by Very Rev. Edward Correia, Pastor

The first reading tells us that Moses went close to a burning bush when he heard God say, "Moses take off your sandals. You are on holy ground.

This beautiful church building is holy ground. This holy ground of this sacred space is to help us make our lives holy ground. The sacrament of Baptism made us holy ground. The purpose of this Lenten journey is to make our lives more holy so that God can be seen by others whom we meet.

I see this merger happening during this season of Lent not as a coincidence but as a "God- incidence". I invite you to make this merger process a part of your internal spiritual journey of Lent.

I invite and encourage all of you to come to a parish meeting on Monday in our church hall. We would like to hear from you. We would like to hear how you are doing. Your comments, sharing, questions, doubts, hopes and fears are welcome.

The Gospel today presents an image of our goal in this merger. A tree that is going to be planted is the image.

The people of St. Anne’s are grieving the closing of their church and grieving loosing their name. Some of them want to move forward. They are going to take a root of their tree and bring it with them. They are going to take some of their holy ground and take it here.

The people of St. Hedwig are giving up a new church that they built only forty-two years ago. They are giving up their name. They are bringing here a root of their tree and ground to mix with our holy ground.

The people of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe are experiencing a third move. They first had Regina Pacis Center on Rivet St. for many years. Ten years ago they moved to their present church on Division St. They are bringing a root of their parish and ground to mix with ours.

Now we need to take these roots and our root and plant in the holy ground of our four parishes. These roots and ground need to be cultivated so that a new tree can grow.

What can possibly be more important than this new tree growing into a strong and vibrant tree that produces much fruit?

What am I holding on to that prevents the tree from growing?