from our comfort zones so the Lord may speak to us and make us stronger Catholic Men in thought, word and deed.
Ladies, please look for upcoming opportunities for you, including a day of recollection sometime in April.
I truly believe that year 2018 has great potential to make us what the Lord wants us to be, which is almost always better than what we might have in mind for ourselves. Please come and "Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord."
I want to encourage the men in the parish to consider two wonderful opportunities for spiritual growth that are coming up in February. One (February 3) is the "Catholic Men's Conference" which is a one-day event in Little Rock at Christ the King Church (4000 N. Rodney Parham Road). Please look for more information within this bulletin and consider participating. One speaker is Bishop Bredan J. Cahill of Victoria, Texas who I have heard a number of times, including a day of recollection for our diocesan priests a few years ago, and I can attest that he is a good speaker. There is a cost ($25) that increases after January 20, so please register as soon as you can.
The other opportunity is a Lenten Retreat for the men of our parish in Little Rock beginning on Monday, February 26 and ending March 1. The retreat master will be Monsignor Scott Friend, the vicar general and vocation director of our diocese who has much experience giving retreats in Arkansas and other places. Due to his sometimes fragile health, he is not doing many retreats anymore, so we are blessed that he agreed to do ours. The space for this retreat (which will have talks, Mass each day, opportunity for quiet, reflective time and fellowship) IS LIMITED to the first 40 to sign-up. Be looking for more details, including how to register, in the coming weeks.
I pray that all of our men will consider one or both of these opportunities that challenge us to get away from our comfort zones so the Lord may speak to us and make us stronger Catholic Men in thought, word and deed.
Ladies, please look for upcoming opportunities for you, including a day of recollection sometime in April.
I truly believe that year 2018 has great potential to make us what the Lord wants us to be, which is almost always better than what we might have in mind for ourselves. Please come and "Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord."
There's an old saying, I believe, that speaks a truth. "If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you get." I have come to the unhappy conclusion that such is the case when it comes to the times I make the Sacrament of Reconciliation available to all who recognize the need for us to be reconciled to God and His people, the Church, on a regular basis. I can attest to more than a few people who tell me that they don't come to Confession more often because: "At my age, I don't sin like I used to." I want to analyze such a statement. I will say that sin happens through our thoughts, words and deeds which covers much ground for all of us to ponder if our entire being is continually giving praise to God and doing good in the name of Jesus for others.
I challenge all of us to consider going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation more often in this new year and be blessed with the graces we receive from God, the opportunity to practice humility (especially as we confess our sins), and the opportunity to do our part to make the Body of Christ whole and healthier than it is. To that end, I have decided to change scheduled times for the Sacrament as follows. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I will offer the Sacrament after the morning Mass until 10:00 a.m. On Wednesdays and Fridays (and Mondays when we have Mass), I will continue to offer the Sacrament from 8:30 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. On the weekends I will offer the Sacrament on Saturday from 1:00-2:00 p.m. and 3:30-3:45 p.m., and on Sunday from 7:30-7:45 a.m. and 9:30-9:45 a.m. Finally, the Sacrament will be offered on Tuesdays when we have one of our Sacred Heart Men's meetings - from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. If I need to increase those scheduled times by some minutes, I will gladly do so.
I promise to make your experience of Reconciliation a positive and helpful one. Also, if you are at the stage of life when your memory is not so good, I encourage you, if you would like, to have your sins written down before you come and/or be ready to say a general confession that you have sinned and want the blessings of forgiveness and peace that God and the Church are so ready to give.
I hope those who agree to participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation more often (at least monthly or bi-monthly) will come out and go around echoing the words of a song which say: "Peace is flowing like a river, flowing our of you and me. . ."
I challenge all of us to consider going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation more often in this new year and be blessed with the graces we receive from God, the opportunity to practice humility (especially as we confess our sins), and the opportunity to do our part to make the Body of Christ whole and healthier than it is. To that end, I have decided to change scheduled times for the Sacrament as follows. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I will offer the Sacrament after the morning Mass until 10:00 a.m. On Wednesdays and Fridays (and Mondays when we have Mass), I will continue to offer the Sacrament from 8:30 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. On the weekends I will offer the Sacrament on Saturday from 1:00-2:00 p.m. and 3:30-3:45 p.m., and on Sunday from 7:30-7:45 a.m. and 9:30-9:45 a.m. Finally, the Sacrament will be offered on Tuesdays when we have one of our Sacred Heart Men's meetings - from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. If I need to increase those scheduled times by some minutes, I will gladly do so.
I promise to make your experience of Reconciliation a positive and helpful one. Also, if you are at the stage of life when your memory is not so good, I encourage you, if you would like, to have your sins written down before you come and/or be ready to say a general confession that you have sinned and want the blessings of forgiveness and peace that God and the Church are so ready to give.
I hope those who agree to participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation more often (at least monthly or bi-monthly) will come out and go around echoing the words of a song which say: "Peace is flowing like a river, flowing our of you and me. . ."
Firstly, I want to take time to thank all those who took a service roll in our Christmas Masses, especially our music people led by our organist and choir director, Lynne Border. Those who partiipated in the 4:00 p.m. Vigil Mass or 10:00 a.m. Christmas Mass were treated to the beautiful opera-quality voice of Bill and Kathleen Nosek's grand daughter, Natalie. She was simply wonderful in the two songs she sang solo. I also want to thank those who helped in ALL that went in to our Angel Tree efforts to help needy families. I applaud and thank you for your efforts. Ed and Claudia Keearns coordinated this effort and along with others, make it run seemingly like clockwork. Thanks to all! Lastly on things related to Christmas, I thank all those who donated to the Clergy Welfare Fund that provides the funding to support our diocesan priests in their retirement as well as our sick and infirmed priests.
I also really appreciate those who take the time to bless me at Christmas with beautiful Christmas cards, novena prayers, material gifts, and kind, supportive words of thanks. You are such a special blessing to me.
As I had in mind what the rest of my pastor's column would be about this week, I noticed that right across from where my column would be when it is finished, are images of the Holy Family and another picture of a baby. My topic was to be, and still is, about the importance of the most innocent and fragile of human beings, babies both inside and outside of their mother's womb. As we contemplate Jesus when He was born to Mary and the earliest times of His life during the Christmas season, we give thanks and praise to God for His life and what He ultimately did for us (through His passion, death and resurrection), we are urged and encouraged to keep the focus on babies, especially those of our time, and protect and support them in ways that we can. To that end, I would encourage not only attendance at the March for Life on January 21, (see announcement to the right of this column), but also to consider giving to "Arkansas Right to Life" which advocates for legal protection of children in their mother's womb. Thier address is 1515 South University Ave, Little Rock, AR 72204. I also ask everyone to participate in our parish baby shower by bringing baby items to church (see announcement to the right of this column). These will be given out to moms who need help to care for their children. Please don't just look at the babies on this page and smile. Do something for them in your name and in the name of Jesus Christ, the author of all life!
I also really appreciate those who take the time to bless me at Christmas with beautiful Christmas cards, novena prayers, material gifts, and kind, supportive words of thanks. You are such a special blessing to me.
As I had in mind what the rest of my pastor's column would be about this week, I noticed that right across from where my column would be when it is finished, are images of the Holy Family and another picture of a baby. My topic was to be, and still is, about the importance of the most innocent and fragile of human beings, babies both inside and outside of their mother's womb. As we contemplate Jesus when He was born to Mary and the earliest times of His life during the Christmas season, we give thanks and praise to God for His life and what He ultimately did for us (through His passion, death and resurrection), we are urged and encouraged to keep the focus on babies, especially those of our time, and protect and support them in ways that we can. To that end, I would encourage not only attendance at the March for Life on January 21, (see announcement to the right of this column), but also to consider giving to "Arkansas Right to Life" which advocates for legal protection of children in their mother's womb. Thier address is 1515 South University Ave, Little Rock, AR 72204. I also ask everyone to participate in our parish baby shower by bringing baby items to church (see announcement to the right of this column). These will be given out to moms who need help to care for their children. Please don't just look at the babies on this page and smile. Do something for them in your name and in the name of Jesus Christ, the author of all life!