Dear Family!

The recent solemnity we celebrated yesterday (Annunciation) reveals the God who saves (literal meaning of the name Jesus) through Mary’s act of faith. How true are the words of Augustine? “God who created us without our permission cannot save us without our active cooperation.”

We come across 7 ‘signs’ (Miracles) in John’s Gospel obviously reminds us of the fullness and perfection of God’s total revelation in Jesus. Last Sunday we read about the healing of the man born blind (6th sign) and this Sunday we read about the bodily raising of Lazarus (7th sign). The gradual manifestation of Jesus the source of life becomes clear in raising Lazarus to life. This revelation leads us to the sign of all signs - in the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus is the source of all life. Jesus, the Creative Word of God came to us, to save us and give us life. This is symbolically portrayed in the Gospel today as Jesus leaves his ‘comfort zone’ (Our Father) beyond Jordan to Bethany where Lazarus was (A place of threat and danger) to bring us life. Jesus comes into our lives to strengthen and encourage our spirits. We need to cooperate with God to participate in God’s saving action.

I thank you for your generosity in contributing to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. This year we have a goal of $78,000 from 2400 families. Till date we have received pledges for $33,914 from 139 families. As I mentioned in the mass last Sunday, the most important thing to achieve our goal as a parish is not so much the ‘how much’ of the gift, rather, ‘how many gifts’ from families. Please prayerfully consider joining our Bishop’s efforts in providing for the most important needs of our diocese. Also please be advised that we get back more than half of our goal as subsidy to our school every year. Your participation in the bishop’s appeal is also your gratitude to the subsidy we get from the diocese every year.

I have written a pastoral letter to all the Faith Formation Families (Families who have enrolled children in our CCD program). This letter is a request letter to all parish families who have children. Please find the letter at the last page of the Bulletin.

I thank the members of the Search Committee for their dedication and service. By the grace of God we can identify the new principal for our school soon. My sincere thanks to Bill Casey and Donna Kucinski for their inputs and transparency on the State of School evening with parents on Wednesday. Also a special word of thanks to all the volunteers who are part of the 72 Disciples group for their enthusiasm and active participation in the planning meeting on Thursday. One of the many things you can explore in the Holy Week is to be part of any ministry of the Church, even if it is just for an hour a week or month. Please remember to pray and encourage our RCIA Elect and Candidates.

Thank you all!

Fr. Antony

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