Fr. Tom's Blog

The Gospel for this Sixth Sunday of Easter is rich with references by Jesus to the Father and Holy Spirit. Jesus says: Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. We are invited to dwell in the love of the Father and the Son and become a dwelling place for that love in our lives. But obedience to the Word is important in understanding the power of this love at work through us. Jesus continues by telling his disciples that he will be going away, but he promises to be with them always through the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. He reminds them that the Advocate will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. May we always dwell in the love of God and share the gift of Christ’s peace with others.
 
Our annual Spaghetti Dinner & Variety Show is next Saturday, June 1. We are looking forward to a fun evening with lots of local talent. If you took a ticket for the event and your plans have changed, please return any tickets you will not use to the Parish Office this week so we can make them available to someone on the waiting list. All donations given the night of the event will go to support our Parish Emergency Assistance Fund, which helps parishioners and others in the area who are in difficult situations, and the children served by Operation Breakthrough, one of our parish service partners. We will also be having our annual Detergent & Diaper Drive for Operation Breakthrough the weekend of June 8-9. Please see the bulletin for the details as we support families in need with essential items throughout the summer months.
 
For the past 11 years, our parish has been blessed with a wonderful music ministry under the direction of David Armstrong. As many of you may know, David will be retiring at the end of June. We are grateful for all the ways he has shared his gifts with our parish. We will be hosting receptions in David’s honor after the Masses the weekend of June 22-23. Please plan to join us.
While it will be hard to see David leave, we are pleased to announce that our new Director of Liturgy & Music is James Wagner. James will begin in July. You can read a short bio about James in the parish newsletter that was mailed to all registered households this past week.
 
School is out, at least for some students, but this weekend marks the traditional beginning of summer with the Memorial Day holiday. As we remember our deceased loved ones, Memorial Day is especially a time to lift up those who gave their lives in service to our country to protect our freedoms. Please join us for Mass on Memorial Day, this Monday, May 27, at the special time of 9:00am.
Many Blessings! 
 

In the Gospel for this Fifth Sunday of Easter, Jesus reminds us that the love He has shared with us is the model for how we are called to love. He says: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Jesus puts love at the center of the life of discipleship because we are called to imitate the sacrificial love that has been shared with us. The extent of God’s love is manifested in the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. To love like Jesus means we have to forgive like Jesus, serve like Jesus, welcome others like Jesus, and show mercy like Jesus. This is how Jesus’ commandment of love transforms our lives into something new. This is how others will know we are his disciples. Our faith is rooted in a relationship of love with Jesus. May all our relationships be defined by Christ’s way of love.
 
Tickets for our annual Spaghetti Dinner & Variety Show on Saturday, June 1, are available after Mass today. There is no charge for the tickets, we just ask that you make a donation the evening of the event. All proceeds this year will benefit those in need through our parish Emergency Assistance Fund and Operation Breakthrough. Please be generous.
 
This is one of our Celebrating Stewardship weekends. Please join us after Mass for Divine Donuts, beverages, and fellowship. You can also learn about some of the important ministries of our parish. A special thanks to all the volunteers who help host Divine Donuts each month. This is a great community builder and we are grateful to those who give of their time to make it happen.
 
The academic year for our parish grade school ends this Wednesday. We are proud of the accomplishments of our students and we pray for all the students in our parish as they bring the academic year to a close.

The end of the school year on our campus will also mark the beginning of the first construction project funded through our recent Capital Campaign. Our contractor will be on-site this Thursday to begin preparation for moving utility lines, widening the south drive by the yellow house, and putting in underground drainage to eliminate some of the water flow problems we have down the south drive. Construction will then begin on the upper two levels of the south wing of the school. We will be on an aggressive timeline, so please pray for good weather this summer and please be patient as we move forward. The back parking lot on the south side will not be accessible during the summer and there will be times when the south drive is closed. Your support of the Capital Campaign is making all this possible. Please continue to support the Campaign.
Many Blessings!
 
 
 
 
 

As we continue our celebration of the Easter season, we hear Jesus say in this weekend’s Gospel: My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. This Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday. Like sheep who know the voice of their shepherd and are willing to follow their shepherd wherever he leads them, we are called to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and be willing to go where His voice leads us. There are so many conflicting and distracting voices in our world today, we really have to pay attention to listen to the voice of Jesus. What small steps can we take today to spend more time listening to Jesus? If we trust in him as our Good Shepherd he promises to protect us, keep us in his loving hands, and lead us to eternal life. May we always hear the voice of Jesus and find ways to shepherd others through our example.
 
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mothers in our community!! We take time this weekend to honor the mothers in our lives and give thanks for their gift of life and love. A mother’s love is often the way we learn about God’s love – nurturing, compassionate, and unconditional. In the words of Pope Francis: A society without mothers would be a society that has lost its heart, lost the feel of home. Because mothers, even at the worst of times, are capable of testifying to tenderness, unconditional self-sacrifice, and the strength of hope. Where there is a mother, there is unity, there is belonging.  As we give thanks for our mothers, both living and deceased, may God bless all mothers and fill them with strength.
In celebration of our mothers this weekend, we will offer a special blessing and our parish is providing carnations to all mothers. Any donations received for the carnations will go to support MO Right to Life.
 
Next weekend, May 18-19, there is a second collection for the Tomorrow’s Priest Vocation Fund. Our diocese is blessed with a large number of seminarians studying to become priests. This Fund helps support the cost of their education. Please be generous.  
 
This is the time of year when many will be graduating from various schools. We hold them all in prayer as they celebrate this important step on their life journey. The 8^th graders from our parish school will gather for their final retreat this Wednesday and their graduation this Thursday evening, May 16. They are a talented group of young women and men and we are proud of all their accomplishments. The Pre-K children from our ECC will also be graduating this Wednesday evening, May 15. In celebration of all those from our parish graduating from any school and at all levels, we will be offering a Blessing for Graduates at the Masses the weekend of June 1-2. Please encourage any graduates in your family to join us for Mass.
Many Blessings!
 
 

On this Third Sunday of the Easter season, we hear another story of Jesus appearing to his disciples after the Resurrection. This one occurs on the seashore when the disciples are fishing and catch nothing and then Jesus appears and says: Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something. In the other Gospels, this story appears at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In the Gospel of John, it occurs after the Resurrection. The disciples have gone back to what is familiar to them, fishing, but their lives have been forever changed because of the Resurrection of Jesus. He physically appears to them and shares a meal with them. A key piece of the passage is the dialogue between Jesus and Peter when Jesus asks of Peter three different times, do you love me? This contrasts with the three denials Peter made of knowing Jesus before the Crucifixion. Jesus needed Peter and all the disciples to let go of the past and focus on the task at hand: Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. Jesus needs us to do the same.
 
We continue to celebrate the joy of new life this Easter through our young people who will be receiving special sacraments. Another group of children will be receiving their First Eucharist at a special 2:00pm this Sunday. The final group will be celebrating at a 2:00pm First Eucharist Mass in Spanish next Sunday. Please keep these children in your prayers.

This Monday, May 6, Bishop Johnston will be at Presentation to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with our teens who have been preparing all year. About 70 teens from our parish will be receiving the Sacrament this year. We pray that the Holy Spirit empowers these young men and women to be witnesses for Christ in their lives and that they will use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to make the world a better place. Please keep these teens and all our young people in your prayers as they face the challenges of today’s world.
 
May is the month of Mothers. We celebrate the gift of our mothers on Mother’s Day next weekend, May 11-12. We will offer a special blessing of mothers at all the Masses and also have Mother’s Day carnations available. Your donations for the carnations will support Missouri Right to Life. If you have not yet returned your Mother’s Day envelope with the name of your living or deceased mother, please do so by this Friday, May 10. The envelopes will be included in the prayers and procession at Mass.
The entire month of May is also dedicated to our Blessed Mother, Mary. As the Mother of all the faithful, she unites us together in the love of her Son. There will be special times when the Rosary is prayed throughout the month of May, so please check the bulletin for all the details.
 
Many Blessings!