Greetings in Christ, all!
With this Sunday we enter more fully into what the Church calls “Ordinary Time.” Every year I’ll explain this, just because what the Church means by “Ordinary” is totally different from what we English speakers mean by it.
For us, Ordinary refers to “Plain” or some kind of predictability. The Church is using the Latin word Ordinary, which refers to a progression of numbers. So, when the Church says we are in “ordinary time,” they are referring to a liturgical season that is defined by the progression of weeks: Second Week of Ordinary Time, Third week, etc. All of this will lead us up to Lent, which is in the first week of March.
After the Lenten Season we’ll have the Easter Season, followed by Pentecost, followed by more weeks of Ordinary Time, until Advent. So, we who have the honor and privilege of gathering and praying together, hearing God’s Word and receiving the Blessed Sacrament, understand that there is nothing ordinary about it and we let God fill our hearts with Awe, Joy and Wonder every time we get to pray the Mass! For my St. Mark family, I had some questions about Fr. Dave moving in from Brighton. He’ll be moving in probably in July of this year. What his role will be has not yet been defined. So far, he has expressed a desire to have a community to pray with and such, but not to serve as Pastor: I think this is every priest’s dream! So, obviously, I am happy to accommodate him in any way he wishes. I just feel so blessed that he will be here. As we figure this out, I’ll let you know.
For my Holy Family family (that’s funny to type), a minor campaign update. Obviously, we will not be able to do everything we had hoped on the plan we shared, because we were not able to hit our goal, but I am filled with gratitude and joy for your exceedingly generous response to the campaign and can’t wait to get after it. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what the next steps are and I have begun by meeting with our architect and construction manager to best understand our options and prepare to meet with our building committee. We’ll meet with the building committee this week to figure out a plan and then get after it.
Many of you have shared frustration with me about past attempts to do something to our Church and I give you my word that we will commence with an overhaul that addresses our many needs and our structural issues with great respect to the generosity of your donations and pledges. Pray that I am wise and listen to the Lord. Pray for the wonderful people working on this and the building committee who have put so much time and effort into this labor of love.
For both of my Parish Families, I love you and I thank God for the wonder of being your priest. Don’t forget that on February 25th, we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul: one of the most important moments in our Christian history. It’s a good day to remember that anything is possible because of our God!
Okay…so I think that is it.
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