My Dearest Parishioners,
I pray that you are all doing well and are enjoying these lazier days of Summer. Thanks be to God, and also your prayers, we are doing well here at Our Lady of Lourdes. We have been open for 10 weeks now and it is good to see a new rhythm develop here. I would like to share with you the average number and maximum number of people who have been attending our six weekend Masses:
Saturday 5 pm:
I pray that you are all doing well and are enjoying these lazier days of Summer. Thanks be to God, and also your prayers, we are doing well here at Our Lady of Lourdes. We have been open for 10 weeks now and it is good to see a new rhythm develop here. I would like to share with you the average number and maximum number of people who have been attending our six weekend Masses:
Saturday 5 pm:
Average = 172, Max = 212
Sunday 9 am:
Sunday 9 am:
Average = 189, Max = 244
Sunday 9 am Fallon Center:
Sunday 9 am Fallon Center:
Average = 16, Max = 22
Sunday 11:30 am:
Sunday 11:30 am:
Average = 151, Max = 201
Sunday 1:30 pm:
Sunday 1:30 pm:
Average = 222, Max = 276
Sunday 5 pm:
Sunday 5 pm:
Average = 97, Max = 142
We have been averaging 847 souls per weekend where previously it had been around 1,550 to 1,600. Our largest total since the pandemic has been 978.
We are truly in unprecedented times for us as a community, a Nation and a World. It seems that we only hear of negative things and there is a great turmoil of strife and division that is ripping us all apart at various levels. More than ever we must keep our prayer life (which is our living relationship with God) as our primary duty and obligation of EACH and EVERY day. When we hear of the trillions of dollars that are needed just to keep the economy going for the next brief while, and when we see millions of dollars of damage due to vandalism and billions of dollars in lost wages we can tend to feel that we cannot possibly make a difference as an individual. And that is where we are dead wrong. As Catholics we must be generous dispensers of the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love.
There are so many people out there who have lost their faith in God and in mankind. Let us this week pick one person and give them the seed of faith by sharing our faith in God with them. Faith engenders trust and peace. There are countless people who have lost all hope. Let us pick one person who is in darkness and light up their world by doing an outrageously generous act of kindness for them. They might not ever know our name but they will never forget what we have done for them. Hope engenders joy. Far too many people have never experienced unconditional love and therefore feel unloved and unwanted. Let us pick one person that is in need of love and let them know that God loves them and so do we. Let God, through your prayer life, lead you to that person and I assure you that you will find out that it is God that is restoring OUR faith, hope and love by letting us be ministered to by the person that we have chosen. We all want to matter and we all want to make a difference.
There is nothing more noble than saving the life of another. In giving our selves to others as a gift, we come to experience who we truly are and what we were always meant to be. I share with you a story that we have all heard but won't see on the news this evening:
We have been averaging 847 souls per weekend where previously it had been around 1,550 to 1,600. Our largest total since the pandemic has been 978.
We are truly in unprecedented times for us as a community, a Nation and a World. It seems that we only hear of negative things and there is a great turmoil of strife and division that is ripping us all apart at various levels. More than ever we must keep our prayer life (which is our living relationship with God) as our primary duty and obligation of EACH and EVERY day. When we hear of the trillions of dollars that are needed just to keep the economy going for the next brief while, and when we see millions of dollars of damage due to vandalism and billions of dollars in lost wages we can tend to feel that we cannot possibly make a difference as an individual. And that is where we are dead wrong. As Catholics we must be generous dispensers of the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love.
There are so many people out there who have lost their faith in God and in mankind. Let us this week pick one person and give them the seed of faith by sharing our faith in God with them. Faith engenders trust and peace. There are countless people who have lost all hope. Let us pick one person who is in darkness and light up their world by doing an outrageously generous act of kindness for them. They might not ever know our name but they will never forget what we have done for them. Hope engenders joy. Far too many people have never experienced unconditional love and therefore feel unloved and unwanted. Let us pick one person that is in need of love and let them know that God loves them and so do we. Let God, through your prayer life, lead you to that person and I assure you that you will find out that it is God that is restoring OUR faith, hope and love by letting us be ministered to by the person that we have chosen. We all want to matter and we all want to make a difference.
There is nothing more noble than saving the life of another. In giving our selves to others as a gift, we come to experience who we truly are and what we were always meant to be. I share with you a story that we have all heard but won't see on the news this evening:
If 1,600 people at Our Lady of Lourdes were to reach out and touch just one soul this week...we will have changed the world for the better. And it didn't take a trillion dollars to do it.
Peace be with you,
Fr. Pat
Peace be with you,
Fr. Pat