The Fourth Sunday in Lent
From the Scripture
Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?
The Jewish idea that all of our worldly ailments, issues, and problems are the result of sin is wrong. So is the more modern idea that NONE of our worldly ailments, issues, and problems are the result of sin… The modern notion that God doesn’t cause “bad things” to happen to us is demonstrably false. Jesus, after all, endured great suffering and promised that His apostles would receive much of the same… In fact, Jesus tells us that if we want to go to Heaven, we MUST take up our crosses and suffer with Him, albeit in different ways.
The modern image of Jesus is far too aloof to be real. The Jesus that too often comes to mind is all about power. Jesus is above all things and so we rejoice when He makes the Pharisees look like fools or when He heals an incurable sickness. We tend to emphasize the easy teachings about love, peace, kindness, and community. The idea that Jesus would let the woman in John 15 squirm… The idea that Jesus would tell someone that even the scraps of the spiritual food He is offering are too good for them… The idea that Jesus would deny or refuse to heal or help… They’re all things that happen in the Gospels and yet they seem totally out of place in our modern ideas about God.
In reality, the Lord does allow us to endure suffering. He does this because He tells us it is good and necessary for us… The Church not only recommends but demands penance and reparation for our sin… We are mandated to take upon ourselves limited suffering in order to “complete in ourselves what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ” as we read in the Scripture. Whether it’s the story of Job, Elijah, or St. Paul’s many stays in jail, the question of whether the Lord causes some to suffer is without question “yes.”
Of course, the purpose of that suffering is medicinal! The Lord is trying to get us to Heaven! We will “consider the suffering of the present age to be as nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed in Christ Jesus!”
The modern notion of God as a kind fellow passing out lollipops and big ole smiles is no help to us when it comes to eternal life!
Thoughts from Fr Ryan
Father doesn’t wear pink, Father wears rose… Honestly, I don’t really care, but it’s a fun bit.
I was talking with someone at a Parish Mission I preached once, just chit-chat when she mentioned that my cassock had a lot of buttons on it and that it must take a long time to get dressed… I casually mentioned that there were, in fact, 33 buttons - one for each year of the life of Jesus. That perked up a few other people who took interest and I continued to explain that the collar symbolizes the yoke of Christ (the same one which is easy and the burden light). I pointed out the symbolism of the 5 buttons on the sleeves (for the 5 Holy wounds) and a few other things. Someone asked about the giant belt loops at the back and I explained about the color code of priests, monsignors, etc. In years’ past, the cassock was like a military uniform. In a gathering of clergy, someone in the know could immediately tell if this guy was a seminarian, priest, bishop, monsignor, etc. You could tell if he had a doctorate or not. You might be able to tell other details as well like his theological expertise or religious order.
Much to my surprise, the folks were genuinely interested and we talked for several minutes about it. When they asked “what changed,” all I could say is that Pope Paul VI just threw the whole thing out without explanation… What more can we say? It’s a tragedy to abandon such a long-standing and useful system for no reason or benefit at all.
I’ve had the same kinds of conversations with people about other subtleties of Catholic practice. The rose vestments, for example, make much more sense when Lent is understood as it was prior to the 1960s: not as one six-week season, but as four components of a nine-week season. Pre-Lent (aka “Septuagesima”) began three Sundays before Ash Wednesday. Then Lent proper began on Ash Wednesday. “Passiontide” began the Sunday before Palm Sunday. And finally, the “Sacred Triuddum” began at Sundown on Holy Thursday (aka “Maundy Thursday”). In this longer context, Rose Sunday was a much needed relief and a preparation for the last two weeks of Lent which are more intense spiritually and liturgically.
The reasons the Church abandoned all these long-established practices are unknown. Pope Paul VI just did away with them… Of course, a future pope could re-establish them or something similar to them just as easily and so it behooves us to know our own history.
Whether or not it has any real practical effect, I believe strongly that knowing our stories as individuals, as families, as communities, and as a Church is essential for listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and making good decisions moving forward. So often we have the idea that we’re confronting problems and questions which are brand-new… In reality, we’re just living in a time of ignorance and rejection of our own recent past… We could say the same thing about many of our political issues in the US. How many of our problems are caused by people who seem to hate our shared history and culture?
Unsurprisingly, psychology has a lot to say about this kind of thing, but in the realm of spirituality, all it takes is for us to reject that mentality to discover riches beyond all telling.
Quotations from the Saints
Try to fulfill each day’s task steadily and cheerfully. The life of a true Christian should be a perpetual jubilee, a prelude to the festivals of eternity. -- Saint Théophane Vénard
Be sure that you first preach by the way you live. If you do not, people will notice that you say one thing, but live otherwise, and your words will bring only cynical laughter and a derisive shake of the head. -- Saint Charles Borromeo
To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others. -- Pope John Paul II
God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person. -- Saint Teresa of Avila
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Darryl Ellerbee, Sr./family
- Sun 9:30a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon 9:00a In memory of Terry Murphy/Keene
- Tue NO MASS
- Wed 9:00a In memory of Mary & Norman Stephen Ernst & Vicki Morelli/family
- Thu 9:00a In memory of Father Ferre & in honor of John Aubry & Thomas Williams
- Fri 5:30p In memory of SeSe Holstead (birth)/family
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Payton and Donald Trichell/family
- Sun 9:30a Pro Populo for the Living & Dead members of our Parish Family
ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Margo Corulla
Assistants at Holy Mass
| Date | Servers | Lector(s) | EMHC(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3/29 5:30p | None Scheduled | M Rome | M Ernst |
| 3/30 9:30a | Kathleen, Evelyn & Ashlynn | S Marsh | - |
| 4/5 5:30p | None Scheduled | L Bullard | N Ernst |
| 4/6 9:30a | Mary Katherine, Maura & Katelyn | A Oliver | - |
Upcoming Events
- Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and Sunday from 9a until Mass
- Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall (with Coffee & Donuts) after the 9:00a Mass during the School Year unless otherwise indicated
- Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Wednesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
- March 31 - April 2 Fr Ryan Parish Mission at St Joseph Church, St Joseph, La 6 p.m.
- April 4 First Friday devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus - 5:30 p.m.
- April 5 First Saturday Devotions to our Blessed Mother-Mass & Holy Hour– 9 a.m.
- April 6 First Sunday Benediction following weekend Masses
- April 19 Easter Egg Hunt for our children and their guests … 10 a.m. at church
For Your Information:
FORMED.ORG… has an entire page of weekly featured videos that are worth checking out at https://watch.formed.org/this-week-on-formed. Remember to sign in using our parish’s zip code (71282) at https://signup.formed.org
ROSARY GROUP… a group of parishioners is meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to pray the Rosary. Everyone is invited to join the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403. LENT. The Season of Lent is meant to be penitential. It’s meant to be a time of deliberate and conscious discomfort in order to shake up our normal ruts and clarify our attention to the Lord and His Sacrifice for us and for our sins.
Catholics aged 18 and up are obliged to abstain from meat on every Friday in the Lenten season. If your doctor advises otherwise, feel free to check in with Fr Ryan.
Finally, all Catholics are expected to “give something up” for Lent. As good as it might be to “do something extra” such as attend Daily Mass, say an extra Rosary, etc, Lent isn’t about doing something extra - it’s about giving something up. It’s a penitential season, not merely a virtuous one. As such, every Catholic from about the age of 14 should choose a food or activity which they generally enjoy and from which they can medically abstain for the entirety of Lent. As with all penances in the Church, Sundays are the Lord’s Day and fasting is not allowed! And so whatever you give up, you CAN have on Sunday.
LENTEN DEVOTIONS… On the Fridays of Lent, Confession is available at 5:00 p.m. Stations of the Cross at 5:30 p.m. followed by Mass. On April 11, we will have a simple meat-free Lenten potluck after Stations and Mass. Fr Ryan will make a hearty soup.
ST JOSEPH MISSION…Father Ryan will be giving a Mission at St Joseph Catholic Church in St. Joseph from Monday, March 31 through Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at 6 p.m. All are invited to attend if interested.
FIRST FRIDAY, APRIL 4... Holy Hour and Mass 5:30 p.m. ...make a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and attend first Friday devotions for nine consecutive months.
FIRST SUNDAY BENEDICTION… APRIL 6…at the conclusion of weekend Masses as part of our larger program to improve Eucharistic Devotion and to understand what a gift we have in the Most Holy Eucharist.
EASTER EGG HUNT….on the church grounds on Saturday, April 19, at 10 a.m. Stephenie Marsh assisted by Mary Katherine Marsh will give leadership to the event so please check with her to offer your assistance. We will need hard-boiled eggs that are dyed or plastic eggs with treats so your help is appreciated.
Stewardship The stewardship message in the parable of the Prodigal Son is that it is never too late to become a good steward. Blessed is the older brother who had been a good steward all along, but blessed, too, is the prodigal who had to lose all he had in order to understand the value of what he’d been given.
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2022-23 | $ 2,111 |
| February Budget | $ 8,444 |
| February Collections | $ 14,190 |
| February Total Expenses | $ 10,915 |
| March Budget | $ 8,444 |
| March 23 Collection | $ 2,458 |
| March Collections To Date | $ 10,345 |
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Harper Bedgood (April 2, 2012), Betty Smith (April 2), Carter Sullivan (April 2), Walker Sullivan (April 2), Henry Ellerbee (April 7)
In Our Daily Prayers…
Please let us know of anyone who is ill or hospitalized and would like to receive a visit from Father. Also, help us keep our prayer list up to date by advising us of those who should be added or removed.
Our Pope, Francis; our Bishop, Robert Marshall; and our Diocesan leaders, our President, Governor, Mayor and national, state and local elected representatives
Our parishioners who are sick, shut-in, under full-time care and for those who care for them, and for those otherwise in need of our prayers: MaryKathryn & Nap Book, Connie & Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Leslye Ellerbee, Norman and Marie Ernst, Susan & Johnny Gilfoil, Margaret & Pat Gilfoil,Terry Farlow Hall, Sidney & Mary Jane Johnson, Frances & Bill Kennedy, Ed Mills, Susie Murphy, Bobby Reynolds, Mike & Sue Rome, Kenny and Betty Smith
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), Marie Farlow Bellard, Nap and Martha Book, Kay Boolos (S Gilfoil), Dick & Sue Boyd (S Gilfoil), Chris Breard (Gilfoil), Sarah Cannon (Gilfoil), Fran Castile (Keene), Caroline and Albert Christman, Jeannie & Donald Collins, Teresa Carney Condra, Jami Cook (Wilks), Gene Cox, Marla Evans Cummings, Carol Dipert (Rome), Mac Donaldson (Ellerbee), Wayne Edwards, Mike Farlow, Patty Farlow, Emily Fortenberry, Judy Fortenberry, April Franklin (Wilks), Fred and Cathy Fulton, Thom Gilfoil, Wyly Gilfoil (Gilfoil), LaVonne Givens, Charlotte Green, Theresa Gunter, Rita Hargrave, Arlice Evans Headley, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Charles Howington, Callie Halback Hyams, Will Irby (P Gilfoil), Diane Johnson, Carla Leese (S Gilfoil), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), Ruth McDonald (Copes), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Randy Parker, John Neill, Bailey, Scott, and Tiffney Rome, Dianne Roper (Murphy), Janie Saxon (Lancaster), Debbie Kedrick Sims, Tommy Trichell, LeeAnn Rome Tranchina (Rome), Randy Watts, Jr.
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Bruen Johnson, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, EmmyLu March, Charlize Richardson, Blake Sullivan, Carter Sullivan, Walker Sullivan, Chandler Wood, Marsh Wood
