Posted on January 23, 2023 View all Pastor's Letter
Dear parishioners,
We are celebrating the third week of Ordinary Time, during this time the church invites us to meditate on the life and public ministry of Jesus; It is a liturgical time of hope and focus on the expansion of the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus, the son of God, the Messiah, and Lord. The center of Jesus’ message revolved around conversion “Convert because the kingdom of God is drawing near” (Mt.4,17) To convert does not mean to become a little better, to pray better, to do some extra good work, but rather to “change radically in the way of thinking and acting”. Those who have been cultivating death projects must open to life decisions; those who have moved into darkness must head towards the light. Only those who are willing to carry out this change can enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, if we want to have a life in Christ, we must convert and turn towards Him, and He, with His mercy, will call us to live His same life – a life of discipleship.
Changing the subject, I want to invite you to join Fr. Paul and I in the March for the Defense of Life, which will take place in Richmond on February 1st. Let us accompany our Bishop in this march; remember that now we must demonstrate in the capital of each state so that the gift of life is respected from conception to natural death. I would like to take a bus from the parish, if we manage to at least gather 30 parishioners we will take a bus. If you would like to participate, please call the parish office to register, the cost is free and the last day to register is the 25th of this month. Please consider participating.
Also, as of now, I want to invite all the men of our parish to a retreat that the Knights of Columbus is organizing for Saturday, February 18th (it is not necessary to be a member of this group). The retreat will be at the Franciscan Monastery in Washington D.C; it will be a day of faith and meditation prior to the start of Lent. If you would like to participate, please call the parish office, or contact one of our members who will be inviting after Mass in the coming weeks before February 18th.
I would like to thank everyone who made an increase in their Sunday offertory through the Amen Generosity program. We have seen an increase, not as expected, but thanks to the generosity of some parishioners, the deficit could be less than what we projected. If any of you didn’t make that small increase in your donations either in the envelopes or through our online giving, you can still do it without problem. Remember that your donations help our parish to be always ready to support and develop our pastoral programs and maintain the parish facilities.
Finally, this week we have sent out the end-of-the-year statements of the donations for 2022. If you do not receive it this week or the beginning of the next, please contact the parish office so that they can send it to you as soon as possible and you can use it on your taxes. Remember that the donations you give at the offertory, or the capital campaign are tax deductible.
I wish you all a week blessed by our Lord.
Fr. Alex
