April
23, 2006
What
we hear...
Confirmation
Next week we are celebrating Confirmation with the young people of our
parish. Bishop Emil Wcela will come for two days to celebrate this Easter
Sacrament with us. Please pray for these young people and their families
as they prepare to enter the church in a deeper way.
Alleluia
Thanks
So many people participated in the beautiful liturgies of Holy Week
and I want to thank all who contributed their time and talent to bring
those liturgies alive. The music, the enactment of the Passion, the
processions, the talks given, the decorations, the many hidden logistics
that made all of this work -- all these aspects to Holy Week were the
result of much love. We’ve been getting a lot of good feedback
from people about their experience of these Holy Days. Feel free to
send in your
comments too via mail or e-mail,
Census
Continues
Of the approximate 6,000 families we usually send mail to, we’ve
received completed Census booklets from over 2,000. So we’ve got
a ways to go.
Is your booklet in?
CollegeStudents
If you know students who are away at college, let us know so we can
keep touch via e-mail.
Sign up here!
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
April 16: Out of the Tomb
April 9: Jesus, Our Source
of Peace
April 2: NOW, Can you Hear
Me?
Mar 26: Can You Hear Me
Again?
Mar 19: Can You Hear Me
Now?
Mar 12: Now Take 4Steps
March 5: Take A Step
Feb 26:Coming Home
Feb19: Visiting Heros
Feb 12: Passing Pastor
Feb 4: Annual Appeal
Jan 22: Abandoned Nets
Jan 15: Everlasting Life
Jan 8: I'm not going to
jail..
Jan 1: Happy New Year
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns from
2003
Columns from 2002
In the darkness of
the Easter Vigil last Saturday night, there we were, sitting in the large
tent on St. Brigid’s Green, listening to the marvelous stories of
the Old Testament --- stories that pointed to the new life of Easter as
experienced in Baptism. As the lectors proclaimed God’s word, their
words were accompanied by sounds surrounding us -- jets overhead, trains
rushing by, car traffic with honking horns and deep-bass stereos shaking
the night with hip hop.
If you weren’t there, you
might think that these sounds would have been distracting or annoying,
but in reality they provided a lively background to the proclamation of
God’s word in the world. We weren’t insulated by stone church
walls -- there we were in the midst of the bustle of the world, telling
the stories of faith and singing the psalms and alleluias of a new Easter.
It was somehow very right and a very good way to begin our resurrection
celebration.
For isn’t that one of the
purposes of church? We who are the church community do not live apart
from the rest of life, but we’re right in the thick of things and
we are to bring the good news of Jesus Christ into that thicket. The news
of a good God who created a good world, the God who saves people from
what oppresses them, who forgives completely, who feeds us with rich fare,
who puts a new heart in us, who conquers sin and death -- this God lives
in us and is longing to live in the community to heal and help.
Over these next fifty days of Easter,
let’s think of who needs to hear the good news of new life. Let
us reach out and offer them the same kind of care of love that Jesus himself
would bring. As we hear the touching stories of how he meets his disciples
and brings them his peace after the resurrection, let’s look to
see how we can do the same in the world we live in.
