THE GLORY OF THE RESURRECTION & THE GLORY OF THE FAMILY OF PARISHES

In this Easter Season as we are basking in the light of Christ’s resurrection, I thought of sharing the relevance of resurrection in the present context of Incarnation & St. Francis of Assisi family of parishes’ life.

Let us recall to our mind what Jesus had prophesied in Mathew 16:21 – “We are going to Jerusalem and I am going to undergo great sufferings at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes. And I will be killed. On the third day, I will rise again.”

Without cross & crown, passion & death – Jesus did not achieve the glory of His resurrection.

On this Fifth Easter Sunday, in the First Reading it is mentioned in Acts 14:22 that, Apostles Paul & Barnabas addressed the early Christian community – “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

From this couple of instances, we understand that, without first going through pain it is highly impossible for us to achieve the glory in our life.

This month of May has a special place for Blessed Virgin Mary & St. Joseph.

On May 1st we celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

On May 13th we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima.

These two great saints have gone through great ordeals in their family life in order to give our human family the glory of bringing Christ the Savior into the world!

Last Sunday with much joy & appreciation we  celebrated Mothers’ Day.

I would like to bring the allegory of a mother as well.

A woman reaches the glory of her motherhood only after going through the birth pains. In another seven weeks from now, we the family of Incarnation & St. Francis of Assisi parishes are going to be together. It’s a great joy for us to be together and work together. But at the same time, we should also be geared up for the challenges, both those expected and unexpected, that come our way!

The glory of Incarnation & St. Francis of Assisi depends on how patiently and prudently we tackle our common challenges and become victorious in establishing ourselves as a vibrant family of parishes in our Archdiocese.

Hence, let us offer our family of parishes unto the Risen Lord and pray for the grace that we attain the glory of unity and excellence in every corner of our family life as best as we can and as soon as we can. Amen.

Fr. Ignatius Madanu

Associate Pastor

Initiation Sacraments and a Great Story

Please be praying for those who have received sacraments of initiation this Easter. This weekend marks the second classes of First Communicants. With Confirmation Candidates from last week that makes 250 initiation sacraments. Please pray for their parents and godparents, who will lead them to continue to celebrate initiation into Christ at Sunday Mass!

The following is an email I received last week.  It is a wonderful story and parishioner Dr. Lezlie Kuebker tells it wonderfully!

Sincerely and with Love in Christ,

Fr. Pat

Dear Fr. Pat

I hope you will have time for a great story…I will purposely make it concise as I know you are very busy.

I go to the abortion mill very often to pray and witness to the women going in for abortions. There is a senior man I see there very regularly. I’ve also noticed he attends Mass at Incarnation. We’ve met briefly a few times in passing, but that is all.

This morning at the Incarnation all school Mass he sat in the pew behind me. I pointed him out to my husband, and mentioned that I often see him witnessing at our abortion mill every time I’m there. After church was over, I introduced myself formally, and found out this name is Dave Herbert. Then we parted.

After church today, I went to the abortion mill to pray, and of course…faithful Dave was there…with his homemade sign that he always has.  Dave walked up to me and wanted to tell me a great story that recently happened to him.

Dave said that recently an abortion bound mother drove past him, and instead of pulling into the abortion mill parking lot, she went across the street to the pregnancy help center run by Elizabeth’s New Life Center (ENLC).

Shortly thereafter, the employees at ENLC who assisted the mother came outside to tell Dave that his sign changed the mother’s mind.  Instead of aborting her baby, she decided to keep her baby because she read Dave’s sign as he was standing there.  The mother was able to report back exactly what his sign had said, and this changed her mind!

I was thrilled for Dave. Dave was overjoyed. He has been faithfully going to the mill for as long as I’ve been going…always with his homemade sign in tow.

We never know what impact small acts can have on others. Dave saved a baby! Maybe they will meet some day, likely not in this life but maybe the next!

I’m attaching a picture, so you can see what sign I’m talking about. This is refreshing news in light of the current political landscape regarding Roe v Wade. By the way, Dave has no idea I’m emailing you this story.

Have a wonderful day Fr. Pat!

Lezlie Kuebker