Come Out of the Darkness to a Community of New Life

Whether we are coming from the darkness of the tomb - of Jesus or one of our loved ones - or some other way our lives have grown stagnant, cold or dark, the springtime of our faith has arrived! Our celebration of Easter is far more than just a springtime ritual.  The Resurrection of Jesus Christ we celebrate today offers us an invitation that, if we respond, can have a great impact in our lives. Since Jesus' Resurrection has triumphed even over sin and death, His warm light of life can shine on the other forms of darkness in our lives!
Our Christian faith is more than just a system of values and morals, but a celebration of the fact that God's love for you personally means he wants to walk with you and me through our dark valleys and raise us up again to the hope and strength of new life. This is the heart of our faith that St. Peter proclaims in our first reading this Sunday: Jesus who died and rose again is Lord of life and wants to share his new life and mercy with each of
us - here and now!

Our two parishes of St. Martha and St. Mary are working together as a Collaborative of Parishes to share this new life in new ways. We are more than halfway through the three-year implementation of our collaborative’s Plan, and there has been a lot of progress in all
three of our top priorities. Strengthening and Growing the Sunday Experience began with discussions in the Collaborative Pastoral Council about why we each choose to participate in the Mass, the role of the homily,and what helps the liturgy to be vibrant and engaging.  We recently formed the Sunday Experience Team which is studying and proposing further initiatives to enhance our experience during the Mass as well as the time before and after, building our sense of being a welcoming, compassionate community.

In order for our parishes to be here for us as strong Eucharistic communities well into the future, we need to foster all Christian Vocations and Discernment, Espe-
cially Diocesan Priesthood so there will be priests to serve our parishes. Starting with our 2018 Lenten Mission emphasizing our discerning God’s guidance in each of our lives, bulletin/website columns and homilies have promoted vocations to religious life, ordained ministry, and to marriage and family life. The new Collaborative Vocations Team is currently seeking members who will help to coordinate programs of overall vocation aware
ness, prayer, and invitation.

The most progress so far is the Faith Formation of Adults and Families priority. With adults, we have had a steady flow of parishioners attend the Cursillo retreat weekend, and the ChristLife series of weekly programs has been a huge success, including the initial program “Discovering Christ” which 180 participants have now completed! For families, our collaborative initiated a brand new retreat day for parents and children last Advent, with opportunities to“play, ponder and pray” both with peers and with our families.

These successes, overcoming the practical and financial challenges we face along the way, show the way the Holy Spirit continues to guide and strengthen our collaborative.
May we all make a choice to allow our new life in Christ, begun in baptism and renewed each Easter, to engage us in the real circumstances of our lives. We look forward to you
being an important part of our future in St. Martha Parish and St. Mary Parish - a future filled with Resurrection hope!