4th. Sunday of EASTER (Year B) (April 21, 2024): Acts 4:8-12; I Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18 The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Today, on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday. It is a day when we reflect upon the tender image of Jesus as the Shepherd of us all. It is also a day set aside to pray for more shepherds within our Church who will shepherd God’s flock with the Heart of Christ. Life Message: Our Gospel today is Jesus’ commentary upon the actions of the Pharisees in contrast to His own. The Pharisees, as religious leaders, were not shepherds. They were “thieves and robbers” who came to “steal and slaughter and destroy.” Jesus, however, came so that those who listened to His voice “might have life and have it more abundantly.” Consequently, the Gospel passage quoted above explains why the Pharisees were not true shepherds. It was because they “work for pay” and have “no concern for the sheep.” Hence, the Pharisees worked for their own self-importance—a fleeting and worldly reward. In other words, they saw themselves as the true teachers and interpreters of the Law and saw anyone who did not follow them as a threat. Hence, these Pharisees clearly perceived Jesus as such a threat to them. Conclusion: To “take refuge in the Lord”, the Good Shepherd, requires that we first face up to our own powerlessness, our limitations, and our need to follow someone if we want to experience true fulfillment in our lives. Unlike literal sheep, we are aware of the risk that our shepherd takes: “A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep”. And so, we exclaim, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us…” “He is the stone rejected by the builders, who has become the cornerstone”. And so, more than merely knowing the shepherd’s voice, we know his name, “by which we are saved.” Because we agree to be sheep, “we are God’s children now.” Therefore, as priests and lay faithful, laying our lives down is an act of sacrificial love that enables us to look only at the needs of those around us. Remember, that pride and selfishness must disappear, and the good of the other must become our only goal. Reflect upon how well you do this and pray that the Good Shepherd will use you to shepherd those in your life who need it the most. Prayer: Divine Shepherd, you came to lay down Your life for us all so that we might have life and have it to the fullest. Help me to receive and imitate Your love so that I will lay my life down for others, leading them to You, their holy Shepherd. Jesus, my Good Shepherd, I trust in You.

Official Pastoral Assignment Letter from Archbishop Etienne Select desired file below for download to view Get more information about Partners in the Gospel on the Seattle Archdiocese website.

3 rd.Sunday of EASTER (Year B) April 14, 2024. Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; I Jn, 2:1-5a; Lk 24:35-48. The common theme of today’s readings is a challenge to our Faith in the living presence of the risen Lord. That Faith should strengthen our Hope in His promises, call us to true repentance for our sins, and lead us to bearing witness to Christ by our works of Charity. Does our Faith do that for us? The readings also remind us that the purpose of Jesus’ death and Resurrection was to save us from our sins. Hence, they invite us to make our witness-bearing to the risen Lord more effective by repenting of our sins, renewing our lives, and meeting Jesus in the Word of God and at the Eucharistic Table. Significance: Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus had to convince the disciples that he wasn’t a ghost. He had to dispel their doubts and their fears. He showed them his hands and his feet. He invited them to touch him and see that he was real. And he even ate a piece of cooked fish with them -- all to prove that he was alive and not a ghost or spirit. He stood there before them, as real and alive as he had been over the past three days. Life message: We need to share the apostles’ "Upper Room Experience" in the Holy Mass: The same Jesus who, in the Upper Room, the Cenacle, prepared the disciples for their preaching and witnessing mission, is present with us in the Eucharistic celebration. In the "Liturgy of the Word” of God, Jesus speaks to us. In the "Liturgy of the Eucharist," Jesus becomes our spiritual food and drink. Thus, today's Gospel scene is repeated every Sunday on our parish altars. And so, like the early disciples, we come together to repent of our sins, express our gratitude for blessings received, listen to God’s word, and offer our lives to God along with our petitions and His gifts of consecrated Bread and Wine. We also consume the spiritual food Jesus supplies, thus gaining the strength necessary for sharing Christ’s message with the entire world, mainly by living transparent Christian lives. Conclusion: Jesus needs Spirit-filled followers to be his eyes, ears, hands and feet so that we may bear witness to his love, mercy and forgiveness by exercising these gifts in our compassionate loving service of all our brothers and sisters. The Church desperately needs dedicated witnesses: priests, deacons, Brothers, Sisters, parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, old folks, young folks – all of us. The essence of bearing witness is to testify by our lives that the power of the risen Jesus has touched and transformed us.

Community Soup Suppers in the Parish Hall Every Friday at 6pm, before Stations of the Cross Stations of the Cross in the Main Church Every Friday at 7pm during lent February 16th February 23rd March 1st 5:30 p.m. Children’s Stations of the Cross, Potluck following March 8th March 15th March 22nd March 29th Good Friday Stations of the Cross

March 31st Join us for a hopping good time, after our 10:00 a.m. mass, on the parish grounds. Children of all ages are invited to participate in the annual Knights of Columbus Easter Egg Hunt. Bring a basket and get ready for this joyous Easter tradition.

2 nd.Sunday of EASTER (Year B) (April 7, 2024) Divine Mercy Sunday (Acts 4:32-35, I John 5:1-6, John 20:19-31) Introduction: The readings for this Sunday show us our need for God’s Divine Mercy, which is offered to us through the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the forgiveness of our sins, and through each celebration of the Sacraments (all instituted to sanctify us), when we receive them in trusting Faith, and in the state of Grace. The opening prayer addresses the Father as "God of everlasting Mercy." In first section of the Resp. Psalm (Ps 118), we repeat three times, “His mercy endures forever!” This means, God revealed His mercy, first and foremost, by sending His only begotten Son to become our Savior and Lord by His suffering, death, and Resurrection. Scripture lessons (exegesis): The 1 st . reading (Acts 2:42-47) tells us how the early Church grew every day because of the acts of mercy -- sharing, sacrificial agápe love -- practiced by the early Christians. In the 2 nd . reading (1 Pt 1:3-9), St. Peter glorifies God, the Father of Jesus Christ, for showing us His mercy by granting His Son Jesus Resurrection from the dead and a glorious Ascension into Heaven, thus giving us the assurance of our own resurrection. Today’s Gospel vividly reminds us of how Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a sacrament of Divine Mercy. Then the risen Lord gave his Apostles the power to forgive sins with the words, “Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain, they are retained" (Jn 20:19-23). Add to this, presenting the doubting Thomas’ famous profession of Faith, “My Lord and my God,” the Gospel illustrates how Jesus showed his mercy to the doubting apostle and emphasizes the importance of Faith for everyone. Life message: We need to accept God's invitation to celebrate and practice mercy in our Christian lives: One way the Church celebrates God’s mercy throughout the year is through the Holy Mass and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Finding time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and Devotion to the Divine Mercy, are yet another good way to receive and give thanks for Divine Mercy. And last but not the least, it is through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy that we practice in our daily lives the Mercy we have already received and become eligible for God’s merciful judgment. Conclusion: Let us, therefore, ask God for the Faith that culminates in self-surrender to God and leads us to serve those we encounter with agape love. For, living/active Faith enables us to see the risen Lord in everyone and gives us the willingness to render to each other our loving service. St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) presents it this way: “If we pray, we will believe; if we believe, we will love; if we love, we will serve. Only then we put our love of God into action.”

PALM SUNDAY (March 24, 2024) Yr. B: Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; (Gospel for Procession: Mk 11:1-10; Holy Mass Gospel: Mk 14:1--15:47 Introduction: The Church celebrates this Sixth Sunday in Lent as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. It is on Palm Sunday that we enter Holy Week, welcoming Jesus into our lives and asking Him to allow us a share in His suffering, death, and Resurrection. This is the time of the year when we stop to remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption and salvation. These liturgies enable us to experience in our lives here and now what Jesus went through then. In other words, what we commemorate and relive during this week is not just Jesus’ dying and rising, but our own lifetime of dying and rising in Him, which result in our healing, reconciliation, and redemption. Just as Jesus did, we, too, must lay down our lives freely by actively participating in the Holy Week liturgies. Life Message: Are you a donkey with a Christian name only, or one carrying Christ? An interesting as well as challenging old fable tells of the colt that carried Jesus on Palm Sunday. The colt thought that the reception was organized to honor him. “I am a unique donkey!” this excited animal might have thought. When he asked his mother if he could walk down the same street alone the next day and be honored again, his mother said, “No, you are nothing without Him who was riding you." Five days later, the colt saw a huge crowd of people in the street. It was Good Friday, and the soldiers were taking Jesus to Calvary. The colt could not resist the temptation of another royal reception. Ignoring the warning of his mother, he ran to the street, but he had to flee for his life as soldiers chased him, and people stoned him. Thus, the colt finally learned the lesson that he was only a poor donkey without Jesus to ride on him. -- As we enter Holy Week, today’s readings challenge us to examine our lives to see whether we carry Jesus within us and bear witness to Him through our living or are Christians in name only. Conclusion: On Palm Sunday, we need, therefore, to ask ourselves the following six questions, and examine our conscience: 1) Does Jesus weep over me? There is a Jewish saying, “Heaven rejoices over a repentant sinner and sheds tears over a non-repentant, hardhearted one." Are we ready to imitate the prodigal son and return to God, our loving Father, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation during this last week of Lent and participate fully in the joy of Christ’s Resurrection? 2) Am I a barren fig tree? God expects me to produce fruits of holiness, purity, justice, humility, obedience, charity, and forgiveness. Do I? Or, worse, do I continue to produce bitter fruits of impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness? 3) Will Jesus need to cleanse my heart with His whip? Jesus cannot tolerate the desecration of the temple of the Holy Spirit that I have become by my addiction to uncharitable, unjust, and impure thoughts words and deeds; nor does Jesus praise my business mentality or calculation of loss and gain in my relationship with God, my Heavenly Father. Consequently, as we "carry Jesus" to the world, we may receive the same welcome that Jesus received on Palm Sunday, but we may also meet the same opposition, crosses, and trials later. Like the donkey, we are called upon to carry Christ to a world that does not know Him. Let us always remember that a Christian without Christ is a contradiction in terms. Such a one betrays the Christian message. Hence, let us become transparent Christians during this Holy Week, enabling others to see in us Jesus’ universal love, unconditional forgiveness, and sacrificial service.

5 th .Sunday of Lent. Year B). (3/17/21): Jer 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33. “… Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat…” During Lent, we try to, more intentionally, to shape our lives after the model of Christ. This canbe inconvenient and sometimes even involves suffering. The psalmist today begs God: “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast Spirit renew within me. Cast me not from your presence, and your Holy Spirit, take not from me.” (Ps.51:3-4;12-13;14-15). Part of the Christian story is a constant willingness to repent-to return and turn to God’s mercy- (Metanoia)! The disciples of Jesus learn that death, suffering, and violence do not have the last word. The powers of this world, will eventually, fade, and be conquered by the invincible Son of God, who leads us to eternal life. This hope is instilled in us by the Saints who have gone before us, to teach us by the witness of their holy lives. Indeed, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am there also will my servant be”, says the Lord. (Jn.12:26). Life message: “How, then, do we as Ambassadors of Christ, bring hope to those in this world of hopelessness and despair?” Today’s Gospel teaches us that new life and eternal life are made possible only by the death of the self through obedience, suffering and service. This upbeat message is assured us by Christ when he says: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit…” Summarizing then we can say that: salt gives its taste by dissolving in water. A candle gives light by having its wick burned and its wax melted. The oyster produces a priceless pearl by transforming a grain of sand through a long and painful process. Loving parents sacrifice themselves so that their children can enjoy a better life than they themselves have had. Conclusion: Only a life spent for others will be glorified, sometimes here in this world, but always in Heaven. We know that the world owes everything to people who have spent their time and talents for God and for their fellow human beings. Mother Teresa, for instance, gave up her comfortable teaching career, and with just 5 rupees (17 cents) in her pocket began her challenging life for the “poorest of the poor” in the crowded slums of Calcutta. We see similar cases in the history of great saints, scientists, and benefactors of mankind in all walks of life. They, literally, chose to burn out rather than to rust out. Let us pray that we may acquire this self-sacrificing spirit, especially during Lent, in order to spend ourselves for others. For, “…unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit…”

4th.Sunday of Lent (Year B). March 10, 2024 2Chron. 36:14-16,19-23; Eph. 2:4-10; Jn.3:14-21. “…God so Loved the World That He Gave Us His Only Son…” Do you know the healing power of Christ's redeeming love and victory which he won for us on the cross? When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, he prophesied that his death on the cross would bring healing and forgiveness and a "new birth in the Spirit" (John 3:3) and eternal life (John 3:15). Jesus explained to Nicodemus that the "Son of Man" must be "lifted up" to bring the power and authority of God's kingdom to bear on the earth. Life Message: This passage tells us of the great breadth and width of God's love. Not an excluding love for just a few or for a single nation, but a redemptive love that embraces the whole world, and a personal love for each and every individual whom God has created. God is a loving Father who cannot rest until his wandering children have returned home to him. Saint Augustine says, God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love. That’s why St. Paul tells us today, as he tells the Ephesians: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” God gives us the freedom to choose whom and what we will love. By this I mean that we do not earn salvation but seek it in faith. And as seekers, we will be transformed into the image of God, if we open our hearts and model our lives to the heart and life of Jesus our Savior. Conclusion: Today, Jesus shows us the paradox of love and judgment. We can love the darkness of sin and unbelief, or we can love the light of God's truth, beauty, and goodness. If our love is guided by what is true, and good and beautiful then we will choose for God and love him above all else. What we love shows what we prefer. Do you give the Lord the first place in your life, in your thoughts, decisions and actions? Let’s therefore heed St. Paul’s advice: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about these things…”(Phil.4:8).

3rd.Sunday of Lent (Year B). (March 3, 2024) Ex 20:1-17; I Cor 1:22-25; Jn 2:13-25. “Take these out of here, and don’t make my Father’s house a market place…” We all have the tendency to be distracted. In 1970, the average American saw between 500 and 1,600 ads a day. In 2023, that number jumped to between 6,000 and 10,000 ads per day, surfing the internet. We are so attracted and consumed that we lose track of our original intent and go down a wormhole of images and information bombarding us with the message that, our lives will be happier and more fulfilled with whatever is being advertised. (Unwholesome sites…?). Life Message: But it is not only advertisers and influencers who are aware of our tendency to lose attention or be distracted. God is also keenly aware and calls us back time and again to what truly matters. So, for instance our lent began with God speaking through the Prophet Joel: “…Rend your hearts, and not your garments; and return to me with your whole hear…” (Joel 2:12). Indeed, God knows that our desire is ultimately for him. But when we mistake our worldly distractions, some of which are dangerous and addictive, for true holiness, we begin to believe that we will be fulfilled in life. This means, sometimes, our distractions can become so ingrained that we come to believe they are our ultimate path to holiness. Hence in the 1st.reading, while Moses is busily receiving the 10 Commandments from Yahweh on the Mountain, the Israelites are worshipping a golden calf at the base. Their impatience quickly leads them astray, but God doesn’t give up, and calls them back again. Yes, God also knows our impatience, our fixations, and our longing in a world competing for our attention, yet He calls us back. Conclusion: When this happens, God’s intervention at times can seem intrusive and chaotic, disrupting our clear boundaries, and established methods and invented rules. Thus, in today’s gospel, Jesus overturns the tables of the moneychangers, drives away the animal and dove sellers (an enshrined practice in the Temple, aligned with the worship of God). Why? People are so fixated on making profits out of the engagements, rendering it a total distraction from what they are about: “the true worship of God”! Jesus' cleansing of the temple is also a prophetic sign of what he wants to do with each of us. He ever seeks to cleanse us of our sinful ways to make us into living temples of his Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). God desires that we be holy as he is holy. Therefore, on our Lenten journey, God invites us to recognize our distraction and our holy longing. What are the tables in our lives that we think are essential, but really need to be overturned? How does God disrupt us every day, from the distractions that vie for our attention? God implore us to return to the source of our longing, and not settle for any imitation. (Song: Come back to me, with all your heart…).

2nd.Sunday of Lent (Year B) (Feb. 25, 2024) Gen 22:1-2, 9a,10-13,15-18; Rom 8:31b-34; Mk 9:2-10 “God always breaks into our world in a new way, and our lives will never be the same!” Today’s readings reveal a God of surprises, who acts in ways that his followers don’t understand. And yet, they trust and follow, and their lives are transformed/changed forever. In the 1st.reading, advanced in age, Abraham and his wife Sarah, were saddled with barrenness. God intervened, thus promising them Isaac, to perpetuate their generation. But soon after, God told Abraham, at age hundred to leave everything to an unknown land. Add to that, God orders Abraham to sacrifice his only son he gave him. How could God demand such sacrifice after giving such a gift? Yet Abraham is faithful, climbs the mountain, prepares to do the unimaginable, until God reveals himself as a demander, not of sacrifice, but of fidelity. This means, God always breaks into our world in a new way, and our lives will never be the same! We only must stay vigilant, trust and obey! Life Message: “Stay awake spiritually - Don't miss God's glory and action”: Luke's Gospel account tells us that while Jesus was transfigured, Peter, James, and John were asleep (Luke 9:32)! Upon awakening they discovered Jesus in glory along with Moses and Elijah. How much do we miss of God's glory and action because we are asleep spiritually? There are many things which can keep our minds asleep to the things of God: Mental lethargy and the "unexamined life" can keep us from thinking things through and facing our doubts and questions in the light of Christ's truth. The life of ease can also hinder us from considering the challenging or disturbing demands of Christ to forsake all for him and his kingdom. Prejudice can make us blind to something new the Lord may have for us. Even sorrow can be a block until we can see past it to the glory of God. Conclusion: How spiritually awake are you to Christ's presence and word of life for you? Peter, James, and John were privileged witnesses of the glory of Christ. We, too, as disciples of Christ are called to be witnesses of his glory. How? We, therefore, need transformation in our Christian lives so that we may seek reconciliation instead of revenge, love our enemies, pray for those who hate us, give to the needy without expecting a reward, refuse to judge others and make friends with those we don’t naturally like. This transformation will also enable us to hold back on harsh words and let love rule so that we may seek reconciliation rather than revenge, pray for those who give us a hard time, avoid bad-mouthing those we don’t agree with, forgive those who hurt us, and love those who hate us. Remember, God always breaks into our world in a new way, and our lives will never be the same! We only must stay vigilant, trust and obey!