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December 8, 2025We welcome Fr. Jerry this weekend, who will share his experience with Unbound Ministries; how this Catholic outreach actively brings hope to individuals and families in various communities throughout the world. Fr. Jerry will be present in the lobby of each church following Mass to answer questions and offer descriptions of individuals who can benefit from the initiative and help of others.Monday is the Holy Day of Obligation, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Mass will be offered at each church: 9:15/St. John, noon/Sacred Heart, 5:30/St. Malachy. Next Sunday we are offering our Advent Communal Penance Service: 1pm at Sacred Heart and 3pm at St. Malachy. Fr. Schott will help with the individual confessions. We are likewise offering the Sacrament on the evening of the 10th, Wednesday, open to anyone who desires to receive this‘Grace’before the celebration of Christmas. May this Sacrament be received as the gift that opens the door to the hope and peace of Christmas. This examination of conscience is excerpted from "Safeguard Your Heart" offered by Pope Francis.About God: Do I turn to God only in my need; do I offer gratitude in my prayers for the blessings bestowed upon me? - Do I participate in Mass on Sundays and Holy Days? - Do I find time each day to pray? - Have I taken the name of God in vain, or use other degrading words or profanity? - What am I doing to grow spiritually? Or have I been consumed with material goods, conveniences, social media? -
Do I pause to reflect on God’s will for my daily endeavors or do I pursue my own willfulness?About my neighbor: Have I attempted to forgive someone who has hurt me; have I sought forgiveness for hurting another through words or actions? - Do I share the blessings I have received without expecting something in return? - Do I take the time to help a family member, friend, neighbor or another in need? - Have I slandered or gossiped about another? - Have I taken something from another that wasn’t mine? - Am I jealous, hot-tempered, or prejudiced? - Do I help others who are in need, whether a neighbor, within my community, or those at a distance? - Am I honest and fair in my dealings and relationships with others?Have I purposely degraded God’s dignity within myself or others through impure actions, inappropriate material, or selfish sexual activity? - Do I observe family morality taught in the Gospel? - How do I fulfill my responsibility for my family’s values, virtues, and faith? - Do I honor and respect my parents, and other adults by my actions and speech? - Have I extinguished the gift of life by my demeaning words of another, by selfishly wasting food, selfishly holding onto material comforts at the expense of helping another created in God’s image? - Do I respect the environment God has provided, nurturing it for another generation?About myself: Am I a Christian who is somewhat worldly and only somewhat believing? - Do I over-indulge in eating, drinking, smoking and being entertained? - Am I overly concerned about my physical well-being and my possessions?
Do I attempt to‘give back’within my family, neighborhood, community? - Do I love and safeguard purity in my heart, thoughts and deeds? - Am I gentle and humble, able to‘listen’ without judging and condemning?Shepherding our Church of vastly different individuals, cultures, understandings, Pope Francis sought to heal rather than dismiss, reflected in his words in 2013: “I am always struck when I reread the parable of the merciful Father. ... The Father, with patience, love, hope and mercy, had never for a second stopped thinking about [his wayward son], and as soon as he sees him still far off, he runs out to meet him and embraces him with tenderness, the tenderness of God, without a word of reproach. ... God is always waiting for us, He never grows tired. Jesus shows us this merciful, forgiving patience of God so that we can regain confidence and hope - always!”God Bless, Fr. TimFYI: With the lighting of 2nd Advent candle of peace: "Dear Jesus, during this day help me quiet all the thoughts that fill my head—where I must go, who I must see, and what I must do"