One of the most precious gifts bestowed on each and every one of us is the gift of free-will, the capacity to choose for ourselves among options what we consider beneficial. Ordinarily, God does not interfere with our free-will. However, when we make wrong choices and incur on ourselves unpleasant consequences, God shows His magnanimity and graciousness through merciful intervention to save His straying children. This is what Jesus taught His disciples in the Gospel passage this weekend.

You may recall one of the initiatives I mentioned last Fall was the migration of our software and database into a new system called, “Realm.” Realm is designed specifically for churches and will enable us to consolidate several of our platforms such as Donor Perfect, Faith Direct, and eventually, Ministry Scheduler Pro. Our goal is to strengthen our connection and engagement with one another while saving the parish money and time.

God is a God of second chances for those who are willing to repent. This does not mean that God’s willingness to provide opportunities for change endures limitless elasticity and endurance. The justice of God will have to be administered to those who ignore the opportunities offered by Him or outrightly resist the pull of repentance. This is the message presented by the Gospel passage at the liturgy this weekend.

Please join us in praying for the people of Ukraine. Let us pray for the dead, those suffering, for the refugees and for an end to the war. In view of the seriousness of the situation, Pope Francis will be consecrating Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Friday next week, Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 2022. Pope Francis will lead the consecration in Rome at 5:00pm – which will be 9:00am, Arizona time.

No one desires slavery, yet we often find ourselves enslaved by other people or even things. We find ourselves being slaves of sin, drugs, sexual inpurities, social media, money and other material things. When this happens, we stand in need of a redeemer who will return us to our natural and desirable state of freedom and peace. Scripture shows us that we have never been alone in our need for a savior. When humanity embraced darkness and became enslaved to sin, one of God’s initial responses was to establish a covenant relationship with a chosen individual, his name was Abram. The ritual that authenticated the establishment of the old covenant is described in the first reading at the liturgy this Sunday. READ MORE

A quick reminder to come and join us for our Stations of the Cross at 6pm today and every Friday through Lent. All Stations of the Cross this year will be held outdoors in the St. John Bosco Courtyard. Different ministries will lead each week. The Women Spirituality Ministry will lead the Stations today. They will also serve soup right after the Stations around 6:30pm. Please invite your family and friends to come and join us.

Welcome to the season of Lent. Lent is the time that falls between Ash Wednesday and Holy Week, the season when we do spiritual warfare to our inordinate and sinful desires as a means to prepare ourselves to commemorate well the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we battle against the lure of sin aiming to defeat decisively, by the grace of God, the power of evil in our lives and in doing so, deepen our relationship with Christ.

All Stations of the Cross this year will be held outdoors every Friday at 6:00pm in the St. John Bosco Courtyard. Different ministries will lead each week. Please invite your family and friends to come and join us. Tonight the Knights of Columbus will be leading and will provide a small meal of soup and salad afterwards.

When we talk about other people, what we say often reveals more about us than about the person of whom we speak. If we are kind and considerate, positive words that edify effortlessly and habitually emanate from us about others, but if we are ill-willed and bitter, chances are that our representation of others will be based on our inherent negative and bitter standards.

The book of Sirach, from where we have our first reading this weekend, firmly agrees with this line of thought. For Sirach, one’s speech presents a veritable and reliable basis for assessing their character. The inner person is often revealed as virtuous or vicious by external speech. The inspired author of the first reading admits that though speech could be deceptive and even capable of making the speaker appear better than he really is, this deception cannot be maintained indefinitely; words will eventually reveal one’s true character. Speech is the fruit that reveals how much care the tree of one’s life has received. People who dutifully appropriate to themselves the eternal nourishment provided by God’s word will habitually produce virtuous speech, while those who resisted or neglected Divine assistance and prompting will most likely radiate negativity, slander, vain discourse, and vicious speech.

Have you made any plans yet for the Lenten season this year? Remember, Lent begins next week on Ash Wednesday, March 2. The season of Lent is not the most favorite season for a number of people. This is generally because they consider Lent as a time to give up something or a time of self-discipline. This is generally true, however, the best way to look at the season of Lent is to consider it as a period of renewal, a period of spiritual fruitfulness, and a period of spiritual growth. The most common way many people make plans for the season of Lent is by making Lenten promises.

It is quite normal to reciprocate acts of love, but there is a genuine reluctance for humans to love those who manifestly hate and do not wish one well. To love those who love you is a natural human instinctive reaction; loving your traducers, on the other hand, can only be a conscious and deliberate choice made at a usually huge cost that normal people are not readily willing to incur. A Christian is, however, not a “normal” person governed purely by instincts. He or she is a child of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and called to be holy as “your heavenly Father is holy.” Love of all, including one’s haters, is therefore proper to the Christian since such a seemingly outlandish discipline only authenticates his discipleship.

This weekend is the Kickoff Weekend for the CDA in our parish community. Our Bishop, Thomas Olmsted, will be directly inviting everyone to participate during all Masses. I thank those who have already participated this year in the CDA. We will provide you with an envelope this weekend, especially if you have not yet received one by mail. We will also explain the different ways to give to CDA, including the new “text to give” option. 

In our world today, the normal description of a successful person would exclude undesirables like poverty, dependence of any kind, reliance on anyone other than self, and suffering. The successful person would have to be financially self-reliant, have numerous accomplishments, and be confident in their ability to do or get what they legitimately desire. The contemporary appreciation of success is diametrically opposed to Jesus’ teaching on blessedness. The first reading contrasts the life of the “Blessed” with that of the “Cursed.” The Cursed is defined by his trust in human beings, including self, and seeks strength in the flesh thereby turning his heart away from God. The consequence of his reliance on human counsel strength is that he is spiritually barren.

It is the time of year again when we are all called to participate in the annual Charity and Development Appeal (CDA). I thank all of our parishioners who participated in the appeal last year. Despite the pandemic, we went beyond our goal of $85,000 by over 98%. A total of 239 families in our parish participated in the CDA last year with a total gift of $88,500. I also thank those who have already participated in the appeal this year. Our parish goal remains the same this year at $85,000. 

Two weekends ago, we reflected on the essential nature of the Word of God in our lives as Christians. Last Sunday, the travails of the prophet Jeremiah, the rejection of Jesus in His own city of Nazareth on account of their over familiarity with Him, and God’s assurance of perpetual companionship and protection for those persecuted for seeking righteousness was present to us for our reflection. The readings this weekend continue to extend to us the invitation to reflect upon the Word of God. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah, after beholding God’s glory, felt grossly inadequate and incompetent to be the bearer of God’s Word on account of his “unclean lips,” but having being purged of sin he responded to the Lord’s call to preach His Word thus: “Here I am, send me.”

Congratulations to our St. John Bosco School and St. Benedict community for a very successful Catholic Schools Week celebration. The celebration started last Sunday and ended today with an outdoor Mass. All the events went well as planned. The high points of the week were the Field Day on Tuesday, Open House on Wednesday, with the climax being the celebration of the Feast of St. John Bosco with a special play about his life presented by the 5th graders on Thursday and the beautiful outdoor Mass today. The original feast day for St. John Bosco is January 31st, but we celebrated it today as our closing event for the week.