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“And with your spirit” is a much deeper response than my young “fine” was or ever could be. When we respond to the Priest’s greeting with those words, “And with your spirit,” we’re referring to the deep ontological (relating to the very being) change that occurs in a Priest’s soul.

Imagine walking up to someone & greeting them saying, “The Lord be with you.” In the store, on the street, when we walk in our house that greeting might seem somewhat strange. “Hi,” or “How are you?” or “What’s going on?” are the more usual greetings that we might use, but in Mass our greeting goes beyond a simple, “How are you doing?”

As we continue our journey through the Mass, let’s begin where it begins, with the Sign of the Cross. Every Mass that we celebrate always begins the same way, with all of us standing together & saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Over the last 2 weeks, we have heard in our gospel of an encounter between Jesus & His disciples. This encounter has centered around the question posed last weekend, “Who do you say that I am?” Last week, Jesus posed the question & this week we see what it really means to say that Jesus is Christ & Lord, it means taking up our cross & following Him.

Another question that we might find ourselves wondering about is how the Priest chooses which Mass to celebrate on a particular day? Are there options or is it a matter of this is what it is?

The word Mass comes from a Latin word, missa. In Latin, the Mass ends, “Ite missa est” which translates to, “Go, it is sent.” And what or who is sent, you might ask? The Church. One of the great Saints of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, in a commentary that he wrote on these words said, “And from the Mass derives its name...the deacon on festival days ‘dismisses’ the people at...

One of the common experiences of our Catholic faith is the celebration of the Mass. As we gather around the altar to celebrate the Eucharist, we see many actions & hear many words & perhaps at times we’ve found ourselves wondering the purpose or the meaning behind them.

It’s Angel again, hope you’re having a great summer! I know I’m enjoying the time being able to sniff outside & take walks without the snow touching my belly (it’s tough being short you know).

Last week, I wrote about the opening of our Mass Book for the upcoming year which will occur this coming Thursday, July 20th. This week I wanted to share with you some thoughts on how we offer a Mass for someone.

One of the great forms of prayer in our Church is intercessory prayer. So many of us have people & causes that we pray for on a regular, sometimes even daily basis. We pray for people who are sick, people who have died, we pray for peace, we pray for unemployed, just to name a few.

Today is the Peter’s Pence Collection, a worldwide collection that supports the work of the Universal Church, including the work of the Holy See and the charitable works of Pope Francis. Take this opportunity to join with Pope Francis and be a sign of mercy to our suffering brothers and sisters.

As we continue in this year of Eucharistic Revival I wanted to share with you a prayer that was composed in & for our Diocese this year. I would invite you to cut this out of the bulletin & keep it on...

Greetings, parish family! I wanted to discuss today a question that comes up a lot, “How long do we need to fast before receiving the Eucharist?” The Eucharisitc fast is designed to help us remember the deep hunger that should lie within each of us for the great gift that we receive in the Eucharistic Lord Jesus, the Bread of Life.

This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi Sunday, the Body & Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrate this Solemnity every year, but in this year it takes on an even more special meaning as we kick off our year-long Eucharistic Revival. This revival is an invitation, an opportunity, for us, to reflect on what the Eucharist means to us.

Last weekend, we celebrated the great Feast of Pentecost as we concluded our Easter season. Over the next 2 weeks we’ll celebrate the Most Holy Trinity & the Body & Blood of Christ as we prepare to enter back into Ordinary Time.

Hi again, parish family! When you’ve spent time with God in prayer, does it ever seem or feel like we’re the ones doing all the work? We feel like we’re the ones doing all the talking & we wonder if God is there &, if He’s there, is He even listening? We feel like we’re praying & praying, we’re putting in all this time & effort towards our relationship with God & sometimes it seems like we aren’t being met with an equal response from God.

In this week’s column, I wanted to continue sharing with you about the Eucharistic Revival. Last week we talked about the why & this week I wanted to look at the what. As much as this Revival is a universal revival that is going to be happening at every parish, how it happens will vary from parish to parish, so I wanted to share with you some of the ideas that were floated around...

Mother’s Day Blessings to all of our mothers, grandmothers, & those who have been mother’s to us. We remember in our prayers too all those mothers who’ve lost children, those who’ve suffered miscarriages, & all those who long to be mothers, but either can’t or haven’t been able to.

Last weekend, on Good Shepherd Sunday, I shared with you my vocation story, how I heard the voice of the Good Shepherd in God calling me to the Priesthood. The Good Shepherd’s voice is a voice that we are all called to hear & as we enter into this new month of May, I’d invite us to pray in a special way for those who have heard God’s call as I did.

On the Tuesday of Holy Week many of the priests of the Diocese gathered downtown with Bishop Malesic for the Chrism Mass at which all the Holy Oils that we use during the year were blessed & consecrated. Before the Mass, as has been the tradition for many years now, we gathered together with the Bishop for prayer & a meal.