From the Pastor’s Desk
March 29-30, 2025
Dear families and parishioners of Holy Family and St, Mary and St. Mark Parishes,
We celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Lent. During the season of Lent, the Church calls us to increase our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. While it might seem counterintuitive to some, because who among us doesn’t pray or perhaps give up certain things from time-to-time or take care of the poor when we see a need? The Church is calling us to go deeper. Be intentional in what you do. Don’t just follow a regimen or routine thinking that is enough or I have fulfilled the bare minimum. No. We must go further. I wish to focus on fasting as one of the three disciplines the Church is calling us to this Lent as in every Lent. All of us have heard of various weight loss gimmicks throughout our lifetime that promised to help us shed unwanted weight and fat. Many were to the extreme in promising to get you back to your high school figure or to make you look like a runway model. That is just what these weight loss plans are, gimmicks. To keep our body healthy and fit, it requires discipline. We need either self-motivation or the motivation of an accountability partner to get fit, but either way we need discipline. There are some health fanatics who testify to the practice of fasting to help shed unwanted belly fat, and it is true that lowering high-calory, high-carbs, and high-fat content foods can do just that. But there is a catch. While we can limit our intake of these things, we must replace what was lost with better foods that contain the vitamins and minerals our body needs, and we must exercise to build stronger bones and muscle. Otherwise, our bodies will look lethargic and sickly. There is no doubt that America has been labeled as one of the most obese countries in the world. Many people are sedentary and eat fast food, prepared foods, and just ungodly amounts of food without pushing away from the table or exercising to work off what has been consumed. This lifestyle is not only unhealthy, but it reduces the number of years we will live. The idea of fasting is to purge us spiritually of the things we don’t need or can live without so that we can leave a place open for God to come in and heal us of what is truly keeping us away from His love, mercy, and compassion.
In our first reading from the Book of Joshua, we heard about Joshua who became the new leader of the Hebrew people and was given the responsibility of leading the people into the Promised Land. Moses was prevented from leading them since he had disobeyed God along the way. The people celebrated the Passover and were forced to eat the produce of the land. They no longer had the Manna that God provided them in the desert, and they had to make do into they settled in the land God had promised. It was a type of fasting to help them long for the food that God would provide them to nourish them as they occupied the new land. Later, the Manna would be replaced with the Bread that came down from Heaven in the form of the Eucharist. In our second reading from the second letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we heard, “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” When we receive the life of Christ through the Sacraments, namely Baptism, we enter His life. We die to self by having Original Sin destroyed and then we are called to live the life of a saint. Because we are weak as human beings, we need other Sacraments to help us along the way, namely the Sacrament of Penance and the Sacrament of Eucharist. These Sacraments are made available to us by Christ’s redemption on the Cross and the establishment of His Church. We should never take them for granted but long to receive them. In our Gospel from St. Luke, we heard Jesus speak to the Pharisees who were questioning tax collectors and sinners coming to Jesus to be healed. They were jealous that He was drawing large crowds, taking the people away from the ones who knew the Law. Jesus gives them a parable about the two sons to show the reason for the Law of God. The young man who squandered his inheritance on a life of debauchery was received by his father who welcomes him with open arms and a party to celebrate his return. The older son became jealous and furious that he was not the center of his father’s love. The young man represents all of us as sinners and the older son represents those who believe they have always followed the Lord’s commands and didn’t stray away from Him. The father is our Father in Heaven who loves us all the same and calls us to experience His unconditional love. He wishes to welcome back the sinner because He has snatched him away from the evil one. What a grace!
God bless you all,
Fr. Steve