From the Pastor’s desk— August 24, 2025

Dear Parishioners,

This weekend I’m happy to introduce a new bulletin write-up each week from one of our parishioners. Starting this weekend, you can look for our weekly Liturgical Living Challenge! The goal of this weekly challenge is to help find the joy in being catholic beyond Sunday mass. If you’re looking to take your catholic life to the next level, this is for you. Families especially will benefit from these helpful ideas for raising children with joyful faith. So, what is liturgical living and what will the challenges be like?

Liturgical living is called liturgical because it means following the liturgical calendar, the calendar that tracks seasons like Lent and Easter as well as many saint feast days. Liturgy means the public worship of God by the Church, specifically the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office of psalms prayed by priests, religious and some laity. Having this calendar helps us dedicate the times of weeks and years to God’s glory. For example, we celebrate the Mass on Sundays to remember the Resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week. Sunday is also the “eighth day” of creation when God has renewed what he made in the first seven days. In the year we celebrate the life of Jesus with Christmas, Easter, and many other days.

The challenges of liturgical living will be finding smaller ways to honor God through activities at home on feast days and memorials of saints. For example, this week will be the memorial of St Monica. The challenge will include a short lesson on St Monica and some action that honors her memory. In this case, it’s honoring our mothers because St. Monica was a saintly mother. Think of these challenges like a bit of catholic seasoning sprinkled over life to add flavor. Other challenges might be familiar, or new or rediscovered from our ancestors. They could have the form of a recipe, a prayer before dinner, a family event, or some other surprise. Each one is meant to bring family and friends together. I hope that you will look forward to trying each week’s new Liturgical Living Challenge!

         

           

 

             

  

Fr. Joseph