John 6:60-64 (60) Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it? (61) Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? (62) What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  (63) It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.  The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. (64) But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

On Tuesday, August 13, Immaculate Heart of Mary School began its 72nd year of offering a Christ centered education.  Mary, the model disciple, continues to show our children and their parents, that Jesus must be the center of their lives as He was in hers.  She guides us on the sure and certain path of grace like a Star guides a ship safely to shore no mater how turbulent the sea may become.  In the first stanza of the Latin Hymn Ave Maris Stella, we pray: “Hail, O Star that pointest towards the port of heaven, thou to whom as maiden, God for Son was given.”   In the sixth stanza we proclaim: “So, as now we journey, aid our weak endeavour. Till we gaze on Jesus, and rejoice for ever.”  May our Lord bless our school; May Mary fill with love all our teachers, our students, their parents, and those who make this apostolic work of the parish possible.   May those who know Immaculate Heart of Mary School, as their alma mater (beloved mother) know fully the love of The Alma Mater (beloved Mother), Mary, the Mother of God.

In our generation, we have seen the growth of the temptation to want Christ to conform to us rather than have us conform to Him.  The Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain warned the whole Church about this attitude way back in the late nineteen-sixties, which he aptly described as “kneeling before the world.”  In the gospel of St. John, we are warned not to become worldlings, that is, not to give into the false standards of the world.  We kneel before God alone.  Jesus Christ is our King.  In the “Our Father” we have prayed over and over “thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Jesus calls us to a radical conversion of life.  This conversion can never be superficial or smug.  The call to love always asks from us and draws out of us the best that we are capable of doing.  Jesus knows that we were made to be fulfilled through our participation through Him, with Him, and in Him in a relationship with our heavenly Father.  

My dear Catholic families, I beg you to stand up for Christ and for His holy bride the Catholic Church. This is the certain way given to us by the Lord from Calvary, from His wounded side.  We are confident that “the spirit gives life while the flesh is of no avail.”  Dear Lord you alone can “deliver us from evil.”

Yours in the Immaculate Heart of Mary,

Fr. Mark G. Mazza, Pastor