I recently came across a beautiful prayer composed by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta entitled, Jesus, My Patient, which was included on the back of a funeral program of a former nurse, Martha Rooney. The prayer has been used by her Sisters of Charity in their care for the sick, poor, and dying.

This weekend’s readings are filled with inspiration and instruction, and offers us great words of encouragement! Isaiah reminds us that we no longer walk in darkness. For us, the ‘great light’ he speaks of is Jesus Christ.

I am pleased to report that Cardinal Sean has recently approved our Parish Pastoral Plan that our Parish Plan Writing Team has been working on for about two years. This is a key part of the Disciples in Mission pastoral planning process that calls every parish / collaborative to determine 3 – 5 pastoral priorities that will focus on the mission of evangelization, which is to form committed disciples of Jesus who truly know Him, love Him, and who seek to draw others into closer relationship with Him and His Church.

Some programs and workshops being offered to the general public in our area often sound interesting and harmless.

Do you have a New Year’s resolution? One resolution some people have chosen is to build into their lives time to be quiet and reflective, and thereby create more focus on what they’re doing in the course of their day, rather than merely run from one event to the next often at a frantic pace.