Browsing Pastors Page

Pastor's Page 2022-03-27

Dear St. Gabriel Parishioners:

  • I hope that you had a chance to read the insert in the bulletin about the work of the Catholic Relief Services. There will be a “second collection” taken at all Masses this weekend – March 26 & 27.  This collection supports 6 Catholic agencies that touch more than 100 million lives around the world in providing - Food to the hungry, welcome and support to displaced refugees and invaluable life skills to those seeking a better life.

 

  • Please continue to pray for the Elects and Candidates of our parish and the universal Church. The Church intensifies our Lenten Season for all people and especially, the preparation of the Elects through a period of purification and Enlightenment call the   For this Sunday - March 27, if you are attending the 6:30 PM Mass Saturday and the 11:00 AM Mass on Sunday, the Elects will be participating in the second of three Scrutinies and then dismiss them from the Mass to go and continue more intense spiritual preparation for their three sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist). 

Along with the theme from Scripture Readings for Sunday for Cycle A, the church helps us to reflect with them in the theme of this second Scrutiny through the story of the “The Blind Man Healed” from the Gospel of John (John 9:1-41) – … Jesus smear the man’s eyes with mud mixed with saliva… Jesus told the man: Go, wash in the pool of Siloam and he was able to see. 

      • What am I blind to in my life?
      • What do I need to see?
  • For those of you who are attending 8:00 AM on Sunday, our Scripture Readings are from Cycle C: The Gospel account commonly referred to as “the story of the prodigal son” Jesus paints a poignant picture of a God who, like the father in the story, is always watching and waiting for our return home.

In that story, there are not one, but two sons who encounter their father coming to them outside of the home.  For the first son, it is his greed and sense of entitlement that drive him to a distant land.  The irony is that in the midst of his lavish, extravagant lifestyle, he experiences famine and hunger.  In his distance from home, he comes to recognize, painfully, how empty his life has become.

For the second son, though he technically never leaves the land of his family, it is his pride that keeps him outside the home, refusing to enter.  He is so invested in pointing out the misbehavior and misdeeds of his brother while he was away that he cannot bring himself to celebrate his return.

The father comes in haste to these outer lands and meets his sons where they are stuck by shame or anger, inviting them to a table of rejoicing and right relationship.

  • Please also remember to pray for the Children who are preparing for their First Holy Communion Religious Education Program and Candidates for Confirmation in our Youth Group Program.
  • Come and be a part of a community journey on every Fridays in the Lenten Season at 5:30 PM, join with other parishioners in the “Stations of the Cross”, follow with “veneration of the Cross” with Taize Music. At 6:30 PM, a “nutritious soup bowl to-go” will be ready to pick up at the Community Room after the Stations.  There’s also an opportunity for “individual confession” in the Church.
  • Don’t forget to continue reading from the “black bookA Reflection Book for the Lenten Season”.

Christ’s Peace, 
Fr. Phuong Hoang

 

Subscribe

RSS Feed

Archive


Access all blogs

Subscribe to all of our blogs