FROM THE DESK OF THE PASTOR
From the Desk of the Pastor October 23, 2026
AT ST JUDE THIS WEEKEND -THE FEAST OF SAINT JUDE
This Sunday at all the masses St. Jude celebrates its patronal feast. We give thanks to God for such a good heavenly patron and once again ask his help. It is a wonderful opportunity to marvel at all God has done at St. Jude in the past 47 years in and through its parishioners. God has indeed blessed us. I am so grateful to God for all the many generations of parishioners who have shared their faith, nurtured a culture of service, and offered so generously their time, talent, and treasure to make St. Jude what it is today. Heartfelt thanks to you all! Let us celebrate! Please join us in celebrating St. Jude at all the Masses (at St. Jude) and for the International Potluck after the 11AM Mass to continue the celebration. In addition, at the 5 pm Mass, Bishop Schuster will be filling in for Fr Raphael and will offer Mass for the Feast. St. Jude… pray for us!
AT ST ANTHONY THIS WEEKEND—OUR ANNUAL ITALIAN DINNER AND LISTENING SESSION- WHO DOES GOD WANT US TO BECOME?
Saturday night, after the 5 pm Mass, St Anthony in Carnation will have its Annual Italian Dinner, afterwards we will have our first of our second round of Partners in the Gospel listening sessions. This round focuses on asking the Holy Spirit to guide us as we come together as one parish. We ask, “Who does God want us to become?” What is the vision God has for us, and what are the pastoral directions the Lord wants us to take. Please join us.
POPE LEO HAD A SUCCESSFUL SURGERY AND GAVE THE GENERAL AUDIENCE LAST WEDNESDAY.
We rejoice in Pope Leo’s successful lung surgery and recovery. He received a clean bill of health this past week and gave the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square. We thank God and ask the Lord to continue to help him recover and return fully to his duties.
Here is an excerpt of the catechesis Pope Leo gave at that Audience on Vatican II:
The first thing I would like to say is thank you!. Thank you for the support of your prayers. Thanks be to God for His generosity. Let us all renew our trust in God’s goodness and mercy. The pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (GS) of the Second Vatican Council, having illustrated in the first part the dignity of the person and his or her vocation in the world, goes on to consider, in the second part, “in the light of the Gospel and of human experience”, some of the most pressing contemporary issues (cf. GS, 46). It focuses primarily on marriage and the family, in the conviction that “the well-being of the individual and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family” (GS, 47).
To this end, it does not merely reaffirm their values and aims but proposes a renewed conception of marriage as an “intimate partnership of married life and love” (GS, 48). By incorporating the legal dimension of marriage as a contract, the foundation of this union is recognized in the “conjugal covenant”, understood as the “human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each another” (ibid.). The mutual self-giving of man and woman, such that ‘they are no longer two but one flesh’ (Mt 19:6), underlies the requirement for “total fidelity” and the “unbreakable oneness” of the spouses, finding vivid expression in the procreation and upbringing of children (cf. GS, 48). As a reflection of the Divine Trinity, conjugal and parental love, through the Sacrament of Marriage, is “governed and enriched by Christ’s redeeming power”, so that spouses may love one another “just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf” (ibid.).
Having shed light on the reality of marriage in the light of Christ’s love, which is the truth of both human and divine love, Gaudium et Spes turns its attention to conjugal love and marital fruitfulness. Not limited to erotic attraction, which it nonetheless encompasses, conjugal love involves the entire will of the spouses, enlivening the affections of their hearts and expressing itself through sentiments and gestures of tenderness (cf. GS, 49). Embracing the good of the whole person of both man and woman, who are equal in dignity, this love pervades the entire life of the spouses, finding expression in acts proper exclusively to marriage (cf. ibid.). Whilst signifying integral love from person to person, the unique intimacy between the spouses fosters their mutual self-giving and enriches their shared joy (cf. ibid.). Furthermore, the fruitfulness of conjugal love is expressed in the procreation of children, “the supreme gift of marriage” (GS, 50). By transmitting and educating human life, which must never be rejected, spouses become “cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love” (ibid.). … The teaching of Gaudium et Spes on the conjugal and family community thus goes on to highlight the social function of the family, defined as “a school of deeper humanity” and “the foundation of society” (GS, 52)…
Dear friends, this task is more urgent than ever before. May the Holy Family of Nazareth enlighten us on our journey and protect families throughout the world.
POPE LEO XIV
Blessings on your week!
Fr Johnson
