From the Pastor's Desk- April 12

Dear parishioners, Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!

I hope you have experienced the joy of this Octave of Easter. Today, our Easter joy is connected to the assurance of God’s forgiveness. When someone is forgiven a large debt, doesn’t a sense of joy arise in proportion to the burden lifted?

Contemplating the open heart and wounds of Christ helps us understand the depth of our offenses and the regenerating power of His love. Regarding the sinful woman who anointed His feet with her hair, Jesus said, “Much is forgiven to those who love much.” “I tell you,” He continued, “her many sins have been forgiven; therefore, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.”

Saint Thomas the Apostle also had a deep sense of his sinfulness and lack of trust. The Lord invited him to touch His wounds so that he might believe. After touching them, Thomas became the first to confess Jesus’s divinity, exclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” On this Divine Mercy Sunday, I invite you to grow in Paschal joy by confessing Jesus’s divinity and showing gratitude for the forgiveness of your sins.

I would like to share the final words of Saint John Paul II, a pope who promoted devotion to Divine Mercy and canonized Saint Faustina Kowalska during his pontificate:

As a gift to humanity, which sometimes seems bewildered and overwhelmed by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the Risen Lord offers His love that pardons, reconciles and reopens hearts to love. It is a love that converts hearts and gives peace. How much the world needs to understand and accept Divine Mercy! Lord, who reveal the Father’s love by your death and Resurrection, we believe in you and confidently repeat to you today: Jesus, I trust in you, have mercy upon us and upon the whole world.

— Saint John Paul II, Sunday, April 3, 2005

Jesus, I trust in you, have mercy upon us and upon the whole world.

We extend a special welcome and congratulations to our newest brothers and sisters in Christ. It was a blessing to witness their baptism, confirmation, and Holy Communion. Special recognition goes to the Ogonowski family for the baptism of the mother and her four sons, who attend St. Thomas Aquinas Regional School, as well as to Natavia James, who will soon graduate after receiving the gift of the Catholic faith at our school with the complete support of her parents.

I wish I had more space to write something to each of our neophytes, as we call the newly baptized, but I renew my commitment to pray for their faithfulness, and I ask you to pray for them, too.

May the Lord continue to bless your family with a deep sense of Easter joy!



Fr. Álvaro