The first two months of this year we have focused on three Corporal Works of Mercy: Clothing the Naked, Feeding the Hungry and Visiting the Sick. This month we are focusing on one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy: (#3) Admonish the Sinner. This can sound a bit harsh and can at times, if we are not careful in our work of mercy, be mean spirited. In reality this work of mercy, admonishing the sinner, is one of the greatest acts of love that we can share in our lives because “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.“ (Lk 15:7) and “remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.“ (Jms 5:20)

In our work of mercy we are invited to seek the correction of friendship, a correction of love of the other lived and shared in example that grows blessing through grace. And it is not so difficult to understand because in truth we admonish and correct one another all the time, it is just doing it in mercy and charity that we often fail.

The first step is to recognize what sin is before we correct it. Working from the basic definition from the Catechism of the Catholic Church “Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.” (CCC 1849) Sin is when we choose to act in a manner contrary to the person God created us to be. Sin always causes a break in relationship, a loss of trust, and a loss of confidence in the goodness of the other in our life. When we choose to sin, we choose to bring harm into our relationships. And how do we admonish the sinner in a broken moment of trust? First and foremost we recognize that sin is always connected to mercy, “The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.“(CCC 1846)

And with Jesus as our guide we can go to those small simple moments for the greatest lessons in our faith journey. We begin all good relationships with acts of kindness. Theses acts may grow into enduring love where the other becomes the blessing of life. As a priest this is my relationship with the Church that I promise at ordination. It is the gift of obedience and prayer in which love is sustained and grows in chaste and holy interactions with God’s people. I, the sinner, am admonished when I receive the corrective blessing of love from the Body of Christ (you) in the midst of sin. An example of this was when during a meeting I said words with a harshness that demeaned another member of the committee. It was the wrong thing to do (a sin) and with a warning look from a friend and fraternal words of correction, words that were stern and yet loving, the ability to seek forgiveness and move forward was shared rather than let to fester and grow in divisiveness.

To admonish the sinner is more about loving, mercy and forgiveness than it is about punishment and retribution. It is the parent correcting a child, wiping the tears in comfort and then encouraging them to do better. It is the teacher who marks the errors with the red ink and shows a different path of seeking the right and good. It is the brother and sister who live the example of faith, love and holiness to the sibling who has chosen deceit and hurt seeking healing and blessing in the family.

It is the actions of our Lord that we will hear from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (LK 23:34) Hearing the words of truth that echo throughout time and place as we seek the face of love in Jesus Christ in one another.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

For many today, “love” is little more than a warm feeling or physical attraction. These things have their place. But real love—love that endures and deepens and satisfies the human heart over a lifetime—grows from what we give to others, not what we take for ourselves. The Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross for our salvation. That kind of radical, liberating capacity to abandon our prerogatives and give ourselves to others is the thread that unites all Catholic teaching on marriage and the family. Authentic Catholic teaching on marriage and the family separates true love from all counterfeits.” (#35 Love is our Mission: The Family Fully Alive)

The sacramental life is hard. It places us on the cross of love. It calls for great and heroic sacrifice. This is the context of the above quote from the U.S. Bishop’s catechesis for the family. It doesn’t seem all that appealing and yet, we are drawn to this love.

I was pondering the above thoughts for two reasons. First, (1a) starting this evening I will help to present a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend together with (1b) an article I read about concerning marriage and commitment.   Second, was a something I heard and saw as I watched a television show “Married at First Sight.” (Don’t judge me too harshly; one of Pope Benedict’s calls was for priests to understand the world people live in and Pope Francis asks the same. You know…smell like the sheep:)

On the television show one of the women as she talked about her relationship with a friend lamented the oft-heard phrase, “love shouldn’t be this much work.” In other words she loved her husband but the relationship was not all rainbows and buttercups it was a lot of work, it called for sacrifice and asked for change in attitudes and actions. In other words, she believed that love was a warm fuzzy feeling with physical attraction and when this began to fade and the relationship became challenging the only conclusion is…we must not love each other any more therefore the relationship is over.

On the other hand we, as a Church, believe in the work of marriage and a love that goes much deeper than the warm fuzziness and sexual attraction. Love is a gift shared by God that we participate in with the other. We understand that the “work” of marriage is of building bridges across the brokenness of sin and into the joy and truth of blessing in the unity of sacramental grace. In the article (http://www.catholicmatch.com/institute/2016/02/4-promises-that-lead-to-happily-ever-after/) one of the four promises is to be committed to the vows of marriage. It is a commitment to the better or worse, the richer or poorer, the sickness and health where we move beyond a moment of happiness and into the everlasting joy of eternal love.

It is in this radical gift of our self to the other where we find true peace and liberating love. It is our response to the promise of “I take you to be” where we find the joy of life. Choosing to give life over and over again in the self-gift of our whole self to the beloved. It is speaking the words of love that Jesus shared with us, “No longer do I call you servants…but I have called you friends.” (Jn 15:15) In friendship the husband and wife, in sacramental love, show forth the grace and holiness of God’s blessing.

“Friendship calls us to be self-transcendent. It “draws us out of ourselves and challenges us to be attentive not to our own immediate interests and needs but to the interests and needs of another.: Indeed, day after day, friendship in marriage requires us to overcome self-centeredness and move toward other-centeredness.” (from Project Holiness, p. 6) It is the work of marriage.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

“Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death.” (CCC 1500)

As we continue our journey through the Year of Mercy I would like to look at the 5^th Corporal Work of Mercy: Visiting the Sick. As the above quote form the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes, illness and suffering can often be life changing events where we confront our mortality and our faith in the resurrection and life eternal in heaven. As people of faith it is the open question of how we live our lives and in the works of mercy how we care for and seek to comfort those who suffer illness in their lives.

One of the essential works of an ordained priest is the visiting and anointing of the sick. It is ministry that is both predictable and unpredictable in daily ministry. As a seminarian our Bishop asked us to do a summer of hospital ministry called CPE. I did my summer at Portland Providence Medical Center. I, like most people, was not comfortable around the sick and dying. That summer helped to stretch me in how I interacted and cared for the sick.

The mystery of caring and visiting the sick and suffering isn’t in what we can do but who we are called to be as faithful members of the Body of Christ. What we discover in caring for and being with the sick and dying the sacredness of life and the gift and blessing that comes from God in our daily interactions. Choosing to be with a person who is ill and suffering opens our heart to the reality that we are all destined for something much greater in the unity of love.

As a priest I have witnesses the true miracles of healing both in body and in spirit. The time we, as family and friends, spend in visiting and caring for a beloved helps our hearts to be open to the truth and dignity that life is truly a generous and holy gift given to be shared. Time given is caring for and visiting the ill and suffering can help us to once more cherish the small moments of life which we often, if we are not attentive, allow the blessings of presence and the joy of companionship slip through our fingers. The healing of body and soul comes from the recognition that we are not alone but that in God’s grace we are united to His son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who chooses to enter into our life and death. Because the healing does not only occur in the person who is sick but also in we who stand vigil and allow the prayer of life to move us closer to the hope of salvation.

The Corporal Work of Mercy: Visiting and Caring for the Sick, invites us into a moment of grace where we permit the suffering of our Savior Jesus Christ to rest in between us as we place our lives in God’s holy hands knowing that he is always with us. The vows of marriage are the promises of Christian hope where the husband and wife profess not only their love for each other but also their care, “in sickness and in health” united in this Sacrament of unity. As the family of God, united in the Sacramental love of Baptism, we too make the promise to be with the other, in sickness and in health, because it is there that we find Jesus.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

Many of us have experienced the moment in our life when we are confronted with a very difficult and hard truth. It might be when we were young and one of our classmates cried out, “He’s a liar!” I can remember that moment and the flush of red that ran up my cheeks and the shame that coursed through my body. If we are standing on lies and are confronted by the truth then the lie falls apart.

My parish is reading Matthew Kelly’s book Rediscover Jesus where he asks us on the second day to make a list of everything we know about Jesus. One word on my list was “truth,” because Jesus is the truth. Our life, given by God, is built on truth, which makes everything much easier.

At our parish staff meeting this week we were reflecting on this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 4:1-13) where Jesus is tempted in the desert at the beginning of his ministry. We shared our dismay that the devil had been given so much power over the world. “The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and their glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish.” (Lk 4:6) We have to remember one simple thing: the devil is a liar. In The Collegeville Bible Commentary they write, “The devil claims that the power and glory are at his disposal; his is a liar and not to be trusted, but many before and after Jesus have fallen for this temptation.” (p. 945) As Jesus, who is the truth, confronts the lies of the devil with truth the devil flees.

Our search for the truth always begins with the search for Jesus. He is the foundation on which we are called to build our life and the compass that directs our actions and good works. But, as was noted in the commentary, we often fall for the temptation and sin of the lie. In this Year of Mercy, our Catholic Church calls us to confront the lies that punishment and retribution are the pathway to security and peace where we are tempted into the isolation and fear of neither seeking and reaching out to the other in our life.

The path of mercy, the path of truth comes when we are in relationship with God and know the truth of God’s divine and everlasting mercy. This relationship comes when we practice the Works of Mercy as we yearn for the mercy offered by God. It is the unending work of choosing the truth of God over the deception of the devil. It is recognizing the reality that we all experience in that first conscious lie, where as we stammer the words of untruth into the world we are sure that, like Adam and Eve, we are exposed and naked before the truth of God’s ever present desire for our goodness. Mercy is the balm that heals this wound and continues to be offered again and again for the forgiveness of our sins.

Our invitation, as Matthew Kelly writes in the meditation for the third day, this first Friday of Lent, “is to stop looking for something and start looking to someone, Jesus of Nazareth.” (p. 26) When we look into the eyes of truth then the lies will melt away and we will, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, be filled with true peace and become missionaries of God’s mercy.

God bless

Fr. Mark

If you live in the Bay Area, or many other parts of our country, you may have noticed that there is a football game this Sunday. Whether it is on the local news programs, our local papers and all other forms of media you may have gotten the impression that the rest of the world has stopped for in anticipation of this football game. The weather forecasts all deal with a certain time frame surrounding the game, the headlines stories all deal with what may or may not happen in or around the field of play and lest we forget even the food, drink and entertainment are all zeroed in on the game.

Yes, I know that this is a slight exaggeration of the events. Small bits of news slip into the light but the drumbeat of the games stories continue to be pounded into our minds as many of us become fixated on those few hours of play. It seems in life that big events can take over from our normal routines so easily and leave us a bit disoriented in the end.

This can and does happen in our faith life too. As a priest I can often become fixated on the super bowls of our year: Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Easter, just to name a few. At other times we get so focused on big life events, such as weddings, baptisms, first communions and confirmation, those super bowls of our sacramental life where, if we are not careful, we lose track of the constant call of our Heavenly Father to conversion. It is where we fall into the temptation and let the normal moments of life begin to be covered over and ignored as we look ever more constantly towards the big games, the photograph moments and the grand gestures of life and faith.

Don’t get me wrong, the super bowls of life, just as in sports, are important and should be life changing. None of the players who will compete in the game this Sunday will ever forget, whether they win or lose, the experience of playing for the ultimate prize of their game. But each one will also talk about the long road they traveled to get to where they are as both an individual player and as a team. The sacrifices endured in the long hours of study, practice and conditioning that allows them to preform at such a high level at the biggest moments of their game. And perhaps this is the lesson we can learn in our faith lives. Jesus said something about this when he reminded his disciples, which includes you and me, that we must be attentive to these moments in our faith, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26:41) Being attentive in the daily work of prayer, service and sacrifice helps us to prepare for the super bowls of life where we appreciate and rejoice in the presence of God and others and respond in those moments of conversion with gracious love. It is being attentive to the stories that continue to go on around us and not allow our eyes to become closed to the joys and sorrows of relationship with God and His holy people. It is truly living as the Body of Christ where our super bowl is receiving and sharing in the divine life that God has given to us.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

As we continue to look at the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy I would like to reflect on a second Corporal Work that of Feeding the Hungry. Much like my earlier reflection of “clothing the naked,” feeding the hungry is a fairly straightforward work of mercy. It is the act of caring for those who lack sufficient food and either through direct action, the giving of food to the person, through time and service, ministering at a food bank or kitchen or indirect care, donating food or money to a ministry, St. Vincent de Paul for instance or non-profit, Loves and Fishes in doing this we are acting in mercy towards the other.

But as Christians we are called to the deeper conversion where we are able to respond to the call of Jesus to be present and to witness his presence in the other. We best do this when we are able to sit at table and share in the bounty of God’s blessings in a meal. At the moment when we break bread our human dignity and our blessing in the eyes of God come forth as His grace shines and exposes the gift of life, shared and blessed.

Two examples of this wonderful grace of feeding the hungry give meaning to our shared life in Christ. When I was pastor of St. Catherine Parish in Morgan Hill several (3) Christian communities began serving dinner three nights a week for the poor and homeless of the community. They invited parish establish a forth night of meals and join with them in the work of mercy. We began slowly and soon discovered the blessing of the meal. We had many volunteers, young and old, who came to serve. Often there were so many helpers there were not enough jobs for each person. Joe, who had helped to start this ministry, began to sit with those who came to be fed and soon other members of the parish also came just to sit, talk and share with their brothers and sisters who came to eat this simple meal.

The second example was on my mission trip to Mexico with Sr. Gisela MESST and several young women discerning vocations to the consecrated religious life. We, the missionaries, became the fed. When we stopped at the houses to pray and celebrate our faith, they fed us. They choose to sit and eat with the stranger who came to their door. Admittedly, we were not starving but they choose to open their homes and share with us the blessings of God, to feed us not just with the food and drink offered but with their presence and joy where we recognized in each other the fullness and presence of God.

In praying with the other, our conversations of grace, in sharing the bread of life we are exposed to the true abundance of God that comes for the gift of being blessed in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Our challenge is always to stop, recognize Jesus and the share in the Eucharist of life.

God bless

Fr. Mark

One of the joys of this Jubilee Year of Mercy is the “Doors of Mercy” that have been established by our Holy Father Francis and by the local bishops in each diocese in the world. These physical doors of mercy which we are all invited enter are reminders that the conversion of life is a journey and the choice to walk the way of mercy, in the example of our Lord Jesus, is a grace shared by the Church.

In paragraph #10 of Misericordiae Vultus Pope Francis call us all to be witnesses to mercy in our lives in the face of waning mercy in the wider culture, “without a witness to mercy, life becomes fruitless and sterile, as if sequestered in a barren desert. The time has come for the Church to take up the joyful call to mercy once more.” (10)

What should the joyful call of mercy look like in our lives? I believe one of the great examples we can share is our witness to life as a blessing and gift of God’s generosity. This week we pray with many people throughout our country for a greater respect of life as we mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The need for mercy is never more evident than in this terrible injustice to the gift of life. It is because we are called to be witnesses to mercy that we should seek to become living doors of mercy available and ready to be opened to those who suffer and need to hear God’s healing words of forgiveness, mercy and love in their life. To be living doors of mercy is to accept the life-giving invitation to participate as active, fully conscious members of the Body of Christ.

As a Christian and as a priest I share God’s call to walk the footsteps of life. In particular I have witnessed the joy, the peace and the prayer filled blessing that shines forth in those who participate in the West Coast Walk for Life. The Walk for Life can be seen as a giant living door of mercy as we absorb the vitriolic shouts of those who wish we would just go away. But it is as a door of mercy that our witness brings healing to those who have suffered the trauma and sin of abortion in its many harmful facets.

Becoming living doors of mercy is the invitation of God to listen in hope and to begin in prayer. It is meeting anger with patient love and hurt with tender compassion. The victory of the Cross of Jesus Christ is the victory of love over hate and mercy healing our sins. As a Church of life we recognize that all life is placed in the mercy of God’s healing hands and that we, as the Body of Christ, are healed and become healers when we choose to become filled with mercy as our Father is heaven is filled. We become the living doors of mercy in welcoming all people, saints and sinners, to share the one-cup of salvation. “Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt 26:27-28) The one-cup, which is offered for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of the world.

Pray for the protection of life.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

During the Jubilee Year of Mercy each Catholic Christian is invited to look more closely at how we live our faith life in service of others through the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. It is a great and positive theme to continue the examination of how we are called to be true followers of Jesus Christ in the Judeo-Christian tradition the plumbs the depths of the One True God of all Creation.

Clothing the Naked: How do we live this work of mercy in our daily lives as Christians? The answer may seem quite easy in choosing to give and share the clothes that we have or to donate money to a charity whose mission it is to clothe those who lack adequate and proper clothing. It seems simple enough.

This is all well and good on the surface but the deeper question of our relationship with God and the person who is clothed becomes the measure of the true work of mercy in our lives. When I was an associate at Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose we began working with a missionary group in Nicaragua, Amigos for Christ. As we prepared for the mission one of the suggestions was that we return to the United States, after the mission, with an empty suitcase, in other words to leave our clothes behind to help clothe those whom we had been serving during the mission.

This sounded very wonderful and seemed to be a very easy thing to do until I began to pack for the mission. What I soon discovered was I liked much of the clothes that populated my closet and therefore the choosing what to put in my suitcase was difficult. Why? Because each time I placed an article of clothing in the pile to take on the mission to Nicaragua I began to experience the gnawing suspicion that I was only packing my second best and not the first fruits of my labor. I knew something needed to change so I got on my knees and prayed.

This is the moment of conversion. Conversion are the times and places when we are called by the whisper of the Holy Spirit to confront the challenge of sin in our lives. It is where we recognize that even in our “good works” we may not be giving our very best to God.   It is the moment of choice: do I follow our Lord or do I turn away. This choice takes courage through prayer.

I wish I could say that my conversion in those hours of prayer and soul searching during my packing the suitcase was perfect: it wasn’t. I wish I could proudly proclaim that I packed only my very best: I didn’t. But did I take one, two or three steps forward in my relationship with Jesus Christ: I think I did. Do I continue to work at my conversion to grow in faith and seek to become a more perfect follower of Jesus: yes I do. The point is, we can often begin to follow the “easier” path and not asking the greater question, “What do you want of me Lord?” It is a temptation that we all share.

The only way to combat our struggle with the temptation, serving God and his holy people in the choosing of the second best is prayer. (I’ll bet no one saw that coming.) We know that prayer will not magically change us yet we do know that prayer does transform us. When we place ourselves before the Author of Truth then truth begins to fill us and we look outwards in how we serve one another. Prayer is the work of building the solid foundation for our spiritual houses so we may do the work of God standing on His Rock of Salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ.

How will you clothe the naked this week? Pray about it!

God Bless,

Fr. Mark

Mercy and forgiveness are really hard work. A recent headline on a Catholic News Page read, “Francis may be a Pope in Search of a Partner,” when speaking about the Jubilee Year of Mercy. It is a statement that finds much credence in words from world leaders that often speak about showing “no mercy” or “we will be merciless in our pursuit of justice” and words the de-humanize the enemy or perpetrator of an act of violence.

Our response to this, as Catholic Christians, is to follow the example and teachings of Jesus in turning the other cheek, not out of weakness, but in the strength of denying retribution in hatred where we descend into the same sin as those who violate our dignity and love in God and to respond with merciful justice and not justice without mercy. Many people find merciful justice too hard and this is the why Pope Francis is searching, As Christians, we know it is very hard but we also know it is possible, because God calls us to recognize the possibility of healing mercy and love in our lives. (remember the crucifix)

Choosing forgiveness and mercy does not exclude the reality of justice in the world. It is especially clear in the Spiritual Works of Mercy that we are called to engage and be with not just the victims of violence and sin but also those who act in violence and sin. Pope Francis in his Papal Bull Misericordiae Vultus (#20) is clear that seeking justice is important because of the justice of God’s law. It is in entering the natural law that is the foundation of all law we are able seek the healing work of mercy in the midst of justice.

This is where we must place our lives in the hands of God. It is in trust-filled dialogue where our hearts are open to hear and respond to God calls of forgiveness and mercy. Jesus reminds us in the Gospel (Luke 16) that those who do well with small things will be given even greater. In forgiveness and mercy we know that when we harden our hearts to the small moments of mercy, reconciliation and forgiveness in our lives then it is impossible to receive and share the gift of mercy and peace in the larger sufferings and sins of our lives.

Our Lord’s invitation to us to share in his ministry of forgiveness and mercy is firstly to enter into the gift of Divine mercy as we practice the work of mercy within our lives and our own homes. The call of mercy from our Heavenly Father is the understanding that we are all in need of mercy. Jesus shares in our suffering to let us see that it is in forgiveness and mercy that we ultimately find true life, peace and joy. Let us all be partners with our Holy Father in work of merciful justice. Pray for peace.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

The calendar year is coming to and end and the New Year of 2016 is ready to begin. It is a time of excitement and change as many people make their resolution on how they will begin to live their lives anew by changing long standing habits and promising with great sincerity to begin new things that will bring more joy, peace and happiness into their lives. Wonderful.

The truth is we all need to remove the bad habits from our lives and begin to practice the good habits that bring joy, peace and happiness into our lives. This is the challenge that we face: becoming the better person. In faith language we can take the above sentence and by changing a few words hear this: we all need to remove sin (vices) from our lives and begin to practice holiness (virtue) that brings true joy, true peace and true happiness into our lives and the life of the world.

I propose to you these very simple resolutions.

1. Celebrate Confession monthly: if you go to confession regularly…amen…if you don’t take time to begin. I know it can be hard to find time and parishes don’t always make it convenient to celebrate…but…resolutions are supposed to be a challenge and change in the way we do things. Just try. If you haven’t been in years or even just a few months, God’s mercy awaits you in this beautiful Sacrament of healing. Remember this: sin is bad and holiness is good. God made us holy and Confession renews our holiness.
2. Celebrate the Eucharist weekly: yes, GO TO MASS. More importantly celebrate Mass. Mass is a participatory prayer that is an ongoing conversation of love between God and His people. It is a conversation of thanksgiving and hope. If you don’t understand the Mass, then take time to read, learn and talk about the Mass with someone. Just begin and go…it is amazing how it will change your life when we, you and me, participate in the gift of the Mass rather than just observe it. Remember this: sin is bad and holiness is good. God made us holy and the Eucharist strengthens our life of holiness.
3. Celebrate your vocation daily: How have you lived your vocation today? What blessing did you bring to your spouse, children, family and friends through your vocation today? These are questions we should ask ourselves each day whether we are married or single, vowed religious or priests. All vocations are vocations to love in sacrificial service to the other. Service isn’t a bad thing…it is a great act of love. Choosing words, actions and thoughts that build rather than destroy are stepping-stones of love. We help build the pathway when we choose to love and forgive. Remember this: sin is bad and holiness is good. God made us holy and in our vocation we are called to be God’s sign of holiness in the world.
4. Pray hourly: Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray and then pray some more…if you don’t know how to pray then ask for help…if you get bored in prayer then ask for help…if you don’t have time for prayer then ask for help. Prayer begins with an attitude of thanksgiving in both good times and bad, as the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, ““There are two ways of waking up in the morning. One is to say, ‘Good morning, God,’ and the other is to say, ‘Good God, morning’!” Prayer helps us to slow the overly busy days and experience the love of God. Remember this: sin is bad and holiness is good. God made us holy and we spread holiness when we choose to be in conversation with God.

I pray that you and your family have a holy and blessed New Year.

God Bless

Fr. Mark