From the Pastor's Desk - April 4, 2025

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,

I’ve been thinking recently about the phrase, “You have nothing to lose.” We hesitate to take risks or advance in a certain direction if we feel like we have a lot on the line or a lot to lose. St. Paul writes in this Sunday’s second reading, “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” In essence, St. Paul says, “because of Christ, I have already lost everything; I have nothing to lose.” Rather than being a sad state of affairs, he has gained everything in gaining Christ. One of the beatitudes is “Blessed are the poor in the spirit, for the Kingdom of heaven is theirs.” The poor in spirit are those, like St. Paul, who have nothing to lose, because they have gained everything in Christ. The poor in spirit, then, are the most free people of all. They don’t have the same anxieties about loss and gain, because that calculating way of life has been overcome in Christ.

How constrained many of us are because of fear of loss—loss of possessions, respect, health, relationships, employment, power, time, etc. The one who possesses much in this world but who does not possess Christ, lives in a state of fear. He could lose everything tomorrow. But the one who possesses Christ has gained everything that is worth gaining: salvation, mercy, love, security, identity, joy, life. Would that these last two weeks before Easter find us dispossessing ourselves of everything that we have that is unrelated to Christ!

Please note the change in Mass schedule for next week on Palm Sunday. Instead of Spanish Masses at 10:30am, 12:00pm and 1:30pm, there will be two Spanish Masses at 11:00am (church and school gym) and two Spanish Masses at 1:00pm (church and school gym). Also, on Easter Sunday we will not have the afternoon Masses at 5:00pm in English or 6:30pm in Spanish.

Lastly, I invite you to our trilingual Living Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at 12:00pm. The Stations will begin on Fr. Meyer Field and conclude in the church with a 3:00pm praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

In Christ,

P. Dave