At our last Holy Spirit Encounter night, the staff had a strong feeling to step out in faith and try something new.  We wanted to be able to minister and provide healing for everyone who came. That might include physical or inner healing, that might include asking for more of the Holy Spirit, or simply praying a blessing on them or for a difficult situation.  We set aside time to pray as a staff and ask for the Lord’s guidance, and we were given scripture verses to focus on, words of knowledge on how the God wanted to break chains of darkness, and bring freedom and healing. We felt confident that the Lord wanted to heal people and that we should be bold and go into the night with expectant faith.  Faith always proceeds healing, and sometimes the Lord wants us to step out in faith and ask for healing. In physical healing, it’s in testing it out, moving an arm around to see if it has been healed that the healing occurs. So instead of only having the option of individual prayer at the end of the service as we have done in the past, we introduced group prayer at our last service.    

No one is required to stand up or raise their hand for the group prayer, but it can be a very powerful experience.  Standing back and watching the community come together and be willing to pray with people was an amazing sight to see.  I have never been apart of something like that before and it was truly moving! For those who are more comfortable with individual prayer, they had an opportunity to come and receive one on one prayer with our prayer teams.

Joyce Feldpausch has been to a handful of healing masses at a few different parishes, but never had attended one organized like the last at MHT.   She shared with us her experience:
“Jared and I had brought our 6 year old daughter with us, which made it unique to begin with. On top of that, the service was laid out with a strong community of prayer time that made us feel comforted. It was set up in such a way that at first made me feel a little apprehensive, but it became a very powerful experience.  Father Dennis called out each ailment and asked that anyone experiencing it and seeking prayers, would please raise their hand. The rest of the people were then encouraged to physically move out of their seat and find a raised hand, extend their own hand, and pray with Father over them. It was humbling to reveal our own pleas to God, and also really wonderful to see our daughter witness a strong community of people praying for her, as well as to know others were going through similar struggles. It brought us both to tears bringing her around to different hurting and broken people. Teaching her that she can be a part of God's healing love just by extending her hand in prayer was so eye-opening for us.”

We had a gentleman that received healing in his knee during the group prayer time.  We asked anyone with leg, knee, or foot pain to raise their hand. Gerry Davis put his hand up and people around him went over and prayed over him.  After being prayed with his knee was significantly better and came forward to testify to his healing. It was amazing! “My knee is better since being prayed over at the last Holy Spirit encounter.  I give all the credit to our God and am thankful for His great love for us. I look forward to the next Holy Spirit encounter to see God’s great work for us.”

One person came up to the prayer team who needed their white blood count to go up in order to be able to have a needed surgery next week.  After being prayed with the blood count level went up and was within the allowable range. Many people that came for prayer left with more peace or experiencing God’s love.  Jesus desires to heal and restore, he does all the real work, we just
share God’s love with the person we are praying with.  As we’ve been praying for the Holy Spirit Encounter night on January 27 we have a sense that the Lord really wants to pour out his love and grace.  God in his goodness wants to shower his children with blessings, we just need to open ourselves up to receive it.

God Bless,
Andrea

​

Dear brothers and sister in Christ,

Sometimes pro-lifers are accused of being only concerned about saving babies, as if that isn’t something worthy of our time, but the point of those who say this is meant to infer that we are only concerned about the baby and not the mother or any other issues of justice.  In fact, this could not be further from the truth.

​The Catholic Church’s teaching is that all life is previous and of value…. No exceptions.  We are concerned not only for the unborn child, but also for the mother and family and all those whose dignity is being undermined.  This means we are concerned with justice for workers, for those in bondage to human trafficking, for the refugee, the unborn child, the elderly person in the nursing home who is being abused or taken advantage of, for the respect and dignity of all life.

BUT we must also recognize that if we cannot guarantee the right to the life of the unborn child in the womb, then the truth is, all life is then vulnerable.  Is this not what we have seen in the decades since Roe vs Wade, a slow erosion of the rights of every human person?   Let’s not fool ourselves.  If the most vulnerable have no rights, then who decided which of us have rights?  We have seen this throughout history:  the Nazi scourge, the evil of Communism, the unbridled greed in the West among those who would trample human rights so as to have money and power, those who through history are willing to exploit others for personal gain.

Pope Francis writes:
“All life has inestimable value even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.”  Pope Francis  (Message to Catholics taking part in annual Day for Life in Britain and Ireland July 28, 2013)

Statistics tell us that over 50 million children have been aborted (murdered) since 1973 and about 126,000 occur every day worldwide.  In 1869, One of the earliest feminists, Susan B. Anthony, said:  “I deplore the horrible crime of child murder. No matter what the motive-love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent-the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.” 

The principal of  our secular culture has become the law of convenience.  We cherish the rights of others until those rights interfere with his infinite capacity for self-interest. Today, it is convenient for many to dismiss a fetus as something only partially human, just as it was convenient two centuries ago for plantation owners to dismiss blacks as merely three-fifths of a person. Measuring human life by race or by usefulness, or convenience is the blindspot of modern culture. 

Let us not deceive ourselves, we are not just in a political battle, but THE battle for our souls.  The future lies within our hands – hands that not only work to save the unborn, but also clasp together in prayer.  Satan and the forces of darkness are behind this evil of abortion and all offences to the dignity of human persons. 
We await the day when “all men are created equal” is truly the law of our land.

​Fr. Dennis

​State of the Parish
 
 
“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;  there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.  To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.”                                               1 Corinthians 12:4-11
 
 
Dear parishioners of Most Holy Trinity,
 
I want to take this opportunity to share with you how our parish has been doing this last year and give you a sense of what is to come.
 
From my perspective, I feel that the Scripture I quoted above from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians really speaks to what I see happening this past year.  I have always said that I believe that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, both ordinary and extraordinary are present here in our parish. I feel that I have been watching the Holy Spirit do this work here in our community of faith.  Not that we have “arrived” or that all the gifts have been recognized and nurtured, but rather, that the Holy Spirit is leading us. I see this through the Encounter Evenings with the Holy Spirit, our Adult Retreats, our Healing Services, our continuing work of Formation and Evangelization, our Youth Ministry and Catechesis and School.
 
Among a couple of notable examples, the Grade 8 Retreat and the High School Retreat this past fall were both really powerful times. The Lord really manifested His love and His power.
 
I see more and more people stepping up to help in all our ministry endeavors. We are always looking for more people who are willing to step up, but as we develop our parish ministries, I believe more people will sense the call to serve.
 
It’s important for us to remember why we’re doing all this.  Because God wants His Church to rise up in this time and culture, which seems to be moving away from Him and be the witnesses that the Lord has called us to be by our baptism.
 
There is a spiritual battle going on in our world.  As I mentioned in my homily for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, quoting St. Pope Paul VI’s pastoral exhortation on Christian Joy, speaking about our world that is more and more pushing God to the side the Holy Fathers says: “The meaning of life escapes him, that he is no longer sure of himself or of his transcendent calling and destiny. He has desacralized the universe and now he is desacralizing humanity; he has at times cut the vital link that joined him to God.” I believe that is why God is raising up a generation to respond to the call to evangelize and transform our culture.
 
Regarding Sacraments, one of the signs of life in our parish, this past year we had: 25 baptisms, 12 weddings, 20 first communions, 34 confirmations, and 12 funerals. We had also 2 catechumens in the RCIA.  We have 3 young men in the seminary and others discerning. We have several young women in religious life, which is uncommon these days. One of the signs St. John Paul II spoke and wrote frequently to young people. “Young people have you ever thought of committing your existence totally to Christ?  Do you think that anything can be greater than to bring Jesus to people and people to Jesus?”
 
Just a few weeks ago we published our financial statement online, and you can access this through our website. If you do not have internet service, please call the parish office and we can provide you with a printed copy.  In terms of our overall financial picture, things are going well. We were a little nervous to see how the success of Witness to Hope (WTH) would affect us over the past year.  Our fund balance continues to increase. Our Sunday collections took a slight dip over the last year, but that could be expected with influence of WTH. We have received just over half of the pledged money for WTH. This will continue to come in as pledges are paid over the remaining three and a half years of the five year campaign. We all saw the first fruits this summer when we redid the parking lot. This coming summer we hope to renovate the parish offices. We are also working with the committee to put together plans for the Activity Center.
 
Again I want to thank all our parishioners who are giving of their time, talents and finances to our parish.  The Church faces many challenges in our world today.  But I am convinced that with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can meet these challenges. I pray that we will continue to partner with all our brothers and sisters  so that the Gospel can be proclaimed to all.
 
God bless,
Fr. Dennis Howard
Pastor