The message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska. St. Faustina was an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God's mercy before she died in 1938. The central message of The Divine Mercy is that God loves us all, no matter how great our sins may be, and that He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins. Thus, we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Beginning on Good Friday and continuing for nine days, The Divine Mercy Chaplet and prayers are prayed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the hour that Jesus died on the cross. The devotion was actively promoted by Pope John Paul II who, on April 30, 2000, canonized St. Faustina and officially designated the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. He was so devoted to The Divine Mercy that, I believe, it was not by coincidence that he died on the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday on April 2, 2005.

The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the hope of life after death and, above all, the knowledge that God has power over life and death. By His death and Resurrection, Jesus ushered in a new creation transforming all believers into that new creation (2 Cor 5:17). The first people to experience this transforming power of the Resurrection were His disciples. During the Passion of Jesus Christ, they were paralyzed with so much fear that they denied him and ran away into hiding. All this changed when they saw the Risen Christ! The stories about the lives of the Apostles after the death of Jesus, in the Acts of the Apostles, show that the power of the Resurrection overwhelmed and transformed them so much that they were no longer afraid of anything. It is this power of the Resurrection that we are celebrating today! Easter is so important to us that every daily Mass, throughout this week, will be celebrated as the Easter Sunday Mass, also known as the Octave of Easter.

Congratulations to Mr. Nick Garza for being selected as our new Music Director. Nick comes with many years of experience in the music ministry and worship leadership. He is also the owner of Nick Garza Productions, specializing in Audio and Video Media Engineering. Nick's wife, Nikki is also a Church musician and worship leader. Nick, Nikki and their four children will be joining us at Mass this weekend. Please join me in welcoming Nick and his family to our parish community. I pray their ministry will bring many blessings to our parish community. I thank everyone for your prayers, patience and understanding during the past five weeks while we were searching for our new Music Director. My special thanks to the Choir members for the wonderful music, even in the absence of a Music Director.

Dear Parishioners,

I would like to thank all those who participated in the Lenten Penance Service during the week. I really appreciate the good turn out and active participation during the service. Also, thanks to those who attended the St John Bosco Gala (A Night to Dream Big). Through your generous support to the school, we were able to raise over $50,000. This fund will go toward the purchase of books and educational materials needed in the Library and classrooms.

Dear Parishioners,

Congratulations! We made our CDA goal last week! The recent report indicates that we have raised a total of $ 93,884 in pledges, representing 110% of our total goal of $85,000. This amount is coming from 16% of our parishioners. I thank all of you who have participated in this appeal for your generous support to the charity work of the Church. Similarly, I am glad we are currently on-target with our pledge payments for our Parish Building Campaign. Please check the bulletin for an update.

Dear Parishioners,

How is your prayer life and the Lenten observances going by this Third Sunday of Lent? The Scripture Readings today focused mostly on prayer, especially the prayers of intercession. In the First Reading today, God called Moses to play the role of an intercessor, to stand on behalf of the Israelites and plead for their freedom from the Egyptians. Similarly, in the Gospel today, Jesus gave a parable of a gardener who pleaded for more time for a fig tree and offered to help nourish the tree to bear fruit. Like Moses and the gardener, part of our call during this Lenten season is, not only to pray and intercede for those who need our prayers, but also to reach out in almsgiving to those who need our help. No matter how successful we are in life, we must always keep it in mind that no one is truly self-reliant. We all need someone to stand for us, at one point in our lives or another, and we all depend on someone to move us from one stage to another. As St. Paul stated: "What do you have that you have not received?" (1 Cor 4:7).

Dear Parishioners,

A very big thank you to everyone for a very successful Rummage Sale last weekend. Special thanks to all those who helped organize the event, those who donated items and those who participated at the sale. The turnout was very impressive this year! Although we are still in the process of tallying, I understand we made above $9,000 as of last weekend.

Thanks, also, to those who have participated in the Charity and Development Appeal (CDA) from our parish. The recent report we got this week indicated we have raised a total of $82,814 in pledges, representing 97% of our total goal of $85,000. This amount is coming from 12% of our parishioners. I encourage those who have not sent their donations to please remember to do so. The CDA envelopes are located at the entrances of the church.

Thank You

I would like to thank all those who participated in the Family Service event last weekend. Special thanks to the organizers and those who donated different items for the event. I was so happy to see how much we were able to reach out to hundreds of people who are in need around the state and beyond. What is special about the event is that the items were not just donated from our surplus, but they were hand-made by us, "fruits of our labor and work of our hands." Some significant items made and donated during the event include 2,550 sandwiches, 92 blankets, 85 art works, 300 laundry kits, approximately 100 pet toys and more.

Dear Parishioners,

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for a very successful Parish Picnic (Backyard Bash) last weekend. We thank God that everything went well with the celebration and for the beautiful weather. Special thanks to all the coordinators, Lani Gore and the Parish Choir, the Staff, Knights of Columbus, Helping Hands and all those who worked so hard to make the picnic possible. The celebration of the picnic is our way of sharing our faith, love and God’s blessings with one another as a community. It was a wonderful and memorable time for all of us. It was nice to see everyone looking so happy, I love the laughter, the music, the games and all the fun. I am already looking forward to next year’s celebration with hope.

Dear Parishioners,

In last Sunday's Gospel, Jesus gave the beatitude in which he exalted the poor as those who will merit the rewards of heaven but denounced the rich for ignoring God in their lives. This is seemingly paradoxical; it is like turning the natural human expectations upside down. In the Gospel today, Jesus continues in the same line of discussion by calling his disciples, and all Christians, to a higher standard of love. He commands us to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, to turn the other cheek to those who strike us, to let people take what belongs to us, and to give without expecting any appreciation in return. To love one's enemy, and to do good to those who want to harm us, are very high standards Jesus sets for us. This is what makes Christianity distinct from any other religion in the world. However, Jesus did not only set the standards for us, but he lived them when he died for all of us sinners and prayed for those who killed him.

Dear Parishioners,

Our liturgy today is centered on the theme of "Trust and Hope." In all three of our scripture readings today, we see a comparison between those who hope or trust themselves versus those who hope and trust in the Lord. While hope and trust do not mean the same thing, we know from life experience that it is nearly impossible to have one without the other; that is to hope without trusting someone or something or to trust without hope. It is also impossible for anyone to live without hope and trust in someone or God. The readings described those who hope and trust in God as wise, and those who trust in only themselves as foolish. In the first reading, Jeremiah used "curse", a very strong word for those who trust in human beings. In the Gospel, Jesus also used a strong word, "Woe", to those who think they can do well in life without God. In contrast, those who trust and hope in God are described as the "Blessed" who are wise enough to know that all they have comes from God their creator. Jesus is not just comparing the rich to the poor or those who trust in themselves versus those who trust and rely on God, but he is actually offering his disciples and all of us, the key to the source of true eternal happiness. Relying on God will always lead to eternal life and joy that lasts forever while relying on personal achievement without God leads to illusionary joy that does not last.

Dear Parishioners,

Around this time each year, we are invited to participate in the Charity and Development Appeal (CDA) from the Diocese. During all Masses last weekend, we listened as Bishop Thomas Olmsted invited us to participate in the CDA. He explained how the appeal helps fund more than 70 charities and ministries that help the poor and needy around our Diocese. He showed us some very touching, real-life examples of how your donation to the CDA has helped transform the lives of thousands of people.

This weekend is the official Kickoff Weekend for the CDA all over the Diocese. I invite you to pray about how you will participate and support the CDA this year. The goal for our parish this year is $85,000. Personally, I find it very difficult to ask you for donations again, after all of your overwhelming support for our current capital campaign in addition to your weekly financial support. However, like Peter said to Jesus, "To whom shall we go." As we all know, the church always depends totally on the generous support of each one of us to survive and be able to serve those in need around us. Within the next few weeks, you will be receiving the CDA envelope from the Diocese, if you have not already received one. We will also have the CDA in-pew donation envelopes available to those who may be participating for the first time.

Welcome to the month of February! We will be observing National Marriage Week from Feb 7 through Valentine's Day on Feb 14. This includes the World Day of Marriage which we will observe next Sunday, Feb 10. The celebration of National Marriage Week started in 2010. This is part of an international movement seeking to celebrate and strengthen marriage. The theme of the celebration this year will focus on "Marriage: Made for a Reason." The US Bishops' Conference (USCCB) has developed a number of resources including homilies, bulletin inserts, flyers and a virtual retreat to assist couples during the celebration.