Second Sunday of Lent

My Dear Parishioners,
 
As we gather to celebrate the Lord’s Day we come to the Second Sunday of Lent. In the Sacred Scriptures which are presented to us for our reflection we find in them the witness of love and its strength. In the Old Testament reading from the Book of Genesis we hear the story of the testing of Abraham and of his willingness to sacrifice his only son Isaac in obedience to God. In the Gospel account of the Transfiguration of Jesus we hear the words of God the Father, “ This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him.”  In the epistle reading from the Apostle Paul’s correspondence to the Romans we read, “ He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all…”  All the Scripture readings for this Sunday make reference to the love between father and son, God the Father and His Son Jesus, Abraham and his son Isaac. This love manifests itself in sacrifice and sacrifice is that which we focus on in a very special way during this season of holy Lent. The “ sacrifice of Isaac” in the Book of Genesis is a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Jesus.
 
Good parents know what it means to sacrifice for their children. It takes selflessness and strength motivated by love to act for the benefit of a child while putting your own desires to the side. Love propels parents to action disregarding their own wants so that their child will be healthy, safe, strong, and live an honorable life. Parents need to be always on top of their children’s activities, friends, studies AND religious formation. Parents have to sacrifice much in order to oversee all this and more.
 
As Father of this parish family I too have responsibilities. One of the responsibilities which Bishop Serratelli recently reminded pastors of is that of accountability for knowing one’s faith prior to receiving the sacrament of Confirmation. To make this point the Bishop sent to all pastors a number of catechetical questions and answers that all confirmation candidates must know before confirmation. During the second week of March Father Pawel and Father Cerilo will be joining me in meeting individually with each confirmation candidate and their parents for 15 minutes to discuss the faith and their child’s readiness to receive this sacrament. It will take some time but we have made a schedule in which we should be able to meet with all 50 candidates within the week. I am looking forward to this opportunity to become better acquainted with our kids and their parents. We will be doing the same at Sacred Heart Church in the fall prior to confirmation there in December.
 
I am so proud of our parents who model good Christian behavior for their children regarding prayer, conduct in church, keeping our Lenten practices and so much more!
 
Sacrifice springs from love; parents for their children, priests for their parishioners!
 
Happy Lent!
Father Zig