Posted on September 1, 2022 View all Pastor's Letter
Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Today in the Gospel we see Jesus in prayer and from His example of prayer He awakens in His disciples the desire to pray. The Gospel tells us that one of the disciples, observing their recollection, begs Him to teach them to speak with God, to which Jesus replies: “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name…'” (Lk 11,2) . Prayer consists of a filial conversation with the Father who madly loves us. Saint Teresa of Ávila defined prayer as “an intimate relationship of friendship”: “many times dealing alone with God, who we know loves us”. It is significant that, in current language, the prayer that Jesus Christ has taught us is summarized in these two words: “Our Father”. Christian prayer is eminently filial. In the Holy Eucharist the church puts this prayer on our lips as we prepare to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The seven petitions that it entails and the order in which they are formulated give us an idea of the behavior that we must maintain when we receive Eucharistic Communion. We must never lose the desire to pray as children who love and have a deep friendship with their father.
I don’t know if you have noticed but we have changed the lights in the parking lot next to the offices; we have replaced them with better quality ones, with brighter light that help save energy. We are in the process of replacing the rest of the parking lot lights. My goal is to make the entire parking lot more illuminated and thus avoid incidents like some we have been experiencing in the past. For example, cars that come to park on corners where there is little light, or cars that are left parked without any permission. With better lighting we will have more security. I also inform you that all those cars that remain parked for more than one night without notice to the office or without permission will be removed immediately without prior justification. I hope everyone can understand my concern for the security of the parish.
I also would like to let you know that we have already begun preparations with a few engineers for the reconstruction of the pastoral center. I hope that next year, after or before Easter, we will be able to start the remodeling work. As everyone knows, it is a very old building and it already has many irregularities (plumbing, electricity among other problems). My idea is to build everything from scratch and design it so that everyone (parishioners and employees) are better served and in a decent place; at the same time, I would like to create some areas either on the first or second level so that the groups and ministries can have their meetings.
Finally, I encourage all those who have not made a commitment to our parish Capital Campaign to join; the resources for these reconstructions and repairs come from the support of all of you. Remember that the parish is your spiritual home where everyone can grow spiritually. I also thank those who faithfully and responsibly collaborate with this campaign.
I have you in my prayers,
Fr. .Alex
