Laetare means Rejoice. Why do we rejoice?

“Now we must Celebrate and Rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”

Laetare Sunday; Rose is the color of Love. Grace is simply the Love of God overflowing into the world. It is Jesus Who Is This Love.

The Gospel Reading is filled with this theme of awakening and the extravagant, lifechanging love that the Father has for each one of us; it is the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son.

“But by sending his Son to die on the cross but that he loves us with a divine love. That he loves us with a sacrificial love. That he loves us with a love so great that he's willing to mount the wood of the cross, to be lifted up on the wood of the cross, to taste the suffering and the shame of this horrific death so that we might know that he loves us, that he loves us, and that he wants us to love him in return.

“So that would move our hearts to not just thank him for being forgiven, but to love him in return. And that's really what I think the Church is doing on this Fourth Sunday of Lent. It's trying to pre-pare us for the mystery of Christ’s passion, so that we might not only know that God loves us, but so that we might be moved to love him in return” (Dr. Brant Pitre).

This Lenten Season of 40 days will soon culminate in Holy Week, when we will with great Easter Solemnity when we celebrate Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Lent Is All About Reminding ourselves of how much God loves us and wants to keep us part of his holy family, and as God’s family, we are all called by God to advance the mission of the Church and to build up the Kingdom of God right here in Scottsdale, in Paradise Valley, in Phoenix and beyond….

We are a beacon of hope for those in need, for those suffering, for those who are searching and in need of our prayers and assistance. We accompany our parish family through the administration of the sacraments (in the OCIA) the celebration of Mass, and our ministries.

We are so blessed to be able to serve so many in our parish and community! There are so many more people who need our assistance.

There is so much more work to be done. The reality is that we will always need resources to do God’s work.

Many of you have already submitted your Commitment Card to the parish and have committed your offertory support to continue to advance our parish mission. Thank you!

At the same time, many of you have not yet kindly submitted your Commitment Card. Our goal through this OSV initiative is 100% participation from our parish community.

Please turn in your OSV Commitment Card this week, if you have not already done so.

I invite you to pray for our parish and become involved in the life of our parish by joining a ministry to serve those in need.

Blessed Sacrament is the Parish it is because of YOU and what each of you make it!

I thank you for your generosity and I am humbled by your sacrifice. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Fr. Kilian, Fr. Samuel, our Deacons and our Parish Staff and Volunteers.

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