From Father Steven - February 16, 2025

Father Steven Clemence • February 14, 2025


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

I hope these recent bulletins have helped you look forward to this Jubilee Year. Many exciting events are coming up to help us receive the special graces that this year offers.

 

Before diving into what we, as a parish, have planned, I would like to make one final observation. The Church has restored the Jubilee to help us receive the graces necessary for our sanctification. However, these graces are not given magically - they require a disposition of heart, an openness to receive them, and a willingness to put them into action. These special graces are meant to help us grow in the divine nature we received at baptism and continue to nourish through the sacraments. But as the challenges of the spiritual life increase, so does our soul’s need for strength and renewal. Indulgences and the other spiritual opportunities we will have this year serve as a means to detach ourselves from worldly distractions and remove what hinders our full communion with God and one another. In a way, they are like spiritual supplements that help our souls function properly and bear the fruits that God has planted in us - the fruits of the Spirit.

 

As Archbishop Henning has chosen our parish to be a pilgrimage site, we will have both regional and parish-level events. I have been asked to help guide parishioners in their desire to draw closer to the Lord and to provide meaningful opportunities to satisfy that longing.

 

As a parish, we will launch the Jubilee Year with a trilingual Mass on March 1st at 4:00 PM, followed by a brief time of adoration and a fellowship gathering with appetizers.

 

As we enter Lent the following week, starting March 10th, we will begin offering daily adoration from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM (in addition to our morning adoration from 6:30 AM to 7:30 AM). Confessions will be available during adoration. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in English, Tuesdays in Spanish and Thursdays in Portuguese. Note: This will be our new confession times and will replace the Tuesday, 5:00pm - 6:00pm confession for the time being.

 

Additionally, we will have a weekly talk every Wednesday after adoration on various topics. These talks will be led by different members of our parish and the archdiocese. Spanish talks will be held on Tuesdays, and Portuguese talks on Thursdays. The goal is to encourage participation, rekindle our faith, and deepen our spiritual lives.

 

We have three committees - one for each language - working on more events, including a Parish Recollection Day and retreats. We will have a 24Hr Adoration at the end of March. We are also exploring the possibility of organizing a local pilgrimage later in the year.

 

To foster fellowship and strengthen our community, we are planning a trilingual bingo night on March 22nd. While some details are still being finalized, we encourage you to save the date! We also hope to host two Fish Fry events during Lent, with dates to be announced soon.

 

Brothers and sisters, all of these efforts are meant to draw us closer to Christ. They help us recognize our deep thirst for His love, and by satisfying that thirst, we can share it with others, no matter who they are. We are all called to spread God’s love and fulfill the mission Christ gave us: “Go and make disciples of all nations!”

 

Let us take advantage of the opportunities before us and make the most of them! I also invite you to pray for these initiatives, that they may bring many people back to the Lord and reignite His fire in our hearts.

 

God Bless,

Fr. Steven

 


From Father Steven - June 15, 2025

By Father Steven Clemence • June 13, 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Along with celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, this Sunday we also celebrate Father’s Day. The Saint that comes to mind when I think of this celebration is immediately Saint Joseph. His vocation as the Father of Jesus helps us understand the significance and beauty of fatherhood. The scriptures refer to Joseph as a just man and while none of his words are recorded in scripture his uprightness was shown in his actions that were written down. Whenever the angels came to communicate God’s will to him, he would always get up and do as the Lord commanded, but what is curious is that Joseph would be visited by angels while he slept. The slumber of Joseph could be understood symbolically as the slumber of prayer and it was in that rest that Joseph was able to discern what was good for his family, to accept Mary as his wife and to escape from the schemes of Herod. Joseph’s strength as a Father came from “sleeping” in prayer, setting aside the time for the Lord to speak to him and teach him just how to fulfill the vocation he had entrusted to him. This is important, because it is a reminder to fathers (both earthly and spiritual) that in order to be saintly fathers, we first must learn to be humble sons who seek to do the will of our heavenly Father. This is a great consolation, because it also reminds us that we are not alone in our responsibility. Sometimes the tension of decision making can be overwhelming and we feel tense and stressed as if everything is riding on our shoulders. Saint Joseph’s example teaches us to set apart that time to pray and exercise our trust in the Lord, confident that he will help us if we are disposed to listen to his voice. This day is also an opportunity to recall and put into practice the words spoken to Moses on Mount Sinai, “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” (Ex. 20:12). Whether they are still with us or have already passed on, we remember our fathers, because it is they who have given us the gift of life and for many the gift of faith as well. We are also called to remember those, who although were not necessarily fathers in the flesh, that took up the role of being a father in guiding us and teaching us. And through Jesus Christ, the great gift that we receive is that by being united to him through the Holy Spirit, we also become adopted sons and daughters of God the Father in Heaven, who constantly works to convince us of His great love for us. On this Holy Trinity Sunday let us lovingly remember both the fathers that have served us here on earth and our Father who continually watches over us with great care. Happy Father’s Day! God Bless, Fr. Steven

From Father Steven - June 8, 2025

By Father Steven Clemence • June 6, 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters, This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. We often associate this great solemnity with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the apostles gathered in the cenacle, and the tongues of fire descending upon them. While all of that is true, there is much more depth to this feast. To better understand its significance, we must first look back to the Old Testament, in the Book of Exodus, and then reflect on how this celebration speaks to each of us personally. The Feast of Shavuot—also known as the Feast of Weeks—commemorates the manifestation of God at Mount Sinai, where He gave the Law to the people of Israel. Through the Ten Commandments, God handed them a Way of Life . According to Jewish tradition, this was an expression of God’s love for His people. The Law was never meant to limit us with a list of do’s and don’ts, but rather to guide us toward true happiness and eternal life. However, due to Original Sin, we often mistrust God’s ways. We see anything that restricts our desires as a burden, leading to thoughts like, “I have to do this,” or “I should do that, but I can’t.” The reality is quite the opposite: every law of God should be interpreted as, “This is what will make me happy.” Take for example: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Only by living this way can we be truly happy and saved. The Prophet Jeremiah foretold that, when the Messiah comes, God would reveal Himself again—not by writing the Law on tablets of stone, but by writing it on our hearts (Jer 31:33). And that is precisely what happened in Christ: the Law of God is now written by the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, who speaks directly to our hearts. Jesus promised that the Spirit would remind us of all He taught (John 14:26), and the heart of His teaching is love—for God and for our neighbor. The Holy Spirit gives us God’s love . This love, revealed in Jesus Christ, is new: it does not resist evil, but forgives; it prays for those who persecute; it loves those who are hard to love. On our own, we cannot love this way. At best, we can tolerate those who hurt us. But forgiveness? That’s divine. True forgiveness is not simply “letting go,” but praying for those who wound us—just as Christ did on the Cross: “Father, forgive them.” The Holy Spirit comes to give us this love. If we want to be Christians—Christ-like—we desperately need the Holy Spirit. On our own, we cannot love like this. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, recalls Psalm 44, saying that we are like sheep led to the slaughter. And in truth, this happens every day. We all face moments, big or small, that cause us suffering. In those moments, we need God’s love, because we cannot carry the cross on our own. That’s why it is so important to ask for the Holy Spirit! St. Paul also writes, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed... struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Cor 4:8–10). In other words, this Pentecost , God wants to manifest His love for the world through us . So I invite you: ask for God’s help. Welcome the sweet Guest of our soul. Ask the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth through love. Ask for His fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, modesty, and chastity. Only with His help can we become holy .  God Bless you all, Fr. Steven
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