Mass Times
Weekend
Saturday Vigil: 4:00pm
Sunday: 11:00am
Weekday
Tuesday: 8:00am
and all First Fridays
Confession Times
Saturday: 3:00pm to 3:45pm
or by Appointment
Holy Hour
Saturday: 3:00 - 4:00pm
A Note From
Rev. Joe Koyickal
A Note from Deacon Denny
The temptation is to think that the beatitudes are rules or conditions for being blessed or receiving our heavenly reward. They are not that at all. They are not about building up, accomplishing, or acquiring. They are about letting go, surrendering, living with a vulnerable and open heart. That does not mean we run away, back down, or isolate ourselves from the realities of our life and world. It means we engage them in a different way, Jesus’ way. The beatitudes teach us to trust God more than the circumstances of our lives. They invite dependence on God rather than relying on ourselves. In today’s world that sounds a lot like weakness and foolishness. That’s what it sounds like in every age. But to those who are being saved it is the power of God! In truth, humility and trusting God are POWERFUL weapons in navigating this life.
In the trials and setbacks of life we discover that we cannot do life by ourselves. As we admit our need of God we find purity of heart. Our arrogance gives way to meekness. We realize that all that we are and have is from God and we begin to know ourselves as poor in spirit. Our own misfortunes awaken and connect us to the pain of the world for which we cannot help but mourn. We think less about ourselves and become merciful to others. We have no where else to go and so we turn our gaze back to God. The longer we gaze at God the more we hunger and thirst for righteousness, for God’s life, and we become peacemakers reconciling ourselves to God and our neighbor. This is the life for which Christ’s disciples are willing to be persecuted, a life of righteousness, the life for which Christ died and rose again. The beatitudes are not so much about what we do, our actions, but how we do, our being. They are less about actions and more about relationships. To live the beatitudes is to live a life of relying on God and our neighbor. That’s called love. The only reason we can do that is because we know and trust ourselves to have already been blessed by God. We live the beatitudes as a response to God blessing us. That is the way of Christ. That is not only the way forward through this life, the way TO life, the abundant life that Jesus promises. If we are to follow Christ it must become OUR way.
