We know that everyone has a birthday. The Bible doesn’t say anything about Mary’s birth, but we know that she was born. Like all parents, Mary’s parents—we call them Joachim and Ann—probably took one look at their newborn daughter and knew that she was special.

Joachim and Ann loved God very much, and they were filled with gratitude to God for the gift of a child. They raised Mary as a child of God, teaching her to love and serve God. (Read more…)

The drunken oath of a king with a shallow sense of honor, a seductive dance and the hateful heart of a queen combined to bring about the martyrdom of John the Baptist. The greatest of prophets suffered the fate of so many Old Testament prophets before him: rejection and martyrdom. The “voice crying in the desert” did not hesitate to accuse the guilty, did not hesitate to speak the truth. But why? What possesses a man that he would give up his very life? (Read more…)

Pope Pius XII established this feast in 1954. But Mary’s queenship has roots in Scripture. At the Annunciation, Gabriel announced that Mary’s Son would receive the throne of David and rule forever. At the Visitation, Elizabeth calls Mary “mother of my Lord.” As in all the mysteries of Mary’s life, she is closely associated with Jesus: Her queenship is a share in Jesus’ kingship. We can also recall that in the Old Testament the mother of the king has great influence in court. (Read more…)

The church has always held to the belief that Mary was assumed, body and soul, into a heavenly state, even though the belief was not declared as dogmatic until 1950. The early church had a robust tradition of revering relics from the saints of the day, and their complete lack of relics from the Mother of Jesus was seen as evidence of this Marian belief. The celebration of the event as a feast dates back to the fourth century in the East and the seventh century in the West. (Read more…)

The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament when Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant in glory upon Mount Tabor. The Gospels (Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, and Luke 9:28–36) describe it, and the Second Epistle of Peter also refers to it (2 Peter 1:16–18). It has also been hypothesized that the first chapter of the Gospel of John alludes to it (John 1:14).

In these accounts, Jesus and three of his apostles, Peter, James, and John, go to a mountain (the Mount of Transfiguration) to pray. (Read more…)

This Friday, August 3rd and every first Friday of the month, our St. Catherine of Siena Parish, with unrestrained joy, celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ during the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We begin at 3pm and end with Benediction at 7pm at the Parish Center.

A great part of our parish’s vitality is the adoration of our Eucharistic Lord. How many graces have come from that Adoration! Of course what makes it possible are the people who commit to spending one hour a month with our Lord. (Read more…)