Dear St. Gabriel Parishioners:
JESUS is Risen... ALLELUIA!!! a familiar phrase for all Christians, but so special for all of us to proclaim not just with our lips but living as witnesses to this new reality. May the “risen Christ” bless you and all your families in this Holy Easter Season and throughout the whole year.
- On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday, we encounter the Good Shepherd who is really the noble shepherd who knows his flock intimately. For those who heard Jesus claim this title for himself, it meant more than tenderness and compassion; there was the dramatic and startling degree of love so great that the shepherd is willing to lay down his life for his flock.
Unlike the hired hand, who works for pay, the good shepherd's life is devoted to the flock out of pure love. They are the object of the shepherd's love and concern. The beauty of Jesus, our Good Shepherd, lies in the love with which he offers his life even unto death for each and every one of his flock. In so doing, he establishes with each one a direct and personal relationship of intense love. In Jesus we discover the Father and his Son who are shepherds who care for us, know us and even love us in our stubbornness, deafness and diffidence.
This year the Fourth Sunday of Easter is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The readings are very fitting for as we pray that the Lord of the harvest and of the Church to send more laborers into his vast vineyards. As a model of religious leadership, Jesus shows us that love can be the only motivation for ministry, especially for pastoral ministry. He also shows us that there must be no exclusiveness on the part of the religious leader; and this is a great challenge in our time. The motivation for inclusion is love, not just social justice, not just ethical fairness, not mere just tolerance; only LOVE can draw the circle that includes everyone.
- Please remember to pray for:
“Neophytes – Newly Baptized”, Newly Catholics received through Full Communion with our Church on Easter Vigil April 3.
The Newly Confirmed – Junior High and Seniors High and Adults – last Saturday, April 17 at 6:30 PM by Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg. They are: Joaquin Anguilar Vidrio, Brian Fregoso-Padilla, Joselyn Fregoso-Padilla, Hayden Greseth, Caleb King, Owen (Sebastian) Kudrna, Jennifer Rivera, Quentin (Michael) Scheitlin, Carina (Rosa of Lima) Serrato, Jamie (Joan) Thoma, Ronian Tionquiao, Angeles (Teresa of Calcutta) Villasenor.
Most, especially, “the children” from our parish community who are preparing for their First Holy Communion – an encounter of Christ in the Sacrament of Eucharist for the first time in their lives – beginning Saturdays & Sundays at different Masses for the next 5 weeks. Sometimes, there are NO First Holy Communicant at your particular Mass time. I’ll let you know when they are presence at your particular Mass.
- Finally, it is that time of the year where we are very well aware of the “universal Church” in this Easter Season, but we also notice of how we are formed together in this “Local Church of the Archdiocese of Seattle”. May I ask you to pray for the success of the Annual Catholic Appeal on this “Kick-off Annual Catholic Appeal Sunday”? Materials may already or may be soon coming to your mailbox as we share God’s gifts to us in supporting our common ministries in the Archdiocese.
Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Phuong Hoang