Hello Friends,

​With a heart full of thanks and joy I want to thank first of all Our Lord for another year of life.  Secondly, I want to thank you all for the birthday wishes and all the positive messages that you gave me.  I am very fortunate to be your pastor.  I ask the Lord to keep me healthy so I can continue serving you as much as I can.  Thank you for all you do for me.

​On a different note, I want to congratulate all the children that are making their First Communion this weekend and next weekend.  They have been preparing and studying for this big day, to receive the "bread of life" in their lives for the first time.  Thank you to you parents for continuing bringing them to class.  Thank you also to the catechists who continue planting seeds of faith in the hearts of these little ones.

​Next week some of the young men and women from our parish are getting confirmed by Bishop Oscar Cantu.  There will be two different days (May 1st and 3rd) at 7:00 pm.  On these two days, there will not be a 5:30 pm mass.  Let's continue praying for them that the Holy Spirit may guide them and fill them with its gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.  Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

​Fr. Alex Ureña

Hello Friends,

​Jesus tells us, "I am the Good Shepherd."  Today is often called Good Shepherd Sunday because every year on the fourth Sunday of Easter, we hear a passage from St. John's 10th chapter (Jn. 10:11-18) which is about Jesus as our shepherd.  He is a shepherd who is dedicated to his sheep.  He cares about his sheep and not about getting a paycheck.  He tells us he knows each of us individually and is willing to risk his life for us.  He did lay down his life for us.
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​There are three characteristics of a good shepherd: 1) a good shepherd cares so much for the flock that he is willing to risk his life to protect them, 2) he knows each of the sheep well, "by name,"  3) he cares about all of them, even those who go astray.  We can apply each of these to the Lord.  Jesus showed his love by giving up his life for us.  Each Sunday, the words "My Body for you... My Blood for you" come to us without interference from the Last Supper to show us the extent of Jesus' sacrifice for us.

​Fr. Alex Ureña 
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Hello Friends,

This week I had the opportunity to visit seminarians Franky Rios and Alfredo (Tito) Jaras at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas for their final evaluation.  From there I went to St. Mary's seminary in Houston, Texas to visit seminarian Patrick Montgomery.  It is part of the formation that every seminarian gets evaluated at the end of the school year.  There are five areas to be considered: Human Formation (external forum), Spiritual Formation (internal forum), Intellectual Formation (grades/school).  Pastoral Formation (ability to work with others), and self/personal care.  They all did well!  These are our future pastors in the Catholic Church in our diocese of Las Cruces.  I encourage you to keep praying for them and for more vocations to the Priesthood and religious life.
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​Fr. Juan Carlos Ramirez who is also a co-director of vocations visited seminarians Gino Wilcox and Francis Gyau at University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein Seminary in Chicago.  Gino Wilcox will be ordain a transitional deacon on May 18, 2018 at the Immaculate Heart of Mary here in Las Cruces at 6:00 pm.  If you haven't attended an event like this, I really encourage you to do so.  If you have attended one before, you are more then welcome to come back to freshen up your faith again.

 Fr. Alex Ureña