Epiphany: Hope Revealed, Mission Renewed

“If you want to help the Church prepare for the future, start by being involved today.” – Pope Leo XIV in his November conversation with youth at the National Catholic Youth Conference.

What a joy it has been to celebrate this Christmas season with you all as we now approach the second of three weekends in the season: the Epiphany of the Lord. Though we will celebrate the Epiphany here at the weekend Masses, many other countries in the world will celebrate this feast on Tuesday, January 6th. For us here in the United States, our bishops have transferred the feast to Sunday.

This Epiphany in 2026 is special because it also brings our Jubilee Year of Hope – which began on Christmas Eve of 2024 – to a close. Personally, I have experienced many graces and witnessed many signs of this wonderful theological virtue of hope active in the lives of the faithful. Fr. John wrote in last week’s bulletin about one of the signs of hope that we have seen here at Saint Patrick Parish, a substantial increase in Mass attendance. We know that with more people encountering Christ in the grace of the sacraments that we will continue to see a hope-filled people present in our parish and community.

The power and presence of the sacraments are on full display where I am currently this weekend. I am attending the SEEK Conference in Columbus, Ohio. SEEK is an annual conference put on by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). This is the fifth time I’ve attended such a conference. The first time I attended as a graduate student, the second and third time I attended was as a FOCUS missionary, the fourth time I attended was as a seminarian, and now I get to attend for the first time as a priest.

More than 25,000 people will attend the conference as it is held at three locations: Columbus, Denver, CO and Fort Worth, TX. This conference in Columbus has a special local connection for us as one of the FOCUS missionaries at Ohio State University in Columbus is parishioner and school alumnus Jacob Daulton, son of Ron and Jolene Daulton. It will be a great blessing to see Jacob and other college students from around the Diocese of Superior gather to encounter the Lord and be sent out on mission.

Beginning next weekend, our parish leadership will be sharing mission goals that are leading us as a parish into 2026 and beyond. We recognize the signs of hope in our midst, and we now want to move forward with clarity and conviction by continuing to proclaim, share, and celebrate the love and mercy of Jesus Christ.

Gracias a Dios.