Pastor’s Letter | Divine Mercy Sunday

Posted on April 14, 2023 View all Pastor's Letter

Dear brothers in Christ Jesus,

As a church we continue to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, his triumph over death, and within this paschal joy today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. It’s about something that goes far beyond a particular devotion; Saint John Paul II in his encyclical “Dives in Misericordia”, explains that Divine Mercy is the loving manifestation of God in a history wounded by sin and that God puts our miserable situation due to sin in his heart of a Father, who is faithful to his designs. Jesus Christ, dead and risen, is the supreme manifestation and performance of Divine Mercy. “God so loved the world that he gave His Only Begotten Son” (Jn 3:16) and sent him to death so that we might be saved. I like very much a phrase from the Easter proclamation that we sing at the Easter vigil that expresses very well the mercy of God when he says: “To redeem the slave he has sacrificed the Son”, so is God, loves us with mercy, for this reason by faith and conversion we welcome the treasure of Divine Mercy.

I want to congratulate the 46 young people who last Thursday, April 13, received the sacrament of Confirmation by our Bishop Michael Burbidge, it was a very solemn celebration and very well organized, I ask that we pray that these young people who were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that they are good Christians and that they live their faith in Jesus Christ with much love and be true soldiers of Christ and of the Church. I am especially grateful to the catechists who formed them during their time of formation in the faith, especially Vincent Guevara for the parish religious education program and Mrs. Rita Curley from our school, both did a magnificent job, and I can’t stop thanking Miss Karla Aleman and Mrs. Magdalena López ,our catechetical coordinators this year and volunteers for their dedication and sacrifice. God bless you for all your effort.

For more than a year our parish has had an application that can be downloaded to our cell phones, through this application the office communicates parish life, it is easier and less complicated, you can also access your donations made online (pushpay). There are several ways to download it: You can scan the QR code that appears on one of the newsletter pages, or send a message with the letters QoA to the number 77977, and open the link they will send you. Or also Search “QoA” in your Google Play store or App Store. But if you need help, please call the parish office and we will be happy to assist you.

Finally, I want to thank you for the financial support that you continue to provide to our parish through the weekly offertory. As I announced last year, this year we are behind the annual budget, specifically in the weekly offertory that are the heart that sustains the parish economy, that will significantly hit our finances and if we do not seek solving it will affect us in the future. I encourage with faith and confidence in your generosity to take it with faith and increase the weekly offertory a little. If we all unite to give a little more, we will be able to erase that deficit that can be generated. A piece of bread is built by many little particles of wheat, and when they come together they feed our hunger, as a parish we are similar to this example, we are all a small particle that make up this parish and if we come together we can do great things.

May God bless you and may his infinite mercy comfort you always.

Fr. .Alex