GOD SO LOVED HE GAVE

FROM A HEART OF GRATITUDE
WE GIVE OUR
TIME, TALENT & TREASURE

Everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.
Stewardship is the ability to share our gifts of life – Time, Talent & Treasure with others, no strings attached and no conditions. We share these gifts out of our love for God and gratitude to Him.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matt 6:23

Our Lenten Journey of Faith

Three Days for Transformation

Three days. For a young child three days seems as if a lifetime. For a seriously ill person three days can be a gift. In this week’s Gospel reading, for Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus  three days could have made a difference between life and death. Each of us will soon have an opportunity to embrace three days leading from life to death to new life.  Three days. The Sacred Paschal Triduum.  Three days that have the power to change our faith community and our personal lives for good. These three days begin at sundown on Holy Thursday (April 18) and conclude on Easter Sunday (April 21).

We will experience a larger attendance at Masses on Palm Sunday (April 14) and we will certainly experience very large crowds at Masses on Easter (April 21). But, what about those three days of the Triduum, the holiest week of the year? Will you be going about your weekly routines? Or, will you make this year’s Holy Week something very special—embracing the profound importance of these days in renewing your faith? We are offered the opportunity to enter into the fullness of the Paschal Mystery and be transformed by Christ’s salvific power as a community of faith.

At the heart of Jesus’ message is our human communal connectedness. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37-40).  This human connectedness flows through the entirety of the Triduum. From the humble service of washing feet on Holy Thursday, moving in procession to the altar of repose, to the gathering at and veneration of the Cross on Good Friday to the noblest night of all when we welcome new members of the Body of Christ through baptism, anointing with sacred chrism, and sharing in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at Easter Vigil.  This is the Paschal Mystery alive in our actions, in our prayers, and in our hope of salvation.

This is the heart of the liturgical year.  It is all about the Paschal Mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. It is one liturgical service beginning on Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper continuing to His Passion and Death and concluding (beginning anew!) with the Easter Vigil. Yes, each of the services are a bit longer than usual. Yes, we are expected to participate more fully. Yes, our bodies might become weary BUT our souls are filled with joy, with excitement and with hope.

Let us strive to actively invite all in our faith community and beyond to “come and see” in order to encounter Christ through the symbol and sacrament of the Paschal Triduum so as to open the doors to experience God’s unconditional love for us.

The honor of your
Presence is requested

For the Church’s Commemoration of the Passion, Death
And Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ

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Funerals
The funeral for Doreen Durney is
on Thursday, May 2, 2019 at 11am
in the Church.