From Fr. Tom

This weekend we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Lent, called Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word that means “rejoice.” Even as we observe our Lenten sacrifices, we rejoice in anticipation of the joy that will be ours at Easter. Even as we experience crosses in our lives, we already rejoice with the future resurrection.

It is from today’s passage that we get the command from Jesus to always ‘lift up the Son of Man’ by the way of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

The Cross can have different meanings and interpretations from person to person. To Christians, it has a spiritual meaning but for the secular and historical people, it has a tragic and awful meaning.

For the secular and historical perspective, the bad and awful meaning attached to the cross is derived from the story that goes like this: long time ago there was a man who was extremely popular and was loved and hated by many in equal measure. Those who hated this man planned and executed his brutal crucifixion.

We the Christians perceive the Cross, not from a secular point of view, but from a divine perspective. We believe that Jesus Christ was lifted up on the Cross for all to see. We believe that He died a horrible death on the Cross to atone for our sins. Jesus ultimately became victorious for He defeated death on that Cross and rose from the dead. So, whenever we see the Cross, we see a victorious and glorious throne that deserves to be exalted all the time.

During the time of Moses, after the Israelites sinned and rebelled against God, The Lord sent snakes to punish them. The serpents bit them, and many people died. God instructed Moses to make an image of a snake and lift it up on a pole so that whoever looked upon it might be healed. Therefore, just as the Israelites looked upon the lifted serpent in the desert, so must we, now, look upon the lifted up Jesus on the Cross for our healing.

We suffer from many issues in life such as ill-health, emotional problems, personal, relational, spiritual and financial issues. Most of these problems are caused by sins of omission or commission. Jesus tells us today that when we, with sincere and repentant hearts, direct our gaze at Him on the exalted Cross, with faith, we shall be healed. We shall live and our problems will be resolved.

Therefore, today, let us spend some time gazing upon the Cross of Christ. Take a crucifix in to your hands while at home, with faith, and you will see the answer to your problems. Ask Jesus for the solution to your problems for He says, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened for you.” And pray this simple prayer: “Dear Lord, always give me the grace to gaze upon your Cross. May You help me to experience the victory You won for me on the Cross. May I receive your help all the times I seek it when I look at You. Amen.”

P.S. It is a perfect moment for me to officially and joyfully announce to all of you that during next few weeks we’ll place a 9 – foot cross with 5 – foot corpus of Jesus in the center of our worship in the church, above the tabernacle. It’s not about the decoration, but I truly believe that it will help us focus even more on Jesus, not only in the church but also proclaim through our lives the unconditional love of God revealed for us on the cross! Please pray that all the renovation work would go easily and smoothly. May we always remember looking at the cross:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

This week will be filled with a lot of celebrations. You are all invited for this Tuesday, March 16th – 7 pm Mass with the Devotion to St. Michal and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament till 8.30 pm. Wednesday, March 17th – at 9 am we will celebrate morning Mass and honor God through St. Patrick. And of course, Friday, March 19th there is the solemnity of St. Joseph, as we continue a year dedicated to the Foster Father of Jesus. Mass at 9 am with following Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament till 7 pm. And please don’t forget about The Stations of the Cross at 7 pm, because about the Fish Fry Dinner I don’t need to remind you 😉

And one more very joyful piece of information (this is truly Laetare Sunday for us;-)) I’d like to inform you that Pat Knorp who since last October has been taking care of music and musicians in our parish, was officially hired and became a member of St. Genevieve – St. Maurice parish crew.

Dear Pat, welcome on a board!

Happy 4th week of Lent to all of you!!!

~Fr. Tom