Pastor’s Letter | Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on February 8, 2023 View all Pastor's Letter

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

As every week, I am pleased to greet you and encourage you to continue building the kingdom of God together, living the challenges of each day with joy and holiness, and always keeping in mind that each challenge is an opportunity to get closer to heaven, which is the goal of every Christian.

We are already in the month of February and we are only a few days away from starting Lent, a liturgical time that invites us to conversion and sacrifice. Like every year, one of the sacrifices we make as a parish is to participate in the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal (BLA). This year the campaign is focused on the second year of preparation for the Jubilee of our diocese; the motto is “My Soul Rejoices in the Lord”. As we already know, it is an opportunity to support the programs of the diocese that our bishop promotes. In his letter this year our bishop encourages us to collaborate “Joy comes from God actively working in lives. Each of us can seek to imitate the perfect example of our Blessed Mother by proclaiming the greatness of the Lord each day as we live our faith and share our blessings. The Blessed Mother is our model of joy, trust and service. When we support the Bishop’s Lenten Appeal, we help to bring the glorious gift of Christ Jesus to thousands of people in need of spiritual, charitable, and educational assistance across our diocese (Bishop Burbidge).

Next weekend, (February 11th and 12th) will be the weekend to make a commitment of the donation that each one of us will make in this Lenten Appeal. I invite you to make this commitment with faith, prayer and generosity; the diocese will probably have already sent the pledge envelopes to some of you; I encourage you to respond promptly. I humbly ask you to collaborate in this year’s campaign. On behalf of our Bishop Burbidge, I thank you for your sacrifice and collaboration. If you have any questions regarding this Lenten campaign, please do not hesitate to call us.

I ask for your prayers because this week I will make my annual retreat together with other priests of the diocese. Each year we must set aside a week in silence to pray and to recharge our spiritual batteries to continue working and serving you with more love.

Finally, I want to congratulate the children of our religious education program and our school because this week on February 11th, they will make their first confession. It is a special occasion for them, they will meet for the first time with the grace of God. I invite you to pray with me for all these boys and girls who are going to receive this beautiful sacrament for the first time. As of now, I congratulate the children, congratulate catechists and thank the catechists for their hard work and effort to form the children very well so that they can enjoy this day.

I hope you have a blessed week, I keep you in my prayers.

Fr. Alex