Dear friends,
Beginning with Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, we are entering into the Holy Week which is the most important week of the liturgical year. This week is packed with Solemn Days dominated by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord. For the past five weeks, we have voluntarily and cheerfully entered into Prayer and Fasting coupled with so many charitable activities to prepare ourselves to accompany Jesus in the most painful experiences of his life which will be celebrated this week. This week offers us immense opportunities to immerse ourselves in the pivotal moments of our Redemption. Hence, this week takes a predominant place as it is the summit of the Church’s Liturgical Year.
Palm Sunday, with its reverberating acclamation of Hosanna as Jesus enters the holy city of Jerusalem, is the messianic proclamation of his Paschal Mystery. The crescendo of events during this week in the life of Jesus, his disciples, and the people who opposed him, will lead them all to Golgotha on the Mount of Calvary. This will be the place where the incontrovertible love of Jesus for each and every one of us will be fully revealed as he embraces the CROSS.
During this Holy Week, I invite you to be mindful of the Passion of the Lord as the pivotal moment in the life of Christ, the time when he experiences the mental, spiritual, psychological, and physical agony of being misunderstood, betrayed, and rejected by his own people. With powerful love and obedience, he would persevere in his mission of embracing that most despicable and ignominious instrument of torture called the CROSS. “But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour” (John 12: 27).
Please take time to PRAY and STAY AWAKE with JESUS. He is desperately seeking your company. I urge you to observe the paschal fast on Good Friday as an aid in receiving “the joys of the Lord’s resurrection with uplifted and responsive hearts” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 110).
Please make note of the Calendar of Events during Holy Week at our parish:
Monday of Holy Week: Sacrament of Reconciliation from 9 a.m. to noon and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday of Holy Week: Solemn Evening Prayer and Benediction at 7 p.m.
Holy Thursday: The Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7 p.m., followed by silent Adoration until midnight in Holy Cross Hall.
Good Friday: The Passion of Our Lord will be observed at 3 p.m. Teen Stations of the Cross will follow at 7 p.m. Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil will be held at 8 p.m.
Easter Sunday: We will offer several Masses for Easter: 6 a.m., 8 a.m., 10 a.m., 12 noon. Please invite your family and friends to join us in celebrating the gift of the Resurrection. Be Blessed!
With love, Fr. John