Browsing the February 2016 archive of FR. THOMAS’ COLUMN
February 28, 2016
Posted by Father Thomas Galarneault on 2/25/16
This weekend we celebrate the Third Sunday in Lent. That means we are almost half way there. How are we doing? How is it going with pruning of things we don’t need to do? And how is it going with adding of things that will bring us closer to God?
Lent is a time for us to grow closer to God. But one of the bigger issues that we run into is that our desires are not focused on God. We have desires for people, things and opportunities, but our desires are not for the Lord. We want things that aren’t good for us. We live by this, ‘That I should be happy.’ What if my happiness allows for me to stomp all over you to make me feel happy, is that right? See, we live in a society of emotion. We live for emotion. As long as my emotion is good, at least in society standards, then I am doing okay. Still, we should be sad if someone dies, we should be angry sometimes. Emotions aren’t necessarily good or bad. But we can get too focused on them. Jesus is where our focus should be, not on emotions, not on fulfilling the desires that don’t bring us closer to Him. So we need to have purified desires in order for us to serve Him. God wants to help us to have purified desires. Ask Him for help in this, because so often this is what is holding us back from growing closer to the Father. The Father wants us to desire Him more, and He wants us to ask Him for our desires to be healed. It is Lent, this is a time to work on ... Read More »
February 21, 2016
Posted by Father Thomas Galarneault on 2/17/16
Recently we had our parish mission with Kyle and Valerie Clement. It was wonderful, and out of the mission came a beautiful Sacred Heart Image with a very awesome prayer. Now I realize that the print on these is a little tiny so I am reproducing it in this ... Read More »
February 14, 2016
Posted by Father Thomas Galarneault on 2/16/16
Lent is here. This great penitential season is here. This season is here to help us to grow ever more in love with God. Yes, that is correct, you have read correctly, this season is here to help us to be lovers of God. God is pure love and ... Read More »
February 7, 2016
Posted by Father Thomas Galarneault on 2/16/16
The following is from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from ... Read More »