News - February 2022 RSS Feed

Mass with Ashes, 6:30 am & 7:00 pm Liturgy of the Word with Ashes, 12:10 pm Monthly Adoration, 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm Benediction, 6:00 pm

With Mardi Gras Day on Tuesday, we know that the following day is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten Season. Lent is a forty (40) day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It is a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord in prayer by reading Sacred Scripture; we serve by giving alms; and we practice self-control through fasting. We are called not only to abstain from luxuries during Lent, but to a true inner conversion of heart as we seek to follow Christ’s will more faithfully. We recall the waters of baptism in which we were baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Christ.

Today’s Gospel is again from the Sermon on the Plains where Jesus continues to call people to discipleship and instructs them on what is required and expected of His followers. Love your enemies, Jesus tells us, challenging society’s values and even common sense. Why should we love those who have hurt us? Well, one of the greatest gifts we can give is our mercy. We may feel that our enemy doesn’t deserve our mercy, but it may help to realize that it is God’s mercy that we extend—that it is God’s mercy that counts. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Today’s Gospel is very familiar to us. It is taken from Saint Luke’s account of the “Sermon on the Plain.” While it is similar to Saint Matthew’s, “Sermon on the Mount,” there are obvious differences. Jesus had gone to a mountain to pray, which Luke tells us He does before important moments in His life. After Jesus prays, He choses the 12 Apostles. Then He comes down from the mountain with the 12 to level ground, where there is a large crowd of His disciples and other people waiting for Him. In Saint Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, Jesus, in St. Luke’s Gospel, is very straightforward and focused on what is important and what is not. We might reflect on, “where do I see Blessings or woes in my life? If I am experiencing “woes,” how can it be changed?

CONGRATULATIONS to St. Peter School on receiving accreditation from Cognia, formerly AdvanceEd. At this time, I would especially like to thank Mrs. Marie Comeaux, principal of St. Peter School, the faculty, staff, students, and parents for all the hard work that was done to accomplish this major task.