Vacation Bible Camp – Save the Date!

Our annual week of VBC will take place June 22-26, 8:30-11:30AM each day. Camp is for children who are currently in Pre-K through grade 4. Students who will be going into middle school and high school next year are invited to camp in a leadership role. VBC is always an amazing week for everyone involved, so plan ahead and be sure your children and grandchildren don’t miss out on the fun! We welcome children from our parish, neighborhood, and beyond – so feel free to let your neighbors, cousins, and friends know. More information will be provided in the spring, but for more information anytime please feel free to call the Faith Formation Office.

From Maintenance To Mission

One of the best things about being Catholic is all the beginnings. With all the different liturgical seasons, feast days, and months dedicated to devotions, we literally have so many opportunities to start doing something new throughout the year. This is a great blessing because it can be hard, especially for parents with tweens and teens, to begin doing something religious out of the blue.
When children are very young it’s pretty easy to just start saying a prayer at mealtime, reading from a children’s Bible before bed, or listening to Christian music in the car. Young children are very open to new things that are introduced with joy and love, and they are eager to participate. But try calling your teenagers into the living room on a random Tuesday night and tell them you want to pray the rosary together, and you’re bound to get some resistance. “What? Why? Do we have to? I’m not doing that!”

Thank God for Lent! It’s the perfect time for parents to take the lead with kids of any age and implement a new holy habit for the family, without having to take the heat personally. It could go something like this: “Since it’s Lent, I want to do something new, so when you leave every morning I’m going to trace the Sign of the Cross your forehead and bless you, and after you leave I will say a Hail Mary for you.” Maybe it will feel a little awkward at first, but there’s no doubt that this holy moment you share with your child will quickly become a highlight of both your days. Beginning small things like this during Lent are a path to holiness, to which every family is called.

“As the family goes, so goes the Church.” Perhaps you’ve heard this truthful phrase. Our Church and our world are in desperate need of holiness, and holiness is born in family life. So, this Lent, lead your family to take the first step.

From Maintenance To Mission

Lent arrives this Wednesday – are you ready?

Lent is the season in which we strive our hardest to grow in holiness by choosing to make sacrifices, to pray more, and by generously giving of ourselves to help others. It’s like moving from maintenance to mission on a personal level. To have a good Lent you’ll just need two things. First, a plan. What will you do/not do? Perhaps you’ll give something up, or read a spiritual book, learn a new prayer, or maybe you will take a chance and “pick-a-penance” each week when you come to Mass. Once you have your plan then you’re ready for the other thing you need: help.
The perfect go-to is Mary, our Blessed Mother. She was the first and best disciple, and her role now is to protect us and lead us to her son, Jesus. She never left him, and she will never leave us when we need her. Just as Mary rushed to Jesus as he carried his cross, she will rush to you when you need strength, courage, hope, and love. You can be absolutely certain of this – just ask a pilgrim who has visited the Holy Land.

In the old city of Jerusalem pilgrims today can walk the Way of the Cross – the very same streets that Jesus carried his cross up to Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. Along the way, the actual

Stations of the Cross are marked on the walls of the city streets. From Station One, where Jesus was condemned to death, to Station Nine, where Jesus fell for the third time, there are alcoves where people step inside to reflect and pray. (Stations Ten through Fourteen are all contained within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher). Perhaps the most moving Station before getting into the church is number Four – where Jesus met his mother. In this candle-lit alcove there is a beautiful statue of Mary with Jesus and his cross, but just down in front of it on the ceramic tile floor there are two footsteps, marking the place of their meeting. To stand in this place is to feel the powerful reality of Mary’s love for her son, and for us. It’s the most heartbreaking and the most comforting place all at the same time, and when you come away from that place you no longer wonder if Mary knows you, or if she really loves you. You just know, and that knowing stays with you.

So, this Lent, make your plan and don’t be afraid to ask our Blessed Mother to help you when you’re feeling weak or tempted. Know that she will come, and she will leave her footsteps in your heart.

40 Days for Life

The nationwide 40 Days for Life Campaign begins on February 26th and ends on April 5th. St. Paul’s will again be participating in this national event. Our prayers have successfully closed the abortion clinic on Broad street, but we can’t give up now! We must continue to be the “salt of the earth” and a light for the unborn. Pledge to say a rosary every day for the 40 days of Lent. Sign up after Masses leading up to Ash Wednesday.

To keep updated on Pro-Life events an opportunities, register in Flocknote and click on the “Pro-Life Group”.

From Maintenance To Mission

 On the seventh day of our pilgrimage we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Formerly two churches separated by a courtyard, but now together under one very large roof, this church contains both the site of Jesus’ crucifixion as well as the tomb from which he resurrected. For Christians, this most sacred and holy place is the very definition of Love. It is both emotionally and spiritually overwhelming to be there, but the experience becomes a deep font of grace for every pilgrim. At lunch later that day at a Carmelite convent, some members of our group were inspired to share a magnificent poem with Adam Habershaw, our parish Seminarian, and Fr. Young, from a guide book several of them had been reading. It was a very special moment.

“The Beautiful Hands of a Priest” is a poem written from the point of view of the lay faithful. Fr. Charles Samson, author of Come and See, A Catholic Guide to the Holy Land explains that this anonymous poem “evokes tender and awe-filled appreciation for the shepherding that occurs by means of the gentle, sure, and holy hands of the priest.”

 
When we pray to our Heavenly Father out of love for someone, we are following the example of the Saints, and Jesus himself, and we can be certain our prayers will be answered. Let us always remember to pray for our priests!

 

The Beautiful Hands of a Priest

 
We need them in life’s early morning, we need
them again at its close; We feel their warm clasp of friendship, we seek them when tasting life’s woes. At the altar each day we behold them, and the hands
of a king on his throne are not equal to them in their greatness; their dignity stands all alone; And when we are tempted and wander to pathways of shame and sin, It’s the hand of a priest that will absolve us ---not once, but again and again; And when we are taking life’s partner. other hands may prepare us a feast, But the hand that will bless and unite us is the beautiful hand of a priest. God bless them and keep them all holy for the Host which their fingers caress; When can a poor sinner do better than to ask Him to guide
thee and bless? When the hour of death comes
upon us may our courage and strength be increased by seeing raised over us in anointing the beautiful
hands of a priest!

From Maintenance To Mission

The warning was issued because the temptation was great. “Don’t buy the wine, it’s no good!” These are not the words pilgrims expect to hear when visiting Cana in Galilee. Wouldn’t this be the perfect souvenir? Who wouldn’t want to bring home a bottle of wine from the place where Jesus changed water into wine – his first miracle? But on day three of our journey we had come to know and trust our guide, so we saved our shekels to spend on other treasures.
 

Cana was wonderful for other reasons, though, ones that are pertinent this week as we discuss weddings at our GIFT sessions and prepare to celebrate Valentine’s Day. In the church built over the place where that ancient wedding was held, three married couples from our group renewed their wedding vows during the Mass we celebrated there. It was a sacred moment for us all. We were united in joy for the happy couples, and in tears with the widows among us. In Cana our group started to feel more like a family.

 

 As Christians we are a pilgrim people. As Catholics we are united to God and one another through the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. We are a big Catholic family on the move, passing through this life on the way to our eternal home in heaven – unless we’re not. Sometimes we get sidetracked by temptation and trickery from the Devil, or we settle for imitation happiness instead of the real thing. That’s why we need a vibrant parish. A place where we come together in joy and in tears, seeking mercy from Jesus, who wants nothing more than to personally guide us home. If you know someone who has been sidetracked, or who is stuck in the dark along the path, say a prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to be with you. Then talk to the person, let them know you sincerely care, that they are not alone, and that you want to accompany them. Jesus, the Light of the World, will take it from there.

 

 

Cana, the Sanctuary of our Lord’s First Miracle