Holy Rosary Catholic Church

Dear Parishioners,

If you have not already offered your pledge in this year’s Diocesan Services Fund (DSF), please do so today. Your contribution will indeed “bear fruit that will last,” as it benefits the archdiocesan ministries that serve thousands and thousands of our brothers and sisters in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Through your generous support of the DSF, we bring Christ’s comfort and care to the many pressing needs that cannot be addressed individually or by one parish alone.

Our parish goal for 2012 is $123,210. With every parish family’s full participation, we will surely exceed this amount and do our share to help so many in need, advancing the work of the Church in our community. Please pick up a DSF envelope in the church vestibule and mail it into the archdiocese with your contribution, or go online to archgh.org/dsf/Donate. You can also find this link listed on the Links tab of our parish’s web page. For those of you who have already responded with a gift, please accept my sincere gratitude.

The joy of giving to the DSF reminds me of the Prayer of Saint Francis, which I print for you here below.

Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Fr. Ian

Dear Parishioners,

The First Letter of St. John, which we will hear as the second reading for most of this Easter Season, emphasizes love. St. John contends that if we say that we love God, then we must also love our neighbor. Otherwise, our love of God rings hollow. He alludes to this in today’s second reading when he says, “The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments” (1 Jn 2:3). He also says, “Whoever keeps [God’s] word, the love of God is truly perfected in him” (1 Jn 2:5a).

The love of God goes hand in hand with the love of neighbor. In response to a question by a scholar about which commandment is the greatest, Jesus says,

You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment (Mt 22:37-38).

He goes on,

The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments (Mt 22:39-40).

Thus, Jesus shows that the love of God is inextricably linked to the love of neighbor. Neither alone will fulfill the law and the prophets. St. Augustine put it a different way. He told his fellow Christians that the love of God and the love of neighbor are the two wings by which we can ascend to heaven.

We frequently fail to love God and our neighbor as we should. Hence, St. John says in today’s second reading,

If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins (1 Jn 2:1b-2a).

Our Lord waits for us in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation to absolve us of our sins and to give us a fresh start. Let us make serious use of this sacrament that our love of God and neighbor may become genuine.

Fr. Ian