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Dear Friends,
On Tuesday, January 10, Bishop Barber together with our Vicar General consulted with the Pastoral Councils of St. Stephen and CTK with regard to the merging of two parishes. Collaboration among the two communities calls for a new model of leadership that takes what is best in each of them, and works together to form intentional disciples. Let us continue to pray that both communities will grow and flourish in the years to come.
The One Parish, Two Worship Sites brings many blessings. One of the blessings is our ability to attend masses at either of the two beautiful churches and the multiple options with regard to timing. Today I want to highlight our daily masses. St. Stephen offers mass at 8 am in a beautiful chapel in an intimate setting. The Mass is early enough for those who want to leave for work by 8.25am. CTK offers daily Mass at 9.00am. While Mass on Sundays and holy days are an important ingredient of a person’s growth in holiness, that shouldn’t dissuade someone from attending daily Mass. In fact, when people get more seriously focused on their faith, daily Mass is one of the best ways for them to intensify their spiritual growth.
The Mass is the prayer of the Church par excellence, meaning, there is no greater prayer other than the holy sacrifice of the Mass. From the opening prayer to the closing prayer, the Mass is one continual offering to God the Father by making present the passion of his Son. Almost all of the prayers are addressed exclusively to the Father. We, as a community of believers, participate in this awesome drama that is relived every time the Mass is offered. We are not merely spectators but active participants in the Lord’s passion.
We attend Mass because it’s our loving response to the God who has loved us first. It is an active choice of the will to give of our time, treasure, and talent – knowing full well it will never amount to the sacrifice endured by our Savior. The Eucharist is Jesus’ great gift to us, and the fulfillment of His promise to be with us always until the end of time. It is a central part of God’s saving plan of infinite love for us. So I would like to invite more of you to consider attending mass daily, so that we can truly become a Eucharistic community.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta often spoke about how precious each Mass is. Frequently she would instruct newly ordained priests to “celebrate each Mass as if it is your first Mass, your last Mass and your only Mass.” In other words, she implored priests never to take the celebration of the Mass for granted and let it become routine. The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us daily so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn into Christ.
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