Your Invitation to Deep Experiences of God's Sacrificial Love

Your Invitation to Deep Experiences of God's Sacrificial Love

We are grateful that our new Archbishop Richard Henning has taken the time to write words of spiritual encouragement to all of us. It is always good to hear him in his own words as our new shepherd and successor of the apostles who cares for us and our needs - especially in Holy Week and Easter Week, the most sacred weeks of the Church year. This is the time for each of us to enter more deeply into the powerful experience of how deeply God's love for each person is expressed in the Paschal Mystery of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. Please read the Holy Week and Easter schedules carefully to be sure you have the right time and location of each event.

 

 Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion captures two important aspects of our faith: the joy of welcoming our Savior, and the pain and sorrow of his dying for us, proclaimed in the Passion according to St. Luke. The palms are blessed and we are all invited to join in the procession of Jesus' disciples into Jerusalem, the city of our salvation. Like all blessed items, we treat the blessed palms with respect, not discarding them but placing these symbols of triumph in our homes (perhaps with a cross, statue, or religious wall hanging) to remind us the victory is already won for us.

 

This Tuesday we can hear more from Archbishop Henning as he presides over the 11am Chrism Mass at the cathedral in Boston, renewing all priests’ ordination promises and consecrating the Holy Oils for the year. You’re invited to attend in person or on Catholic TV (CTV). Tuesday will also be the last scheduled time for Confession & Reconciliation before Easter (our parishes and La Salette do not have hours for confessions during the Triduum or Easter weekend).

 

The evening services during Holy Week will alternate between our two parishes, and each night begins at 7:00pm (except the Easter Vigil which has to start after dark, at 8pm). If you haven’t tried the Tenebrae devotion we have this Wednesday, come share in this service of readings on God’s sacrificial love and diminishing candlelight (a mirror image of increasing lights at the Easter Vigil). The Church does not celebrate morning Masses on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, or Holy Saturday, so this year we will use that usual 9:00am time slot to pray Morning Prayer (Lauds) as a community instead of Mass. This is a part of the “Liturgy of the Hours” prayed by clergy, religious, and many lay people throughout the world as a way to honor the call to “pray always.” As we bring back this custom for the first time in several years, we will provide worship aids and guidance to help people to learn how to participate.

 

Our Collaborative Parishes will again celebrate together the liturgy of the Sacred Easter Triduum, which connects the Mass of the Lord's Supper, the Passion on Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil/Easter Sunday Masses. Allow me to personally invite you to attend these very moving services that draw us into the heart of our faith. The Triduum begins Holy Thursday with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, which is an intimate celebration of the institution of the Eucharist, the ordained priesthood, and our unity with one another in the Body of Christ. In the liturgies of Good Friday, we focus on the Passion according to St. John, extended intercessions for all people, and the veneration of the Cross. Especially because John's gospel can be misinterpreted, we must always remember that our faith does not blame the Jews or the Romans for Christ's death - Jesus died willingly because of our sins. We begin to celebrate the joyful result of that death (the reason why Friday is "Good") at Saturday's Easter Vigil in the Holy Night. Please arrive around 7:45pm so we can begin promptly at 8pm. The vigil starts with the Service of Light (in fire and candlelight) and an extended Liturgy of the Word (a bit shorter this year), reflecting upon all of salvation history. In the Baptismal Liturgy, when we renew our baptismal vows, our parishes are blessed to have eight adults being initiated into the Catholic Church this Easter, with five of them being baptized at the Vigil and all of them being Confirmed and receiving First Communion during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, in which we celebrate the Risen Lord, present in our midst! Easter Sunday Masses also include the renewal of baptismal vows, especially for those not attending the long Easter Vigil, and this joyful feast continues for the whole week, called the Easter Octave, ending with Divine Mercy Sunday.

 

So may everything we do these weeks - both in church and in the world - be filled with the overwhelming grace of God's sacrificial love for each one of us in Christ! - Fr. Joe