Did you know that all ladies of the parish are members of St. Mary’s CCW?
All ladies are invited to attend St. Mary’s CCW meeting on Saturday, March 21, in St. Joseph Hall. Breakfast will be at 8:30 – meeting begins at 9.
Over the years many women from the parish have been very active in raising money for the parish. We are in need of some new people to begin attending the meetings and help us plan and implement some of these fundraisers. We need your help. Maybe God is calling you to volunteer!
One of the great moral and spiritual problems of our day is that people do not see reality for what it is.
In the Gospel tonight, Jesus says to those who believe they see clearly:
“You say you see, but your sin remains.”
Or to put it another way:
“You think you see, and your blindness remains.”
But not so for the man born blind.
Jesus comes to him as the light of the world. Jesus restores his physical sight, and he is now able to see reality in a whole new way through faith in Jesus Christ.
Seeing reality through the eyes of faith in Jesus Christ is a fundamental part of our vocation — our call to holiness. It defines how we are to see the world: through the eyes of faith.
If we think that this is just poetic talk or some kind of abstract thinking, all we need to do is look at salvation history and see how hard God has worked throughout human history to present to us — and call us — to see the world through the eyes of faith.
Go back to the Bronze Age, about 3,500 years ago, to around the year 1500 BC, when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for the Israelites.
Why did God do that?
To give the Israelites a new reality to live by.
In the Bible, it is called a covenant. We can think of it as a new way of living: a righteous relationship with God and a just relationship with one another.
The Israelites were called to see this new reality and to live in it by following the Ten Commandments.
God told them:
“If you follow these commandments, it will go well for you. If you do not, it will not go well for you.”
And as we know from reading the Bible, it did not always go well for the Israelites, because they often rejected this new reality.
When they rejected it, they were unfaithful to God.
So God sent the prophets — men called to remind the people to return to the covenant and to live again in that right relationship with God.
Then Jesus came on the scene.
Jesus — God incarnate, God with us — gave His disciples and followers a new reality.
What was that new reality?
It was the Kingdom of God.
A kingdom with new rules, new commandments, and new ways of living — including Jesus’ law of love:
Love your enemies
Forgive others
Practice radical humility
Learn to suffer well
Live the Beatitudes
Perform the corporal works of mercy
This was the new covenant the disciples were called to live in.
And they did.
After Pentecost they became apostles, and they went out into the Roman Empire sharing our Lord’s vision — His kingdom vision for the world.
In sharing that vision, eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred.
After the apostles came the Church Fathers, the martyrs, and the saints of the Church. They understood this new reality — this covenant — and they saw the world through the eyes of faith.
Because they saw the world through the eyes of faith in Jesus Christ, they were able to do wonderful, beautiful, powerful, and unique things.
Just look at the lives of the saints.
From the very beginning we see that God has taken great pains to give us this beautiful reality in which to live.
Just as He gave the Israelites a new reality so they would grow into a holy nation and reflect God’s glory to the world, so too this is part of our vocation.
We are called to live in our Lord’s grace and friendship, to see the world through the eyes of faith, so that Christ becomes our way, our truth, and our life.
When we grow in friendship with Him, we begin to reflect God’s glory to the rest of the world.
This is not complicated.
But it begins with our worldview — our vision.
Do we understand that this is our call?
Not to live in the darkness of sin that can so easily blind us, but to look to Jesus as our way, our truth, and our life, so that we may share His vision for the world.
Today we celebrate Laetare Sunday, which means to rejoice.
So let us praise the Lord.
For Jesus is our way, our truth, and our life.
Let us ask the Lord to help us not only see this, but also to understand it and to live it in our everyday lives.
Let us pray that the Lord will grant us 20/20 spiritual vision so that we may navigate His kingdom here on earth.
And in the end, by the grace of His Word and Sacrament, may we always be protected from the blindness that comes from sin.
📚 Visit our Homily Library to download or read past homilies.
Men of the Diocese, you are warmly invited to join us for the 2026 Men’s Conference! Steadfast in Mercy 2026 Diocesan Men’s Conference Saturday, April 18th 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Diocesan Center
Due to severe weather predictions, the service scheduled for March 16th has been rescheduled on March 23rd at 7:00 PM Holy Spirit, 300 W Pine St, Palmyra
St Paul the Apostle, 125 Spruce St, Annville Thurs, March 19th. 7:00 pm
Mary Gate of Heaven, Myerstown Tuesday, March 31st. 6:30
It’s very safe to give online, (I did ) quick and easy. You will be able to designate which parish you belong to when you donate. Thank you! God bless!
Please join in praying for the priests of the Diocese of Harrisburg.
Each day is assigned to specific priests. May we lift them up in gratitude, encouragement, and prayer as they serve Christ and His Church so faithfully.
Each day, let us keep our pastor, Father Bob Gillelan and Deacon Wentzel in our prayers as well.
“Lord Jesus, Eternal High Priest, bless and strengthen our priests.”
THIS CAN BE USED NOW. OR ANY MONTH DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT SAYS MARCH.
Every Friday during Lent. Beginning February 20th ….7:00 PM
📍 Our Lady of Fatima & St. Mary’s
Lent invites us to slow down and walk more closely with Christ.
Attending the Stations of the Cross is a treasured Catholic tradition — a spiritual mini-pilgrimage to Calvary. As we move from station to station, we reflect on the suffering and love of Jesus in His final hours.
