CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF SERVICE

It’s a delight and a special honor to have Bishop Gerald Barbarito, our beloved shepherd, as the main celebrant of our Mass at 11:30, this Sunday morning, marking our 70th anniversary as a parish. What a joy to mark this historical occasion by having our bishop with us. So many of our parishioners can still remember our early beginnings, and have watched the parish grow in size, activity and spiritual vitality. Some of the most recent signs of this are Bishop Barbarito’s conferral of the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Women’s Retreat and the 7th Annual Spring Trunk Show, all held in the past week. All of the people who worked on these events are to be not only commended, but to be followed as examples of such unselfish giving of their time and talent. These volunteers are the “movers and shakers” of our parish!

We have a proud parish history, and have been so blessed by so many of YOU, and the many men and women over seven decades, who have contributed to the growth and development of our parish family. YOU have supported our parish and its programs through good times and hard times. YOU have made possible the carrying out of Christ’s command to feed the hungry and poor by your generous contribution to the charitable works of the Church in the city, the diocese and throughout the world. YOU have supported a class school and a Religious Education program to prepare the next generations for their roles of service in the Church and the community-at-large. May God reward YOU and all of those who truly have helped in some way to make St. Vincent Ferrer Parish the wonderful family it is!

I am truly grateful for the men and women who have accepted various positions of leadership and counsel to assist me in my role as Pastor of our parish, whether it is the Pastoral or Finance Councils; the Home & School or Development Boards; the chair positions in the Parish Festival or the Annual Ferrer Fund; The Knights of Columbus or the newly formed CCW for our ladies; the St. Vincent de Paul Society or the Altar and Rosary Society. YOU make a difference!

True volunteerism is what makes the difference between a parish that is mediocre and one that is dynamic. It’s the people who take time to clean up after an event, or to clean the linens for the church; to work each week in the Parish Religious Education Program for our youngsters, or to cook up a pancake meal or fish fry fund-raiser; to lector at Mass or welcome guests and usher in church; to serve as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion in church, or visit the sick and homebound; to spend hours helping in the Gift Shop, or singing in the choir. These, and many more such volunteer hours spent to build up the Body of Christ in our midst, tell us that our parish is (as Tony the Tiger says) G-R-R-E-A-A-T-T!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

This week will present us an opportunity to confess our sins and to be reconciled once again with our God. Our annual Lenten Penance Service will be celebrated this Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. This is one of the best ways to prepare for Easter, and to conclude our Lenten observances. There will be several different priest-confessors to absolve us from sin and to make us whole again. Why not take the opportunity to confess our sins?

Our little children, preparing for First Holy Communion on the last Sunday of April, have just made their First Confession this Saturday. How close they have put themselves to the Lord by the reception of these Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist! We hope that the good example of all of our people will serve as an inspiration to them to stay close to Jesus. May they never pick up the bad habits of those who walk out early on Jesus, as Judas did, nor those who do not have the proper disposition and preparation to receive Jesus. Our eighth grade and PREP students have just made their spiritual retreat. As they move on their way to Confirmation, their journey through life will be filled with trials and difficulties that can frustrate them in understanding the reasons why God created them: to KNOW, LOVE and SERVE Him in this life, in order to be happy with Him in the next. May the uplift that they receive through this retreat help them to understand the ways of their God more deeply!

Next Week marks the beginning of the holiest week of the year in the Catholic Church (and that’s why it’s called HOLY WEEK, though some people mistakenly refer to this as Easter Week!). The schedule of services has been published in the pamphlets sent to our registered parishioners, and some additional pamphlets will be available in the back of the church or the pamphlet racks near the exits. Just as a reminder, there will be NO Vigil Masses at 4 or 5:30 PM on Holy Saturday. On that day, the Easter Vigil will begin at 7:00 PM. As in the past, I highly recommend that, because of the length of that evening liturgy, you might seriously consider not bringing babies or little children to it. Though beautiful, it wasn’t designed with “little ones” in mind. God bless you!

Very Rev. Canon Tom

Congratulations to our Confirmandi, who just received a great Sacrament to strengthen them in their faith! May God’s Spirit of Life empower them to live their lives as mature Catholics, and keep them close to God, especially with their weekly participation in the Holy Eucharist at Sunday Mass!

Just this past March 25th, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation. For those who don’t recognize it, this is one of the greatest feasts of the liturgical calendar of the Church. It marks the sacred Incarnation of Our Lord (when Jesus was conceived) and the beginning of our redemption. This great story is recounted by St. Luke, who was very close to Our Lady, and he probably heard from her own lips, in the same way that he heard stories about the infancy of Jesus that he mentions in his Gospel. It is the feast marking the Angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, asking her to be the Mother of God’s only Son.

What a beautiful story! When she said “yes,” God’s Word to her took on flesh. The consent of Mary was essential for our redemption. The Archangel Gabriel, in order to reassure Our Lady, informs her of the miraculous conception of her cousin Elizabeth, who was considered incapable of bearing children. He concludes his statement declaring; "for nothing shall be impossible with God." Mary, in her free response to the messenger of the Most High, offered to God the free gift of her obedience. As she was created by God to receive this mission, she was prepared in a special way for her mission by being preserved from original sin. That is why the Archangel in his initial salute calls her full of grace: Only a person that had been conceived without sin could be referred to in that way. Mary’s consent did not mean that God was bound by the will of a creature, but that God had foreseen from all eternity the cooperation of Our Lady. For that reason He gave her the gifts that prepared her for this mission.

The Church's celebration of this feast is believed to date to the early 5th century. Contemplation of the mystery of the Savior's birth has led Christians not only to invoke the Blessed Virgin as the Mother of Jesus, but also to recognize her as Mother of God. This truth was held from the early centuries of the Christian era, and was solemnly proclaimed at the Church Council of Ephesus in 431. Mary can be called Mother of God because she is the mother of Jesus, who has both the divine and the human natures.

The Annunciation has always been celebrated on March 25, exactly nine months before Christmas Day. One sign of the significance this Christian feast had throughout Western culture is that New Year's Day was for centuries celebrated on March 25. Years ago, the Annunciation was a Holy Day of obligation throughout the Universal Church. And just as Christ began His life on Earth in the womb of Our Lady at the moment of His conception, all human beings begin their biological life at conception. Since this feast strongly reminds us of this fact, it also reminds us that we have to defend all life in the womb. For this reason, March 25th is the Day of the Unborn Child, officially recognized as such in many countries. Many Catholics who are deeply concerned with the defense of the life of unborn children believe it would be fitting if the Feast of the Annunciation would be restored to this holy day of obligation status, and have brought this matter to the attention of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship.

Given the astonishing fact that God would become a man, we should ask the Lord to increase our faith that everything is possible with Him. Things that from a mere human perspective would seem very difficult or even impossible would happen if they are willed by the Lord. In the same way that God the Father sought the collaboration of Our Lady in the incarnation of His Divine Son, he seeks our cooperation today to save us and to redeem the world, putting an end to its many evils, in particular abortion, contraception and the many evils that are committed against family life.

Even now, Pro-Life America is fired up and ready to defund Planned Parenthood. Just this past week alone, the “Expose Planned Parenthood” coalition mobilized over one million activists to call district offices. Thanks to your help, phones in Congressional district offices across the country have been ringing off the hook! This is wonderful news, but we can’t stop now. In fact, we must increase the pressure we’re applying. Here are 2 things you can do now to help: Flood their inboxes. With Congress back in session, let’s ensure that Congressional e-mail inboxes are full of messages from pro-life constituents demanding the de-funding of Planned Parenthood in the upcoming Continuing Resolution.

I ask you to please take thirty seconds and to join the hundreds of Susan B. Anthony List activists in our Letter to the Editor campaign. Simply write a Letter to the Editor of the Post or the Sun Sentinel, calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood and send it to your local newspapers. And I want you to feel free to click here and review these messaging points and guidelines when writing your letter.

Time and time again Planned Parenthood has proven it is unworthy of our tax dollars. American taxpayers reject their complicity in this abortion-centered business – a willing ally with child traffickers and abusers. Once again, I ask you not just to TALK pro-Life, but to WALK THE TALK! Please take just one more pro-life action this week by sending an e-mail to your two Senators and Representative, and demand that they vote to defund Planned Parenthood in an upcoming Continuing Resolution bill. Thank you for taking action, and have a good week!

Very Rev. Canon Tom