September 7, 2025: Embracing Our Cross & an Engagement Appeal
Dear Fellow Parishioners of Our Lady of Divine Providence Family of Parishes,
As we know from our life experience, things really worth doing are usually challenging. The challenge is worth it because it makes the future better. In the Gospel this weekend, Jesus offers the ultimate challenge: embracing our Cross and following Him. The more we embrace and pick up our Cross, the stronger we get and the easier it is to carry. When we try to shirk or avoid the Cross rather than picking it up, it has a way of falling on us, which makes it that much heavier. The sayings of AA teach us: “Embracing hardship and self-denial is the path to peace” and “Right feeling follows right acting.” There’s a lot of heavenly wisdom in these truths.
This week I witnessed the triumph of good over evil in a powerful way during my monthly visit to the high security prison in Lebanon. The Archdiocese prison ministry is doing good work bringing many inmates into the Catholic church. In fact, more people went to confession and communion than I have yet seen in my years of prison ministry, so that was a very encouraging experience. It is truly a blessing to see lives transformed, and it teaches me a lot about the power of God’s grace, and the wonderful opportunity that the Gospel offers to us. We need to tap into that power ourselves and then spread the good news! No matter what happens in our life, the Paschal Mystery reveals that life comes from embracing suffering and death. This gives us direction and purpose, redeems suffering, and makes it a powerful dynamism for good.
We continue to face the challenge of repairs at Assumption parish. After examining our options, and working closely with the Archdiocese legal team, the reality we face is that we are legally obligated to make repairs that will exhaust the parish’s finances. This legal obligation is due to our contract with the Head Start program. We owe it to the children and the community to provide the facility that we agreed to provide. Fixing the damages caused by the flooding and preventing a reoccurrence will entirely exhaust Assumption Parish’s resources. Like any hardship, we can deny and try to avoid responsibility, which will lead to denial, frustration, anger, and resentment. Or we can accept the responsibility that suffering constitutes and seek to overcome evil with good by approaching the challenge with nobility and concern for the greater good of all. It is a scientific and psychological truth that focusing on ourselves leads to misery, but we produce joy by focusing on how to shoulder the burden of our suffering in such a way that we make the lives of others better.
At the time of writing this, I have no further updates about other parishes. However, I continue to meet and to strategize with the finance councils this month.
I would like to conclude with a personal appeal to all parishioners: Consider, in the presence of God, your parish engagement, especially with the spiritual aspects of parish life. Receive the sacraments more frequently and regularly, come to adoration and pray for yourselves and the parishes, learn about the saints and model your lives on theirs, and volunteer for the ministry needs of the parish, especially with handing the faith to the next generation. The evangelization team could use as many people as are willing to help with the religious education classes that begin at the end of this month. Plenty of other opportunities exist to help you grow more and then share what you have gained. I’m very pleased with the program that the evangelization team has developed and excited to see it implemented. I think that it will bring renewal and a rebirth of life to our parishes.
Please keep our parishes, religious education, and especially our young people and precious children, in your prayers!
Fr. Henry
Additional Communications from this Weekend:
