From the Pastor's Desk | December 14

Thank Yous

A HUGE thank you to Lauren Van Steel, Jackie (and Armando) Rosalez, Andrea Patton, the Council of Catholic Women, and the Knights of Columbus for hosting the annual Children’s Christmas Party!  It was so well done and so much fun!  The highlight for me were the walking tacos.  The highlight for the kids was a visit from Santa Claus!  The turnout was fantastic!  Please consider this for your family and children for next year!  

Thank you to the Council of Catholic Women, Jackie Rosalez, and Brigit Martell for helping with the reception after Lessons and Carols!  As always, it was well done and a lot of fun mingling and talking with everyone.  Thank you too to everyone who dropped off Christmas cookies!  Just in case you were wondering, my favorites are gingerbread (or gingersnaps), sugar cookies, and molasses…  Again, just in case you were wondering… 

Next Friday, our faculty and staff will gather for our annual Christmas Party.  I mention that to say thank you to all of them!  They are truly an amazing group of people who work tirelessly for this parish.  They are in love with the Lord and that shines through their work and generosity.  Their work truly is a labor of love as they sacrifice much to work in ministry and in Catholic education.  As we move through the Christmas season, please offer them up in your prayers.  I am so proud of them and would not be able to do much without them.

Cheryl Olsen and Monica Amoroso

If you have stopped in the office on Tuesdays or Thursdays recently, you have likely met Monica.  She is primarily helping us with the bulletin, email, social media, and our communications.  She has been fantastic since she started, and I am so incredibly happy to have her on staff!  Monica is hardworking, understands the rhythm of parish life, is incredibly kind and generous, and very knowledgeable.  As you come into the office please welcome her, introduce yourself, and offer her your encouragement. 

Cheryl Olsen will begin with us on Monday!  Cheryl will be working Monday through Friday and will oversee the office - reception, sacramental records, the calendar, meeting spaces, and ministry support.  She is basically going to be running the parish.  I am excited to welcome her.  She comes to us with a lot of experience and I am looking forward to her help in getting more organized in the office.  Again, as you come into the office please welcome her, introduce yourself, and offer her your encouragement. 

I am thrilled that Monica and Cheryl have chosen to work here and offer their support to the mission!            

Gospel Reflection

In our first reading and in the responsorial Psalm, we hear the proclamation that the Lord has come to save us. This is the Gospel. This is the Good News. Yet as human beings, we do not always grasp this truth. And especially in moments of personal suffering, we can begin to doubt that God truly desires to lift us out of our suffering. At our lowest points we may even question whether God is good.

We see a glimpse of this tension in today’s Gospel in the person of St. John the Baptist. John had been thrown into prison after publicly condemning Herod Antipas’ unlawful marriage to Herodias.  We can imagine the physical and emotional suffering he endured as he was confined, isolated, and likely aware that he might soon die. From this place of anguish and darkness, he sends his disciples to Jesus with the question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

This question reveals to us John’s humanity. He certainly knew who Jesus was - his cousin, the Lamb of God whom he proclaimed to Israel. He was the prophetic voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” But now, alone and imprisoned, John may have experienced the same questions and uncertainties that well up in our own hearts when we face our own adversity and struggle.

Most of us have endured hardship, and if we have not, we inevitably will. We live in a world still bearing the wounds of the Fall. Human history offers countless reasons to lose hope. Even today, anxiety and depression have reached unprecedented levels. Among adults under 30, rates have more than doubled - from 13% in 2017 to 26.7% in 2025 (Gallup, U.S. Depression Rates Historically High, Sept. 9, 2025).

The most difficult questions any one of us faces are: If God is all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing, why is there so much suffering? Why do I suffer? Why should I trust God when someone I love lies dying? I think the question many of our young people wrestle with: Is God truly good?

We must remember where we find ourselves in salvation history. We live in the “in-between” - the time between the creation of paradise and the fulfillment of the new Jerusalem (the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1). The author of the book of Genesis teaches us that in the beginning, God created a world that was completely good. Humanity lived in harmony with God and with creation. But when Adam and Eve sinned, everything became disordered - both the human heart and the natural world. Sin, suffering, and death became part of our reality.  God, however, acted by sending His Son to enter our condition, to take on our suffering, and ultimately to conquer death itself. Through Christ, the new creation has begun. God did not sit back and watch.  On the contrary, he sent His Son for the great rescue mission.  

Still, the world has not yet been fully restored. We await the day described in Revelation, when God will make all things new (Revelation 21:5) and wipe away every tear from our eyes. Until then, suffering remains part of the journey. Not because God delights in it, but because He has chosen to respect the natural order of a fallen world while working within it to redeem us.

And because God Himself suffered in the flesh, suffering has been transformed. Suffering has meaning. Every time we suffer, Christ suffers with us.  

This loss of hope, I believe, is at the heart of why so many young people struggle with faith. When hope is abandoned, God can be seen as distant or untrustworthy. We might ask ourselves, “Are you the one who is to come or are we to look for another.” But Christian hope is not wishful thinking; it is a virtue rooted in God’s faithfulness.

The Catechism defines hope as:

“The theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1817).”

What was Jesus’ answer to John’s disciples? “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”  In other words, Jesus was pointing to himself. The Lord had truly come to save his people. He has come to save each one of us - to lift us up out of the darkness and suffering of our own sinfulness.  And, he will come again to destroy sin and death forever. Jesus is our hope! Blessed are the ones who take no offense at him!  

On this Third Sunday of Advent, as we inch all the closer to Christmas, let us pray for an increase in the virtue of hope.  And, let us see every instance of our own suffering as an opportunity to practice and strengthen that great virtue of hope.  In doing so, we unite our suffering to Christ’s own suffering thereby making it our own sacrifice to the Lord, returning our very lives to the Father.  

Know of my prayers for you all! 

Fr. Ryan