St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Steeped in a rich and vibrant history of service and growth, St. Francis of Assisi has been serving the needs of Catholics for almost 125 years and welcomes young and old from all walks of life into our faith and social community. St. Francis prides itself on being a family-friendly church. We believe that all members of our church community are important to the celebration of the Eucharist.

We invite you to learn more about the parish by exploring this website. Please visit the “Our Parish” section to learn more about the church and its rich traditions. You can also learn how to exercise your stewardship of time and talent in one of the wonderful parish ministries by visiting the “Parish Ministries” section. Some of the many ways that you can become involved include: being an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion or Lector, singing in our choir, serving the needy through the Ministry to the Poor, or by joining our Senior Associates group. For the youngest members of our parish family, opportunities to get involved include serving Mass as altar servers and Children's Ministry, a group which coordinates a variety of activities including weekly Children’s Liturgy of the Word, Christmas Nativity Program, and May Crowning.

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Reverend Michael J. Schneller
Pastor

May 15, 2022

Which reduces the pain of a headache the fastest for you? Advil or Tylenol? Which relieves indigestion the fastest: Mylanta or Gas-X? Which stops diarrhea the fastest: Imodium or “the pink stuff”? Which diet plan works the fastest? Which product relieves my suffering the fastest? When we are in physical pain, that question is valid and the answer is important. But what happens when we apply that question to the heartaches of everyday life? Is there an instant relief? Should we look for one? Can we expect one?
 
We have become “fast food” people. We expect instant cures, quick service, no waiting, and no inconvenience. We have mobile telephones we don’t miss a call. We have televisions in almost every room of our homes. We have computers that become obsolete the day we buy them because they are “so slow.”
 
Is this situation bad? Not necessarily. It becomes bad when we expect people and our relationships to be as efficient as our technology; when we expect the human heart to function like a computer.
 
The message of this Easter season tells us that to love as Jesus loves is to lay down our lives for one another; love involves self-sacrificing. This is the paradox of Christianity --- what appears to be defeat and death is in reality victory and life. We do not want to be told that being a Christian means suffering. As Paul and Barnabas say in Acts that “we must undergo many trials if we are to enter the reign of God.”
 
The Book of Revelation reminds us that the reign of God is not “of this world.” It begins in this world, but it takes us beyond this world in terms of values, attitudes and the meaning of life. Modern medicine can give us quick cures for physical pain, but it cannot explain the realities of the human heart. Only loving as Jesus loves can fulfill our deepest desires.  And that involves “undergoing many trials.”
 
John’s gospel says that Jesus’ willingness to lay down his life for us reveals both his and his Father’s glory. What a paradox: suffering and death for the sake of others reveals God’s love for the world! This sounds so strange; and yet doesn’t every parent, every mother know what this means? Doesn’t everyone who loves another have some inkling as to what John is saying?
 
One day in the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta, she and her Missionaries of Charity were tending to the poorest of the poor on the streets of Calcutta. They happened across a man lying in the gutter, very near death. He was filthy, dressed in little more than a rag and flies swarmed around his body. Immediately, Mother Teresa embraced him, spoke to him softly and began to pick out the maggots that were nesting in his flesh. The sight of the man repulsed a passerby and exclaimed to Mother Teresa, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars.” Her response was immediate, “Neither would I!”
 
Obviously, monetary gain did not motivate this diminutive woman; love did. In her writings she frequently affirmed the motivating power of love. “We must grow in love and to do this we must go on loving and loving and giving and giving until it hurts --- the way Jesus did… Do ordinary things with extraordinary love; little things, like caring for the sick and the homeless, the lonely and unwanted, washing and cleaning for them.”
 
Elsewhere, Mother Teresa remarked that the greatest disease in the West today is not tuberculosis, leprosy or even AIDS; it is being unwanted, uncared for, unloved. That she did her part in trying to “cure” this disease was attested in everything she did and in every word, she said. For whom or for what would you be willing to lay down your life? Is my love for Christ, the gospel and the church discernible in the way I live my life? Is it an identifying characteristic? Is the love relationship I share with God deep and true enough to sustain me in times of struggle, trial and tears?
 
We reap the benefits of our culture’s advances, such as quick relief for headaches, indigestion and diarrhea. But we also run the danger of being blinded by its limitations. We may forget that the attitudes, values and the meaning of life that are part of the reign of God come not from our culture, but from the gospel and our Church. Loving as Jesus loves is the best relief from in the world.