Did everyone enjoy a snowy January? It’s been a few years since we have had a winter that I remember like this. Fr. Joseph doesn’t know what he’s been missing these past few weeks as he has been on vacation in India and he still has two more weeks left before he rejoins us. In the last few days of January, we mailed out our annual statements of donations for St. Catherine (for tax purposes). Please look for this in your mailbox. If you don’t receive them soon, please contact our business office to receive a copy.
Now as we turn the page this weekend to February, we see that Lent starts earlier this year than last year, in just a little over two weeks. Of course, as soon as we got done celebrating Christmas, the staff and I were already starting to get things ready for Lent. We will be putting out the schedule in the next couple of weeks so that you all can put some dates and times on your calendars.
This coming Monday, the 2nd of February, we have one final feast day that is connected with Christmas: The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. This feast, sometimes called Candlemas, marks 40 days after Christmas. Of course, this feast is pointing us to Easter and its celebration. It also gives us an opportunity to dwell upon the testimony of both Simeon and Anna as they are some of the first to recognize that Jesus is the Christ, the one that has been promised. In these days of winter, we certainly need this reminder that Christ is the light that shines through the darkness and helps us through any difficulties in life.
A special thank you to our Knights of Columbus who put on another successful chili cookoff last Saturday. There’s nothing like a nice cup of chili in winter and many enjoyed this night including our parishioners, priests and deacons, and even Bishop Lohse was able to join us for this event. We will have pictures from the event on the next bulletin. But if you missed out on the chili last weekend, this is a donut weekend! Thank you as well to all our donut bakers and crews who provide these delicious donuts!