Pastor’s Letter: March 1, 2026

Pastor’s Letter: March 1, 2026

27 Feb 2026 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,

Lenten Blessings to you all this day! How is your Lent so far? Has it been fruitful? One of my favorite parts of Lent each year are the fish fries—ours last Friday at the school was especially great! I have to be honest, I have always really liked fish and never found it very penitential!  =)  During the evening, I had the opportunity to speak with many people, both members of our parish family and others who were just stopping in for a good dinner. The most common thing people shared were about how many young people we have here…and how great it is to be in an environment where they are just free to be joyful kids. Truly, that is a great gift! I also told a large group of our students that I would give them a shout out—at one point of the evening they were just hanging out together as a group, before they went on to assist with the bounce house, the bake sale, or just walking around enjoying the evening. We really have such great students! It is a real joy to be in a place with such good life and such good people! If you haven’t been to one of our fish fries in a while, I would definitely recommend it—the next one is Friday, Mar 6 from 5-7pm…hopefully we’ll see each other there!

This week…continuing with our look at the Sacrament of Confession, one of the common questions I hear…”Why can’t we just go to God? Why do we confess to a priest?”

Why don’t we just baptize ourselves? Obviously, we accept a mediator for the Sacrament of Baptism, why not for other sacraments as well? Catholics do confess their sins to God through His ministers. A good example of how the Apostles are mediators is Acts 8:9-24.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation cleanses us from post-baptismal sins…it is a renewal of our baptismal grace. Confession is a valid and valuable Christian practice—a source of deeper conversion to Christ, a means of becoming more deeply reconciled with God, others, and self—an act of worship praising God for his unending mercy and forgiveness.

The Church has always believed that sin, no matter how private, is a community affair. Think of the Body of Christ image from St. Paul—a wound to one part of the body (even an “isolated” wound) weakens the whole body.  So also, when one member sins, the whole body is weakened and suffers.  Because my sins weaken the community, reconciliation must also include the community. In the confessional the priest is the representative of God and the community…he represents the whole Christ, the Head (Christ) and the Body (members of the Church). Just as lepers needed to be re-integrated into the community after being cured, so do sinners need to be re-integrated into the Body of Christ (Lk 17:11-14; 5:13-14; Mt 8:2-4; Mk 1:40-45). The need for re-integration into the Body of Christ after sin is part of human existence. We need to be healed. We can do that only by removing and renouncing that which brought us to harm (1 Jn 1:8-9; Lk 15:18-19; 1 Jn 2:15-17). It is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation that we are honest about our sins before the Church, represented by the priest who acts in persona Christi (in the person of Christ), and renounce our attachment to sin in sorrow. In this sacrament, we pass through the mystery of the Cross in order to reach union with God and true holiness.

For Catholics, we understand that Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance as His gift to the Church on Easter Sunday night. He said to the apostles, “Peace be with you,” and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” After saying this he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” (Jn 20:19-23) In this, Christ gave the apostles the power to forgive in his name…this power of forgiveness is passed on in the priesthood through ordination.

Next week, we’ll continue our deep dive into the Sacrament of Reconciliation…and stay tuned for a unique look at Confession in a couple of weeks…for that one Fr. Daniel and I will be tag teaming! Know of my prayers and blessing for you all this week!

In Christ,
Father Luke