Dear Parishioners,
This weekend we celebrate the Third Sunday of Easter. We are an Easter people and so, despite the Coronavirus, and the lack of public Masses and Sacraments, we are called to be a joyful people. Jesus has conquered death, broken open our tombs of sin and despair, and redeemed us in our humanity. Animated by the Holy Spirit we live in the light and life of Christ, spreading that light and life on to those around us. May our hearts be glad and tongues exult as we lift our voices in praise to God.
This afternoon was supposed to have been the celebration of First Holy Communion for our children. Unfortunately, of course, we can’t celebrate that this weekend. HOWEVER, and this is always sub- ject to change, first communion families, PLEASE mark June 14, the Feast of Corpus Christi, as the now TENTATIVE date for First Holy Communion. IF we can celebrate a public Mass on the 14th, the First Communion Mass will be at 2:00 P.M. More information will be passed on to the parents in the weeks ahead. PRAY that this will soon be over.
Next weekend we will celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Picture a lush meadow with a large flock of sheep enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Despite the coronavirus around us perhaps this scene might be helpful to us today. We are part of that flock.
We have a lovingly devoted shepherd, the One who calls us each by name and invites us to have life and to have it more abundantly. Next week let’s join together in joy and with gratitude for all He has done for us.
We have had some very nice comments about the streamed Masses, including the special music that Heather Martin Cooper and Audrey Thomas are offering on Sundays before and after the Mass. Last weekend, when we streamed the Holy Hour for Divine Mercy Sunday, we had 106 views (that doesn’t translate to the number of people, of course). I’m told that for the time slot, 3:00 – 4:00 P.M., that is very good. Our Easter Sunday Mass had 804 views! That is really something. The Divine Mercy Sunday Mass had 278 views, including friends of mine in Pennsylvania and Wyoming “tuning in” for our Sunday Mass. All in all I think that we are doing as well as we can, given the circumstances.
Thank you.
The Pope’s WorldWide Prayer Network: This Friday is May 1, the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, the First Friday of the Month of May, and the beginning of a new intention to be prayed for along with Pope Francis and all the members of the “Apostleship of Prayer.” The intention this month (set several years ago) is “For Deacons: We pray that deacons, faithful in their service to the Word and the poor, may be an invigorating symbol for the entire Church.”
We are blessed with a Transitional Deacon, Dane Westhoff who, God willing, will be ordained a priest on Saturday, May 23. We are also blessed with two active Permanent Deacons, Bill Smith and Carl Sommer, and one Acolyte who, again, God willing, will be ordained a Deacon this coming sum- mer, Bill Smith. Also, over the years, we have been blessed to have Brother Ben Keller, OP, another Acolyte, who is so instrumental in our young adult group, helping out here liturgically on Sundays, but through the week in many ways too. He too, we hope and pray, will be ordained a Deacon some- time this summer. Bob Radley, of our parish, is in the initial stages (just finishing up his first year) of prayer and study to be a deacon. We also are blessed to have a retired Deacon, Bob Birkenmaier, who has been a great servant to the people of God in his many years since his Ordination.
Over the years there have been other deacons who have served us here and in the Church. PLEASE pray for all deacons during this coming month of May.
Pope Francis reminds us about Deacons: (from a talk in Milan, Italy, March 25, 2017)
[…] The diaconate is a specific vocation, a family vocation that requires service. I like it very much when [in the Acts of the Apostles] the first Hellenistic Christians went to the apostles to complain because their widows and orphans were not well cared for, and they had a meeting, that “synod” between apostles and disciples, and they “invented” the deacons to serve. And this is very interesting for us bishops too, because they were all bishops, those who “made” the deacons. And what does this tell us? That deacons were servants. Then they understood that, in that case, it was not to assist wid- ows and orphans: but to serve. And to us as bishops: prayer and the proclamation of the Word; and this shows us what the most important charism of a bishop is: to pray. What is the task of a bishop, the first task? Prayer. Second task: proclaiming the Word. But you can see the difference clearly.
And for you [deacons]: service. This word is the key to understanding your charism. Service as one of the characteristic gifts of the people of God. The deacon is, so to say, the custodian of service in the Church. Every word must be carefully measured. You are the guardians of service in the Church: service to the Word, service to the Altar, service to the poor. And your mission, the mission of the deacon, and your contribution consist in this: in reminding us all that faith, in its various expressions
– community liturgy, personal prayer, the various forms of charity – and in its various states of life – lay, clerical, family – possesses an essential dimension of service. Service to God and to brothers.
And how far we have to go in this sense! You are the guardians of service in the Church. Therein lies the value of the charisms in the Church, which are a memory and a gift for helping all the people of God not to lose the perspective and wealth of God’s action. You are not half priests, half laypeople – this would be to “functionalize” the diaconate – you are the sacrament of service to God and to others. And from this word “service” there derives all the development of your work, of your vocation, of your being within the Church. A vocation that, like all vocations is not only individual, but lived within the family and with the family; within the People of God and with the People of God. […]
May is also the Month of the Holy Rosary. I will have something about the Rosary in next week’s column.
Hopefully this coming week members of our parish will be calling other members of our parish just as a “check in” to see how you are doing. I want to thank the people who have agreed to make these calls. It will also help us to see how many of the phone numbers that we have in our files are “good numbers.” Over the past two weeks, for example, I tried to call a few people from the parish using the phone numbers we have in our files. Twice I got numbers that had been changed “ages ago,” as one person put it! So, this will be a good exercise for us too!
Meanwhile, PLEASE keep on praying. Keep on asking the Lord for an end to this scourge. We know that God is listening to our prayers! Let’s keep on asking!
I put this in last week’s bulletin, but I’m putting it in again: I don’t know how many will actually see this, especially non-parishioners, but assuming that we are back to having Public Masses by Mothers’ Day, (which seems unlikely) this year on Sunday, May 10th, on Mother’s Day, THERE WILL NOT BE A 5:00 P.M. SUNDAY MASS.
If you know someone who normally is a visitor here for the 5:00 P.M. Sunday Mass, and if we are back having public Masses by then (which is doubtful), please get the word out. Thank you.
The Mass intentions to be prayed at our daily “private Masses” this week (celebrated “in private” in our church, and streamed on our website and Facebook page at 9:30 each morning are): Monday: Bernadine Gimenez; Tuesday: Martin and Rita Degenhardt; Wednesday: Gene Grieco; Thursday: Jennifer Janson; Friday: John Lang; Saturday: Marty Doerr Family. AND, of course, Sunday, the Mass is for the People of the Parish.
Faithfully yours, in the Risen Christ, our Bread of Life, Fr Joe Weber