Pastor’s Letter | 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on October 11, 2024 View all Pastor's Letter

Dear Parishioners,

Every weekend, we meet to share the bread of God’s word, which nourishes us and gives us life. Every weekend is a reunion with the teacher who instructs us and makes us reflect on our desire for holiness. Every Sunday, Jesus reminds us that we must “pray always without becoming weary” (Luke 18:1).

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who responded to the call to increase the weekly offertory. Your commitment to our spiritual home, the parish, is truly commendable. I am confident that your dedication will yield abundant spiritual fruits in our community.

Next weekend, we will celebrate World Mission Sunday throughout the Universal Church. This annual global celebration within the Catholic Church is observed on the second to last Sunday in October. This particular day is dedicated to praying and supporting the missionary work that the Church carries out in mission countries, places where the Gospel is not yet fully known or where poverty is extreme, and missionaries (priests, religious brothers, and sisters, or lay people) walk with them and comfort them in their poverty and at the same time evangelize them. I invite everyone to be part of this project of faith that Jesus entrusted to us through prayer and sacrifice. This weekend’s second collection aims to support the Pontifical Missionary Works, which distributes aid to the neediest countries. This celebration was established by Pope Pius XI in 1926 and is an opportunity for each ecclesial community in the world to express solidarity with our brothers and sisters who live in missionary territories. The collection supports missionary dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and Europe. This year’s theme is “Go and invite everyone to the banquet” (Mt. 22, 9). Pope Francis emphasizes in his message that the mission is a tireless “going” to invite the whole world to the banquet of brotherhood, of the Eucharist, of the final meeting with the Lord; an invitation made in the style of Christ – with tenderness, charity, and closeness – who is the one who sends us and whom we announce. Because the salvation that Jesus has come to bring us is for “all, all, all” and, especially, for the last, the distant, the excluded. I invite you to pray and reflect on the importance of the mission and evangelization in the universal Church.

A few weeks ago, I decided to replace the collection boxes where the donations of candles are deposited at the entrance; we have placed some metal ones because we discovered that someone was forcing the lock. It has caused me great sorrow to see these things happen. I pray to God for the people who have no faith and try to take something sacred, such as donations to the temple of God. I apologize in advance for the following measures I will take. Starting in November, the access codes for the doors of the sacristies and the ushers’ room will be changed, and a lock with a key will also be put in place. The reason is that almost everyone has the code and can enter it whenever they want, and some articles have been lost. It seems that this is beginning to become a custom.

I hope you have a blessed week. In this month dedicated to the Virgin Mary, remember to pray the rosary.

Fr. Alex