Confirmation!

Dear parishioners,

Congratulations to our confirmandi!  It is with great joy that we will be celebrating Confirmation this Tuesday for both St. Joseph and St. Mary parishes with Bishop James D. Conley.  Even though we only celebrate Confirmation every three years.  This year we have twenty-two confirmandi receiving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit!  What an incredible gift to have so many young people in our parish. I am excited to have the bishop be present to our community.  Please feel free to introduce yourselves and speak with Bishop Conley while he is with us on Tuesday evening.  The Bishop will be meeting with the confirmandi at 6:30 pm in the Parish hall, so families, be sure to get here early 🙂.

As I stated in my last reflection, a parish directory is being put together for the parishes.  Photos are a great way to continue to connect people together in our visual age.  Our parish have continued to grow in the 10 years since our last directory, so we have plenty of new and familiar faces to connect with.  Please take the flyer home with you to schedule a family photo! 

This coming Thursday, March 12th there will be a Holy Hour for Peace for the deanery with Adoration and Confessions at St. Wenceslaus parish.  With the various unrests in the world, our Holy Father, Pope Leo has asked parishes to pray for peace.  As such, our diocese has asked each deanery to offer time in adoration for this worthy cause.  No matter what age the Church is in and the disruptions in the world, as disciples of Christ, we are called to be peacemakers (Mt 5:9). Prayer and Fasting become powerful tools for Christian men and women to place the situation back into God's hands.  They aid in overcoming apathy or disinterest, offering back the sword of vengeance, and crushing the lies of the true enemy who wants us to destroy ourselves and others.  In this I like to remember St. Padre Pio, who famously referred to the Rosary as his "weapon" against evil, spiritual warfare, and the struggles of the world. He viewed this devotion as a powerful, non-physical tool for protection and fighting, urging the faithful to "Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary."

Keep Kicking Evil and cling to Mother Mary!

Fr. Luke Fleck