We are getting closer to Holy Week! This week we learn about almsgiving. This is the third of the three things we practice during Lent (the others we already covered – prayer and fasting). Here are a few of your questions about almsgiving below! Is Almsgiving like Thanksgiving? (Gracie, age 12) Well, not exactly, but that’s a good question! “Almsgiving” is not a holiday like Thanksgiving, but both involve giving, as the name shows us! On the holiday of Thanksgiving, we focus on giving thanks to God for the many blessings we have received from him. Almsgiving is a different type of giving. “Alms” is a word that means “money or food given to the poor”. It also is a word that originally has a meaning of compassion or mercy, or of helping take away someone else’s suffering. So almsgiving then, is giving money or food to help take away someone else’s suffering. Why do we have to put money in the basket? (Aubrey, age 7) The money in the basket is the main way we help take away someone else’s suffering. It is our almsgiving. It is also a way we make a gift to God, recognizing everything is a gift from him. It helps us detach more from our earthly possessions, and trust more in heaven, and that God will take care of us. What does the collected money get used for? (1st grader) This is a good question! I wondered this too when I was a kid. It looked like a lot of money. The answer is, all the money we collect goes toward the poor. (Someone is “poor” when they are lacking in something, which causes suffering). There are two types of poverty we focus on: spiritual poverty and physical poverty. The reason a parish church exists, is to bring God to a community. (Without God, people suffer.) So part of the money goes to serve the mission of the parish, including taking care of the people who work here; supporting the ministries and groups; and also the buildings that are used for those things. This includes monthly bills for things like heat, electricity, water, and supplies. Each year, it costs about $600,000 to run a big parish like St. Therese! In addition to the uses just mentioned, we also support the physically poor, including our organizations that provide food, shelter, clothing, and counseling. Whenever we make a gift to God, we should also pray that he helps that gift find the people who need it most, to help take away their suffering, and to help them get to heaven! One Little Thing… In what ways do you practice almsgiving? Together as a family, look up the “Spiritual Works of Mercy” and the “Corporal Works of Mercy” online or in the book called the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”. Other than giving money at Mass, use these two lists to think of ways you and your family can help take away someone else’s suffering. God bless you!
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We are at the halfway point of Lent! This week we learn about fasting. Here are some answers to your questions below: What is fasting? (Manuel, age 13) To fast means “to go without all or some kinds of food or drink, especially for a religious reason.” What is the point of fasting? (Jorge, age 11) “Father Ryan, there better be a good answer here, because fasting is not very fun!” Well, I’ll try to give you a good answer! The reason we fast is because we want something which is even better than the comforts of food. Just like an athlete denies themselves comforts so that they can train and become successful at their sport (waking up early, going to the gym, using up all their free time, and exercising even after it hurts). We as Christians fast (deny ourselves the comfort of food), because we want to hunger instead for something even greater. We want to become closer to God. When we feel that empty stomach, we seek to fill our heart with God. That’s why whenever we fast, it is really important that we also pray. Otherwise, we will just be miserable. But when we pray, we grow closer to God during times of fasting, and we become better Christians, because our heart becomes more generous and wants to serve God and others instead of just serving ourself and our own stomach. Why don’t we eat meat on Fridays? (Evereen, age 12) Giving up meat is one way we fast, or give up something good. Another way to fast, is by skipping a meal. Maybe we eat a normal size breakfast, but skip lunch, and then eat a normal size dinner. Or maybe we sacrifice a certain type of food that we really enjoy (like a dessert or favorite snack), and we don’t eat it again until the end of Lent (when Easter arrives). What in case you get hungry while fasting? (Alison, age 11) Yes, that is likely to happen! It is good to have a plan, so you know what to do when you start to feel hungry. Plan on praying when you get hungry. When you pray with an empty stomach, you can also recognize a deeper hunger for God’s love. Fasting then, helps us to want to be more generous toward God (praying more), and to want to be more generous toward others (serving more). One Little Thing… In what ways do you fast? Try to give something up for one week (maybe snacks or desserts), or maybe time spent on your video games or tablet. Instead of those things, fill that emptiness with prayer (to God) and service (to your family). I think you will eventually discover happiness in your heart, because God made your heart to be a gift to others. That’s how your heart discovers love. That’s why Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Have a good week everyone.
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This week we continue to look at a few of your questions about prayer. If you missed last week’s questions and answers, be sure to read those too, since they will help you to better understand prayer! First, I wanted to respond to these questions: How do we know God hears our prayers? How do we hear Him? These are very good and very important questions! Imagine if you had a friend who you started talking to, and they never responded. You would probably eventually give up and just walk away, right? Well, God doesn’t want us to walk away from him, but it is important for us to realize that God speaks to us differently than we speak to each other. If we don’t recognize these different ways, then it might seem like God is ignoring us, and then we might just stop trying. We know God hears our prayers, because he created us, and he knows us very well (even better than we know ourself!). But how do we hear him? Well, God doesn’t answer us directly like we answer each other. He speaks to us quietly in our heart. The more time we spend time with him, the easier it is for our heart to recognize what he is trying to say to us. Also, he sometimes sends other people to help us, and we might miss this if we don’t watch and listen closely. When were the first prayers said? (Diego, age 11) The first prayers were said whenever the first human beings recognized that God created them, and loves them, and wants to be in a relationship and friendship with them. What prayer means the most to you, Father Ryan? (Adan, age 12) For me, I would say the Mass is the prayer that means the most to me, because not only are we communicating with Heaven by our prayers, but also, at Mass, Heaven comes down to earth to be with us. (Jesus speaks to us through the readings and the Gospel; Jesus physically comes down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be with us in the Eucharist; and also all the angels and saints fill the church at every Mass to worship God with us. One Little Thing… Try to spend some more time with God this week. The more time you spend with God (praying quietly, going to Mass, etc), and learning from God (listening to Jesus in the Gospels, and learning more about your Catholic faith), then the more your heart will be able to recognize what God is saying to you, and what he wants you to do each day. If we listen to him, and trust him, he will lead us to Heaven! God bless you and all, and have a good week!
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This is now already the second week of Lent! We always want to grow closer to God, but we try especially hard during Lent. Three things that help us to grow closer to God are: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. You have asked many good questions about each. These next two weeks, let’s look at a few of your questions about prayer.
First, what is prayer? Prayer is a conversation with Heaven (usually with God, but also when we ask our friends in Heaven, like Mary and the other saints, to pray for us to God). Just like we speak English or Spanish with our voices to other people here on earth, so too do we speak with those in Heaven using our heart. Sometimes we say prayers out loud, and sometimes silently from inside our heart. That language we use to speak to Heaven, we call prayer.
Why are there so many prayers? (Favian, age 11) There are so many prayers because there is so much we want to say to Heaven! Sometimes we want to praise God for being in our life! Sometimes we want to ask God to help us, or to help those we love. Sometimes we want to thank God for the blessings he has given us, including our family, house, or friends. Sometimes we want to tell God we are sorry for our sins. Also, sometimes we want to talk to our friends up in Heaven (the saints) and ask them to pray for us too.
What if you forget a prayer? (Alison, age 11) It’s okay if you forget a prayer. But just remember, the more often you say those prayers, the easier it will be to remember them. It is good to pray often the following prayers: Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and Act of Contrition, and others too. When we memorize them, that means we can say them whenever we want, and those prayers can help us to have a conversation with Heaven. One Little Thing… When do you pray during your day? In your heart do you take time to talk to Jesus when you wake up? Before you eat food do you thank him for it? Do you pray for those who don’t have food in the world today? At night do you tell Jesus you are sorry for your sins that day? Do you thank him for his love for you? Do you have any close friends (saints) in heaven? (If not, maybe ask a saint to be your friend, like St. Therese, St. Joseph or St. Mary, and ask them to pray for you.) The more we pray, the closer we grow to God and the rest of our friends in Heaven. And they love when we pray, because they want to be close to us, and they want to help us to get to Heaven too one day!
Great questions!
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Lent has now begun. How have your first few days been? Here are a few of your questions below:
Why is Lent called Lent? (Phoenix, age 13; Maverick, age 14)
The word “Lent” comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “springtime” (lencten). It also is connected to another root word meaning “long” which refers to the lengthening of days (springtime brings more hours of daylight). Lent is a good word because during this time Jesus turns darkness into light, and death into life. By participating fully in Lent, we allow Jesus to transform our darkness (sin), into light (joy and fulfillment of a life lived in him, both now on earth, and forever in heaven). Easter is the great symbol of light, when we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Why does my birthday sometimes land on Ash Wednesday? (Lily, age 9) Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, and Easter marks the end of Lent. Lent is 40 days long (not including Sundays), which means the season is actually 46 days long. Therefore, Ash Wednesday is 46 days before Easter every year. The date of Easter is determined by the Sunday following the first full moon on or after the March equinox. If that sounds confusing or hard to remember, that’s because it is! But don’t worry, because we will always remind you when Ash Wednesday is! Just remember, Ash Wednesday will always be somewhere between February 4th and March 10th, and Easter will always be 46 days after Ash Wednesday.
Why is Lent 40 days? (Edgar, age 12)
Ahah! It would seem to be a problem. Is Lent 40 days long, or 46 days long? Well, as was mentioned above, we say 40 days because we don’t include Sundays when counting. This is because Sundays are the Lord’s Day (the day of celebrating his Resurrection, a day of rest, a day of prayer and of rejoicing, like a miniature Easter). For this reason, we don’t include Sundays in the 40 days of penance. Why 40 days? We remember the 40 years the Israelites were in the desert as they journeyed from slavery in Egypt to the freedom of the Promised Land. For us, by our Lenten penance, we hope to be set free from the slavery of sin, and with God’s help, to be led into the freedom of being sons and daughters of God, who belong to God’s love and eternal life, and no longer belong to sin and death. We also remember in the Gospel, Jesus himself spent 40 days in the desert, fasting from food and avoiding the devil’s temptations.
One Little Thing… Walking through the desert for 40 days would probably be hard! You would probably need a lot of water. For us, Lent is hard, but remember Jesus is with us. Whenever we pray, it is like water for our soul to help us through the 40 days of Lent in the desert. Jesus wants to help us. How do you plan on growing closer to Jesus during Lent?
God bless you!
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Dear Friends,
We are about to begin Lent. This is a very special time of year where we focus on growing closer in our friendship with Jesus. Lent begins with a day known as Ash Wednesday. Many of you have asked some great questions about this day. Here are a few of those questions below:
Why is it important to get ashes? (Keily, age 10)
What happens on Ash Wednesday? (Linda, age 10)
The ashes are an important visible sign for us, that Lent has begun. When the ashes are placed on our foreheads at Mass on Ash Wednesday, we hear one of two phrases from scripture said to us: They remind us that sin is real (“Repent, and believe in the Gospel”), and death is real, (“Remember, you are dust, and to dust you shall return”). It is very important that prayer and fasting are also a part of Ash Wednesday, because the prayer helps us to also remember that Jesus is real. Fasting helps us to increase our trust in Jesus, and to grow closer to him. Sin and death can be scary things to think about, but they are real things and so we have to think about them. The very good news is, Jesus is also real, and he loves us, and wants to help us overcome sin, and get to heaven. By repenting from our sins, and following his teachings and way of life, Jesus shows us the way to heaven.
What ashes are used? (Reeder age 13)
A few weeks before Ash Wednesday, we invite families to bring back their palms from last year’s Palm Sunday Mass. We then burn those palms in order to create the ashes we will use on Ash Wednesday. One Little Thing… Make plans as a family to go to one of our Ash Wednesday Masses here at St. Therese. We have two in English (8am or 5pm) and two in Spanish (12pm and 7pm). Then, talk about Ash Wednesday and Lent on the way home from Mass.
I pray you all have a good start to Lent!
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Dear Friends,
On February 2nd we celebrated The Presentation of the Lord, that moment when Mary and Joseph brought the child Jesus to the Temple, and Simeon recognized Jesus as “a light for the nations” (cf. Lk 2:32). Every year on this day, we bless candles which we will use in church for the upcoming year, recognizing how Jesus came into our world of sin and death to bring the light of God to us. Candles are an important symbol in our faith, and one of you asked the following question:
What are the candles for by the statues? (1st Grader)
When you come to Mass, you probably notice many candles in church – the red candle by the tabernacle where Jesus lives; the candles by the altar which are lit during Mass; the larger Easter candle lit during the Easter Season, as well as for baptisms and funerals; and also many candles by statues of saints and other uses as well.
We call ourselves Christians because we are followers of Christ. And in the Gospel, Christ says, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn 8:12). In addition to calling ourselves Christians, we also call ourselves Catholic, because that word means “universal” and we recognize Jesus created one universal church, and now calls us to carry his light in our heart, and to, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19).
The candlelight in Church reminds us in different ways, that God’s Holy Spirit is present with us whenever we pray. May the light of these candles remind us of the hope we have in Christ, and may the warmth from the candles remind us of his love burning within our hearts, just like it did for those who were with him after he rose from the dead (cf. Lk 24:32).
One Little Thing… When your family prays together at night, try to light a candle while you are praying so you can remember that God is there with you in your home, and he wants to place his Holy Spirit in your heart, to help you grow in faith, hope, and love.
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Dear Friends,
This coming week, many of you will be making your Sacrament of First Reconciliation, and will be confessing your sins to God for the first time. I look forward to sharing God’s beautiful gift of forgiveness with you! This week as you prepare, here are answers to a couple of your questions about Reconciliation:
Is something ever bad enough for you to not forgive? (Trenton, age 12)
There is no sin which God cannot forgive, as long as we go to Confession, are sorry for our sins, and believe in Jesus’s teaching about forgiveness of sins, and his promise to send his Holy Spirit down to us.
Think of it like this: If your sin is like the little flame on the end of a matchstick, then God’s heart of forgiveness is like the water in the ocean. In other words, when you confess your sins with honesty and give them to God, it is like dropping that match into the ocean. His love and mercy is so so so much greater than even our greatest sin.  Remember, God has the power that is able to forgive sins, and the love that desires to forgive those sins.
Where do you go when you have to tell your sins? (Daniel, age 10)
That is a good question! As a priest, I cannot forgive my own sins. This means that just like you, I too have to go find a priest when I want to go to Reconciliation.
One Little Thing… This week, talk with your family during one of your dinner conversations about the following questions: Why does God want to forgive our sins? How does God feel when we confess our sins to him with honesty, and ask him to take those sins away?
Have a good week everyone

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Dear Friends,
As promised, here is an answer to explain the colors of my clothes (purple, white, red, and green), and as a bonus, a little about the church seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ordinary Time). Keep up the good questions!
Why do you wear different colors during the year? (1st grader)
The different colors you see on my clothes and on the altar, help us to recognize the differences throughout the year. Each color is a symbol for something, and the seasons in the church are different, just like the seasons of the weather are all different!
• Purple is the color which symbolizes penance, sacrifice, and preparation. This is why we use purple for the two seasons of preparation, Advent (preparing for Jesus’s birth) and Lent (preparing for Jesus’s death and resurrection).
• White is the color which symbolizes purity of soul and also rejoicing. We use white for the seasons of Christmas and Easter, and also on days we celebrate certain saints.
• Red is the color which symbolizes the shedding of blood (Palm Sunday, Good Friday, or the days we honor martyrs). Red is also a color symbolizing the fire of the Holy Spirit, which brings God’s love into our hearts, for example on Pentecost.
• Green is the color which is worn for the season known as Ordinary Time. Green is a symbol for hope. Just like the green growing on the trees in the springtime brings us hope that winter is almost over, so too do we find new life and hope from Jesus when we follow him, that he can help us overcome our sins, and also one day get to heaven!
During the 34 weeks of Ordinary Time each year, we walk with Jesus. The readings at Mass focus especially on his life and teachings, and help us to grow in our daily life of prayer and service as his disciples (A disciple is a friend of Jesus who follows him, prays to him, learns from him, and shares him with others).
One Little Thing… What is one thing you and your family can do during each of the Church Seasons to help you to grow closer to Jesus? Maybe it is a particular type of prayer, or an activity, or even a family tradition you can start. Talk about this question with your family this week.