A Message from former Bishop Ricard

I have arrived at St. Joseph's Seminary in Washington DC and am settling in to my new routine. All is well! Thank you for all the kindnesses shown to me - and may God continue to bless you and your families abundantly! I will remember you in my prayers - please keep me in yours!
Yours in Christ,
Bishop Ricard

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Movie Star Visits St. Joseph's for Sunday Mass

The Movie: The Godfather

Louis Giovanni "Gianni" Russo was born December 12, 1943, in Brooklyn, NY and is an American actor and singer. Has been cast in more than 40 films.



Francis Ford Coppola chose Russo as Carlo Rizzi the 1972 movie The Godfather.


We enjoyed his visit with us, his warm spirit and smile and he is always welcome to return.



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The Nun Run last week near Phoenix

The Desert Nuns published this video today. Someone I know participated: about 30 seconds into the vid.




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God bless them and their vocation.

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The Third Sunday of Lent

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In Nicholas Evans' popular novel The Horse Whisperer Annie Graves
travels across a continent with her daughter Grace and Grace's severely
traumatized horse Pilgrim in a desperate attempt to convince a Montana
rancher named Tom Booker to help them; for a friend has told her that
Booker is one of that elite group of people with the ability to heal
injured horses.

They could see into the creature's soul and soothe the
wounds they found there. Often they were seen as witches
and perhaps they were. Some wrought their magic with the
bleached bones of toads, plucked from moonlit streams.
Others, it was said, could with but a glance root the
hooves of a working team to the earth they plowed.... For
secrets uttered softly into pricked and troubled ears,
these men were known as Whisperers.

In addition to the challenge of calming Pilgrim, who has been
severely injured in a gruesome riding accident, Booker soon discovers
that he has two human souls to heal as well. Grace has blocked out all
memory of the terrible accident in which her dearest friend was killed
and she herself has lost a leg. Crippled for life, she turns her fear
and anger inward, blocking anyone's attempt to help her get on with
life.

Her mother, Annie, a high-rolling advertizing executive, has
alienated herself from both her husband and daughter for years and is
suddenly forced to come face to face with what she has sacrificed
because of her career. Grace's physical and emotional injury following
the accident is but a shadow of Annie's inner alienation from herself.
Annie has lost the ability both to give and receive human affection.

It is a story about a woman in search of healing for a wounded animal
and her daughter who ends up finding herself healed in ways she was
neither looking for nor expecting.

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This week's gospel story does something that few other gospel
passages do: it tells us how wounds and divisions, especially ones that
are longstanding, get healed. Jesus is a healer in this week's story
but in ways that are not obvious at first glance.


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Ave, Maria!

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"Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you . . ."

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March 25: The Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

The Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, is one of the most important in the Church calendar. It celebrates the actual Incarnation of Our Savior the Word made flesh in the womb of His mother, Mary.



The biblical account of the Annunciation is in the first chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke, 26-56. Saint Luke describes the annunciation given by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she was to become the mother of the Incarnation of God.

Here is recorded the "angelic salutation" of Gabriel to Mary, 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Ave, gratia plena, Dominus tecum - Lk 1:28), and Mary's response to God's will, "Let it be done to me according to thy word" (fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum) (v. 38)


This "angelic salutation" is the origin of the "Hail Mary" prayer of the Rosary and the Angelus (the second part of the prayer comes from the words of salutation of Elizabeth to Mary at the Visitation).



The Angelus, a devotion that daily commemmorates the Annunciation, consists of three Hail Marys separated by short versicles. It is said three times a day -- morning, noon and evening -- traditionally at the sound of a bell. The Angelus derives its name from the first word of the versicles, Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae (The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary).

Mary's exultant hymn, the Magnificat, found in Luke 1:46-55, has been part of the Church's Liturgy of the Hours, at Vespers (evening prayer), and has been repeated nightly in churches, convents and monasteries for more than a thousand years.

Happy Annunciation day to you all.

St. Patrick's Day comes full swing:

St. Patrick's Day was terrific. For some of us it actually began Wednesday morning when we gathered in the Parish Hall after Mass for breakfast treats; tables decorated in St. Patrick's Day colors, Irish Soda Bread, cookies, yummmmm.

Thursday, St. Patrick's Day, was brought to a festive end at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Milton where Father Dennis O'Brien (is that an Irish name or what!!!) and the associate Pastor, Father Nicholas Schumm (pronounced O'Schumm one day of the year!), invited the Priests to a special Irish-American Dinner. A great group of priests were able to attend. We began with drinks, a REAL Irish Beer for me, conversation and greetings. We sat for salad served with real Irish Soda Bread (I brought three slices home, but please don't tell). Corned beef and cabbage, of course, right!, potatoes, carrots - ending with a dessert of scoops of ice cream and cookies. Awesome evening.

The pictures below are the ones I have waited since last July to post. Pictures I took at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the real one in Ireland. This visit to this Cathedral and then to be able to stand on the ground he walked on and preached from, was truly moving. I wanna return someday.

Enjoy:

Side view of St. Patrick's Cathedral:

View from the back of the Cathedral:

Memoral Garden:

Carving on the Stone reads:

"Near here is the reputed site of the well where St. Patrick baptized many of the local inhabitants in the 5th century A.D."

Part of the Enclosed area surrounding the Cathedral. Great place to rest:

Enclosure walk area:

St. Patrik's Cathedral:

Irish Clover:

Gettin' Closer!

AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH


May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

And may the wind be ever to your back and
May you be in Heaven a half hour before the devil knows you gone!

O M G !!! Guess what tomorrow is......

Hint Hint

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A Runner's Choice !

Last Saturday morning, March 12, over 11,000 people of all ages gathered at McGuire's Irish Pub for the annual St. Patrick's Day 5k Run.

I was not among them.

Rather, I was participating in a RUN of a different kind.

A Religious Order known as The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration are in the process of building a new Monastery and Chapel in Tonopah, AZ. Their Chapel is now complete.

One of the ways the Nuns have of rainsing funds for their Monastery is sponsoring what they are calling a "Nun Run". This year I joined the Nuns as a "shadow participant" (one who joins in the the run but at a distance).

Below are: Sister Marie St. Paul and Sister Esther Marie



A picture of their newly completed Chapel


Their best and most devoted shadow runner!







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Exclusive.............

The Holy Father has granted my request to retire early for health reasons...
by Bishop John Ricard

My dear friends,
Today, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has granted my request to retire early for health reasons. It is my intention at this time to travel to Washington, D.C. and reside at St. Joseph Seminary, the seminary of my former religious community, the Josephites, and plan to assume the role of spiritual director of seminarians which will provide me a less rigorous ministry within the Church. The Diocese needs the strong and able leadership of its Bishop. Because of the illness I experienced over the last year, my capacity to do so has been diminished. The new Bishop will be named and installed, possibly within two to three months and I am confident that you will extend to him the same love and cooperation you have extended to me over the years. I am profoundly grateful for the love, affection and support that you have extended to me over the years. I have loved being your shepherd. It is my sincere prayer that God will bless you and your families. I ask your prayers for me as I face the future. I am confident that God will guide us, you and I, to where he wishes us to be of greatest service to him, the Church and each other.

Sincerely yours in the Lord,
Bishop Ricard

Pope Benedict XVI accepts Bishop John Ricard's request of resignation

Beginning today, Friday, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami will be the administrator of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee until the Holy Father assigns us a new Bishop.




Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami




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God bless Bishop Ricard.








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Fasting During Lent: what a perspective !

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Lent: in the Words of Pope Benedict XVI

"Today, with the austere symbol of the ashes, we enter the period of Lent, beginning a spiritual journey which prepares for a worthy celebration of the Paschal mysteries. The ashes ... are a sign reminding us of our status as created beings and inviting us to penance, to intensify our commitment to conversion so as to continue following the Lord

"Lent is a journey, it means accompanying Jesus as He travels to Jerusalem, the place where the mystery of His Passion, Death and Resurrection is to be fulfilled. It reminds us that Christian life is a 'road' to be travelled, consisting not so much in a law to be observed as in the person of Christ Himself, Who must be encountered, welcomed and followed.

"It is above all in the liturgy, in participation in the holy mysteries, that we are drawn into following this path with the Lord, ... reliving the events that have led us to salvation; but not as a simple commemoration, a recollection of things past. There is a keyword to indicate this, which is often repeated in the liturgy: the word 'today', which must be understood not metaphorically but in its original concrete sense. Today God reveals His law and we have the opportunity to chose between good and evil, between life and death.

"The first Sunday [of Lent], called the Sunday of temptation because it presents us with the temptation of Jesus in the desert, invites is to renew our definitive choice for God, and courageously to face the struggle that awaits us in remaining faithful to Him. The second Sunday is the Sunday of Abraham and the Transfiguration and, like Abraham, father of believers, we too are invited to depart, to leave our own land, to abandon the certainties we have constructed and place our faith in God. We may glimpse our goal in the transfiguration of Christ, the beloved Son, in Whom we too become 'children of God'.

On the third Sunday we encounter the Samaritan woman. Like Israel in the Exodus, in Baptism we too received the water that saves. Jesus, as He tells the Samaritan woman, has the water of life which satisfies every thirst; this water is His Spirit. ... The fourth Sunday leads us to reflect on the experience of the man 'blind from birth'. In Baptism we are freed from the shades of evil and receive the light of Christ in order to live as children of light. ... Finally, the fifth Sunday presents us with the raising of Lazarus. In Baptism we pass from death to life and become capable of pleasing God, of causing the old man to die so as to live in the spirit of the Risen One.

"On this Lenten journey", the Pope concluded, "let us be attentive to welcoming Christ's invitation to follow Him more decisively and coherently, renewing the grace and commitments of our Baptism, so as to abandon the old man who is in us and clothe ourselves in Christ, thus reaching Easter renewed and being able to say with St. Paul 'it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me'".

Ash Wednesday: You are Dust and unto Dust You will Return

That doleful phrase above describes the content and context of our lives. Dust is our beginning and our end, our alpha and our omega. Dust determines our possibilities in this world and embodies our potential for the next world. On this sacred day, we could do well to contemplate our basic material.

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Dust is next to nothing; raw, crude primary matter. It has no taste, no feel, no past, no future - it simply is. Dust is humble, earthy, with nowhere to go, no way to get there and nothing to do inbetween.

Dust is anonymous, undistinguished, one of trillions of specks of gross material. Dust has no distinguishing characteristics, no unniqueness, no identity, no personality. Dust is all over the place, yet always out of place. It is ignored, disdained, swept up, pushed around, thrown away. Dust is the useless but necessary foundation for everything else.

Today we are signed, sealed, marked, dusted with a Cross. A Cross is a sign of contradiction, both a curse and a blessing, an embnlem of shame and glory, a symbol of defeat and triumph. Its verticle beam connects heaven and earth; its horizontal beam embraces and enfolds the whole world.

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And what does all this mean? What does it matter at all? It means that the Son of God became dust; and it matters because when His crucified dust was transmitted into the gold of glory, our own dust was injected with new possibilities.

The Cross oF ashes is not a decoration, it is a declaration of our determination to mimic the life of Christ, to mime His defenseless position on a Cross.

The Cross of ashes is not merely a sign that we believe in the redemptive value of Christ's death but that we intend to participate in it.

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The Cross of ashes is our profession of faith in the value of suffering, in the worth of perseverance, in the impotence of that imposter death and the invincibility of life everlasting.

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"You are dust and unto dust you shall return."

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Parish Appreciation: 2011 . . . Part I

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Sunday, March 6: 9th Sunday in Ordinary Time

What is the solid foundation on which we adults can do our part in building a better and more faith-full world?
If I want a better world, I must first build a better self. And if I want to build a better self - I must seek first the Kingdom of God.

If I want to build a better self, my first priority is to let God rule over my life.

When I seek first the Kingdom of God, I soon discover that whatever else I may manage to acquire
- wholeness of life
- fulfillment as a human person
- peace of soul
- happiness, if you will

depend absolutely on whether or not I have acquired a loving heart.

"Regarding the debate about faith and works: it's like asking which
blade in a pair of scissors is the most important"
C.S. Lewis

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Mardi Gras off to a good start on Friday Night

especially with the Krew of African Kings.
I was fortunate to ride on their float. Saw many parishioners along the path reaching out for beads and moon pies. Saw a few priests too out there.

Priests' Convocation: 2011 -- A Farewell!

Priests gather for group picture with Bishop Ricard