Congratulations, fr. alfonso, on your 20 years of priesthood

This year, we are more than ready to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our lives were disrupted by the pandemic, which left us at home at Easter last year.  We couldn't celebrate our Pascal Triduum.  We lost many members of our congregation and friends, including priests, and I am sure that, through the mercy and love of God, they are now participating in the resurrection of the Lord.  However, this year will be different.  I can say that we have lived the longest Lent ever!  For nearly a year, we had to wait to celebrate together this major event of our faith: THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.  Through the great experience of our spiritual life, we proclaim the victory of Jesus as our victory. "If Christ has not been raised, our faith is vain" (1 Corinthians 15:17).  

With our hearts renewed, we want to welcome all of you to be part of our Parish.  We have worked hard with Fr. Duber, Deacons Frank and Richard, and all our staff and volunteers to create the best environment in our temple and in all our gardens to make St. Ann "a great garden of contemplation and prayer."  If our temple is closed, you will always find a perfect spot to pray, contemplate, and have time to spend with God.  

Our Parish has 30 acres where you will find a vivid orange grove, a new shrine completely open and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, donated by John the XXIII movement, and an outside altar donated by the Religious Education office.  There are many olive trees and a beautiful view of Lake Eva that gives visitors the feeling of being in the Holy Land.  The Stations of the Cross in the garden impel us to walk with Jesus and to meditate upon his passion and love for humanity.  Our prayer tower is dedicated to the unborn, where you may light a candle for your intentions.  There are statues in honor of Mary, the Holy Family, St. Ann, Jesus playing with the children, and the Guardian Angel.  The under-construction garden is celebrating the year of St. Joseph.  You can enjoy all the flowers and ornamental plants, old oak and palm trees that decorate and become silent witnesses of our Parish's 51 years of existence.  

In our church, you will find a gorgeous pyrography mural and the Stations of the Cross made by the Spanish artist Jose Aznar in which he captured the scene of Jesus resurrected sharing a dinner with a group of parishioners-founders, and the two priests, Fr. Carlos Azupin and Fr. Anderson, who built the church.  

But when you get to St. Ann's, you will find a strong community of faith that yearns to share the Good News of Salvation with all of you.  More than 350 students are in our Religious Education program; 47 catechumens were baptized, confirmed, and received the Eucharist for the first time at our Easter Vigil.  Our prayer groups (Cursillo, John the XXIII, Charismatic group, Youth Ministry); religious organizations (Knights of Columbus, Columbiettes); a group that prays the Holy Rosary every morning before the 9:00 AM Mass for the unborn and the priests; and many ministers and volunteers make our church a favorite destination to be a good Catholic, a person of prayer.  

Inside the church, we have room for 1,075 souls who want to join us in our vibrant liturgy in English and Spanish with wonderful choirs that enhance our celebrations.  I am blessed to live in such a community of faith; they are the best!

Only you are missing!  Come and see!  We are waiting for you!  Come and be a part of our dreams and let us work together to build the Kingdom of God here and now.  

Let's make St. Ann's an excellent place to stay and be in touch with God.  

Welcome to St. Ann Parish, the multicultural community in the heart of Florida!  

Fr. Alfonso Cely

Pastor

First of all, I would like to welcome all of you to our beautiful, spiritual campus that is a good environment for our personal and communal spiritual reflection and prayer.  Even though we continue with this terrible pandemic, our gardens and other places, such as the outside altar, the new shrine in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, our Stations of the Cross, or simply to stop at one of our lovely oak trees, becomes a perfect spot for our meditations and encounter with our heavenly Father.  Our temple is open weekdays at 8:00 AM for personal prayers and to pray the Holy Rosary for the Unborn before the 9:00 AM Mass. During the weekends, you are welcome to join in the celebration of the Eucharist in English and Spanish.  These 30 acres are completely consecrated to worship God and to live as brothers and sisters in the joy of our faith. Our orange grove gives a beautiful view of our campus.  

We are entering in this solemn season of Lent.  Last year, we couldn't celebrate Lent and Easter because we were closed due to the pandemic.  But this year, with all the precautions and protocols of cleaning, we can gather together to participate in the celebration of the liturgy as family of God. You are more than welcome to share our faith. Lent is a perfect time to increase our prayer time, and we are exhorted to repentance and a strong reminder of our mortality. As Catholics, this season helps us to think about the importance of placing our vision in our Christian goal: Heaven.  

In the celebration of Ash Wednesday, at the moment when the ashes are placed on our heads, we hear, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." It speaks very clearly about how fast time passes and how short our lives are, and how we must be conscious that this present time is nothing if we compare it to future life or eternity.  The great St. Teresa of Avila said, "Life is an instant between two eternities." How profound are these words of this doctor of the Church that help us think about this short but beautiful gift from God that is our life.  

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are called to carry out good works for eternal life. With this special season of Lent, Our Mother, the Holy Catholic Church, invites us to enter a remarkable journey of meditation and reflection on our relationship with God, our Father, and our brothers and sisters while we make this journey to be in heaven one day with all the just and the saints.  This is what Lent is all about.  Past that is to make a significant conversion and to ask forgiveness of God, present that is what we have to do today in His presence which means to live in the grace that God gives us, and future that is our final goal to live with Him for all eternity.  

Jesus, our Lord, wants to grant us his forgiveness and love for this Lent; we cannot waste this blessed time, this great occasion of mercy. The ashes that we receive on our heads on Ash Wednesday are a big sign of who died on the cross for our salvation and how he just gave his life for the life of the world. We cannot take his death and resurrection for granted. We must be open to his mercy and salvation, which is the manifestation of his complete love for humanity.  

Let the words of the psalmist become our own:

"Have mercy on me, O God, in our goodness;

in the greatness of our compassion, wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

and of my sin cleanse me" (Psalm 51).

Fr. Alfonso Cely

Pastor

I want to welcome all of you to our great Parish family after many months of absence because of the pandemic. We are trying hard to return to our regular life while taking all the precautions and protocols established by the Diocese of Orlando in this historical time in which we are living.

This year has been very tough for all of us. We have missed all of you in our church. Celebrating Mass at the beginning of this pandemic with only the camera and seeing the church empty was not pleasant. For me, it has been very sad to see friends, parishioners, and relatives suffering because of the pandemic. We have seen the anguish caused when losing a family member or a job. We are deprived when we cannot hug and give the Sign of Peace in church; having many of our activities on-line makes our relationships very cold. At times, the future looks dark, and our smile has vanished. But, in the middle of this challenging situation and incertitude, Advent arrives in our lives as a gift from God and is an excellent relief to calm our hopelessness.

Advent is a great time to return to God and feel that the Lord is our refuge and strength. With him, we can overcome all our fear and rest in his hands, the hands of our Father and Creator. "We are the clay and you the potter: we are all the work of your hands" (Is 64:8). So, he can fashion us according to his holy will.

The dark veil of sadness has been removed with the Good News of Salvation that our Lord and Messiah brings to our lives. It is time to come as a family of God to our church to celebrate this beautiful season of expectation, knowing that he is coming with peace, mercy, and blessings. The prophecy of Isaiah 11:1-10 comes to us as a bright light and meaningful message of hope.

Isaiah helps us to figure out how the wolf shall be with the lamb or the leopard. The snake can play with the baby, the calf and the young lion shall browse together. These incredible images describe the peace, love, and calm of having Jesus in our hearts and lives; to have him in our midst.

"There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea" (Is 10:9).

I want to invite you to come back to see the glory of God in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, in person, or to follow us virtually on YouTube, in which Jesus makes his glorious presence.

We miss you, but let us keep connected in spirit, allowing Jesus to govern our world and our lives.

God bless you! 

Fr. Alfonso Cely

Pastor

My Dear Family of St. Ann: 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a difficult and challenging time for the world.  Many valuable and beautiful traditions have significantly developed.  One day we awoke, and our life was not the same.  Our church closed, and we were not able to celebrate Holy Week and Easter.  After being closed for two months, we are now opening our doors and celebrating Mass.  We are thrilled to see our parishioners returning to celebrate the Mystery of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist together.  Be assured that we are taking all kinds of precautions by wearing masks, suspending the rite of peace, distributing only the Body of Christ at the end of Mass, having our daily celebrations last 30 minutes, and our weekend celebrations 45 minutes.  We are praying to the Lord for the end of this pandemic, protection of our parishioners, the sick, their caregivers, physicians, and first responders, and for those who have lost family members and loved ones.  We are also praying for all those who, in many ways, are more than ready to serve--from the grocery store employees to all the people who continue working hard, making it possible to put food on our table.  

I miss hugging my parishioners in the Narthex!  For me, it is an energetic experience and very uplifting.  But, we have discovered other ways to connect through our spirituality.  We become one in Jesus our Lord, and from a distance can feel the love and affection which reigns among us as a community of faith.  We want you to feel welcome and safe in our parish.  We are following the protocols set by our Diocese during this period.  We are thoroughly cleaning the church and facilities after each ceremony, and for now, our capacity is only 25%, physically separated, but spiritually connected.  Even with a 25% capacity limit, we still have space available for more within that limit!  

We are completely committed to working hard to serve you and help you from our hearts.  Our mission is to continue keeping the fire and joy of the Lord and the Holy Spirit in our lives and to share with you this gladness with the world.  This pandemic has tried to still the joy from our hearts, but we can overcome it with the joy and hope of the Resurrected one who lives and reigns forever and ever. 

Thank you for all your support and love manifested in many ways.  We are the great family of God, the great family of St. Ann.

God bless you, and remember…see you Sunday!

Fr. Alfonso Cely

Pastor

After almost 28 days of preparation during this Advent Season, in which we have meditated with the help of the readings in the daily celebration of the Eucharist, we have lived an important journey in our spiritual lives.  It started during the first part of Advent (November 27 until December 16) that helped us to contemplate the return in Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in His second coming.  We were exhorted to be alert and vigilant and "to make straight the way of the Lord" (Jn 1:23).  From December 16 to December 24, we read all the Gospel accounts of the infancy of Jesus the Son of God, starting with his genealogy, and refreshing all our memories with different passages of the beginning of the Word incarnated.

We have now arrived at this great and beautiful Christmas season, which fulfills all the oracles and prophecies in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.  As we celebrate his birth, our hearts are filled with joy because this memorable event in the history of humankind means for us the salvation and redemption of God our Lord.  Indeed, he came in the simplicity of a manger in Bethlehem with gifts that remained with us forever: Peace, Mercy, and Love.  He came never to leave us alone, to be the reason for our joy always.  

The words of the book of Exodus are more current than ever: "Today you will know that the Lord will come, and he will save us, and in the morning, you will see his glory" (16:6-7).  The same glory that resounds in our ears from the voices of a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds on the joyful night of Christmas: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rest" (Lk 2:14).  The same joy is among us in the celebration of the Eucharist when we proclaim the Glory of God.  We recognize that in a simple piece of bread and a small amount of wine is the same Savior who came, who is with us, who will be back, and who will stay with us until the end of the world.

Christmas is about the Word incarnated in human flesh for our salvation.  For Catholics, this is a more than sufficient reason to rejoice and be happy knowing that we have the Emmanuel, which means "God is among us."

With gladness and jubilance, let us cry to the whole world: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Fr. Alfonso Cely

Pastor

My Dear Parishioners of St. Ann and Visitors!

At the beginning of 2020, a number that refers to perfect vision, I want to invite you to be part of our family of St. Ann looking to the future with excitement and optimism. This year, you and I will have walked together for five years, fulfilled many dreams, and accomplished many projects. All of these have occurred because you have said “yes,” and have supported me with love and generosity. We will continue to work as a family in the creation of our mission and vision for the next ten years. This 2020 will be full of new spiritual projects in which we will grow in knowledge and love for God.

We are an alive and multicultural parish. We have come from different backgrounds from different parts of the world, cultures, languages, and races. While we say that we have an Anglo community, many of you were born in different states with different traditions and accents. For me, it is fascinating to greet people from Asia, Latin America, Caribbean Islands, Canada, and Europe every weekend in the narthex of our Church who come with only one intention: TO WORSHIP JESUS CHRIST IN THE EUCHARIST. For me, it is one of the most beautiful miracles, the recognition of Our Lord Jesus as the Lord of our lives. Undoubtedly, we are the body of Him and, in Him, we have our joy and the way to see each one of us as brothers and sisters.

If you are new visiting us on this web page, I want to invite you to come and visit us because we have space in our church for you in this heart of Florida. In our own hearts, you could be part of our family by registering on-line or calling the church office and making an appointment with me or our associate pastor, Fr. Duber; we want to know you by name. We will be happy to meet with you personally, learn about you, and how you would like to participate in our parish to make it greater and more beautiful. We have many ministries and been very successful, but we are always in need of more generous people who want to share their talents and time by serving others with love and mercy. Please help Fr. Duber and me to bring the Good News of Salvation to many with your testimony through the different ministries that St. Ann’s has for helping others to see that the Kingdom of God is here among us. All of us have received talents and need to multiply these as the Lord exhorts us with this parable: “Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master (Mt 25:20-21).’” Our joy will be to serve Him and His church with all our strength and generous heart.

God bless you, see you soon!

Fr. Alfonso Cely
Pastor