This week we celebrate the gift of our Catholic Schools! Catholic Schools Week is our time to celebrate our faith and our Lord, our teachers and students, our school parents and parish family, and the blessing of a Catholic education as a whole.

Running out of wine. It doesn't matter what century we live in, it's just something we never want to happen. It was the same at the Wedding Feast of Cana. Wine symbolizes abundance, celebration, labor and sacrifice, human creativity, and divine providence.

With the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord this weekend, our Christmas Season comes to a close and we enter back into Ordinary Time.

Epiphany moments happen when the lightbulb goes off in our minds. We're struck with inspiration to pursue a path or make a decision that will advance us to our goals.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We honor the Holy Family as the model of the human family. Their faithfulness to God and to one another, purity of heart, joy, endurance in suffering, and compassion for the poor are virtues that we can emulate in our families.

Blessings to you this Fourth Sunday of Advent! In our Gospel, Mary travels in haste to visit Elizabeth. We might also be feeling that sense of "haste" as we make our final preparations in our homes and in our hearts for Christ this Christmas.

The Third Sunday of Advent is known as "Gaudete" ("Rejoice!") Sunday. The readings this weekend are exuberant with joy, and for good reason: Christmas, the Solemnity of the Birth of our Savior, is almost here!

We take time to prepare when we greet someone. For example, on Thanksgiving, we cook turkey and wait for families. Also, Christmas day as well. I’m sure you decorate your house and prepare meals for your family. We are now in the season of Advent to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

December is here, the time when many people prepare for their favorite day, Christmas. During this time, many people decorate their Christmas trees, listen to carols, buy gifts, and prepare for the end of the year. Of course, we also do these things to prepare for the end of the year, but as Catholics, we begin a new liturgical year in the Church as we start the first week of Advent.

Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday! As King of the universe, all creation is ordered under the peaceful reign of Jesus Christ. Jesus reigns with truth and love. As Jesus says to Pontius Pilate in today's Gospel, "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice."

Now is the time. As we prepare for the end of this liturgical year and the start of Advent in two weeks, our liturgy points us to the end times when Christ will come again. The Father prompts us to pray, "Come, Lord Jesus" to be eager for Christ's coming in glory.

Our Scriptures this Sunday speak about God's offering of Himself to us and our offerings to God. God has offered Himself completely, and He asks us for just a small offering. When we make an offering to Him, we see miracles happen in our lives!

November is a month to pray for the dead. Consider lighting a votive candle in church for the deceased, having a Mass celebrated with their intention, visiting a cemetery, and making special intercession for them in your prayers this month.

This weekend our Church celebrates Priesthood Sunday! We've all been blessed by priests who serve us and deepen our faith and participation in the life of Christ especially through the Sacraments.

We are pleased to offer our July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024 financial report. More than numbers on a sheet, a parish financial report captures the life and energy of a parish, the generosity of the people, and the various initiatives undertaken for the year, both spiritual and temporal.

In our Scripture this weekend, we have the occasion to reflect on the one flesh consecrated union of marriage between man and woman. In Genesis, the original gift of creation to man and man to creation is enhanced by the gift of woman to man and man to woman.

This Sunday, Jesus helps us examine the good works and desires of those who may not share our faith or values. As He says, "Whoever is not against us is for us." As the Body of Christ, the Church doesn't go around looking to make enemies, but rather looks for seeds of truth and goodness inherent in the people, works, and ideas around us.

Last Friday night I returned from our Footsteps of St. Paul Pilgrimage in Greece and Turkey with our tour group. A pilgrimage is a blessed time of encounter with the Lord, holy places, and cultures throughout the world. I am still soaking in the graces of that blessed time, and I hope to offer a presentation to the parish this Fall with photos and stories to help share with you what we received.

As I mentioned during last week’s Mass, I will visit Korea for a few weeks. I’m excited because this will be my first visit since May last year. I look forward to sharing my experiences as a priest with my family and friends. I am also excited about celebrating Mass in Korean.

I greet you today as Fr. Scott is on his pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey. Please keep the pilgrims in your prayers so they may have a blessed time in the Lord. In today’s gospel, Jesus encounters a deaf man with a speech impediment. The people around him beg Jesus to lay His hands on him. Jesus takes the man aside, away from the crowd, and performs a healing that is both physical and symbolic.