A single mother who has a child with special needs works two jobs and sacrifices much of her own pleasures in order to be available for her son. Being the best mother possible is important to her and brings her joy. We are willing to make great and often heroic sacrifices for those people and things that matter most to us. Unless there is something of obvious importance to us in our immediate path, we can easily approach life in a more haphazard and chaotic way. We jump from one thing to another, responding to whatever it is that is competing for our attention at that moment. When everything is important, nothing is important.

Grace and sin, belief and unbelief, good and evil all exist together. While we wrestle with these two dimensions of reality inwardly, they are also witnessed in the actions and words of others. Many, all too often, beat themselves up because of their sin. We are also all to quick to pass judgement on others whom we perceive to be in error and walking down a wrong path. God does not make rash judgements, nor should we. Patience is the order of the day as is an understanding that God is ultimately the call of the shots.

St. John Paul the Great Parish doors are open for the public celebration of weekday and Sunday Masses as well as baptisms, weddings and funerals. All safety procedures and precautions are being followed.

Click here for current Mass times, confession and Eucharistic Adoration schedules. If you are planning to attend a public Mass or service, please read the full guidelines regarding what you need to know before attending any event.

Archbishop Blair has extended the dispensation for Sunday Mass through Saturday, November 28, 2020.  If you are over the age of 65, or have health issues, please consider staying home.

Using the best seeds doesn’t always guarantee the best plants. An older Italian gentleman straight from Italy gave me these amazing tomato seeds that he claimed produced the best tomatoes ever grown. Without doubt, the fruit he shared with me was a testament to that fact. These tomatoes were amazing! I couldn’t wait until the next growing season to plant these seeds and harvest my own tomatoes. The whole experiment ended up a failure. I did everything the gentleman said, but my fruit didn’t even come close. What happened? At first I was perplexed, then some years later the light dawned. The problem wasn’t the seeds, it was the soil!

We are all familiar with the refrain, "You have put on Christ. In him you have been baptized. Alleluia, alleluia!" In Baptism, we "put on" Christ. In putting on Christ, we put on all that Christ is and represents: hope, faith, and love. We are no longer bound to the sins and failures of the flesh, that part of us that resists God and relies exclusively on human means. It also means that we are not in debt to our past, complete with its sins, failures, regrets, fears, and unfulfilled dreams. There is always hope. In putting on Christ, we put on God's vision for the world, for all of His children and for us. We have been given a road map to guide our paths and a blueprint to follow for our life's journey.