…From Your Pastor’s Desk Ascension Day Parting messages have their own impact. The last words said by someone moving away or even going away for a long time hold special places in our hearts. I remember the many deployments I went on in my years of military service and how touching were those words between husband and wife and parent and child.…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk MEMORIAL DAY Dear God, Thank You for those who have guarded not only our cities, but our country, allies, and many other communities from unjust and unprincipled aggressors. On this Memorial Day, with a solemn and sacred spirit, we pause to remember and honor the brave men and women in our Armed Forces who gave up their lives…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” A theme of today’s Mass is Love – a subject that is so easy to write badly about, so hard to write well about. There exists a tendency in all of us to place love (and all…

Our Hope and Strength The risen Christ is our shepherd. “We are his people: the sheep of his flock.” He gives us eternal life, and we shall never perish. The risen Christ is “a light to the nations,” so that all people everywhere are renewed by the Easter event. The poor, the hungry and the homeless stand in the presence of the…

Message from Bishop Robert Vasa My Dear People of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, Since Pope Francis’ poor health was a topic of news for weeks, we were all surprised, but not extremely shocked, by the word of his death. Father Moses Brown, at the Cathedral, has set up a Mass for the Repose of the soul of Pope Francis on Monday,…

……from the Pastor’s Desk HAPPY EASTER! A Happy Thought on a Happy Feast. Have you ever considered that this is the only time when people, even strangers, give a spiritually based greeting? Merry Christmas is often replaced by ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ has become a secular salutation; but so far ‘Happy Easter’ stands firm in its acknowledgement of what we commemorate.…

……from the Pastor’s Desk Holy Week This week we begin a time so Sacred to us Catholics that it is called ‘Holy Week.’ It is true that as far as individual celebrations go, Christmas seems to overshadow Easter, but Holy Week is more than just Easter Sunday. Today’s Liturgy makes a diametrical shift from the celebration of our Lord’s triumphal entry into…

……from the Pastor’s Desk One in Great Misery and the One with Great Mercy Holy Week is drawing nigh. In fact, a week from today is Palm Sunday and the following Sunday is Easter. For many or most of us the season of Lent has sped by very quickly, since, at least for me, it seems we just began, and are now…

……from the Pastor’s Desk WOOF! Have you noticed the way dogs hang their heads and grovel when they are scolded, wheedling their way back into good graces? To us humans it looks as if they are saying “I’m really, really sorry for what I did, and please, please, please forgive me. To make up for it, I will do any base thing…

……from the Pastor’s Desk Bearing Fruit for God All parables make us ponder what they might mean. Today, Jesus imagines a withering fig tree that has failed to bear fruit for the past three years.The reaction of the owner seems quite normal.That fig tree must be cut down because it is only wasting space in the vineyard. Top 10 Things Catholics BelieveWed.…