Dear Sisters and Brothers,
ABLAZE! I bet you’ve seen the signs around and the announcements and flyers in the bulletin. Hopefully, you received a postcard in the mail. Perhaps you have even noticed the prayer in the bulletin that our own Fr. Gary wrote just for us. (Please pray it! No really, cut it out of your bulletin, stick it on your fridge or at your table and pray it as a family.) We have also been praying at our Masses for this important and exciting event.
What is this Ablaze! you might be asking. Simply put, it is our All-Parish Mission – a mission bringing New Life Hope and Healing to our parish. It is our first mission since 2013.
At different times through out the year, men and women, from our youth to our most mature (and dare I say, wise) members, go on retreat. Almost universally, they find the time (and often money) they sacrificed for this retreat was well worth it. Not all of us can go on a retreat. This All-Parish Mission is a time when our parish––all of us––are called and encouraged to go on retreat together for a few days. One of the blessings of an All-Parish Mission is that we don’t have to go anywhere, the retreat comes to us. For free.
A second blessing to our parish is that this mission is meant for our entire Grand Blanc community. A mission is a way for us to make it simple and easy for you to share the joy of the Gospel with our neighbors, and invite someone to meet Jesus and hear the Good News.
Our Mission this year is being led by Fr. Ben Luedtke. You might remember that he came here last year for a one-evening talk on Divine Mercy. Everyone who went found him to be a dynamic and Spirit-filled speaker. I am confident that you will not be disappointed. I am praying that each of us, as we hear the Truth proclaimed, will experience a new fire of God’s love in our lives, a new depth and vitality to our faith in Jesus, the most important Person we will ever meet.
Fr. Ben will be celebrating and giving the homily at all our Masses on the weekend of February 21st – 22nd. Then he will be leading us from Monday through Wednesday with a talk (and other activities) each evening at 7:00 p.m.
Come to Ablaze! If you are looking for more in your life, if you are wanting this Lent to be the best one yet, if you are wanting God to bring transformation and new life to your marriage, to your family, to your ordinary daily living, block out these dates (February 22-25 7:00 p.m.) and come. I’ll see you there.
Invite family members, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker. Bring the family. Come.
May God bless you and your family abundantly this week.
Fr. Jonathan