We are now just one week away from Holy Week, which starts with Palm Sunday on the 28th. We will not have a procession again this year due to Covid-19. We will bless palms at each Mass and distribute them to all present. Our Masses will be the usual 8:15 and 10:30 AM. On Holy Thursday, April 1, we will have The Mass of the Last Supper at 6 PM. On Good Friday, April 2, we will have the Good Friday Service at 1 PM. Since we are not receiving any one new into the Church, we will not have an Easter Vigil on Saturday. However, we will have Easter Masses at both 8:15 and 10:30 AM Easter morning, April 4. We had to change our schedule due to the virus. We will also still be masked and socially distanced at all our services. On Good Friday we will have a zoom Stations of the Cross at 7 PM. Look for the connection next week.
Today we celebrate the Fifth Sunday of Lent. In our first reading, God offers his people a new covenant through the Prophet Jeremiah. The old covenant was that of Moses with lots of rules and regulations. The new covenant will be as God says: "I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Unfortunately, the people didn't listen to Jeremiah and the Babylonian Captivity soon followed. In today's Gospel, the Greeks (Gentiles) asked to see Jesus. Jesus sees this as a sign that his message is complete. The Jews and Gentiles can come together in his Word. He goes on to prepare us for Holy Week by talking about his death and rising. If the grain of wheat dies, it produces much fruit. When the Son of Man is lifted up, he will call all to himself. "Then a voice came from heaven, 'I have glorified it and will glorify it again.'" The name of God is glorified in Jesus. Our second reading talks about Jesus' suffering and obedience, "and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." Let us pray with the Responsorial Psalm: "Create a clean heart in me, O God."
On Thursday, the 25th, we celebrate The Annunciation of the Lord, the day the Angel Gabriel asked Mary to be the mother of Jesus. Mary, as always, said yes to God and so Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words God became one of us. We, too, should be like Mary and say yes to all of God's invitations, the big ones as well as the small ones.
Please pray for our young people who will receive the sacrament of Confirmation on the 26th at St. Patrick's. Thank you once again for all those who continue to send in tithes to the parish. Please pray for an end to the pandemic.