Pastor’s Corner

Dear Sacred Heart Family,

What does it mean to scandalize?  The root word is to cause a stumbling block for others. The Roman army used to leave massive rocks and boulders in the roads and pathways of their enemies. This was to make it difficult for their opponents to make progress on their pathway and slow them on the way to victory. 

When a person causes scandal, the sin is that they make it harder for others to come closer to Jesus and His Love.  God will hold all accountable, especially those of us who lead in the Church, accountable for this sin.  More than ever, it is clear what the Lord meant about the sin of scandal, and making it hard for little ones to come to the Lord. The crisis and abuse that the Faithful are living through in this era give countless souls stumbling blocks and obstacles to those, especially God’s living ones, who should have a clear path to the goodness of God.

These terrible scandals and these powerful readings this Sunday come in that midst of three powerful Feasts: the Archangels on the 29th, Saint Therese on October 1st, and the Holy Guardian Angels on the 2nd. These are feasts of the Guardians of the small and weak. The Little have power in God’s Sacred Heart, and the powerful are brought to justice by God’s Providence. As the purification of the Church continues to unfold, I pray that these heavenly warriors—the Angels, the Archangels, Saint Therese, and countless others—intercede for our parish community. May we stay close to the Lord in the Eucharist, may we stay free from stumbling blocks, and may these powerful Intercessors protect us from all harm and purify us from all that could harm us.

In Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart,
Fr. Bjorn Lundberg,
Pastor