From Father Steven - November 10, 2024

Father Steven Clemence • November 8, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

 

We all have heard the saying, “we are what we eat.” Although this phrase was coined about 200 years ago, it still holds true today. In a world saturated with digital content, we are shaped not only by the food we consume but also by the information we take in. This begs the question: what kind of material are we bringing into our lives? How does our time balance between work, family, social media, and our relationship with God?

 

Recently, while speaking to a group of young adults, I was struck by the sheer amount of time they admitted to spending on their phones. Whether it’s for work, social media, games, watching series, or other forms of entertainment, it quickly adds up. One of the group members commented, “Imagine what we could do with all that time if it were used for the right things.” We all laughed, but the comment really made me think. It’s true! Think about all those hours spent passively consuming: behind screens, watching TV, mindlessly scrolling through social media, or doing other activities that don’t really add value to our lives. Surely it is important to have some recreation time, but it can’t be too much! Imagine if we were to dedicate that time to reading books, we would be so much more knowledgeable. If we were to help other people, we would become so much more generous. Now imagine if we dedicated all that time towards God! Whether studying the bible (or just reading it), praying the rosary daily, immersing ourselves in the lives of the saints. Imagine attending daily Mass or simply visiting the Blessed Sacrament – how profoundly different our lives would be! If we are to spend eternity with God, should we not be preparing ourselves actively for heaven a bit more? Sometimes we can settle for so little, when the Lord wants to give us so much!!! It is true that there are other important tasks to be done daily, but why is prayer and God not our top priorities?

 

I often tell the youth that there are 1,440 minutes in a day. How much do we dedicate to God? If we were to pray for 2 hours daily, that would be only less than 10% of our day. However, if we pray 14 minutes, that is actually 1%...I believe that Jesus needs more than that. Actually, WE are the ones that need more than that. Surely that 2 hours straight can be a lot, but if we spread through the day, it would not be too much. If I were to tell you that this year you will eat almost 2,000 pounds of food, you would say that is impossible. Even to think that we consume an average of 4.5 pounds a day is a lot. However, slowly as we eat here and there, we get to that amount. The same is with prayer.

 

We are what we eat, and in the same way, we are what we consume in terms of information and time. Just as we need to be mindful of what we put into our bodies, we must also be careful about what we expose ourselves to and how we spend our time. The people around you need you, whether family, friends, or neighbors. We also need God and our holy friends (the saints). Therefore, I invite you to reconsider some of your agenda. Let us give our priorities to God and His will. As the Gospel invites us this weekend, let us give Him our all!!! Like the two widows who gave all they had, and they were not lacking, let us do the same. We have some incredible opportunities coming up! Every day we have Adoration 6:30-7:30am in the lower church. Daily Mass is 7:30-8:00am every single day (we have a no-cancellation policy). The Church is open every day from 6:00am-6:00pm. This Sunday November 10th we have 24Hr Adoration starting at 6:00pm until 6:00pm on Monday. This Tuesday we have a Sacred Music Concert by Harpa Dei at 7:00pm (Mass and Adoration). On Wednesday our Senior Group (which is open to all adults who want to participate) will be meeting for the first time 10:00am-12:00pm. On Formed.org there are some great contents to watch/listen to help you. In a few weeks we have the Night of Praise and Thanksgiving on November 21st. As we feed our bodies properly, let us also feed our souls with good stuff!!!

 

Finally, as we approach Veteran’s Day this week, I want to take a moment to thank all our brothers and sisters who have made countless sacrifices while serving our country. May God bless you a hundredfold for your generosity. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

 

God Bless,

Fr. Steven

 

From Father Steven - August 23, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • August 19, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope you are enjoying your summer! I, along with some of the youth of our parish, attended the Steubenville East conference in Springfield a few weeks ago. It is a 3 day catholic conference for high school teens to encounter Christ through eucharistic adoration, the sacraments and dynamic sessions all produced by Lifeteen and Franciscan University. The conference was attended by thousands of youth from all over New England with the hope to ignite life long discipleship in our teens. We have asked one of our youth to share with you a bit of his experience. Please see the letter written by Gabriel Torres below. God Bless, Fr. Gabriel ——————————————— Hello and Happy Sunday, or whenever it is that you read this. I am Gabriel Torres and I am a part of the youth group here, at Immaculate Conception. We, the youth, Fr. Gabriel, and a handful of chaperones recently attended a life changing 3 day Steubenville conference in Springfield. And when I say life changing, I really mean it. I thought the same as you, when Cecilia, our religious education director told us about it. I wanted to go, but was kinda doubting that it could be that fun and life changing, as it is a big statement. I thought that it would just be us, listening to priests talk about Jesus, and I would have gone for that, but it turned out to be so much more. On the first day after the first talk and mini worship concert (with a mosh pit and everything), we were asked to come up with one word to describe how we felt about the conference so far. The word that I chose was Connection. And I still agree, and I think anyone that went would agree. Just feeling the connection between yourself and the Lord, and how that connection spread between each signing heart was just purely gorgeous and fulfilling. Seeing thousands of youth come together and praise the Lord was inspiring. The conference was fun with singing and dancing breaks, with people trying to be as close to the music as possible, and games that got the whole center laughing, all the way down to the serious moments when the speakers were speaking the truths of our hearts. The way that you could just raise your hands and pray to the Lord without having to worry what others might think, but instead feeling the connection to those around you and feeling how through God we were all connected, loved, and worthy, brought tears to even those of us who ‘never’ cry. There was just a rawness at this conference that I have never felt anywhere else. So, if you are a youth, teen, or know someone who might be interested in this conference, I encourage you to come next year. If you have friends that are not fully in the faith, or are Christian and not Catholic, invite them. A Christian teen that I got closer to at the conference told us on day one that he didn’t fully understand everything we did or why, but that he believed in Jesus Christ and that he wanted to follow Jesus, wherever it took him. And that was here. Thank you to all who donated to make this possible, and thank you for allowing us to experience the Lord in a new way. Thank you, and God Bless you all. Your brother in Christ, Gabriel Torres

From Father Steven - August 16, 2026

By Father Steven Clemence • August 14, 2026
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope you are enjoying your summer! Please see the letter below from Fr. Javier. God Bless, Fr. Steven ——————————————— Hello Brothers and Sisters, Time flies, it has already been a few months since my ordination but I feels like it was only yesterday. The ordination has been a gift and a joy. Thank you all for your support in my formation. I would like to share with you two things that have been close to my heart since my ordination to the deaconate and now the priesthood. The first is on God's Providence and the second is a particular part of the Eucharist. My diaconate ordination marked the end of my time of mission and my return for the final year in the seminary. As many of you might remember I was in mission in American Samoa, Samoa, and a short but impactful time in Saipan. During that time I experienced how God opened doors that I never even knew existed. In difficult times God always had a solution in ways that I didn't expect. In short, I experienced God's Providence and I was awe-struck. I felt that God was my Father who was providing what I needed. Looking ahead into my priesthood, I know that there will be challenging moments but I have these core memorials that serve to remind me that God provides the grace needed to carry out his will. Providence comes to you when you seek out God and his will, everything else falls into place. Now as a priest there is a particular part of the Eucharist that I really enjoy, the Holy sung during the Eucharistic Prayer. "Heaven and Earth are full of your glory". That line has stuck with me because it calls to mind all the wonders that I have seen God work in my life, the life of my family, and in the lives of others. Not only this, but the action of singing Holy, Holy, Holy during the Liturgy fulfills our heavenly calling to one day join the angels and saints in Heaven singing the perpetual praises of God. The Book of Revelations says that they never cease to sing Holy, Holy, Holy. In the Eucharist, and in this moment in particular Heaven and Earth come together. What a blessing to celebrate the Eucharist! I remember you in my prayers, please pray for me. In Christ, Fr Javier Alexis Padilla