Greetings in Christ!
Happy, Holy New Year to each person in our Parish Family. I pray that Jesus bless you with health, holiness and joy in this next year.
I wanted to be sure and thank you all for your kind gifts and encouraging words during the Christmas season; I’m so blessed by you all and I thank you with all my heart. I read every single card you sent and am just bursting with happiness…thank you!
We have some new elements to our Church: the Solanus Casey statue is here and our reliquary is basically done. We now have in our Church 5 First Class Relics that anyone can venerate or get blessed with, as appropriate. I will write more about the importance of relics in our faith in the near future. All that is left is for us to add name plates and that blessed project will be done. The largest reliquary contains a bone of St. Jude the Apostle. The other saints there are St. Anthony of Padua, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Peregrine and St. Gerard Magellan. Please check these beautiful saints out when you get a chance. It’s impossible to overstate how blessed we are to have these.
Remaining projects in our Church are to set up the area opposite of our reliquary for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We will add the Sacred Image there as soon as it comes in, as well as the words “Jesus, I trust in you”. I think it will be beautiful.
We also are awaiting our baptismal font and the installation of our organ pipes. There seems to be only one company interested in installing them which challenges our budget as well as stretching out a timeline. We will keep you updated on this as we get information.
We have some major outdoor projects coming in 2023 and I am excited to walk you through those in the near future.
Next weekend at Mass we are offering everyone an Epiphany Kit. We’re very excited about this. With this kit, you and your family will be able to participate in the ancient custom of blessing your home for the new year in the name of the Wise Men who came to see Jesus. I urge each family to take a couple minutes to pray this joyful ritual together…I think you’ll enjoy it!
Finally…
The last two years, I have served on a cruise in January for a marriage retreat. Basically, a Catholic company purchases half the cabins on a cruise ship and each day, we begin with mass at about 8am and then hear talks from wonderful speakers throughout the day. I will be serving as a Sacramental Minister there, as well as giving some talks and working as an emcee. I’ll be gone for a week (January 14-22) along with my dad. I’ll miss you guys. Please pray that I do a good job and serve well.
I pray that Jesus bless you all…thank you for letting me be your priest.
Fjk