From the Desk of Kathryn Fisher

The Liturgical Year This weekend we celebrate the 30th Week in Ordinary Time. There are only four more weeks of Ordinary Time and then we will begin a new liturgical year! Each year begins with the 1st Sunday of Advent and ends with the 34th Sunday of Ordinary Time, also known as the Solemnity of…

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist  Each year on June 24th the church celebrates the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.  The liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church celebrates only three nativities (or birthdays) each year; those of John the Baptist on June 24th, the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8th and the Nativity…

Epiphany! This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord.  The feast marks the end of the Christmas season.  Traditionally, Epiphany was observed on the January  6 and is a feast of the Church older than Christmas.  Since 1970, the celebration is held in some countries on the Sunday after January 1; more…

The Least of My Brothers and Sisters This 4th of July I had the pleasure of seeing many of my family I hadn’t seen in quite some time.  I spent a lot of time with my two widowed aunts, Connie and Dorothy.  They spent a lot of time talking about the past.  It was a…

Divine Mercy The revelation of Divine Mercy was a series of messages and visions that Jesus Christ gave to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s.  These messages were recorded in Faustina’s diary.  In these messages, Jesus revealed to Faustina His great love for humanity and His desire to forgive our sins.  He also asked…

In the Desert As I was preparing the parish display cabinet for Lent titled “In the Desert,” my mind wondered to all the physical deserts of the United States that I have lived near or visited.  They all have their own special beauty, like the Mojave and the Sonoran deserts of the Southwest.  These two…

THE HISTORY OF MASS INTENTIONS    The practice of requesting a Mass to be offered for loved ones, living or deceased, is a beautiful and meaningful part of our Catholic tradition.  It is one of the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy: counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, admonishing the sinner, comforting the sorrowful, forgiving injuries, bearing…

The Ascension of the Lord At times, we forget that Jesus’ act of “going to the Father,” the Ascension, is a totally separate act from his Resurrection. Even the Gospel writers seem to have failed to realize it; Matthew doesn’t mention the Ascension at all (and in Matthew 27:53 he the only mentions the Resurrection…