Greetings Church Family,
 
I hope and pray you are all doing well.  “I am doing better than I deserve,” as Gus Lloyd would say on the Catholic Channel.  Six thank you’s and more:

• I am glad so many of you are enjoying our Sunday video Mass.  I am grateful to all of you who forward the Mass link to others near and far, to churchgoers and non-churchgoers.  Keep throwing out the seed. 
   
• I am grateful to Betsy Glasenapp who is coordinating our communications via our website, app, e-scroll, and now through Facebook.
   
• We all know that this is a very strange and trying time globally—in our nation, in our Church community, and for families especially with young children and with elderly loved ones.
   
• I am most grateful to all of you who have kept up your financial support of our parish through Direct-Giving, mailed-in offertory, and dropped-off offering at our Parish Office dropbox.
   
• I am grateful to our staff members and our four Deacons who are helping me to call each one of you to see how you are doing.  I am grateful to Jerry and Olga Kelly and our Social Concerns office volunteers who are helping us to reach out to those in need.  Please keep bringing food items to the baskets located outside the main door of our Church.
   
• I am grateful to those of you who let me know of fellow parishioners who would appreciate a phone call.
   
• I am grateful to the doctors and nurses directly tending to Covid-19 patients and also to all First Responders during this most demanding and stressful time in their career.
   
• I am grateful to all engaged in research for a vaccine that will protect us from this nasty and deadly virus.

 
Please see my revised “Prayer During this Pandemic Time” which covers the above intentions and more.
 
Hopefully during this time, none of us are neglecting our relationship with the Lord.  This is an opportune time to grow in our understanding and appreciation of God’s Word and our Catholic beliefs. Three resources on our website to help with this are:

1. my Commentary on the Sunday Readings
2. Articles on the Catechism of the Catholic Church
3. and three levels of commentaries on the 46 books of the Old Testament.

One suggestion would be to read and study one book of the Old Testament or one article on the Catechism each week.
 
If you have any problems accessing any of the above resources, please email Maria Sittig at msittig@ascensioncatholicsch.org or Betsy Glasenapp at dre@ascensioncatholicsch.org.
 
I am aware and glad that there are many other resources on the Internet that can feed our minds and souls. This is great.
 
I am also very aware that working people continue to be very busy.  But lots of you are retired.  The question is:  How are you using this time?  Are we doing our best to strengthen our relationship with the Lord and to grow in our understanding and appreciation of our Catholic faith?
 
If you think Fr. Martin or I can be of some help during this unusual time, please do not hesitate to contact us. Father Martin’s e-mail is rmartinfitz@gmail.com. My e-mail is tobin2@live.com.
 
Blessings, Love and Prayers,