Time is flying by, our days seem to come and go so fast, winter is now behind us, spring has sprung, and our days of Lent are coming to an end as we enter Holy Week, the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. We began these days of penance preparing ourselves for the dramatic event of our salvation by getting ashes on our foreheads. Those ashes are a stark reminder that, yes, life does go by quite quickly, and so we need to recognize the love that God has for each of us by turning toward Him and embrace, believe the Good News that we have been rescued from the power of evil and death.
Those ashes were a sort of wake up call to slow down and take some time for ourselves in our relationship to God and those around us. A time of healing. These days of Lent have been a purifying, sanctifying, and edifying experience thanks to the power of the love of God. Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow, what you’re going to eat, wear, or sleep. God knows you need all these things. Take care of today, for todays has enough evil of its own.”
The days of our salvation has come upon us. May we truly reflect and meditate on the Passion of our Lord Jesus and give thanks to almighty God by glorifying Him in our words and actions, our entire being, by loving God and all we encounter. May we walk with humble hearts being reminded of those ashes that from dust we came from and to dust we shall return. Let us take this wake up call to realize that in Baptism we died with Christ and live the Resurrected Life in Him who so loves us that he took upon our sins and has redeemed each of us. Yes, we have been saved from death and have been brought to new life in Christ.
I want to give a special thanks to Maureen Stumpp and our Family Ministry team who once again provided our St. Jude community a wonderful, enjoyable event: our St. Patrick/St. Joseph Dinner Dance last Saturday night. It truly was a fun evening for all who participated. Thank you Richie Stewart and friends for the delicious corned beef and cabbage. Your work in the kitchen provided the best Irish dinner! All of you of Family Ministry did an awesome job as usual. We are grateful for your love for the Church and building up our St. Jude family!
Also, these past five Fridays of Lent our Knights of Columbus St. Jude Shrine Council provided our traditional Fish Fry night of fellowship and fun. Thank you to all of you and the volunteers who were there to serve at these events. We had all the different ministries take turns each Friday helping out which was a great expression of the importance of what makes a church such as St. Jude so beautiful and faithful: serving our Lord by serving others. Thank you!
As we move toward the salvific celebration of Easter let us slow down and make these final days of Lent and Holy Week a time of giving thanks to God and realize how incomprehensible His love is for His children. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessings in the heavens!
St. Jude, pray for us ~
Blessings,
Fr. Ryan
