Exploring Faith Through Marriage, Miracles, and Music

Marriage. Miracles. Music.

I am currently flying en route to Louisiana as I write this article. The next ten days in my Lenten journey and ours at Saint Patrick Parish include opportunities for deeper reflection upon the three words listed above.

The first – marriage – is the reason for my flight to Louisiana. I am attending a national gathering of clergy and lay leaders in the area of marriage preparation and formation. The event is the third annual Marriage Catechumenate Summit which is being held to continue discussions and implementation of the Church’s call this new dynamic and personal initiative. Pope Francis has called church leaders to create new pathways for accompanying engaged couples to prepare for the sacrament of matrimony and then continue that journey of formation and friendship into the first five years of a new marriage and beyond. I am grateful to have been invited by the founders of Witness to Love, Ryan and Mary Rose Verret, to attend this conference.

The second – miracles – is the reason for the parish social hall transformation which will begin on Sunday evening and will continue into Wednesday of next week. We are thrilled to host the Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit which will be open during various hours throughout each day. Visitors will have the opportunity to view over 80 Eucharistic miracles, displayed on 2’ x 3’ laminated panels in English and Spanish. Each panel presents a Eucharistic miracle with photos and illustrations complementing the text. In addition, we will also have a first-class relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis available for veneration. Blessed Carlo will be canonized on April 27^th of this year and his work of cataloging these miracles is the inspiration for the entire exhibit.

The third – music – was a key part of last weekend’s homily as our director of worship Sari Althoff debuted her own musical rendition of the St. Patrick breastplate prayer. Uniquely, in the last month several other Catholic artists including Rend Collective, Matt Maher, and Francesca La Rosa have released their own songs which include words from the prayer. It is great that this prayer seems to be on the minds and hearts of artists in the Church!

Another Catholic musician, Aly Aleigha, will join Sari to lead us in worship for Mass and an evening hour of praise and worship music on our Lenten Eucharistic Day this Wednesday. The day begins with Mass at 9:15 a.m. and will conclude with an hour of praise and worship from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Eucharistic adoration will take place in the Church throughout the day. We hope you can join us as we gather for a day of prayer together, being united in one of the three Lenten disciplines, and being united in communion with the Lord.

Gracias a Dios.