Fr. Todd 3/8/26

Dear Sacred Heart and St. Mary on the Lake,

                 I am very happy to welcome Fr. Matthew Bonk this weekend.  We parish-swapped for the weekend—I am up in Flint covering his parishes so he can be with us to celebrate Mass and invite everyone to the Lenten mission each evening Sunday-Tuesday.  A reminder that Fr. Matthew is also going to be celebrating a bonus Mass followed by breakfast, with a time for Q & A on Monday morning at St. Mary on the Lake, at 9:30.  His priesthood has had him serving in many places before coming back home to the Lansing Diocese and he has lots of great stories. 

Up in Flint I will be staying with Fr. Daniel LaCroix who is Fr. Matthew’s associate pastor.  Fr. Dan spent a lot of time at our parishes as a seminarian and I am looking forward to catching up with him.  Afterwards I will be visiting my sister and her family (8 nieces and nephews) up in Birch Run.  I will be back for the Monday and Tuesday evening sessions.  On Monday evening when confessions are offered Fr. Matthew, Fr. Paul, and I will be available. 

The particular focus of the Mission is on the Holy Spirit.  We all want to be more attentive to the presence of God in our lives, to be open to how He wants us to move.  Such is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Directing us, guiding us, encouraging us, bringing us to the right place at the right time and giving us the right words when we need them.  This will be a great Mission asking for a further outpouring of His Spirit into our lives.

Youth Pilgrimage to Solanus Casey Center: Saturday, April 18^th, we will be having a Youth Pilgrimage to the Solanus Casey Center.  We will be leaving Hudson at 8am, and upon arrival have a tour and celebrate a private Mass together.  Fr. Solanus was a simple, holy priest who, as the doorkeeper at St. Bonaventure’s Monastery, met and prayed with thousands of people during his lifetime.  Many, many miracles took place during those times of prayer.  It is a powerful experience to be able to pray at his tomb.  Afterwards, we will have lunch at the original Buddy’s Pizza—the birth place of Detroit style pizza.  You can contact Angela Czeiszperger aczeiszp@gmail.com if you are interested in coming.  I hope you can come—It will be a great trip!

A couple of weeks ago we had a school Mass where we were talking about the importance of not carrying anger against others in our hearts.  When I asked the kids what we should do, one of our kindergarteners had a great answer. She said “we should pray, asking Jesus to take the meanness right out of our hearts.”  I loved that answer and have been thinking about it ever since.  Here is Matthew 18:3 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  The simplicity of it, the directness of it, the trust of it.    That, when we encounter meanness in our hearts, we shouldn’t get all that bent out of shape.  Just ask Jesus to take it out.  One of the graces of Lent is that it can, at times, uncover anger and meanness in our hearts that we are carrying but hadn’t been aware of.  If that is the case just ask the Lord to take it out!

God Bless, Fr. Todd