Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick was born into a Christian family in northwest England in the fifth century. What impresses and inspires me about St. Patrick is how as a teenager he was kidnapped from his family’s home by Irish raiders who sold him as a slave in Ireland. For 6 years he tended his master’s livestock. Prayer became his sustenance. He spent his time while herding the animals in prayer. The love and awe of God, he said, took over more and more as his faith deepened and the Spirit worked within him. In his early 20s he felt the Holy Spirit guiding him in his escape from slavery. Back home with his family, he felt called by God to return to Ireland as a Christian missionary. Having escaped from slavery, he willingly returned to Ireland to spend the rest of his life teaching and ministering in the name of Christ. He is a great example of loving our enemy—or of discovering that the enemy is actually a neighbor to be loved as ourselves.

Wednesday, April 2nd is the Diocesan Day of Penance. We will offer confession that day at St. Anne. From 11:30AM to 1:30PM I will hear confessions,and from 5PM to 7PM Fr. Lawlor will hear confessions. Of course, we offer confession each Saturday at 3PM at St. Anne, or you can contact either Fr. Lawlor or me to arrange for confession at another time.

Grace and Peace,
Fr. Gary Tyman