Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church issued the following announcement on Jan. 15
Dear Parishioners,
“Anchored in hope, anchored in Christ”. This is the theme of the year and I wanted to remind everyone of it at the beginning of this new year. Christmas helped us to remember the preeminence of God´s gift, radically visible in the Incarnation of Christ. But to be anchored in Christ requires a personal choice and commitment. It is sad to see how the pandemic has hit hard in the last few weeks impacting Mass attendance. The month of December has seen an important decline in attendance to Mass. We all understand some people have been sick, some were visiting family and some, perhaps, uneasy with the surge in infections. There is no need to blame it on any specific cause but a need to take action and re-engage as many family and friends as possible. The future belongs to God and those who place God first in their life. I ask for your help to personally reach out to others who may be sick, homebound or uncomfortable to attend Church. This is what I ask from each one of you:
- Call or visit someone, listen to them and invite them to return to Church
- Assure them of your prayers: spend one hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament praying for each person you invite back to Church.
Benedict XVI preached a beautiful homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 2008. He talked about the new evangelization with these words:
“The proclamation of life, life in abundance, must be the heart of the new evangelization. For true life – our salvation – can only be found in the reconciliation, freedom and love which are God’s gracious gift. This is the message of hope we are called to proclaim and embody in a world where self-centeredness, greed, violence, and cynicism so often seem to choke the fragile growth of grace in people’s hearts. Saint Irenaeus, with great insight, understood that the command which Moses enjoined upon the people of Israel: “Choose life!” (Dt 30:19) was the ultimate reason for our obedience to all God’s commandments (cf. Adv. Haer. IV, 16, 2-5). Perhaps we have lost sight of this: in a society where the Church seems legalistic and “institutional” to many people, our most urgent challenge is to communicate the joy born of faith and the experience of God’s love.”
Last but not least, please join me in praying for the March for Life on January 21 and join us too! No life, no future. If there is an example of the “cancel and throwaway culture” that is abortion and euthanasia, regardless the sex or race of the unborn or the parents.
God Bless You,
Fr. Álvaro
Original source can be found here.
