Pastor's Letter-- June 21, 2020

The hospitals are just now loosening restrictions on visitors to patients. In most circumstances, it is possible for the pastor to visit. However, we have found it sometimes very difficult to receive information from the hospitals regarding which parishioners are present in the hospital. Due to concern for HIPPA guidelines, hospitals have been worried to release names of their patients, even to faith communities such as our parish. So, I would recommend that you call the parish if you know of a parishioner or family member who is in the hospital and would appreciate a visit from me. This goes for both Saint Joseph Hospital and Memorial Hospital, or any other smaller hospitals or care facilities.

The same goes for parishioners who are in their homes and are sick or dying. Please reach out to me to come and offer pastoral care. It has been a blessing to do this over the past nine years of my priesthood (I celebrated my anniversary last Thursday) and including in these past few months. I assure you that I am not twiddling my thumbs in the rectory, but visiting parishioners who are in need is one of the most important parts of my priestly ministry. If you have particular concerns regarding safety with the coronavirus, please express those to the office staff and I can do everything as safely as possible while still providing that needed pastoral care.

This Friday evening, our parishioners who have prepared for the Sacrament of Confirmation will finally receive Confirmation from Bishop Rhoades. Please keep them in your prayers as the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Ask the Lord to open their hearts to the great grace as he wishes to give them, so that they may be powerful witnesses in the world to the love of Jesus.

This past Friday was the feast day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Lord has a heart that is burning with love for you. It is pierced and bleeding to heal your sins. His heart looks beyond all of your past and ignores the future, but rather only sees you as you truly are – yes, with sins; yes, with wounds; yes, with imperfections that await his healing – and chooses you just as you are to be the object of his love, the source of his desire, the unique recipient of his heart. He longs for you to see what he sees in you: his own image and likeness, destined for eternal happiness, healed, renewed, restored, sanctified. He waits for us to open a space in our own hearts that he may come, that he may reign, that he may begin his work of healing. Do not be afraid to turn to the Lord Jesus and invite Him in, right now. I would recommend praying the litany of the Sacred Heart, and a prayer of consecration to Jesus.

May the Lord‘s Sacred Heart shower you with his mercy!