A Note from Fr. Dan

Spiritual Checkup

Dear Parish Family,

Most of us take time to get our annual physical; dental checkups and cleanings, and eye exams; I thought that this would be an appropriate time to focus on our Spiritual Life,with a Spiritual Check up.

Lent and Advent are the ‘usual’ times that we focus specifically on our Spiritual Lives, but when these are over, the passing of time and the business of life can get in the way of our prayer resolutions and time for our spiritual life.

Some questions for individual consideration:

Do I pray daily:  not just when I need or want something, or in a time of crisis, but do I take the time every day to praise God and thank Him for the many gifts and blessings He has given to me?

Do I regularly celebrate the Sacraments:  Mass every Sunday and Holy and regular Confession (If I can’t recall the last time I went to Confession, then it has been too long)

Do I use my gifts and talents to help the Parish Family and those less fortunate than I?

Some questions for families:

Do we, as a family, pray together?  Say grace before meals?  Do my children see me pray, or know that I do pray?

Do we make it a priority to go to Mass together, go to Confession together, pray together before the children, and when we go to bed for the night?

Come to Adoration and/or Benediction as a family?

Have we considered praying the Rosary together as a family?

Maybe read a passage of Scripture daily and discuss it as a family?

Talked together about Mass and the homily?

Some questions about our environment:

Would someone entering my house know that it is a Catholic household?

Do we have a Crucefix prominently displayed?

Pictures of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart?

Statue of  our and our children’s patron saint?

Do we own and use a Catholic Bible?

These are just a few suggestions that I offer to help us, our families and our parish stay truly connected to our Catholic faith in the midst of so much turmoil, secularism and anti-religious bias.

God Bless, Fr. Dan