Dear Parishioner,
This weekend we gladly welcome the Sisters of Mary for our tri-parish Lenten Mission. They are joining us at all the weekend parish Masses, and then Sunday evening through Wednesday evening for their spiritual talks. The focus of their presentations will be on helping us to grow in faith, deepen our prayer life, and witness to the world the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith.
As you can see from your tri-parish Lenten calendar (mailed to you), the location of the sisters’ spiritual talks will rotate among our parishes. The first two evenings will be at St Peter, then the third evening at St Mary, and the last evening at Resurrection, concluding with fellowship and food in Resurrection’s Fellowship Hall. Their presentation will begin each evening at 6:00 pm and conclude the first three evenings with the option for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. All three of us priests will be present to assist with this.
I highly encourage you to consider attending the parish mission, even if you are not able to attend every evening. Lent is the special time each year that God gives us for intentionally focusing on making progress in our spiritual life. The busier our lives are, the more necessary it is for us to do this. Jesus gives us the example of both a daily rhythm of prayer, at different times of the day, and also extended time periods each year for spiritual growth and development.
As you are looking at the tri-parish Lenten calendar for other spiritual opportunities to attend, you may have noticed the Mass schedule for Holy week. For Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday, there is only one Mass listed each evening for our three parishes. There are several reasons for this. The first is because the attendance at the individual parish Masses in previous years has been light enough to be combined into one Mass. We priests are very generous with offering Mass at all three parishes, but there is a minimum number of people needed for special Masses, especially during Holy Week.
The second reason is that the Church prefers on these two very special evenings that Catholics gather together, as much as possible, for the common celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and the Easter Vigil, which the Church describes as “the mother of all vigils”. Catholics should have loyalty and devotion both to their parish and the larger universal Church where we are all one in the Lord. Last year our three parishes came together beautifully for the Easter Vigil in many ways: musicians, lectors, ushers, servers, etc.
Lastly, for the Easter Vigil, the Church requires that Mass start after sunset, which means the earliest possible time the Mass can begin is 8:30pm. Additionally, at that evening Mass, the catechumens and candidates from our three parishes will become members of the Catholic Church. Since last September, they have studied and prayed together each week, developing love and appreciation, not just for the Catholic Faith, but for each other as well. Therefore, it is very fitting that they come together into the Church that evening.
Prayerfully,
Fr. Miller