When I offered the Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on 19 June 2020, I got this reading from Dt 7:6 "Moses said to the people: "You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God; he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people peculiarly his own."

Hello This is Father Prince Raja, every year from the society of the propagation of the faith, our parishes will get a visiting priest to make a mission appeal for their diocese or their congregation, since this week and next week will be my last in our parishes, I am doing this missionary cooperative program 2020 for my diocese back in India, at present my archbisop can't be here to do this Mission appeal, on behalf of my Archbishop Anthony Papusamy for Madurai Archdiocese, India, I will give some brief history of my diocese and the works that are being done there with your help.

This weekend diocese of La Crosse asked me to make this announcement since I will be released from all my responsibilities as a pastor of our three parishes from July 2, 2020, our parishes will have a new administrator Fr. Aruldoss who is at present serving in Chippewa Falls Holy Ghost Parish as a associate pastor. Fr. Aruldoss and me come from the same state of southern India. Though we belong to different dioceses, we speak same language and we studied together in seminary. Let's welcome Father to our three parishes.

I once had a spiritual director who was fond of asking the question: "What is your God like?" he would then challenge me to go even deeper as he would continue to ask: "What does God feel like for you? What does He smell like? What does He taste like? What does He look like? What does He sound like for you?" Initially these questions seemed silly, and even difficult to answer. Eventually they opened up for me a whole new way of perceiving God. For instance, if you were to ask me: "What does God smell like for you?" I might say something like: "He smells like the fragrance of a cool evening in a hilly area after some showers; the air is fresh; there is a limy fragrance in the air; and you just want to take in a deep breath." This God is real to me! Yes, it is analogical. In fact all our talking about God is analogical. But these images make God real to us.

Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the status quo of the contemporary society on several fronts. Its impact has been felt across almost every aspect of life, including healthcare services, economics, entertainment industry and sports, work and family life, and in religious and educational practices. Amidst these global disruptions, the winners have been the contemporary twins, Information Technology (IT) and internet (webinar Zoom). I really appreciate and thank you all for your great support towards our parishes during this uncertain times. I remembered all your family members and your intentions in my daily private mass.

PENDING APPROVAL BY THE DIOCESE OF LA CROSSE

We are about to embark in possibly dangerous seas. The Covid-19 continues to threaten the lives of many people and we are faced with a challenge to reopen our churches for public worship. We cannot allow fear to dictate an abandonment of our churches, but must rely on faith in the divine physician to walk with us, to protect us, and if need to, heal us. Our faith in Christ Jesus is the life preserver in this pandemic ocean. That being said we must also take precautionary measures to insure our well-being.

My Dear Family,

How great it is that our God loves us. Not only does God continue to love us, God chooses to abide within us. This is the Good News!

It's not only good news – we're also given some helpful direction in how to share this news with others. Paul helps us with that most difficult of all church concepts, evangelization.

Paul treats the Athenians with courtesy and seriousness. "I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship." He didn't rush into their temple and begin by tearing down what was sacred to them. Paul took the time to walk around, to see who they were and how they prayed. He noticed the altar to an unknown god, and he built on this. His thoughtfulness allowed the Athenians to hear him with open minds. What a lesson for us all.

My Dear Family,

When have so many people, everywhere, felt so uncertain, had so many unanswered and unanswerable questions all at the same time? When have so many plans been upended, suspended? When have so many guidelines been provisional, temporary, subject to revision? How long will this last? When will we get to attend Mass/go out/gather/travel/work normally/work at all/hug/feel safe again? Grief, illness, this unseen virus with its terrible tentacles that reach into our homes, churches, schools, hospitals, economy all leave us feeling adrift, even more than we often do as humans. We may feel suspended, floating (not in a good way), unable to get a foothold on something solid and dependable, concrete and unshakeable. It’s all up in the air.

Welcome to the 3rd Sunday of Lent! As I have pointed out in my reflection of last week, during the first two Sundays of Lent every year we have the same themes. The gospel text of the 1stSunday of Lent is always about the temptations of Jesus – from the three synoptic Gospels according to the three year cycle. Similarly, the 2nd Sunday of Lent invites us to reflect on the story of Transfiguration. The remaining three Sundays before the Palm Sunday in Cycle A are special. The gospel passages are taken from the Gospel of John and they develop three central themes of our experience of Jesus that are particularly important for the catechumens – those adults who are preparing to be baptised during Easter:

Welcome to 2nd Sunday of Lent! The gospel reading of Ash Wednesday, proposed a program for the spiritual journey of the season of Lent: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. These three 'strategies' are relevant not only for the season of Lent, but throughout our Christian life. The season of Lent is but an intense way of living out our Christian life. Therefore fasting, prayer and almsgiving are ways to go beyond ourselves, extend our hearts to God, and to stretch out our hands to our neighbors. These two dimensions of our Christian life journey are like going up the mountain and coming down it.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, prayer and fasting which is our preparation for the Easter celebration of Jesus' resurrection. Excluding Sundays it is a season of forty days, in imitation of Jesus spending forty days in the desert. Jesus fasted in the desert, and overcame the devil's temptations. By observing the forty days of lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days and at the same time contemplates on the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is an invitation to look into our hearts and make the ancient prayer our own: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."