4th Sunday of Lent

Dear Parish Family & Friends,

We celebrate this weekend the sacrament of First Holy Communion for 13 of our young parishioners. What a beautiful moment for each of them and for their families, as well as for all of us! The Sacrament of the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of the Christian life, because it is clear and present union with Almighty God through the re-presentation of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, accomplished through his Incarnation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Speaking of the Incarnation, this past week we celebrated the great Solemnity of the Annunciation. This feast commemorates the moment when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her on behalf of God to become the Mother of Jesus. It is written that all of Heaven awaited the answer to this request, as if holding its breath. This was the moment prepared for over millennia, the moment when human salvation dawned. It was in this moment that the Word became Flesh.

We owe our entire faith to the fact that God became a human being. This is what allowed for the death and resurrection of Jesus as both God and Man. This is what allows for the reality of the Eucharist; it is the Sacrament of the Incarnation. The importance of Mary’s fiat, her yes to the Archangel Gabriel, cannot be overstated. What would have happened if she said no? God would have found another way, we can assume, but who knows? Mary teaches us the importance of saying “yes” to the Lord. A simple yes from us to God could and will change the course of our lives and those of others, and always for the good.

Peace.

-Fr. Kennell