A Lenten Journey of Faith, Hope, and Transformation

03-16-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Fred Adamson

Dear Parishioners,

This weekend, we begin our Lenten Parish Mission/Retreat. Over the years, parishes have often invited a priest to preach the weekend Masses and then provide several nights of spiritual talks to help us grow in the Lenten season—preparing ourselves for Easter.

This year, I am pleased to welcome Bishop James S. Wall, the Bishop of the Diocese of Gallup. Bishop Wall and I attended seminary together and worked closely as brother priests here in the Diocese of Phoenix. The topic, “The Saints and Virtue”, is meant to provide us stories of these witnesses and how we too are called to virtue and public witness of our faith in today’s world.

While I encourage you to attend all three nights of the Mission—if you can only make it to one or two, that is fine. God works in our openness to Him. With hearts and ears open, we pray that He will touch us in some way as we continue our ongoing conversion to the life of His Son. I hope to see a good turnout as part of our Lenten journey of hope.

We will have the opportunity for you to make a free will offering to help Bishop Wall in the support of his mission in the Diocese of Gallup. It is the most poverty-stricken diocese in the United States and includes areas of both Arizona and New Mexico. Much of the territory is Native American land, and the Church plays an important role of faith and charity in these areas. I am sure Bishop Wall will share more about his ministry and mission, but I want to provide us, as a community, the opportunity to be charitable in this season of Lent.

Our Friday night Soup and Stations are off to a good start. The simple meal is a wonderful way to gather as a community before praying the Stations. For families with young children, there is mac and cheese each night as well. After soup, join us in the Church for an evening of prayer surrounding the devotion of the Stations of the Cross. With the Church dimly lit, we invite you to pray and meditate on the journey the Lord made to the Cross. Through reflection, we connect to the Lord in our daily lives and how we too are called to witness and love even in the toughest times.

I encourage you to come and offer the time for someone you might know who is suffering under the weight of the cross. We unite everything to the cross with the great promise and hope offered in the resurrection.

As Pilgrims of Hope – Journey to the Cross, our focus has been to connect to the cross and realize that it is through the cross of Christ that we find our strength and new life. We often try to buckle up and do it on our own, to try our hardest to fix ourselves, our families, and the world around us. But in reality, it is the transforming grace of Jesus that changes or puts into perspective our challenges, weaknesses, trials, tribulations, and sins. Only by joining them to the love of the cross will we find hope.

Mark your calendar for Monday, March 24th, for our Lenten Penance Service. This is a time when we invite priests from the surrounding parishes to offer the Sacrament of Confession. It is a time of grace for our parish and a wonderful way to experience God’s forgiveness. We will begin hearing Confessions at 6:30 PM until we are done. God loves us not because we are perfect but because He is—come rend your heart to His amazing, saving, forgiving grace.

United in prayer on this special Lenten journey to the Cross. May we be filled with hope.

Lenten Blessings,

Fr. Fred