Last week, we began the year-long celebration of our 75th Anniversary. You will have noticed the large banners announcing our jubilee year and perhaps have even seen the ‘Word of the Month’ in a classroom or meeting room at the parish. Some of you might have begun a journal or begun some type of service to meet our 75,000 hour goal. Our Anniversary Committee is working very hard on planning events to mark this anniversary; a volunteer appreciation dinner, a parish picnic, steak dinner, wine tasting and gala dinner dance along with our other parish celebrations and parties. All of these events are being planned in order to highlight, honor and celebrate the 75 years of ministry, faith formation, education and service that continues in our present community of faith.

The real focus of our anniversary celebration and these many activities and events is a renewal of the spirit that makes St. Margaret Mary so special. Since our founding, the parish has been a place of welcome, solace, inspiration and enthusiasm. The first Promise of the Sacred Heart is “I will give them all the Graces necessary for their state of life.” “Grace” is not just the prayer that we say before meals. Grace is both the experience of God’s presence and the response to that presence. Grace is not something that can be quantified but only experienced. Some people have an erroneous image of grace as being something like fairy dust, sprinkled by God on deserving individuals. In reality, grace is accessible to everyone and is the ever-present reality of God’s love for us. The powerful witness of Margaret Mary Alacoque to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is an invitation to open ourselves up to that grace so that all that we do reflects God’s love. Jesus says that the whole law and prophets depend on the commandments to love God and to love our neighbor. May we have the graces necessary to respond to God’s love by reflecting it back to Him and our on our neighbors.