FEBRUARY 6, 2022

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6

5TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

World Day for Consecrated Life is celebrated in parishes over the weekend of February 5-6, 2022. Please pray for all those who have made commitments in the consecrated life, and be sure to thank them on their special day. In a special way, let us pray:

• for the Sisters of the Holy Cross and their outreach to young children based at St. Mary’s through Holy Cross Ministry’s School Readiness Program,
  
  
• for the Carmelites of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Holladay, Utah, who make the hosts used at all our Masses,
  
  
• for the Dominican priests at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center in Salt Lake City,
  
  
• and all the many consecrated men and women who have served in the Wasatch Back over the years,
  
  

May they continue to be inspired by Jesus Christ and respond generously to God’s gift of their vocation

The practice of our faith is entirely based in Scripture, and both our Sacraments and Scripture give us a glimpse of the heavenly Kingdom of God. In today’s first reading, Isaiah receives a vision of the heavenly temple in which the Seraphim sing out, “Holy, Lord God of Hosts!” Isaiah recognizes God on His throne, examines his conscience, and has an ember from the altar taken and placed on his lips, which motivates him to go out and share God’s message. This is a clear prefiguring of the Mass, which itself is a model of the heavenly banquet. Our understanding of the faith is fortified in the second reading, where St. Paul recites what is possibly the very first Christian creed, and it is virtually unchanged to the present day. The Gospel, though, contains a message we must take to heart: we are like fish in a sea being gathered up by the fishermen called by God. The best way we can get a glimpse of God and His Kingdom is through the Sacraments of the Church, and our access to the Sacraments are only possible through the flourishing of vocations. We need to be caught by the fishermen in order to be placed before God.

Family activity to do at home: Parents, consider doing something with your children this week that will reinforce the idea of doing everything in our lives with the intent of glorifying God. If we can find God in the work we do, He will guide us and protect us as we search for our callings in life. Urge your children from an early age to pray that they may find their true vocation and carry it out faithfully. Read more.

UPCOMING EVENTS

National Marriage Week Celebration

You are invited to celebrate National Marriage Week! The observances of National Marriage Week (Feb 7-14) and World Marriage Day (Sunday, Feb. 13th) are an opportunity to focus on building a culture of life and love that begins with supporting and promoting marriage and the family.

The Family Life Office will be hosting a Diocesan Marriage Celebration Mass with Bishop Oscar Solis and an enrichment on February 11th beginning at 6:00pm at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church in Holladay. Following the Mass, Deacon Scott Dodge and his wife Holly will discuss their marriage in a talk named after the theme, Called to the Joy of Love.

Additionally, this year the Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life, & Youth will be hosting live-streamed events via the For Your Marriage Facebook Page.

Please register for the event online by visiting: DIOSLC.ORG/EVENTS/70.

"WALKING TOGETHER" LISTENING SESSIONS | EVERY SATURDAY IN LENT (EXCEPT MARCH 12)

SYNOD OF BISHOPS | AFTER 5:30 PM MASS

You are invited to participate in the Synod of Bishops, “Walking Together.” St. Mary’s Church will be hosting three parish listening sessions to hear the sentiments, views, and concerns of the community.

Participation in the Synod of Bishops is an invitation to the people of God to discover where we have been, where we are, and where we would like to go as a Church. Past experiences have formed us, and sometimes have had very powerful positive or negative consequences that affect our relationship with God and one another.

Current expressions of our faith (or lack of faith), relationships to God and neighbor, worship, sense of mission, present challenges, joys, and local realities shape the activity, prayer, and spirituality of the Body of Christ. The future beholds our aspirations and dreams. Your participation in the Synod of Bishops will give valuable input to the bishops and Church at large.

The theme of the Synod is “Communion, Mission, Participation.” If we keep in mind that working for these three aspects to be strengthened through listening first, we will learn more about the greater reality of our lives together and help us journey together as a Church in taking positive steps forward in faithfulness.

All are invited and one does not need to be a Catholic to participate.