The First Reading has so much meaning of importance to unpack!
Only humans received the very breath of God to become alive.
We did not remain grateful.
When tempted, we lacked trust in the One Who created us,
the One Who gave us everything, Who walked with us in the garden, and instead we heeded the one who gave us nothing but questions.
 
In the Psalms we seek God's mercy, knowing we have done wrong and sinned. Through this are we saved! Woe comes to those who don't admit their guilt! How might our fate be different if Adam and Eve had asked for forgiveness instead of denying their guilt?
 
St. Paul speaks of our Fall - and of the Salvation that came to us through Jesus Christ - through his incarnation (becoming human), life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.
Adam's transgression caused our Fall,
but God loves us so much that He not only opened
the way back to where we were, but draws us beyond our first home,
and closer to Him than we were before.
 
In the Gospel Jesus faces the devil's temptations.
Unlike Adam, He is not swayed into abandoning God.
He does not yield to the empty questions posed by the devil,
instead recalling God's Truth in answer to each challenge.
He is the new Adam.
February
28th ........... --- Lenten Fridays begin! Wednesday, Lent Begins
................... ------ Adoration - 9:30 am - 7:30 pm, Church
................... ------ Way of the Cross - 7:30 pm, Church
................... ------ Boy Scout Fish Fry - NEW: Drive Thru Service! Fish Tacos! Crab Cakes! & more!
March
1st............. RCIA Rite of Sending &Election, Brunch
6th............ Last day to register for Track
8th............ Daylight Savings - Set Clocks Ahead, sadly we lose an hour... offer it up for Lent!
.................. RCIA Candidate Penitential Rite
9th............ Practice begins for Track Registration open to all parish children K - 8th grades
10th........... "Light is On" - Confession offered for extended hours this Tuesday
14th........... Lenten Day of Reflection - Salvation! See flyer below...
15th ........... RCIA Scrutinies Begin, 8:00 am Mass
21st............ First Communion: Jesus Day Retreat
22nd .......... RCIA Scrutinies, 10:00 am Mass
29th .......... RCIA Scrutinies, Noon Mass
Newsy Notes
IT'S HERE!
STM Lenten Friday FISH FRYS!
Begins Feb 28, 2020 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm

Check out our new:
Drive-Thru Service! Crab Cakes!
Fish Tacos! Senior Discount!

Donations welcome for plates (especially divided plates), bowls, "fries boats," cups, plastic-ware, napkins, to-go containers, nitrile gloves, and aluminum foil
Proceeds benefit Boy Scout Troop 452 Scouts and STM Parish
Meditation
" It is a lesson we all need - to let alone
the things that do not concern us.
He has other ways for others to follow Him;
all do not go by the same path.
It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us
to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path. "
- St.Katharine Drexel
Greetings Parents!
         
             There are days when the disbelief in how my children claim to perceive us seems insurmountable. After all we give and do for our children – in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual support – how can they question our motives? Why can’t they see that? We could enjoy our favorite leisure activities with the time and money spent for their extracurriculars. We could serve only our favorite meals. On their birthdays, they should give US presents to recall all that we have done for them since birth!  Instead we “drag” them to school and Mass–for their benefit–and are considered the “worst parent e v e r!” 
 
             We did not exist. Matter did not exist. God created matter. He created the universe, our galaxy, our solar system, our world. He created life – even with science today, we cannot create life without beginning with life - only God did that! Scientists theorize that “something” created the first life and it reproduced. There is no scientific evidence of what caused that first bit of matter to be at one moment nonliving, and then suddenly living. To go from having no life to “and there was life.” 

            So this God who creates this life creates the first plants, animals, and finally, humans. Everything created is at humanity's disposal – except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And another being created by God tells them to forget everything that has been done for them by God, forget the walks they had with Him, forget that they have every need met, forget that they know only happiness. Instead, abandon all that has them in this very happy state and climb over the fence between them and the cliff – purely on the say-so of this creature who has just slithered forward.  

             Solely because this creature questions the motive of the One who has provided all of the goodness they have around them, who fosters a relationship with them, who enfolds them in His love, solely because of this creature, all of that is now considered not worth fighting for – did they consider going back and asking God about the questions posed by the serpent? It sounds like my children when they repeat the questions they hear from others. Why do we believe in God when there is evil? What might be God's Word in reply? Perhaps, "How can we not believe in God when there is love despite suffering and evil?
              Hug your children tight, ask and answer questions of faith and help them seek their guardian angel's help when faced with difficult questions. Ask for His light in everyday choices! May God bless you and your families abundantly!

-- Linda Bader, Coordinator of Religious Education

P.S. Did you know... Our guardian angels were present with Adam and Eve. We can wonder, did they see them? Talk with them? How hard it must have been for those angels to see Adam and Eve fall from the intimacy of God to be exiled from Him!