Browsing Reflections from Fr. Jasper
The Greatest Generation
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
March 10, 2024
I recently had the privilege of presenting a talk on the Stations of the Cross to a group of life-long Catholics, many of whom were in their 80s and early 90s. In fact, the woman who met me at the Church doors and introduced ... Read More »
Not So Fast
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
March 3, 2024
Flannery O’Connor, the great American writer, and faithful Catholic from Georgia once wrote a friend about starting a new novel: “I have 50 or 60 pages written but I still expect to be a long time at it. It’s a theme that requires prayer and ... Read More »
Ashes to Stations: We All Fall Down
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
February 25, 2024
As seventh and eighth graders at my parish elementaryschool, we waited for it with a mixture of nervous andexcited anticipation each week during Lent. And likeclockwork, it almost always seemed to happen duringStations of the Cross: a student would pass out sometimebetween the sixth and eleventh ... Read More »
A Twisted Lenten Challenge
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
February 18, 2024
I loved Fridays in Lent as a kid: the peanut butter sandwiches at lunch and fish sticks and mac-and-cheese for dinner; Stations of the Cross in the afternoon at school; the Rice Bowl collection box we were given to save-up our quarters for the foreign ... Read More »
Time of the Season
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
February 11, 2024
The season of Lent begins this coming week, and to be quite honest, the thought of it both excites and intimidates me.
I love knowing that God can use these next 40 days to spiritually “clean house,” so to speak, if I open-up my heart and ... Read More »
An Irish Welcome
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
February 4, 2024
A good friend recently returned from a trip to Ireland,where she encountered a welcome message hanging onthe wall of the local parish church in a rural part of Dublin.Because it so beautifully captures the ImmaculateConception Parish and St. Jude mission spirit, I wantedto share it ... Read More »
Blaise of Glory
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
January 28, 2024
Next weekend, after the Saturday morning and Sunday Masses on 2/3 and 2/4, parishioners will have the opportunity to have their throats blessed through the intercession of St. Blaise, a bishop and martyr of the early Church who, according to pious legend, healed a child ... Read More »
Beatitudes for Life
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
January 21, 2024
This Monday, January 22nd, the Church asks us to make the day one of prayer and sacrifice for the legal protection of unborn children in our nation and throughout the world. Although there have been some victories in recent years in our efforts to protect ... Read More »
That All May Be One
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
January 14, 2024
Beginning this coming Thursday January 18, the Church takes eight days to pray with other Christian denominations for the gift of true and lasting unity, which Christ spoke of to his disciples at the Last Supper when he said, “… that they may be one ... Read More »
Restless Hearts and Little Things
Posted by Peg O'Donnell
January 7, 2024
As the proud product of an Augustinian Catholic education both in high school and for a portion of my priestly formation, many of the saintly bishop’s quotes have become ingrained in my mind throughout the years, most especially: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in ... Read More »