At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him. (Mark 1:12)
Which voices do we listen to? The world is a noisy place and we are bombarded by voices telling us what to wear, what to buy, what to believe, what is beautiful. During this holy season of Lent, we are invited to enter the desert with Jesus. Here we will learn, like Jesus, to discern the voice of our loving God against the din of competing voices. As we allow God’s voice to speak deep in our hearts, we discover ourselves as loved unconditionally, as beloved. As we come to know ourselves as God’s beloved, we are more able to see the face of God in the needy around us and to become instruments of God’s love and mercy to those we encounter.
Pope Francis encourages us “to lose ourselves decisively on the path of Jesus, the path which leads to life…Let us enter into the desert without fear, because we are not alone; we are with Jesus, with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. In fact, as it was for Jesus, it is the Holy Spirit who guides us on the Lenten journey; that same Spirit descended upon Jesus and has been given to us in Baptism. As we cross the Lenten ‘desert’, we fix our gaze toward Easter, which is Jesus’ definitive victory against evil, against sin and against death.”
We invite you to enter fully into this Lenten journey into the desert. Take advantage of the offerings of our collaborative for prayer and reflection, for service and for reconciliation. Let’s listen together to the voice of God.
Fr. Jim
Fathers, Father-figures and special friends are invited to bring their daughters (of any age) to spend quality time with each other and experience an evening of dance and fun! Tickets are $25 for two, max $30 per family. This includes a DJ, dancing (with a dance contest), snacks, drinks & free raffle. Tickets will be sold after the 9:00am Masses on January 28th and February 4th as well as at the door the night of the dance. We are hoping that our friends from St John’s will come and join us for this year’s dance!
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” ~ Psalms 73:26
The St. Paul Catholic Men’s Fellowship Group meets next on Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 7:30 PM in the St. Paul Parish Hall (behind St. Paul Church). We will cover Chapter 3 “Why It Can’t Be Like it Was” of Archbishop Chaput’s book, Strangers in a Strange Land, Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World. All men of the Collaborative are invited to come and participate in a lively discussion about our faith in the 21st century.
Tuesday, November 7
Thank you to the whole St. John-St. Paul Collaborative Community for your amazing support of NPH and the pequeños during their recent visit! We are excited to announce that our Collaborative sponsored 105 children and donated over $14,000 to NPH. A special thank you to the families of our collaborative who opened their homes to host the students and their chaperones: the Fantozzi, Gutierrez, Jones, Kehoe, Ronco/Rhind and Sullivan families. Thank you to all volunteers who helped at the sponsorship tables. Thank you to the DelVecchio family for opening their home to the whole group for a celebration at the end of the visit and to Annas Taqueria for generously donating the food. Thank you to Mimi Eldridge for volunteering to help facilitate the visit and for her tireless work to make it such a great success.