We are progressing through our Lenten journey as we accompany Jesus on his way of the cross. I have enjoyed praying the stations of the cross and celebrating Mass with our community here at Holy Savior on Fridays during Lent. I enjoy the different stations of the cross we have been using. I normally go out to the state prison in Pearl on Friday evenings, but it is important for me to be with all of you on Fridays during Lent. I am also thankful for the Knights of Columbus and Melina and her crew of ladies who have provided us wonderful Lenten meals after the stations. Our Lenten sense of community is an important part of our Catholic faith and it is important in our preparation for the paschal festivities of the Easter season. Blessings to all you on our Lenten journey of faith. Father Lincoln.
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Monday, March 9, 2026
22 March 2026 - prayers of the faithful for the 5th Sunday of Lent - prison ministry
Priest: Penitential Rite:
Lord Jesus - you are the resurrection and the life.
Christ Jesus - you raised Lazarus from the dead.
Lord Jesus - you are the Messiah, the son of God.
Priest: As we continue to accompany Jesus during these 40 days of Lent, we present our prayers today with faithful and humble hearts:
1. We pray for our Church leaders and our elected governmental officials. May they lead their people in wisdom and in justice. We pray to the Lord.
2. For the leaders of our Catholic community of St Michael the Archangel. For all who serve in different ministries in our community. May the Holy Spirit lead them and guide them. We pray to the Lord.
3. For Catholic Charities and all Catholic outreach organizations that bring God’s love and compassion to those in need through works of mercy. We pray to the Lord.
4. For those in our community who are preparing for entry into the Church. May the Lord lead them and guide them through their Lenten journey. We pray to the Lord.
5. For our deceased family members and loved ones. For their entry into eternal life. We pray to the Lord.
6. For those who are searching for the truth of God in their lives. For those who are separated or estranged from the Church. For those who are wanting a more profound relationship with God. We pray to the Lord.
7. For our Catholic community, that by observing our Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and working of mercy, we will come to the celebration of Easter with hearts and minds renewed. We pray to the Lord.
8. For peace in the world. Especially in the Middle East and Ukraine. We pray to the Lord.
9. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. We pray to the Lord.
Priest: Heavenly Father, you meet us in our reality and, in our sufferings and challenges, you call us to new life. We present our prayers to you today through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN.
22 March 2026 - prayers of the faithful for the 5th Sunday of Lent
Introduction: As we hear the Gospel reading today of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, we are called to believe that God can bring new life out of death. Our catechumens will undertake their last scrutiny this weekend at our Sunday morning Mass. We pray for all of us to have perseverance and strength on our journey of faith during these last couple of weeks on our journey with Jesus through the desert of Lent.
Priest: Penitential Rite:
Lord Jesus - you are the resurrection and the life.
Christ Jesus - you raised Lazarus from the dead.
Lord Jesus - you are the Messiah, the son of God.
Priest: As we continue to accompany Jesus during these 40 days of Lent, we present our prayers today with faithful and humble hearts:
1. We pray for our Church leaders and for our elected governmental officials. May they lead their people in wisdom and in justice. We pray to the Lord.
2. For our catechists and our teachers of religious education. For godparents and evangelizers. May the Holy Spirit guide them in teaching others about the faith. We pray to the Lord.
3. For Catholic Charities and organizations who bring God’s love and compassion to those in need through works of mercy. We pray to the Lord.
4. For those adults preparing for entry into the Church at the Easter Vigil Mass. For our children and youth preparing for the Easter sacraments. May the Lord lead them and guide them through their Lenten journey. We pray to the Lord.
5. For our deceased family members and loved ones. For their entry into eternal life. We pray to the Lord.
6. For those who are searching for the truth of God in their lives. For those who are separated or estranged from the Church. For those who are wanting a more profound relationship with God. We pray to the Lord.
7. For our parish community, that by observing our Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and works of mercy, we will come to the celebration of Easter with hearts and minds renewed. We pray to the Lord.
8. For peace throughout the world, especially in the Middle East. For safety for the men and women serving in the military. We pray to the Lord.
9. For the prayers we hold in the silence of our hearts. We pray to the Lord.
Priest: Heavenly Father, you meet us in our reality and, in our sufferings and challenges, you call us to new life. We present our prayers to you today through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN.
20 March 2026 - homily for Friday of the 4th week of Lent - John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 - Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22
In our first reading from the book of Wisdom today, we are presented a view point from the godless, how they are often threaten by those who have God in their lives, how the godless are resentful of the virtuous lives led by people of faith. Of course, this can be seen as a prophecy of how Jesus was treated as well, how his goodness and righteousness was resented, how he will be treated at the hands of his opponents.
Rather than resent those who lead virtuous lives, we as Christians are to look up to the saints as role models for us, to use them as examples on our own journey of faith, to have them accompany us, lead us, and guide us on our journey of faith. May wisdom lead us and guide us to a virtuous life, with the community of saints and other Christians to help us on our journey.
Sunday, March 8, 2026
22 March 2026 - homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent CYCLE A - John 11:1-45
The Gospel readings on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of Lent are not only the readings for Cycle A of the lectionary, but they are also the readings for the scrutinies used to prepare the adult catechumens for their baptism at the Easter Vigil Mass. On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, pointing to the living water of God’s grace. Last Sunday, Jesus healed the man blind, pointing to the way that Jesus enlightens those who are born to new life in the waters of baptism. Today, Jesus’s encounter with Lazarus at his tomb points to God as the source and giver of life, a foreshadowing of the way that Christ will conquer death through his resurrection on Easter morning.
The new life and light and life-giving waters that Jesus brings into our lives of faith are not just symbols, but a reality. Living water for the Samaritan woman is not just the water from Jacob’s well that refreshes her physical thirst, but it is the refreshing, sanctifying grace that reaches into the depths of our human souls. Light not only illuminates the pool of Siloam where the man born blind is found and where he gains his sight; light is an spiritual enlightenment that brings us a new way of seeing things through the lens of faith.
The living water of God’s grace overcomes the consequences of sin, even our earthly death. The new life that God gives us is to be, in the words St. Irenaeus gives us, “fully alive” in us forever. And God’s light is gives the wisdom in our hearts and minds to see Jesus as “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” as he tells us in today’s Gospel.
The Living Water of grace overcomes the consequences of sin including, eventually, even death; God’s Life-giving is to be, as St. Irenaeus put it, “fully alive” forever. And God’s Light is not just eyes to look but the wisdom to see “the Way, the Truth and the Life,” as Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel.
One striking image from the raising of Lazarus is when Jesus calls him to come out of the tomb. Lazarus exits the tomb all bound up, his hands and feet tied up, and his face covered with a cloth. I picture this figure coming out of the tomb like a mummy. Death is holding Lazarus captive at this point, an earthly death from which Jesus raises him. But all of us can be restricted in life by different kinds of bondage, such as sin or fear or self-absorption or egoism that hold us captive and do not allow us to live in freedom as Christ's disciples. In his letter to the Romans, St Paul addresses how those who are dead to sin can be alive through righteousness and that the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to live within, to lead us and guide us to new life.
It is interesting for us to note, that when Jesus finally arrives in Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, he first tells the crowd, “take away the stone,” which they do. Then, after Jesus prays at the tomb, he cries in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out,” instructing the crowd to untie Lazarus and set him free. Why would Jesus ask the crowd to do these things, when he could have had Lazarus appear in front of the stone and could have had Lazarus free himself from his burial ties? Jesus wants the crowd to participate in the freeing of their friend. We are to come out of those things that are hindering us and holding us back; our family and friends can help us when we are stuck and held captive. The fundamental work of freeing us and liberating us in our faith is done by God. But just as each person must accept the invitation of faith and liberation from God, our family, friends, and community can help by taking away the stones that prevent the person from hearing God’s voice and by helping untie him from the things that bind him. We all as members of the community, the body of Christ, have a role in cooperating in God’s plan.
At the beginning of of Lent, I spoke about how we can view Lent as a pilgrimage in our overall journey of faith, invoking the image of the people of God as a pilgrim people from the Second Vatican Council. We can see ourselves on a pilgrimage journey accompanying Jesus in the desert for 40 days, learning things that we can incorporate on our journey of faith even when Lent ends. I mentioned how on the last three weekends, we had the three scrutinies for the catechumens, the adults who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil Mass. On the first Sunday of the scrutinies, in the context of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, we can think of the ways we can find conversion and renewal on our Lenten journey, of the ways we can share that conversion and renewal and the joy of our faith with others, just as the Samaritan woman did with the people of her village. On the second Sunday of the scrutinies, we heard the story of the healing of the man born blind. At the masses that weekend, we offered the sacrament of the anointing of the sick to our parishioners. In that context, can think of the ways we can bring healing to others and find healing for ourselves. Then, today, in the story of the raising of Lazarus, we can think of the ways we can proclaim the values of God’s kingdom to the world through our words and actions, by the way we can help free people from those things that bind them. May we think of ways we can live out the lessons of these three Gospels not only on our Lenten pilgrimage, but also after the season of Lent ends.
Monday, March 2, 2026
19 March 2026 - prayers of the faithful for the solemnity of St Joseph the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Lord Jesus - you were nurtured by your parents, Joseph and Mary.
Christ Jesus - you are the beloved son of the Father.
Lord Jesus - you are our savior and redeemer.
Priest: As we celebrate the solemnity of St Joseph today in the midst of our Lenten journey, we present our prayers to our heavenly Father:
1. For our Holy Father, Pope Francis, our Bishop Joseph Kopacz, and all our Church leaders. May they follow the example of St Joseph as they lead God’s people through a responsible and dedicated leadership.
2. For our Christian community in the Diocese of Jackson. That may we respect and love each other, and be dedicated to our families by following the example of St Joseph.
3. For those entrusted with responsibility in the ministries of the Church. May they set an example for the people they lead.
4. May St Joseph inspire us to work for peace and justice in the world. We pray for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine.
5. For our first responders, for the men and women serving in the military, and for our veterans.
6. For healing for the sick and afflicted in body, mind, and spirit.
Priest: With faith and hope, we present these prayers through your son Jesus Christ, our Lord forever and ever. AMEN.
19 Solemnity of St Joseph Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Matthew:1:16, 18-21, 24A
As we celebrate the solemnity of St Joseph, the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary today, I think about how back in 2021, we celebrated the year of St Joseph as declared by Pope Francis. It was not too long ago that St Joseph was added to the Eucharistic prayers, alongside Mary, his spouse. However, we may find it interesting that in the history of the Church, St Joseph was not given much attention for many centuries. It was in the 16th century in the era of the Protestant Reformation that devotions to St Joseph were encouraged by the Church in a meaningful way, with Joseph seen as the ideal protector and provider of the family. In 1870, Pope Pius IX declared Joseph as the patron of the universal Church. In addition to his feast day that we celebrate today on March 19th each year, we also celebrate him as Joseph the Worker on May 1 each year.
Today’s Gospel finds Joseph facing quite a challenge in his life when he became aware of Mary’s pregnancy, knowing that he was not the father. According to the law, Mary could be stoned to death. Yet, not knowing any details, Joseph was willing to break off their relationship quietly and not subject her to shame or danger. When the angel explains the situation to him in a dream, Joseph follows the angel’s instructions.
Joseph is a man of virtue and faith. He is a hard working man, a carpenter from a small town in Galilee. We don’t know a lot of details about Joseph and his life. We don’t know for sure if he had died by the time of Jesus’ passion and journey to cross, although that is assumed to be the case by many Scripture scholars. Reflecting Joseph’s humility and simplicity of faith, he is not by any means the center of attention in the Gospel narrative. We remember Joseph today in a special way on his feast day. We unite our prayers with the prayers of St Joseph.