We can all fall into routines in many different ways. In the same thought our routines are often interrupted and disrupted by inner and outer sources that seemingly come at us when least expected. There is one great routine interrupter that occurs twice a year and comes along like clockwork. It is the dreaded “spring forward and fall back” disrupter that is a particular form of anguish and may I dare say evil that enters our lives.
One of my routines is my early morning prayer time followed by my morning exercise/walk. This past “fall back” a few weeks ago I noticed something different…when I began my morning walk down Railway Ave, through downtown Campbell and up the street before circling around and heading back to the parish…I saw lights that slowly disappeared as the days and then weeks continued. The routine I have is pretty peaceful and quiet and the people I see on this early morning jaunt around town are almost always the same but it is also the houses…now the houses don’t move…but you begin to notice, after four years, the ones that have the early morning lights on and those that remain in darkness. What I noticed, especially in the first few workdays after the “fall back,” was how many of the houses and apartments had early morning lights. How many more people where getting an early morning coffee at the local coffee house and more importantly (and dangerously for someone walking) how many more cars (often driving too fast) were on the road. It certainly made me look differently at the neighborhoods I was walking through and being much more attentive and careful in crossing the streets.
But as the days and weeks have gone slowly by the new lights have darkened, the coffee shop has few early morning customers and the cars have lessened, slowed down and the walk has fallen back into the routine.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” (Will Durant)

The breaking of routine is beneficial for the renewed appreciation for what is around us. Where we once more have a new look at the gifts and blessings with which God surrounds us and we can begin to take for granted. It can make us unsteady and more attentive to the steps we take and the words we use. This can be good. But at the same time routine allows our minds to relax, to quiet the cacophony of noise, to silence the intrusive desire for the always new and hear a voice whispering truth and love. And this is where our routines and the breaking of routine sit side by side in the life of faith.

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

My morning routine of time before the Blessed Sacrament and then my walking Rosary open my heart to listen and speak to God about my hopes and dreams, about my doubts and fears as well as the blessings I give thanks for each day. The daily Mass, as I wrote last week, becomes the time of placing myself before God, as the prayer known in my bones, slowly unwinds around me. But when something breaks this routine I am challenge to discover God once more as the Holy Spirit moves my heart to recognize the presence of Love where we see the sparkling lights of life shine brightly, where the movement of the world call us to a new attentiveness and where God’s presence remains constant in the invitation to walk with Him in our journey.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
who, by the will of the Father
and the work of the Holy Spirit,
through your Death gave life to the world,
free me by this, your most holy Body and Blood,
from all my sins and from every evil;
keep me always faithful to your commandments,
and never let me be parted from you.

The prayer above is the silent prayer the priest prays in preparation for receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus in the Eucharist. During this week where we have been asked to pray for vocations, this prayer has been on my heart as I go about my daily prayers. Often in my Holy Hour, or when I pray the Rosary or the Liturgy of the Hours this prayer has slipped into the routine of prayer when I recite my consecration to the Sacred Heart, my prayer for vocations and the prayer for the bishops and priests of the Diocese of San Jose.

“and never let me be parted from you”

The final line of the prayer reminds me of the unity we all wish for in life and death. It is an invitation be become more Christlike in our journeys of faith. But most importantly for me it informs the body of the prayer where in the consuming of the Body of Christ and the drinking of the Blood of Christ we express how much each person is loved by God.
When I was first ordained in 2005 I had studied the Mass in seminary and had heard and prayed the Mass for almost all of my life. I don’t remember the Latin Mass and the Ordinary Form had and continues to be the spiritual food that feeds my soul daily. Throughout the years the prayer of the Mass has become more intimate and more like taking a breath as the labor of the Mass flowed into the prayer of the Mass. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a perfect presider and I make my fair share of errors…but the Mass now moves through my heart, soul and mind with joyful blessing. It is something that has gradually occurred and something I barely noticed until a few years ago when a parishioner remarked how tired I had looked before celebrating the Sunday evening Mass but, as she commented on, she could see life flowing into me as the Mass continued.

“Through your Death gave life to the world.”

How do we find life in the celebration of the Mass? The phrase that Mass is boring that I often hear from people breaks my heart but it also reminds me of when “Mass was boring for me.” When I truly discovered life within the Mass was when I was teaching in New Mexico and began attending daily Mass in the morning before school began. In the quiet ritual of daily Mass the rhythm of God’s grace began to fill me more and more. Daily Mass became a prayer and my presence before God. The intuition was confirmed when as a priest I overheard a student in our Catholic School telling his teacher how much he liked going to daily Mass with his class because it was so quiet and peaceful. This becomes the place of life, where we quiet our minds and allow the soul to be filled with the presence of God in the sacrifice of the Mass.

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God”

To recognize how much God gives to us in the gift of His son Jesus Christ is always a moment of pause. To know we hold Divine life in our hands, to know we take Divine life into our body, to know we become Christlike in this Eucharistic gift is simply amazing. To love Jesus is to love the Mass. To love Mass is to love the Church. To love the Church is to love our neighbor. To love our neighbor is to know how much God loves each one of us as a beloved son and daughter.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

Saints didn’t set out to have everyone follow them. Saints set out to follow Jesus, and others followed them in their pursuit of Him.
Mark Hart

Today is the Solemnity of All Saints where we lift our voices in prayer and thanksgiving to God for these examples of holiness which we are all called to aspire too in our lives. I have a great love for many saints and getting to know them through study, prayer and fun has helped me to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ. Saints come into your lives at very odd times and are often surprising in their entering and helping in a variety of situations in our lives. A few weeks ago I wrote about a newly canonized saint, St. Marguerite Bays, who captured my heart with her simple but powerful witness to her local parish and community.
There are the big saints, the famous saints and those everyone has heard about, and of course the Blessed Mother who is a category unto her own. Whether it is St. Jude for a desperate cause, St. Anthony when I can’t find my keys again, all saints are true friends. But let me share with you a few of my saintly friends.
My very first encounter with a saint came as a small boy when I was told St. Christopher was no longer an “official” saint. This broke my heart. My middle name is Christopher and how could I live without a saint in the middle…and besides when Mom or Dad got mad at me would they still give me the three name command…Mark Christopher Arnzen come here now! This went away quickly because in my boyish heart I guess I figured God would take care of this problem.
My second major blessing came at Confirmation when we were asked to take another saint name. I chose St. Nicholas because he exemplified the virtue of generosity. This was the first time my prayers with the saints were for a very specific purpose other than the routine “pray for us” that rolled mindlessly off my tongue. Asking and being with a saint in prayer seeking a certain virtue or need is one of the powerful parts of prayer of petition or intercessory prayer where our sister and brother saints pray with and for us in life.
When I was at Holy Names College I found another saint dropping into my life, St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) a Carmelite nun who was murdered in the Nazi death camps because of her Jewish heritage. Discovering the courage of conversion and the following and trusting in Jesus Christ opened my eyes to a deeper gift of saying “yes” to God’s call to follow him. Of course when you find one Carmelite you can’t miss St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. John of the Cross to name a few who trickled into my life.
When I began my time as a missionary in New Mexico I had the pleasure of learning the lives of St. Bonaventure (the name of the mission) and then Blessed and now Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (the name of the school) where she opened my eyes to the many young saints who dedicated their lives to Jesus at such a great cost and how I am, as we all are, challenged to follow Jesus in a like manner where sacrificial love extends deeply into the service and caring for others.
The last saint I will share is St. Arnold of Soissons, the patron saint of beer brewers. I don’t know how I missed him during most of my life because I do enjoy a good beer and I don’t know why I never thought of him but he visited me from facebook where “Buy your Priest a Beer Day” popped up a couple of years ago. St. Arnold and his patronage has given me great joy over the past few years as friends and parishioners have shared in his prayers for good beer and has allowed me to receive and share a many good beers.
Saints are wonderful companions to cry with, to laugh with and to walk with on our journey of faith. Getting to know the saints of our Catholic tradition helps us to know who Jesus is through their lives and service. I would challenge you to learn about the saints (I will have a link below) and share what you learn with your family. Perhaps make it a weekly activity where everyone shares a little biography about a saint from the week or just from the greater canon of these holy men and women.
God Bless
Fr. Mark.

Saint of the Day Calendar

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do. (Pope St. John XXIII)

Saturday Morning: The baptism of three wonderful, beautiful children.
Saturday Afternoon: The wedding of a happy and holy young man and young woman.
Wednesday afternoon: The anointing and prayers for the preparation of death for an elderly gentleman.
Wednesday Evening: The anointing blessing of a young woman whose child died in utero and prayers of blessing for the child.

Life and death are part of the normal pattern of life. Although we often don’t dwell too much on the latter and in truth most people don’t want to think too much about death even with the reality that it will come to us all. Our faith tells us death is part of life and in death we enter eternal life. As you can see above life and death flow through the daily ministry of our parish communities with the blessing of God entering into the joy and sorrows, the excitement and heartbreak of families.
Thankfully my weeks aren’t always filled with these great highs and lows of joy and sorrow but they do occur in all families and in all places. Of course, with the coming of All Souls Day, we will be talking more and more about death as we remember those relatives and friends who have gone before us. It will bring up a variety of emotions. Some may be the tears the family of the older gentleman shed as we blessed him and prayed that he would be gathered into the arms of Jesus. These tears were of the many memories of love, the actions and details of life recalled with blessing. They were tears of remembrance and presence recalling the moments of grace that are shared in life. And for others they may be the tears of this young woman and her family where the heartbreak of dreams that wretch at our hearts. Where the hopes seem to be filled with the black emptiness swallowing our cries that feel empty and without resolution.
With all this said, this is where family life and the blessing of love comes into and helps to heal the brokenness and hurts of life. It is the baptism and weddings, the birthdays and holidays, the normal weekday routines and the dinner table conversations that inform the holiness of life and allow us to move through suffering and sadness, not forgetting or masking them, but proportioning them into the greater picture God has painted us into. It is where laughter breaks into tears. I remember coming home after my father had died and with my brothers and cousins sitting around having a drink, one of my brothers remarked, “Well, dad knows about the ewe now.” It was an inside joke, several years earlier, one morning one of the ewes had broken out of the pasture and we had the brilliant idea of scaring her back in by shooting at her. This made much more sense than chasing her. Well, we missed her by at least ten feet. She jumped up, turned and ran for the pasture and fell over dead. We assumed from a heart attack. Never had the courage to tell dad…but now he knows. We all laughed, fell silent and healed a little bit from that silly shared story.
“This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”” (Jeremiah 31:15) I cannot fathom what this young mother feels but I do know that as we prayed together that night and then again blessed the body of her child the next day that she was surround by a family of love. And that is the first step of healing because she is loved…and that love is founded in God. It is also true for the family of the elderly man, they wept as they surrounded him with love as he moved into the eternal life of love.
Both of these families will hold the blessing of All Souls Day a little closer and a little more painfully this year but they will also be healed by our prayers as a Church, as the Body of Christ.
God bless
Fr. Mark

Have you ever had anyone step into your life and change everything? That someone special who opens your eyes to see the world differently or reawaken the heart to be more receptive to the blessings of love? It almost always happens out of the blue, in truth most probably 100% of the time, because it is not something you can plan or look for but it is like the invisible gust of wind knocking your hat off your head.
Well, that someone special stepped into my life last week…her name is St. Marguerite Bays…who entered my mind and heart as I wrote and talked about her last week in celebrating her canonization in the Catholic Church. As I wrote last week and talked about in my Sunday homily, she was a woman of great faith who lived a life of service, prayer and devotion in her parish and her neighborhood. So why is this woman so special (other than she is a Saint, if that were not special enough) that I would feel such an instant love and joyfulness in getting to know her through the blessing of her story of saintliness? Well, it might come as a surprise to you…but…wait for it…her prayer life.
In my homily at Sunday Mass I asked you to think of someone who needed your prayers…and to lift that person up in prayer during the Mass but also daily, because we all need prayer. So, what happened? I guess it was one of those Holy Spirit moments when he moves you to see the world as God sees the world. As I looked out upon St. Lucy a thought popped into my mind…”How many St. Marguerite’s do we have in our parish?” In truth I didn’t think about it long because I needed to focus once more on the celebration of the Mass but it has been a thought that has reentered my mind over and over again: at prayer, at rest, at play and at work.
We know that we are all called to be saints but: do we actually see the saints around us or do we see what we do as holy and blessed leading us to sainthood in our own right? The first part of the question is often answered in the affirmative. I can list dozens and dozens of holy men and women I have encountered at the many parishes I worshipped at as a lay man and those I have served at as a priest. I encounter them daily in ministry doing the quiet work of God, not seeking the spotlight but silently going about the work of caring for and serving others in their lives. I am always moved to grace walking into the silent church building during the middle of the day and finding God’s children in prayer; praying for others, for themselves, for the silent petitions unknown and yet brought to God in faith. They are the living stones upon which the Body of Christ lives and breathes daily.
And this is where we come back to this special beloved woman who slipped into my life, casually opening my heart to see the blessing of love surrounding me and asking me to pray with more patience and grace for God’s Church as I promised on the day of my ordination. It is the intercession of a saint that invites me to a great and more fervent intercession of love.
Who are the saints in your life? Who are you called to intercede for in prayer today?
St. Marguerite Bays….pray for us

God bless,
Fr. Mark

This Sunday our Holy Father Pope Francis will canonize five new saints. Much as I wrote earlier when I discussed other new saints from last year, the big names St. Paul VI and St. Oscar Romero, can overshadow the “smaller” saints. I point this out because the stories of these men and women who are recognized for the heroic virtue are powerful and teach us many things. Pope Francis will elevate five people to sainthood. The big name is John Henry Newman a 19th century convert to Catholicism who was a great thinker and writer who helped to shape the intellectual discourse of the Catholic Church for the century to come.
Who are the other saints? Well they are four women: three religious sisters and the fourth was a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Marguerite Bays was a dressmaker by trade and her biography tells us she spent her entire life working as a dedicated lay person in her parish and never left her own neighborhood. A simple woman who received a miraculous healing and experienced a mystical union with God. We are reminded by her life how much we, through being dedicated to our faith and sharing it with joy, can have great effect in both our family, our parish and in our communities. Recognizing how sharing our faith in creating a Catholic culture within our own families and neighborhoods we evangelize the joyful presence of God’s grace.
Sr. Dulce Lopes Pontes was a member of the congregation of the missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. (That is one long name for a congregation) With that being said, this 20th century saint, much like St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was known for her service to the poorest of the poor in her native Brazil. A woman of humble service she worked to bring dignity, especially through healthcare, to all people. Her work in founding a charitable organization, which annually serves over 3.5 million people, “famously began with just 70 patients, a chicken coop, and one determined nun.” (see link below) Sr. Dulce reminds us of how small seeds planted with great care and love often lead us to God’s blessings beyond imagination.
Sr. Giuseppina Vannini is the founder of the Daughters of Saint Camillus who in her short life, she died at 51, was an example of charity and sacrifice. Orphaned at an early age she chose to enter religious life and eventually decided to found a religious order whose work was caring for the sick and elderly.
Sr. Mariam Thresia was born in Thresia Mankidiyan in Kerala, India. Raised in the Syro-Malabar Rite of the Catholic Church, one of many Eastern Rite Churches in union with the Roman Catholic Church. She founded the Congregation of the Holy Family where she and her sisters dedicated their lives to praying for the repentance of sinners and carrying for orphans and the poor. Sr. Marian Thresia died at the age of 50 after having received the gift of the stigmata (the wounds of Jesus)
When I read the short biographies of each of these holy women I was reminded of three marks of each of their lives:
They each had a deep love for God’s people, especially the poor and vulnerable. Each of them chose to do small things with great love. The lesson we can learn is, while we may not be called to the consecrated life or the priesthood, we are all called to seek God in serving the other in our life. How do we seek to serve God in our daily lives may be the question these soon to be saints would ask?
You don’t need to go far to serve God. These four future saints pretty much stayed at home. None of them were missionaries going far and wide to find how best to serve God. Blessed Marguerite never left her “neighborhood” and she and each of these woman changed the lives of so many people around the world. Who in your “neighborhood”, at home, work, school or wherever needs the blessing of a good neighbor?
Lastly…yes you guessed it, each was a person with a deep and profound prayer life. Each found their call to vocation through prayer. They each persevered through the trial of life through prayer. They each rediscovered their mission over and over again through a deep and personal conversation in prayer with God. This didn’t happen by accident but rather through seeking and finding God in prayer. Do you take time in prayer each day to share with God your life?
The links below are short biographies of these five soon to be saints.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

http://www.savior.org/saints/bays.htm

https://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=93278

https://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=93093

https://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=93080

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Routines can be both good and bad depending on whether or not the routine begins to develop something greater or just becomes a rut in which we do the same thing over and over again. Routines help us to establish boundaries and discipline that moves us toward goals in our lives. Most families have routines they have established and I know listening to “new parents” that seeking to establish a routine for their children is one of the greater priorities in their growing families life.
Prayer also is a discipline and a routine that helps to grow both family and unity. As a parish here at St. Lucy as we continue in our mission of prayer with “A Parent Who Prays” we recognize the routine of prayer we are called share with and teach our children. But the discipline of prayer is also a lesson that we all must continually learn and grow in greater understanding of our spiritual needs and hopeful of being nearer to our Lord Jesus. I, personally, can share with you my own growth and deepening of the discipline of prayer, but I am also keenly aware of how much more I need to grow in faith, hope and love in prayer.
So here are a few prayerful hints form Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak from their little book “The Corporal Works of Mommy (and Daddy Too)”. Where they talk about daily prayer rituals where added to the formal prayer rituals of our Catholic Church each family develops, according to their needs and life circumstances. This is a discernment which will occur and all families must undertake as we journey as Christian disciples. There is nothing new or strange here just some helpful reminders.
Grace before and after meals: whether at home or out on the town prayers of thanksgiving are always important. They remind us of God’s presence and the gifts He shares with us each and every day. When we and our children discover the blessing of a simple meal we also begin to see how many blessing and gifts from God inundate our lives. It is a gift that grows.
Morning blessings for your children and spouse: This is one of the great joys we can share with one another. I remind parents and families at each baptism I celebrate what a powerful symbol it is for the family, how each child, each member of the family and each and every person is a blessing from God. Planting the seeds of blessing early on and carrying this blessing on throughout life and grows unity and purpose of following God.
Reflect on daily or Sunday Readings as a family: Spending a few minutes with the Word of God is indispensable. We recently celebrated the Memorial of St. Jerome who sagely reminded us “Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of God.” Many parishes, including St. Lucy, offers the reflection booklet “Give Us This Day” or others to help us follow the liturgical life of the Church. Following the daily and weekly readings of the Mass allows us to breathe the very Word of God Jesus Christ.
Bedtime prayers with Bible stories: Ending the day, just as we begin the day with a blessing of love. As adults doing a “daily examen” of our faults and failings directs our hearts to be conformed to God and when this happens our children see the importance of beginning and ending the day in prayer. Something as simple as the “Guardian Angel” prayer or reading a story from the Bible or books of the Saints is always good.
The Rosary: It is one of the most important prayers we can pray alone or as a family…as the great Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “When we say the Rosary—we are saying to God, the Trinity, to the Incarnate Savior, to the Blessed Mother: “I love you. I love you. I love you.” because love is the center of the family and God is always at the center of life.
Midday prayers: One way to unite the family is to have a small prayer we can all say when we are going about our daily task. Something simple that both the young and old can quickly an quietly pray to remind us, as family, that whether we are apart or together we are one in the Lord.
and yes…pray for our children and family using “A Parent Who Prays.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

This weekend our parish will celebrate two important events…first it will be “Priesthood Sunday” where we will ask all who are attending Mass to give a prayer of blessing to your parish priests. The second is the universal Church, that is Catholics all over the world, are praying for migrants and refugees as we celebrate the 105th anniversary of “World Day of Migrants and Refugees”. As you can see this area of concern has been with us for many years and we know that even before the official recognition the pain and suffering of refugees and migrants has been a tragic story throughout history. Pope Francis in his letter to us this year writes, “In a word, it is not only the cause of migrants that is at stake; it is not just about them, but about all of us, and about the present and future of the human family. Migrants, especially those who are most vulnerable, help us to read the “signs of the times”. Through them, the Lord is calling us to conversion, to be set free from exclusivity, indifference and the throw-away culture. Through them, the Lord invites us to embrace fully our Christian life and to contribute, each according to his or her proper vocation, to the building up of a world that is more and more in accord with God’s plan.” (Pope Francis, Letter on World Day of Migrants and Refugees)
Pope Francis calls each of us to witness in hope for the safety of all our brothers and sisters recognizing the blessing of peace and security that is the desire of all.
And with that we return to priesthood Sunday. I remember clearly the first year, 2005, when I received this blessing from the parishioners of St. Martin of Tours Parish. I had been ordained barely four months and had not expected much other than “just another blessing” and boy was I wrong. I don’t want to say I cried, but I may have as the grace and blessing of God was spoken in the voices of the prayers of the faithful people asking God’s love to flow into my life and service of His Church as His priest. It caught me off guard at the first Mass of the weekend but each additional Mass that was celebrated deepened the blessing and my call to follow Jesus Christ.
I know that we are in the midst of two important prayer ministries at St. Lucy, “Creating a Culture of Vocations” and the prayer book “A Parent Who Prays” and I only remind us of these to actions because just as my life as a man, a disciple and a priest is deepened and strengthened by your prayers for me and all priests so too is the life of the family and especially when we pray directly for our children asking God’s blessing to surround them in love. Prayer is the gift of deepening and strengthening an unseen but powerful bond of grace which can never be broken. It is desiring in the purity of heart (see the first virtue of prayer from “A Parent Who Prays”) where the greatest hope we have for another is their growth in holiness and life. “Creating a Culture of Vocations” in the family isn’t simply about vocations to the priesthood but rather it is the sanctification of the family through following Jesus Christ…if that happens then our children’s call to their proper vocation whether it be Holy Matrimony, Priesthood, the Consecrated Life or the Single Life will naturally flow from the all families as God calls each of us by name.
Please pray for me and all of your parish priest.
God bless
Fr. Mark

“Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.” (CCC #150)

The gift of faith, the life of faith, the blessing of faith is a slippery thing to describe because it is so personal and intimate to each person. As noted in the quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) it is an assent to a truth greater than we are, it is looking into the infinite and entrusting all we are to the moment of grace and blessing.
When we pray for the gift of faith for ourselves and others it is to hand ourselves and the other completely into the will of God. This is where we become more intimate with God and each other. For example, in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, we talk about the unity of husband and wife as “the two shall become one” (Gen 2:24, Mk 10:8) as the entrusting of the life of each spouse into the life of the sacrament and it is the life of the sacrament where the encounter of God’s fruitfulness, graciousness, mercy and healing (to name only a few) helping the man and the woman joined in sacramental grace to live a life of purpose and unity. The faith the man and woman are called to share is the grace of the many gifts of something greater than who they are separately and how they can choose to live in love.
“Charity is the soul of faith, makes it alive; without love, faith dies.” (St. Anthony of Padua)
St. Anthony reminds us how faith must be unity with love (charity) to be true faith. We often say quite easily “God is love.” (1 Jn 4:7-21) without necessarily realizing how this universal love reaches into all parts of our lives. When we speak those words “God is love” then, “It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God” (CCC #150) becomes a necessary assent to faith. On an experiential aspect I can remember when I was in the Marine Corps and one of the phrases we called out many times, “for God, country and Corps” slipped easily from our lips. But on a deeper dive we see how having become, as a member of the USMC, part of something greater we assented to something even greater “country” and ultimately to the greatest “God” in ordering our service. It is an ordering of faith in many ways where once more using the example of husband and wife in sacramental marriage, we place God as the central focus of the marriage seeing our spouse through God and in that way living the life of grace.
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen put it this way, “If you do not live what you believe, you will end up believing what you live.” The more we seek to give our lives in faith, the greater our faith grows. Or as Jesus puts it, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain.”(Mt 17:20) In other words, if our faith is small it is able to grow through sharing and giving in faith with the other in our life. First and foremost with God but as we entrust our lives to our nuclear family our faith then allows us to give ourselves fully to another, using the Holy Matrimony example, the man and woman not simply seek to survive the marriage but thrive in moving the mountains of hurt and sin which will enter into our relationships and all our beloved to be seen in the image and likeness of God.
Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! And transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation. (St. Clare of Assisi) In this beautiful quote from St. Clare, we can see how simply being with God can grow our faith and especially as an example for our children to see the radiance of love come through contemplation of something more beautiful than the greatest vista in nature. It is the image of love where the parent holds and contemplates the simple beauty of the child in their arms but carries through life, for example: after my heart attack I remember catching my mother looking at me with such care that my heart was filled with peace so profound it still brings tears to my eyes.
How do you explain faith…it is always the search and discovery of a truth much greater than we can ever imagine. “My longing for truth was a single prayer.” (St. Theresa Bendicta of the Cross: Edith Stein)

God bless
Fr. Mark

Faith: Throughout the Bible the word faith is prevalent. What is faith? It is not a feeling but rather it is a knowing deeply of someone. The only way we can have faith in God is talk with him, listen to him and to be with him. Faith, in the Catholic sense, is a reasonable and generous response to knowing we are loved by something greater.
Bringing the Intention into your family/relationships
How do we show our faith in God? Family prayer with the inclusion of special intentions help us to bring God into all aspects of our life. As we pray for the gift of faith in our children and in our lives, praying for others expands how we know faith in God.
Discussion starter:
Share a story of when your faith was tested…
Learn about the co-patroness of our Diocese St. Clare and her gift of faith.
Brainstorm about how faith can help you be a better person…
Spiritual Bouquet:
Share your prayers for each other about the gift of faith for your children/parents/friends

Let us pray for purity.
Purity is a complicated word in the modern lexicon. Many people dive directly into that small three letter work, “SEX” as soon as they hear purity but the Catholic Church has a deeper and fuller understanding of why purity and more directly being pure in heart is a pathway of understanding and living the will of God more fully and completely in our day to day relationships.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God.” (Mt 5:8)
Purity in Heart, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2345, 2520) reminds us that this gift is given through the grace of baptism. It is as always the understanding where when we struggle for purity in heart we are choosing to seek the face of God in those around us.
What does it look like when we begin to pray for purity in heart for those we love, those we know and even ourselves?
Well, if you are like me, the first thing that occurs whenever I begin to pray for another person, whatever the reason, a big mirror forms in front of my minds eyes. It always has the same question on it: And how are you doing? This moment draws me into some deeper self reflection as I pray for others about the aspect of life for which I am praying. An example might be when I pray, as I often do, for generosity of others in stewardship of time, talent and treasure, which in turn begins to offer reflections into my own life of stewardship. Is my tithing truly sacrificial or done out of fear? Have I spent my time well in ministry and prayer? How have I helped our community grow using the gifts God has shared with me? If I can begin to answer those questions in my own heart, mind and soul then I am better able to see others in and their stewardship in the light of Jesus Christ rather than as a utilitarian desire for more.
This is where purity in heart becomes a fulcrum of looking at all our relationships both personal and in general. When we pray for purity we seek to see the face of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the people we encounter and in the world we live in. In this way we pray that those for who we pray for will see in us the purity of intention and the grace of blessing in our actions and relationships with others. If we are at work or school we may ask: Is what we do done in service of others or just for pay? When I help another in my daily life we may ponder: Is our service done for selfless motives or to be noticed by others?
And certainly in our life of faith: Is our ministry and prayer in family and Church done for Jesus Christ or for prestige? The motives of purity begin to surface very quickly.
When we choose to live “pure in heart” then we “shall see God”! What a promise to receive and experience in our lives. This is not a sentimental idea but a powerfully transforming reality where the presence of God in the Most Holy Trinity begins to infuse each and every part of our lives, from suffering to joy, for celebration to sadness, from despair to hope with grace filled blessings of life and love. It is training our hearts to know where the poor and dying on the streets of Calcutta are transformed into figures of Jesus Christ as St. Mother Theresa knew and held lovingly day after day. It is with eyes trained for beauty, where looking out into the awesome beauty of the Yosemite Valley, we like Ansel Adams, see the moment and location, perfect in creation, where he focussed and took one more picture capturing God’s creative glory and our hearts are captured by God. It is where we have trained our ears to hear as we sit around the dinner table with family/friends and in listening to their words we have learned to be attentive to God’s words that flow from their mouths in moments of true grace transforming the simple meal into a Eucharistic celebration.
Let us pray for purity as we place our trust in God and in the hope that all people will seek to be as Jesus Christ calls…”Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
God Bless
Fr. Mark

For “A parent Who Prays” by Katie Warner

Purity: We can think of purity for ourselves and children in three ways: Purity of mind, Purity of body and Purity of soul. Purity of mind is to place our thoughts always directed towards the betterment of the others in our lives. Purity of body is the gift of modesty in action and in dress. Purity of soul is to act with the intention of doing good and helping others to do good in their lives
Bringing the Intention into your family/relationships
We will hear this many times in our lives: Am I living as I am praying? Will my children/parents or friends no my purity of mind, body and soul by my actions daily? Share a story of how difficult it is to live life in a pure and holy way.
Discussion starter:
When I hear the word purity, I think…..
One way I will practice and pray for purity is…
Who is St. Maria Goretti???
Spiritual Bouquet:
Share your prayers for each other for purity of mind, body and soul for your children/parents/friends