SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Nonsense that challenges our sense of commonsense!

KidsRelig paid a visit this week to Alice in Wonderland. From Mad Hatters and March Hares at tea parties to lobsters dancing quadrilles, from white rabbits running out the clock to caterpillars puffing out advice—all the time swimming through nonsense and asking, “With what porpoise?” And, finally, to the trial of the Knave of Hearts charged with stealing tarts baked by the Queen of Hearts.

Nonsense that challenges our sense of commonsense!

Then, there’s this Sunday’s gospel: There’s the Lamb . . . What are you looking for . . . Where are you staying . . . Come and you will see . . . Hello, I’m going to change your name.

Nonsense that challenges our sense of commonsense! And as we begin our journey this week through Galilee to Jerusalem to Calvary’s cross to the garden’s empty tomb to the mountain of Ascension and beyond, St. John warns us that our journey’s story will seem like nonsense. But it is the only commonsense that will save us.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation

&

First Penance

This year, we will offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation to our kids in grades 3 through 8 starting Tuesday, January 31. We will continue with the celebration of the sacrament everyday until all of the kids in those grades have had the opportunity to receive the sacrament. When this is complete, our Second Grade First Communion Kids will celebrate their First Penance in the same way, i.e., during their regular KidsRelig session. Unlike in years past, we will not have a Saturday First Penance Service with parents in attendance.

Why the change? As much as the Sacrament of Reconciliation should be a joy, we have discovered that the Saturday First Penance Service creates some anxiety for our kids. It becomes an event to worry about. We thought that if the Second Graders see that their First Penance is like that of their upper class brothers, sisters and friends and part of the everyday life of the Church, it may not be as intimidating. The Second Grade Teachers, who are preparing them for the sacrament, will be with them as they receive, and parents are not expected to attend. Of course, if you think your child needs some extra support and it would be helpful for you to be there, please let me know.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

EPIPHANY

The saddest week of the year! Down to the cookie jar for one more Christmas cookie—crumbs! In to water the tree—dry needles all over the floor! And then off to church to pack up the Christmas Pageant—lambs and halos wrapped and labeled, Mary and Joseph’s costumes neatly tucked away, handbells laid to rest. The saddest week of the year!

But Christmas was great. Our Choir Kids sang their hearts out. Our Pageant Kids were the best of God’s storytellers. Our Readers proclaimed the Word as it has never been proclaimed. And our Altar Servers did us proud. We thanked them all for helping us all welcome the Newborn King.

Told the kids about my own great Christmas with the grandkids, and especially, with our grandson Hudson and Peter Pan at MSG. How he sat on the edge of his seat as Peter flew off with Wendy, John and Michael to Neverland, led by Tinkerbell’s twinkle. How he froze when Captain Hook appeared and hissed at his evil plotting and jumped out of his skin when swords went flying and the tick-tock croc finally did Hook in. And how he clapped (Oh, how he clapped!) when Peter begged us all to BELIEVE. And then when Wendy and the kids brought that belief home, only to pass it on to Jane, who would fly off again with Peter to Neverland.

Led by a light to a far off land, where they only venture to go because a very special person draws them there. And when they arrive, uncertain and unsure, they encounter evil, which they are intent upon defeating. How? By their belief in that very special person, who drew them to himself through all that made them uncertain and unsure. And that’s the belief they brought home with them—to pass it on, even to this very day. The Magi—a story as magical as Peter Pan, but no fairytale.

First Communion News

Second Grade Parents, watch your inbox within the next week for the beginning of all the news about First Holy Communion.

Love,

Deacon Charlie