Dear Parishioners,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Easter. Alleluia! Alleluia! God’s love never fails! We will rejoice today in the light and love of the Resurrection. From Easter until Pentecost, our first readings will be drawn from the Acts of the Apostles, the book which offers insight into the formation of the early church and the thoughts and actions of the disciples after the Resurrection. Let us rejoice and be glad that we are a part of that unfolding mystery.

Next Sunday will be the Second Sunday of Easter, or the Sunday of Divine Mercy. The church teaches that St. Faustina, a 20th-century Polish nun, recorded revelations that she received from Jesus who, as she wrote in her diary, desired that “a Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls.” The readings tell the story of God’s abundant mercy and love for us. We ask for the grace to more clearly respond to these great signs and wonders of mercy and love that God continues to bestow on us and our world.

On behalf of the entire parish staff, especially our Senior Associate Pastor, Fr Mike Donald, and myself, I want to wish you and yours a very happy and blessed Easter Sunday and Easter Season. We are truly “part of that unfolding mystery” calling us to faith and life with the Risen Lord Jesus. The crowds of people who attend Mass and other services on this day attests to the faith, deep down faith, that brings us to a closer walk with the Risen Lord Jesus.

Many thanks to all who made our Lenten Journey, especially during the Paschal Triduum, a very important journey in faith. Thanks to the musicians, especially our Music Director, Heather Martin Cooper and the choirs. Thanks to the decorators, the ushers, the lectors, the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, the servers, even the Scouts who were sched- uled to build the fire for the Easter Vigil. We all appreciate your efforts and are very pleased with the results. So, thank you many times over.

Next Sunday will be Divine Mercy Sunday. We have received information from our Dean, Father Tom Molini, about services taking place in our deanery. (I’m sure that the Saint Louis Review has more information either in this week’s edition or even next Friday’s edition.) However, in the West County Deanery we have the following information:

Divine Mercy at Holy Infant: Confessions 1:30 – 3:00 P.M.

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 2:15 P.M., followed by prayers of the Holy Rosary Novena and the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Divine Mercy Chaplet and Litany 3:00 P.M., followed by Benediction and Mass at 3:15 P.M.

Divine Mercy at Incarnate Word:

12:15 Mass followed by exposition and confessions from 1:30-3:00 P.M. Divine mercy chaplet will be sung at 2:30 P.M. and benediction will follow. All services completed by 3:00 P.M.

The annual novena to the Divine Mercy began on Good Friday, and I hope many of you are participating in it. The requirement for Confession during the Novena means any time before, during, or after (within a week before or after) the Novena. I hope that you have already accomplished that in preparation for a worthy reception of Holy Communion on Easter Sunday.

The “Easter Duty” still is “on the books.” Simply put it means worthily receiving Holy Communion once from the First Sunday of Lent through Trinity Sunday (this year on Sunday, June 16th, which is also Father’s Day this year). If you must receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation prior to worthily receiving Holy Communion during the Easter Season, then “annual confession” is required. We had many opportunities to receive that Sacrament during Lent and we have that Sacrament each Saturday afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30 and other times by appointment.

Try to receive that Sacrament often!  It is a great source of grace and shouldn’t be forgotten!

Our new principal, Tammi Rohman, was here last weekend, along with an Open House for the School. She will be at the PTO meeting this coming Thursday evening, April 25, beginning at 6:30 P.M. in the School Cafeteria. If you didn’t meet her on the 13th – 14th, this will be a great chance to meet her.

We have a great school with tremendous teachers and very involved parents. Our technology committee has great plans for future development, and I’m very excited about it. It has a great faith development program, including prayer services, Masses, and (recently) Stations of the Cross. Religion permeates all that we do! That is why we are in existence: because we are a Catholic Parochial School educating our children not only in the “Three R’s,” “Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic” but also in Science, Technology, RELIGION, Engineering, ART, and Mathematics (STREAM, the “new word” for education in the 21st Century). It distresses me to hear (basically “rumors on the street,” since only one person has said anything to me in person about his/her child leaving the school after this year) that we are “losing” a good number of students. I hope that those parents would reconsider and, please remember, if attempting to go another Catholic Parochial School, you have to have my permission before registering there.

Building project: Since the bulletin deadline for this bulletin was April 10th, I don’t have much more to report than what was in the bulletin the last few weeks. HOPEFULLY all the asbestos abatement was completed by Good Friday and the construction for our new elevator lobby, elevator, and renovation of the parish hall will actually begin tomorrow, April 22. BUT, again, this is being written almost two weeks prior to the events mentioned … so I hope every- thing is still on schedule.

May God bless you and may you have a very happy and holy Easter Season. In the Risen Lord Jesus,

Father Joe Weber