From the Pastor's Desk - July 12, 2025

Dear St. Martin’s Parishioners,

Last week I had the great joy of preaching the Mass where Sr. Providencia professed her perpetual vows as a religious Sister of the Dominicans of Fatima. It was a blessing to be with the many sisters who have served at St. Martin’s over the years: Sr. Ester, Maristela, Judith, Mariana, Yelitza, Maria Belen, and some who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time.

In addition to her habit, Sr. Providencia wore a simple crown of thorns at the Mass. The crown has multiple meanings. One is the royal dignity of a bride of Christ. When one is wedded to Christ as a religious sister, she become a spouse of Christ the King. She shares in a royal dignity that Adam and Eve forfeited through their disobedience and which was restored to us in Christ. The crown of thorns also symbolizes a deeper conformity to the suffering Christ. St. Paul wrote, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). In another place he proclaims, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). In baptism, we die with Christ, so as to rise with him to new life. The crown expresses the shape of life that Sr. Providencia (and all of us, through baptism) have taken on. It expresses the disdain for the world and its passing attractions—the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life—that Sr. Providencia manifested through vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. In this life, it is through sacrificial love and dying to one’s unredeemed self that one achieves true greatness. There is no other road than the one Christ revealed to us through his Cross and Resurrection. I am thankful for the gift of total surrender to Christ in love that is the principal mark of religious life. Although hidden to the world, these religious sisters and brothers are the ones whose glory will be fully revealed in heaven. Their crowns of thorns will be marvelously transformed into glorious royal crowns far surpassing any earthly honor or treasure. “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8).

Please welcome with open hearts Fr. James Fangmeyer, who joins our parish family as an associate pastor. Although he is a Good Counsel graduate (and not DeMatha, like yours truly), I am confident he will be a blessing to our community.

In Christ,

Fr. Dave