The Defender
April 12, 2024
A Message From Sr. Lucia
Dear St. Michael the Archangel Families,
May the peace and joy that flows from the heart of Christ be with you!
What a grace-filled start of the week we’ve had with the Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday and the Solemnity of the Annunciation! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary united! Oh, how blessed we are and how grateful we are to God for his infinite goodness and the outpouring of His grace to each one of us. How grateful we are to be to our Blessed Mother for her loving, generous, and unconditional FIAT (yes) to God’s perfect plan - a “yes” that changed human history forever.
As we journey through these fifty days of the Easter season, may we experience the power and the joy of Christ’s presence. Perhaps sometimes we stand before Him and cannot experience the joy of His resurrection because some parts of our hearts may still feel like Jesus is still hidden behind the stone. But the Lord wants to remove that stone so that, like St. Mary Magdalene, we can rejoice in His resurrection and daily experience that Christ is alive. Even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, Jesus is alive and is at work; his love, mercy, and life always have the last word.
Our Good Lord desires to heal our hearts from all that has hardened them and has not allowed us to live our lives with true joy: the joy of knowing that He is alive, that He is not hidden in a tomb, that He is not enclosed by the circumstances that surround us, but that He has opened the tomb and has risen. In every circumstance of our lives, He wants to manifest the power of His resurrection. The power of His resurrection should give us an abiding hope that confidently believes He can overcome all things.
St. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb out of love and faithfulness, but with the sadness that her Lord had died. And there, to her surprise, she finds the beautiful news that He is no longer in the tomb, that the rock has been opened and that He is risen. The Lord wishes to make us all feel the same. Maybe we come with sadness, with tiredness, with heaviness in our hearts, but Jesus is alive, really alive in the Eucharist, and today He wants to remove the stones in our hearts (big or small) and reveal His living power through the Most Holy Eucharist. He wants to continuously reveal to us the truth on which our faith is founded: the power of the resurrection of our Lord. He desires to do this in all the situations of our life - even those that seem impossible or too heavy, even those in which we feel vulnerable and imprisoned on all sides. The Lord today wants to remove that stone. He wants us to be liberated at the very moment that the stone is rolled away from our hearts.
Jesus says to us: “Why are you looking for me among the dead? Why do you think that I am not going to act on that which burdens your heart so much? Do not look for me among the dead, because I have rolled away the stone, because I have risen, because I am alive, because I am among you.” What a great grace the Lord wants to give us this Easter season! Jesus is alive. Jesus is alive, Alleluia!
In the Love of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Sr. Lucia Maria Sol, SCTJM
School Campus Minister
School Supplies for 2024-2025
It's time to order school supplies for the 2024-2025 school year! Please click here to place your orders!
Camp Fire After School Care Registration 2024-2025
We are happy to welcome back Camp Fire for the second year of their After School Care Program. Please click on the link below to register. Contact Britney Lewis with any questions [660] 232-0878
CYO Track & Field Registration Open
Registration for the CYO Track & Field Season is now open for grades 3-8. Speed on over to
cyojwa.org/current-programs to sign up.
No tryouts are required and all parish kids are welcome. Joining the track team is a terrific way to get some exercise, have fun with friends and develop a love for running. All you need is a pair of shoes and a little bit of determination. PLEASE NOTE: St. Michael is partnering with Nativity for our team. When registering, please select “SMA/NAT 5-8” or “SMA/NAT 3-4.”
Volunteer parent coaches are needed. Email Robert Bishop at rbrtbshp@gmail.com with questions or if you’d like to help coach.
St. James Academy Youth Summer Camps
Registration is open for our high school and youth summer camps.
Visit https://sjathunder.org/summer-camps/ for more information.
VSL Updates
2nd Annual Christ Light Award: Staff Edition
VSL is accepting nominations for the 2nd annual Christ Light Award: Staff Edition. Families can use the link below to upload a video explaining why you think this staff member should receive the award. We are again acknowledging 1 veteran and 1 new (at SMA less than 5 years) staff. Submissions are due Friday April 26th and the winners will be announced at the last all school mass.
Link to submit: https://share.vidday.com/e/o-rux82p
Dennis Uniform
SMA School Activities
Parish News
Camp Tekakwitha Registration
Camp Kateri Tekakwitha online Camp Registration is now open. Camps available for incoming 5th grade through high school. For more information and camp dates, click here.