From the Desk of Father Mark - Our Pastor
January 25, 2026 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

NOT AVAILABLE ON THIS BULLETIN EDITION

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From the Desk of Father Mark - Our Pastor
February 15, 2026 - Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill."

From the Book of Genesis: “When they (Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?"

From the beginning of human creation, God had a plan for our relationship with him. That relationship was intended to be ideal when surrounded by the "cloak" of God's love. When in the garden, that "cloak" was removed by the first people, they became lost from God, (Where are you?), and "naked" because they had removed God's cloak of love. The law of God was never intended to be punitive or restrictive. God's law was intended to set in place the boundaries of a fulfilled life in God. Jesus entering time and space is God's desire to replace the cloak of selfishness and sin with the cloak of God's endless love.

The season of Lent becomes an opportunity for us to imagine our lives as God intended before sin became a part of our life.

"These days, I think about the end of life more often than I did back in the day. I can't imagine a sadder way to die than to realize, as you draw your last breath, that you never showed up in this world as yourself, that you spent all those years on this planet hiding out, afraid of who you are, failing to offer the world the most important gift you were born to give, the gift of yourself... The quest of true self, rightly understood, is a journey into relationship, not self-centeredness." (Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak)

Allow this Lenten season to be a time for you to recognize your life as God intends it and allow Jesus to fulfill his love in you.

Have a great week!

Fr. Mark Walter
Pastor of Our Lady of the Ridge - St.Linus Parish