Dear Parishioners,

Congratulations! We made our CDA goal last week! The recent report indicates that we have raised a total of $ 93,884 in pledges, representing 110% of our total goal of $85,000. This amount is coming from 16% of our parishioners. I thank all of you who have participated in this appeal for your generous support to the charity work of the Church. Similarly, I am glad we are currently on-target with our pledge payments for our Parish Building Campaign. Please check the bulletin for an update.

Dear Parishioners,

How is your prayer life and the Lenten observances going by this Third Sunday of Lent? The Scripture Readings today focused mostly on prayer, especially the prayers of intercession. In the First Reading today, God called Moses to play the role of an intercessor, to stand on behalf of the Israelites and plead for their freedom from the Egyptians. Similarly, in the Gospel today, Jesus gave a parable of a gardener who pleaded for more time for a fig tree and offered to help nourish the tree to bear fruit. Like Moses and the gardener, part of our call during this Lenten season is, not only to pray and intercede for those who need our prayers, but also to reach out in almsgiving to those who need our help. No matter how successful we are in life, we must always keep it in mind that no one is truly self-reliant. We all need someone to stand for us, at one point in our lives or another, and we all depend on someone to move us from one stage to another. As St. Paul stated: "What do you have that you have not received?" (1 Cor 4:7).

Dear Parishioners,

A very big thank you to everyone for a very successful Rummage Sale last weekend. Special thanks to all those who helped organize the event, those who donated items and those who participated at the sale. The turnout was very impressive this year! Although we are still in the process of tallying, I understand we made above $9,000 as of last weekend.

Thanks, also, to those who have participated in the Charity and Development Appeal (CDA) from our parish. The recent report we got this week indicated we have raised a total of $82,814 in pledges, representing 97% of our total goal of $85,000. This amount is coming from 12% of our parishioners. I encourage those who have not sent their donations to please remember to do so. The CDA envelopes are located at the entrances of the church.

Thank You

I would like to thank all those who participated in the Family Service event last weekend. Special thanks to the organizers and those who donated different items for the event. I was so happy to see how much we were able to reach out to hundreds of people who are in need around the state and beyond. What is special about the event is that the items were not just donated from our surplus, but they were hand-made by us, "fruits of our labor and work of our hands." Some significant items made and donated during the event include 2,550 sandwiches, 92 blankets, 85 art works, 300 laundry kits, approximately 100 pet toys and more.

Dear Parishioners,

Congratulations and thanks to everyone for a very successful Parish Picnic (Backyard Bash) last weekend. We thank God that everything went well with the celebration and for the beautiful weather. Special thanks to all the coordinators, Lani Gore and the Parish Choir, the Staff, Knights of Columbus, Helping Hands and all those who worked so hard to make the picnic possible. The celebration of the picnic is our way of sharing our faith, love and God’s blessings with one another as a community. It was a wonderful and memorable time for all of us. It was nice to see everyone looking so happy, I love the laughter, the music, the games and all the fun. I am already looking forward to next year’s celebration with hope.