Dear Family,
Normally March 19th is the feast of Saint Joseph. The great feast day is moved to tomorrow, the 20th, so we can continue on our Lenten journey. May Patrick and Joseph be our guides.

Our gospel story today is about the man born blind and his cure. It is the fourth of the five great Lenten stories, the gospel accounts of

1 - the temptation of Jesus,
2 - the Transfiguration,
3 - the woman at the well,
4 - today’s story of the man born blind, and
5 - the raising of Lazarus from the dead, offer us a basic catechism about Christian living.

Can you pick out a line from those stories to reflect on? For me, I got:

1 - “Get behind me , Satan.”
2 - “Do not be afraid.”
3 - “Give me living water.”
4 - “Go wash in the Pool.”
5 – “Lazarus, come out.”

Dear Family,
It’s hard to believe that tomorrow it will be 10 years! We pray for the Holy Father and his mission, and we give the Lord thanks for his resolution and spiritual leadership.

On a more local level, the Lord surely blessed us with our parish mission. I’ve known Fr. Tom Boyer for many years, but I think I had forgotten just how good a presenter he is. I almost said ‘preacher’ but that doesn’t do him justice. He didn’t speak at us but invited us to walk along with him.

Our heartfelt thanks to Tom for his time with us, and our thanks to the Lord for him. Tom and I were ordained in the same year (1968.) He has “retired” to Naples from Oklahoma, and he regularly celebrates in parishes around Naples. I’m grateful he is open to being persuaded by his ‘friends’ to share some of his accumulated wisdom. He redefines retirement.

Dear Family,
We happily welcome Father Tom Boyer to our par¬ish this week to walk with us on a short parish mission.
Last week Fr. Tom sent us a summary of the shape of the mission. You’ll recall he posed three questions that Matthew’s gospel asks about Jesus:

• Who is Jesus of Nazareth?
• What did he have to say?
• What does he do?

The first talk is on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.
The second and third talks will be on Monday and Tuesday.
The same talk will be offered after 8:30 a.m. Mass (with coffee) in McDonnell Hall
OR 7:00 p.m. in the Main Sanctuary.

It will be refreshing for me to hear someone else at the microphone.

Dear Family,
On the first Sunday of Lent, it might seem odd to head this Twitch with Easter Eggs and the Spring greenery. But really, that’s what Lent is all about. We are starting off on a journey of renewal and our goal is new life, and indeed, eternal life.

On this journey we work to bring new growth to ourselves and to the dry patches around us.

It’s fun to watch the first blossoms on the crepe myrtle around McDonnell Center. It won’t be long before the tabebuia argenta, the japonica, and the poinciana start doing their stuff.

Lent is the time to begin anticipating Easter blooms as well. What growth do you want to see in your spirit?

When you received your ashes last Wednesday, you heard “Repent and believe in the gospel.” Those words tell us how to fertilize that spiritual garden of yours.  Every Lent the gospel reading for the first Sunday is always the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert. On subsequent Sundays we hear the stories of the Transfiguration, the woman at the well, the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus.