Dear Saints,

We’ve had some challenging weeks around here recently. Please join me in prayer for the many people who have lost loved ones. Please also pray for our funeral/bereavement team and for me. I don’t know that any of us feel like we grieve well, but please reach out if you’re struggling.

Last year around this time, I wrote a bulletin article with my musings on our growth as a parish. It seems ripe for a reprint:

As our grandparents and empty-nesters know, it’s great to have a noisy house. Parents are sometimes less eager to appreciate this fact: The constant action of young children can wear you down.

These past few years, as our roster of young children in the church has swelled, God’s house has become a little more ACTIVE, a little more LIVELY. What a wonderful gift this is for those of us who miss (or never had occasion to enjoy!) the pitter-patter of little feet, the simple (though difficult to meet) needs of newborns, and the excited EVERYTHING – good and bad – of toddlers.

I had a daydream not too long ago. Actually, it was a daymare. The experience was unsettling. You’ll never guess what it was: a quiet Mass!

What made my stomach sink as I thought of a Mass without the hustle and bustle of babes was the thought of a Church without a FUTURE. What made me shudder in fear about the experience of a silent, serene Mass was the thought of a Church without HOPE.

OLMC is a parish that is teeming with LIFE and LOVE and HOPE. There are more baptisms these days because God is blessing us with an abundant FUTURE, which we get to experience here and now with his gift of life.

Our dear mothers and fathers, thank you for your faithful and generous response to God’s love. Thank you for bringing your children to church no matter how difficult and draining it is, no matter how embarrassing it sometimes feels.

My friends, faithful parishioners all, let’s celebrate the BLESSING that God is pouring out on us in our youngest parishioners. They are the pride and joy of our HOPEFUL community. We have a lot to learn from them - Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven - and it is ours to love them well.

In the Peace of Christ,
Father Daniel
Happy Spiritual Father