The Power of a Child’s Words of Love and of the Sign of the Cross: My Flight Experience
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 05/26/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
This past week, as the school year came to a close, our own school joined the flurry of activities of other schools which included graduations, among others. The last to graduate this past Monday in our own school, which caught my attention most, were the Little Lamb Preschoolers. As usual, I was fascinated by the simplicity and purity of love exhibited by these little souls which ranged from their often off-tune but passionate songs to their spontaneous genuine words of “I love you”.
ContinueLord give me a sign!
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 05/19/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
Last week, I joined the Priests of the Diocese of Phoenix for a five-day silent retreat in Tucson. It was one of the best retreats I have had in recent years. One of my prayer focuses for this retreat was for our Perpetual Adoration Chapel whose construction has been delayed for nearly two years, to be approved by the City of Tempe. So, from the very beginning of the retreat, I asked the Lord to expedite the approval process for the building permit so that the construction of our Divine Mercy Adoration Chapel can commence. This was in addition to asking many of you individually and as a community to pray for this same intention for months.
ContinueCommunity
by Fr. Gabriel Terrill | 05/12/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
When we look at the state of our world today, we can easily get discouraged. There are many reasons for this but one reason that is common and perhaps most apparent is the division we see in the world. We are technically more connected than ever before, more aware of our fellow man’s existence yet we seem to be just as divided as ever. Even within the Church we see this division. Division is nothing new, it’s been around since the fall of Adam and Eve when Adam blamed Eve for his sin. However, what we see in our modern era is a radical individualism, an idea that we must be reverenced as unique and distinct from all others and that our individual identity is more important than anything else.
ContinueWell done with the Census...now what?
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 05/04/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
I want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who participated in the just concluded Parish Census. I am glad to report that we have gathered great data through this exercise, and we are now ready to move forward to the Survey portion. Like I mentioned in my previous articles and video messages, I am very interested to hear your thoughts about our Parish namely, what you think we do well and sets us apart as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel; what you think we could improve on and what new things you desire to be introduced in order for our parish to continue thriving.
ContinueThe Saint of Lost Causes
by Fr. Gabriel Terrill | 04/27/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
What do you do when you can do nothing? You pray. This is the image of faith in its rawest form. When there is nothing else that can save us, all we can do is cling to the help of God. All we can do is pray. In these moments when we feel that all hope is lost and all our supports fail us we encounter what I like to call “gutter grace.” Whether someone has left the faith or never encountered Jesus, it is typically in life’s gutter where the faith is most profoundly encountered.
ContinueI want to hear from you — Do the Census!
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 04/21/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
On the weekend of March 9/10, we officially launched our Census exercise in order to determine the size of our parish. Though during the most part of last month our focus shifted to Holy Week, Easter Triduum and Easter itself, the Census exercise has been ongoing for those who did not do it the first weekend it was launched. Now it is time again to refocus our attention to Stewardship under whose context we began this Census exercise. We want to acknowledge that we are all called to give of our time, talents, and treasure as a gratitude to all of God’s gifts to us.
ContinueWhat awesome weeks these last two weeks have been!
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 04/14/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
First, He rose from the dead after a horrible torture and death and, threw the whole world momentarily into confusion including the well-trained soldiers deployed to guard the tomb. Then, excitement and then celebration, the kind of which was never witnessed before. But, before the reality of His Resurrection began to sink in, however, He became elusive, appearing and disappearing to His disciples even through closed doors.
ContinueDivine Mercy Sunday: Meet the Zamoras
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 04/06/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
Today, we celebrate the feast of the Divine Mercy, and as we do so, we do it on the backdrop of an even-greater solemnity, the solemnity of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We began the celebration of this momentous event in our Church with many blessings. At the vigil Mass we welcomed into our Church 23 new members 11 of who received baptism while the rest received the sacraments of Confirmation and first Holy Communion along with them. This was followed shortly after Mass, by the convalidation of the marriages for two of our couples in the Church.
ContinueThe Lord is truly Risen, Alleluia!
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 03/30/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
What a week this was! What a climax!
The said week, known as Holy Week, is always a week of gross contradictions and naked betrayals. These painful contradictions and betrayals involved people who were supposed to be the soul friends of our Lord and Savior Jesus and a people he “slaved” and sacrificed so much for. Led by the ever-impetuous Peter, the whole bunch of the apostles abandoned and betrayed Jesus at his hour of greatest need. This becomes particularly so painful after Peter even pompously professed that he was ready to die for him. That he would never abandon him even if others did. Did he? Not at all!
ContinueHow can we make Holy Week holier again?
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 03/23/2024 | Weekly ReflectionDear Friends,
This weekend, we celebrate Palm Sunday, also known as Passion Sunday. For the past five weeks, we have, I believe, engaged in many spiritual activities in order to prepare well and share fruitfully in the paschal mysteries of our Lord which we are about to celebrate in a few days time. To help us in this process, in one of my articles at the beginning of this season, I recommended a series spiritual activities to observe.
ContinueBrief Feedback on the Parish Census
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 03/16/2024 | Weekly ReflectionMy Dear Friends,
“However big a tree is, it cannot make a forest” (African Proverb).
This past weekend, we had our Parish Census exercise during which over 600 of you registered or updated your information. Since I do not have any precedence to compare these numbers with, I consider the entire exercise, a great success already. This fact is also corroborated by numerous positive feedback I have been receiving during this entire week. Know that the Census is still ongoing for those of you who have not yet done so till mid-April.
ContinueParticipate in the Census Today! Jesus Himself Did It.
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 03/09/2024 | Weekly ReflectionMy Dear Friends,
For the past two weeks, we have been inviting you to participate in our Parish Census, giving reasons as to why it is important to do so. My invitation still continues especially today when we begin our actual Census exercise. Did you know that a census is so important that one of the most significant events in Salvation History, that involved God being ushered into our world as a child happened around a census? The Gospel of Luke connects the birth of Jesus to a "worldwide census" ordered by Augustus Caesar in which individuals had to return to their ancestral cities to be counted. Jesus' parents, Joseph, and Mary, had to travel about 90 miles from their home in Nazareth, Galilee, to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. Yes, the birth of Jesus happened around a census, that’s how important a census is.
ContinueStewardship: Sharing Our Treasures with the Poor
by Fr. Robert Aliunzi | 03/02/2024 | Weekly ReflectionMy Dear Friends,
The three spiritual activities recommended for us to embrace during the Lenten seasons are Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. In one of my previous articles, I reflected on Prayer as an important component of Stewardship. In this article, I would like to reflect on the aspect of almsgiving in the context of sharing our treasures with the poor.
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