The Art of Listening is about finding out what the speaker thinks about something. When one listens to another, we learn from each other. A free flow of ideas that are truly listened to can lead to a place where we can constantly learn from each other.

How can we become better listeners?

Hearing and listening are not the same. You hear music, the sound of rainfall, or food being prepared in the kitchen. Listening, on the other hand, requires attention, comprehension of the message that’s being relayed, and recollection of what’s been said. And, of course, we listen to the Word of God.

We know that prophets throughout the ages have listened to God’s voice and proclaimed His messages with confidence. And we believe our God speaks to us today. But, our lives are noisy, and our heads are filled with many voices vying for attention and influence. So, how do we receive clear guidance from God for our everyday lives?

Many of us picture prayer as a sort of monologue: We talk to God, sharing our heartfelt thanks and offering up our petitions and requests. But, prayer is really more like a dialogue, where we speak with God, and the Lord speaks to us.

Listening offers a clear request for God’s guidance. In making our request, we give God’s guidance authority over the other voices we hear throughout our daily lives. Then, we hit the pause button. We wait on God in a time of silence, giving the Lord opportunity to speak to us. We focus our time of prayer on intentional, purposeful listening and let God do the talking.

This is really important because as disciples of Jesus, we all desire to do the right thing and make the wisest choices. Yet we are constantly being bombarded with the noise of the world all around us. There are lots of voices telling us very different messages and too often we find ourselves challenged and confused about what we should do in a given situation or what is really the best way ahead. These are times when we can seek God’s guidance through “listening.”

But, what about our voices? How can we be sure we are not hearing our own thoughts?

Effective listening not only shows interest, but also acknowledges what has been said. Listening is a valuable skill on both a personal and professional level. There are numerous benefits associated with being a good listener. People with refined listening skills can help others feel secure in expressing their opinions. They may also be better able to reduce tension during arguments and communicate respect to the speaker. Other potential benefits include being more likable, building stronger relationships, and having a clearer understanding of what’s being discussed.

Becoming a better listener takes practice, but, when you succeed, you’ll find yourself learning new and interesting things not only about the people with whom you communicate but about God and His messages.

May is a month traditionally dedicated to honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary. In our churches and homes, we celebrate with May processions, crownings, and other popular devotions in honor of the Mother of God. This Marian month falls during the liturgical season of Easter. We thus particularly emphasize Our Blessed Mother’s participation in the Paschal Mystery and her presence throughout the preparation for Pentecost, as she prayed with the disciples in the upper room while they awaited the descent of the Holy Spirit.

There are many devotions that the Church recommends for honoring Our Lady during her month. During the Easter season, we address the Regina Coeli antiphon to her as we celebrate the Resurrection of her Son. Of course, the rosary is one of the most excellent Marian prayers, and litanies of the Blessed Virgin Mary (e.g., the Litany of Loreto) are also special invocations for Our Lady’s intercession under her various, beautiful titles.

This month, the Church calls us to open our hearts in a special way to Mary. Her presence in our lives is a motherly presence, and we call her “Our Blessed Mother.” Indeed, from the Cross, Jesus gave her to us as our Mother and entrusted us to her as her children. Jesus’ words to John, the beloved disciple, were also addressed to all of us: “Behold your mother!” He made His mother the mother of all the members of His Mystical Body, the Church. Jesus invites us to accept Mary as our mother and to respond to her motherly love as true children.

She is a model for all mothers. Pope Benedict XVI said that “Mary is the image and model of all mothers, of their great mission to be guardians of life, of their mission to be teachers of the art of living and of the art of loving.”

It is very fitting that we celebrate Mother’s Day during the Marian month. As we honor the Mother of God, our spiritual mother, we also honor our earthly mothers. On Mother’s Day, we remember with gratitude and affection our own mothers, not only through material gifts, flowers, or cards but also, and more importantly, by our prayers for them. We thank God for the gift of our mothers who conceived and gave birth to us, who cared, protected, taught, and loved us. Many passed on the precious gift of faith to us. We remember all our mothers, living and deceased. We thank them for their generosity and self‐giving love.

On Mother’s Day, let us pray for all our mothers. And let us remember that we have a Mother in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary. We continue to rejoice with her during this Easter season. May the Mother given to us by Christ on the cross be ever at our side!

The Memorare

Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary,
that never was it known,
that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help,
or sought thy intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence,
I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my mother.
To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful.
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
despise not my petitions,
but in thy mercy, hear and answer me.
Amen.

There are more than 1 billion Catholic Christians in the world. What a different society it would be if we did something for someone other than ourselves. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, our Lord teaches that love of God and love of neighbor are intimately intertwined. This past year especially, we as a parish and as individuals, have been called to love God more deeply by serving our brothers and sisters in extraordinary ways. (The COVID-19 pandemic and a deadly, unprovoked war in Ukraine, to name two.)

It is up to us to determine whether Christ is a forceful person in our lives or just a figure in an Eastern mystery play. Our Catholic Faith tells us to live the Christian life completely so that the priest will not have to “stretch the truth” at our funeral.

As we continue our journey, we need to ask ourselves how God may be calling us to reveal His goodness to others. We need to ask ourselves how we are answering our baptismal promise to be Christ's light to the world.

For the past few months, our parish has been actively conducting the 2022 Cardinal’s Archdiocesan Stewardship Appeal (CASA). You received a letter from Cardinal Dolan in January and will receive a letter after Easter from our pastor, Fr. Sorgie, indicating how the Appeal is critically vital to the work and life of the Archdiocese of New York and each of its parishes, including ours.

We want to thank those of you who have already made a pledge; you will see those pledges indicated on the CASA page HERE. Now, as the rest of us consider making our pledge to the Appeal, the gifts we already have are gifts from God. We receive God’s gifts appreciatively, we nurture His gifts responsibly, and we share His gifts lovingly with others.

In the face of a challenging economy, we remain thankful to God for all we have. As a sign of our gratitude, we must respond to the Appeal, which helps those who minister to the needs of God’s people. Are we not our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper?

Where does the money go? That’s a fair question! The Appeal supports: caring for the elderly; feeding the hungry; teaching our children the truths of our faith; and supporting churches on the margin who need help to keep their doors open so their parishioners can pray and feel secure in their faith. It provides for all of us to the hear the Word of God and receive the Sacraments; supports educating our future priests and deacons; and helps our retired religious (Priests and Sisters), affording them the opportunity to live out their golden years with dignity, security and peace.

The Appeal also provides resources for Catholic Charities to respond to the pressing needs of a Pandemic, victims of terrorism, world disasters, fighting for the unborn, and our latest challenge, helping the people of Ukraine.

This is a most important time to make a special sacrifice and assist the work and mission of our Catholic Church and of the 2022 Cardinal’s Stewardship Appeal. As you consider your pledge, please realize that you are not alone in this effort. If you have any questions, please contact the Parish Office.

On behalf of Fr. Sorgie, the Staff at Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Our Lady, and all our brothers’ and sisters’ throughout the Archdiocese who will be served by your generosity, may I simply say “Thank you!”

This week, on February 2, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This Feast is very old and was celebrated in the East as early as the 4th century. It came to be celebrated in Rome at the end of the 7th century and spread through the Western Church from there. It returns us to the Christmas season, focusing in on the person of Jesus, seen as a child and presented to the priests according to the law of Moses.

In Jesus’ day, parents whose first child was a boy would go to the Temple 40 days after the birth with the appropriate offering, presenting their child to the Lord. (You may remember that the final plague upon the Egyptians was the killing of their first born. Since the children of Israel were spared, they were seen as belonging to the Lord.) This is what Mary and Joseph were doing in the Temple and it was an occasion for celebration. Every child is loved and celebrated, but the first child transforms the couple, husband and wife, into a family.

The child who is presented in the gospel is more than the joy of His parents; He is the joy of the world. This child is different from all the others. This child is Jesus, the Lord.

This week, we celebrate an extraordinary meeting of God with God. The Temple, His dwelling place, is visited by the Holy One Himself. Jesus’ first action is to come to the privileged place of encounter between God and man. God meets man most wonderfully of all in the person of Jesus Christ —true God, true man.

An interesting sidelight in this story is the meeting between the young (Mary and Joseph) and the old (Simeon and Anna). The old have been faithful and persevered in their faith and are, late in life, rewarded; their hope is fulfilled. In their old age, they meet the eternally youthful Son of God. At a time when we hear so much justification of euthanasia, it is heartening to see the “old” valued in the pages of Holy Scripture. Human life is sacred, and it is not what we do but what we are that gives us value.

Particularly relevant today is that we preach the Gospel of Life. We live in a society where abortion is regarded as acceptable, euthanasia is increasingly finding a place, war is still seen as a valid solution to differences, and the lives of the poorest people of the world are not regarded as being of the same worth as our own lives. This is a society that needs Jesus Christ.