Praised be Jesus Christ!

Here's a new question for the St. Mary's Middle School: What solemn promise did Jesus give us in this past Sunday's Gospel? What does that mean in our lives? Have fun!

Praised be Jesus Christ!

We seem to talk a lot about the Catholic Church in the United States. Here are some helps in putting things in a greater perspective:

The priests of the US number 41,449. Priests throughout the Church number 406,411.

The Catholics of the US number 64.4 million. Catholics throughout the world number 1.115 billion (17% of the world's population).

Sometimes we can think we're bigger than we really are. The Church in the US is only a small portion of the universal Church.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Last night in the parish we had an evening of reflection for the candidates of Confirmation. They were also given an opportunity to go to Confession. It was a powerful and prayerful evening.

In regards to last week's question, I want to thank Dominic, Natalie, and Devin for their answers. They each answered correctly, Jesus calls himself "the good shepherd." They also each explained their answers very well.

Here are some questions for this week: During the Easter Season, what book of the Bible does the Church use for the first reading of the Sunday Mass? Who wrote this book? Good luck.

Tomorrow night is Confirmation. Please pray for the candidates.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

I want to thank the Middle School students who answered the question last Sunday. Some of the students suggested that the Gospel reading was the institution of Holy Orders, but we normally see that sacrament as instituted at the Last Supper when Jesus told the apostles, "Do this in remembrance of me."

The students were correct in associating Holy Orders with the Gospel passage since in the passage Christ was giving the apostles the power to forgive sins, one of the major duties and offices of the priest.

That, of course, leads to the more accurate answer: the Gospel was the account of the institution of the sacrament of Reconciliation (also known as Penance and Confession). In the reading, Jesus gives his own authority to the apostles. In Jesus' Name, the apostles can forgive the sins of humanity.

I want to thank Clare, David, Adam, Jenny, Evan, Megan, and Carter for their answers.

Here's a new question: Today's Gospel reading in taken from John, Chapter 10. In that chapter, what does Jesus call himself? What does that mean? Good luck.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Recently, a parishioner passed this quote on to me. I thought it was pretty good and wanted to pass it along:

"As I began to grow older, I stopped helping God get the sun up every day and paint the sunset every evening, though it took me awhile to really accept God's ability to handle those things alone. When I did, I found the time to sit and just be."