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United in Faith and Community Update

Let’s Continue to Make St. Rita Parish Stronger

Saint Rita parish has grown in many positive ways over the past year. Mass attendance is up, the number of students in our school and faith formation has increased, sacramental preparation and celebrations abound, service to others remains strong with programs like COME dinners, Thanksgiving and Christmas Angel Projects, and we developed our new mission statement to serve as a continued guide for the parish.

One of our goals has been to increase family participation in Eucharistic celebrations and engage more youth in parish activities. We have made some nice inroads in this area with our monthly children’s Mass, monthly family activity nights, and youth group.

Our collections have also increased, which has allowed us to take care of campus improvement projects that had been sidelined for more than five years.

So let’s continue to build our community of faith through our welcoming of others of all ages. Please continue to encourage Mass attendance and invite families, friends and neighbors to join our parish activities.

Additionally, I am asking for your ongoing financial support to help us keep up with parish expenses. Shortly, parishioners will be receiving a letter in the mail from me requesting your help to increase regular offertory collections. I fully recognize this is a challenge for each of you, but appreciate your prayerful and generous response.

Peace,

Fr. Tim

Easter Blessings

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being at St. Rita this Easter. You make our worship and our Eucharist so very special when we are gathered together like we are on Easter.

Together we both receive and celebrate the Good News: Alleluia! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Easter is the very heart of who we are as Christians. It is a day overflowing with Joy, New Life, and Re-creation. It is a day when all those words deserve capital letters and many sentences end in exclamation points! This Easter Day catapults us into rarified air and we do not come down until we hit the ground running, renewed with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

One of the questions we are faced with on this day is, “Where is Jesus?” Our Gospels do not show Him to us. Instead we are confronted with an empty tomb.

We don’t encounter Jesus at the empty tomb because we are His Tabernacle, we are His Temple. He is the Word made Flesh and He has made His home with us and all the human race.

We all know our lives are better when God is in them. We all know that our lives are better when we live them in the light of gratitude and service.

Thank you again for being here. You are always welcome. Your friends and family are always welcome.

Rejoice and be Glad! Jesus is not at the empty tomb. Jesus has made His home with you and gives Himself to you lovingly at every Eucharist.

Carry with you always the Good News of Easter: Alleluia! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Have a blessed Easter,

~Fr. Tim

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

In this week's Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims, "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus speaks these words in the context of mourning the death of Lazarus, revealing His power over death and His role as the source of life; that, through faith in Christ, death is not the end, but the beginning of the rest of our time with our God.

It calls us to trust in His divine plan, even amidst the suffering and uncertainty we experience in today's world. As Catholics, we are reminded that our belief in the resurrection is foundational; it is not merely a future hope but a present reality that shapes how we live our lives!

It encourages us to live out our faith joyfully by offering hope to those who are grieving and marginalized. In doing so, we become instruments of life, instruments for Jesus, shining a light in a world often overshadowed by despair. So, let us reflect further on our belief in the resurrection - how can we can better live our lives amidst the reality of the resurrection?

Continued blessings on your Lenten journey.

Much love,

~Deacon Jim

Eucharistic Communion and Seeing Those in Need

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that receiving the Eucharist “commits us to the poor” (1397). Why is this so?

Receiving the Eucharist means that we enter into union with the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. And being in Holy Communion with Jesus himself means something profound. Let’s consider one facet of this great mystery.

The Eucharist is Jesus himself. He is the Eternal Word, living in Trinitarian communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. But out of love for us, in order to save us from sin and death, the beloved Son of the Father chose to take upon himself a radical poverty: the weakness of the human condition of his beloved creatures.

Continue reading this article by Dr. James Pauley here.