May I be the first to extend a heartfelt welcome to you and your family.  Please make St. Mary & St. Barbara parishes your spiritual home and a place of growth.  We strive to answer the charge given by St. John Paul II that parishes must be genuine “schools of holiness” where “the meeting with Christ is expressed not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion, until the heart truly ‘falls in love’.”  The Church’s strength, said John Paul, comes from her commitment to the Eucharist.

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St. Mary & St. Barbara parishes also strive to answer the charge put to it by Jesus: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”  (Lk 12:49).  Our souls possess a tiny pilot light that was lit at conception.  This flame of faith was first entrusted to our parents if we were baptized as infants.  Later, the obligation to stoke this flame of faith becomes our responsibility.  This flame of faith is delicate and can be blown out if we do not guard it.   The moral choices that we make, our frequency in receiving the sacraments, and continuing to deepen our understanding of the faith through ongoing education are all ways that we can make the flame of faith a roaring fire. 

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Here’s the good news: St. Therese of Lisieux said, “God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity …”  We do not stoke the flame of faith alone, for we belong to a family of believers, called a parish – the local Body of Christ.  St. Paul reminds us that “we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another” (Rom 12:5).  For when we are truly set “on fire” for the Lord and for our Catholic faith, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…” (Gal 2:20).  Therefore, let us keep one another in prayer and help stir the flame of faith within our souls into a great fire that all can see.  God Bless you and your family!  St. Mary & St. Barbara, pray for us!