Treasures of the Church: Sacred Relics of the Saints

03-27-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. John Sims Baker

On Monday, March 28, we will have a special presentation at Saint Rose on the Sacred Relics of the Saints. There will be two opportunities for experiencing the presentation and for veneration of the relics: one during the day and one in the evening on Monday. Please see the details in the Flocknote or bulletin, and please plan to come!

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Parish Announcement

03-20-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. John Sims Baker

I have news to share with you and so I will get to the point. I have been given permission from Bishop Spalding to enter the formation program to become a monk of St. Bernard Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Cullman, Alabama. I will be leaving St. Rose at the time of the summer assignments to pursue this call. For over two years, I have been discerning this call to become a monk. I was surprised by it, but it has persisted and seems to be bearing good fruit. The hardest part of this decision for me is parting from the parish because I continue to love serving you at St. Rose. I will continue serving as a priest at the monastery in the works assigned to me, and I will also be living a more structured and intentional life of prayer and community.

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Glory!

03-13-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. John Sims Baker

Just as the Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent shows the temptations of Christ, the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent presents the Transfiguration of Jesus. The focus this Sunday is on glory!

I had a teacher in high school who would try to inspire my class when we were not working very hard by saying: "You are not here to slug it out for mediocrity but to sprint for glory!" That was a funny thing to say about learning vocabulary, but it is true about our lives. We really are made for glory!

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40 Days

03-06-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. John Sims Baker

The Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent is always about the temptations that Jesus experienced during His 40 days of prayer and fasting in the desert after His baptism. These 40 days are the main scriptural basis for the 40 days of Lent.

It is interesting that the devil kept that first "Lent" with Jesus. In his temptations of Jesus, the devil seems to be trying to figure out just who Jesus is. This might seem like strange advice, but we should imitate the devil in remaining with Jesus in the desert for Lent and in trying to find out who Jesus is. Of course, the devil was doing this for bad reasons. He was foolishly trying to tempt Jesus.

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