Dear Church Family,
I write this pastor pen on last Wednesday, reflecting and very much and praying in an intense way for everybody that received the Sacrament of Anointing to be strengthened and healed in many, many ways. Thank you for being open to celebrating this Sacrament of Anointing for your physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual, needs. Keep growing!
Today we celebrate another sacrament the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The psalmist tells us today, “Create a clean heart in me, O God.” We are always working toward a clean heart. This is a theme that is good for us to remember as we journey through Lent as each of us takes time to celebrate this other sacrament of healing. We are seeking healing in a deeper way than just physical but healing of the soul, asking for forgiveness and knowing that the Lord comes to us in healing. The prophet Jeremiah tells us the Lord says, “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah.” It is a covenant of total love and forgiveness. The Lord says, “I will show and reveal myself all the more and reveal my love for each of them. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have a need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” Church, that’s what we are about as we celebrate this sacrament of healing today.
A letter to the Hebrews proclaims that even the “Lord though obedience from what He suffer; and He was made perfect, He became the source of salvation for all who obey Him.” The Lord lets us know even in suffering we become renewed and made perfect. Thank you Lord!
This Gospel also has some very special statements: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” Church, this is a proclamation that we want to be Christ centered. We always say that in our desire and in our prayer, but all the more today as we celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We become Christ center by asking forgiveness, which is always good to do. So, enjoy and celebrate this week another healing sacrament, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. God bless you!
Love, Fr. Bob
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