Holy Week
How fast time flies?! Don’t you have the feeling that we just started Lent? Today these 40 days are almost gone! What have we done with this time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving? What have we done with our Lenten resolutions? Do we remember that this time has been given to us every year to prepare for the celebration of Easter, to celebrate with joyful purity of hearts Jesus’ Resurrection and to be ready to meet Him whenever He comes? With this uplifting Palm Sunday celebration, we enter into the mystery of Jesus’ suffering and death. The summit of the Liturgical Year is the Easter Triduum – from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday. Though chronologically three days, they are liturgically one day unfolding for us the unity of Christ’s Paschal Mystery. The single celebration of the Triduum marks the end of the Lenten season and leads to the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Easter Vigil.
You are all cordially invited to these liturgical services that take place during the Triduum and for the Easter celebration:
- Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Thursday): 7 pm; followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until 11 pm
- Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Good Friday): 1 pm, proceeded by the Stations at 12:15 pm
- Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord (Easter Vigil): 7:30 pm
- Food blessing on Saturday: 12 pm
- Easter Sunday: Mass at 9 am and 11 am
Do not miss the opportunity to celebrate these mysteries of our faith with your fellow parishioners!
24/7 Adoration
As the final step on our Lenten journey and the preparation for this upcoming Easter, I would like to encourage you to spend some time with Jesus before the Blessed Sacrament. If we only knew the enormous grace of Eucharistic Adoration, we would spend entire days on our knees before the altar. To adore the Blessed Sacrament is to accompany Jesus Himself in the moment of His sacrifice for humanity. Jesus gave up everything for us so we may live. Would you be able to sacrifice one hour of your time and be with Him!??? On Monday 3/25, at 7 pm we will begin 24- hour adoration until 7 pm on Tuesday 3/26. The Adoration will be finished with the devotion to St. Michael the Archangel at 6.30 pm and Mass at 7 pm. Jesus is waiting for you!!!
Lenten Blessings
“God is good, all the time. All the time God is good!” We all have so many reasons to be grateful as individuals, but we are also grateful as a community of faith. God has blessed us with so many beautiful things during this Lent at St. Genevieve-St. Maurice parish, and for everything we should be grateful. These are just a few of them: More people than usual for daily and weekend Masses! Countless numbers of those who have come for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Many people who have attended Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (Fridays) and the Stations of the Cross (Wednesdays and Fridays). 47 people who regularly have walked with Jesus towards Jerusalem in the Adult Faith Formation program on Wednesdays and Thursdays during Lent. 13 students who last Wednesday received the Sacrament of Confirmation (together with other 17 others from our Family of Parishes) through the ministry of Bp. Jeffrey Monforton. Countless numbers of people in need who have been served by our volunteers from the SVDP Ministry. For the priests and volunteers who have helped us visit elderly and sick at the senior living centers with the pastoral care. And all of the people who have visited us for our Lenten Fish Fry every Friday during Lent. I have no idea how many meals we have served this year, but what I know is that it won’t be possible without the whole crew, so many volunteers (parishioners and not), people of good will, members of different ministries and those who love God and our parish. It was truly a teamwork inspired by God’s Grace. The work that brings community together, the work that gives testimony of our love for God, and for each other. To say Thank You to every person who have helped us to make it possible, is my privilege and honor. May God be blessed for everything. You all have a HOLY week! Fr. Tom
GROW AS A DISCIPLE
“The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.” This sentence from our first reading is taken from one of the four “Songs of the Suffering Servant” in Isaiah. The New Testament identifies this Servant as Jesus, and we know that Jesus accepted the suffering that was foretold in the verses that follow this one: “I gave my back to those who beat me – my face I did not hide from insults and spitting.” As aspiring servants of God on this Palm Sunday, the most holy of days when we hear Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion, how does this sentence speak to us? What does it mean to have a well-trained tongue? To me it is a call to speak to the Lord in prayer as well as to speak the Good News of the Gospel whenever and wherever we can.
GO EVANGELIZE
How can we gain the confidence to believe that our tongue is “well-trained”? We know we are all given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and we must trust in that promise and invoke his presence often. Who knows? A kind word or gesture from us may just “speak” to a weary person who is struggling. Paul writes that in his passion, Jesus “emptied himself” in the hours before his death and “[became] obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Paul’s next words give us the answer to our question above: “Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend … and every tongue confess [emphasis added] that Jesus Christ is Lord.” The fullness of the kingdom will be realized only when Jesus comes again. But in the meantime, we have the Eucharist that Jesus instituted at the Last Supper to sustain us and give us strength for our task to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and spread the kingdom of God one day at a time.
PRAY
“Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.” These words from today’s passion narrative demonstrate Jesus’ complete, obedient surrender of his will to his Father’s divine will. As flawed human beings, we will never be able to perfectly emulate our Savior’s actions, but what better way to begin Holy Week than to try? Through prayer, strive to surrender yourself to God this week by trusting him completely, and striving to do his will with humility and Christ-like obedience.
Hosanna to the Messiah!
While Jesus would not be crowned an earthly king, Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem has many parallels to the Messianic expectations of the Hebrew people. Before entering, Jesus requisitions a donkey from its owner. In the ancient world, kings had this right. Yet the animal that Jesus requests is rare – a colt upon which no one else has sat yet. Yet, it’s a donkey. This is no great war-charger, no magnificent animal. Jesus acts with all the authority of an earthly king, yet his kingdom is one of simplicity and peace. As the disciples throw cloaks over the donkey, the crowd spreads theirs on the road. This ancient gesture dates back to the line of kings descended from David. Not only are these physical kingly gestures, but the crowd of followers cries out in jubilation and praise. The Messiah has come to Jerusalem!