RECONCILIATION MONDAY (4/15)
Daily Masses at 9:00 AM & 12:10 PM
Confessions 4:00 - 8:00 PM

TUESDAY (4/16)
Daily Masses at 9:00 AM & 12:10 PM

(Spy) WEDNESDAY(4/17)
Daily Masses at 9:00 AM & 12:10 PM

HOLY THURSDAY (4/18)
10 AM Tenebre Service/Lamentations
Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7:30 PM
Repository – 9 PM – Midnight.

GOOD FRIDAY (4/19)
10 AM Tenebre Service/Lamentations
12 Noon – Living Stations of Cross
3 PM – Passion/Veneration of Cross
7:30 PM – Solemn Stations of Cross

HOLY SATURDAY (4/20)
10 AM Tenebre Service/Lamentations
8 PM – The Great Easter Vigil Mass

EASTER SUNDAY (4/21)
8 AM Mass
10 AM Family Mass (Gym)
(Followed by Easter Egg Hunt)
10 AM Mass
12PM Mass

(No evening Mass Easter Sunday)

     "If anyone should say to you, “Why are you
doing this? Reply, ‘The Master has need of it…’     ...Rather He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness, and found human in appearance, He humbled
Himself, becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross.”

     The Church has named this Holy Week. It
is holy because of what we pause to recall, the
unfolding of God’s plan for our salvation. The
whole purpose of Holy Week, therefore, is the
remembrance of Christ’s passion and death which led up to the glory of His Resurrection.

     For Catholics, this is, indeed, the most holy as well as unique week of the entire Church Year. It begins with the gracious invitation to re-enter the Holy City with Jesus and share in the Pascal Mystery of His suffering, dying and rising from the dead. To accomplish this end, Jesus instructs all, “the Master has need of it.” As we hold the blessed palm branch, may we see it as our ticket or pass to enter all the events, which Jesus experienced, and
which we will remember and celebrate this week.

     This week is holy, because we will respond
through our prayers, fast and abstinence and our participation, in the ritual of walking with Jesus, dining with Him at the supper, and being with Him on Calvary and, later on, in the quiet of His tomb.

     Each event, every moment is directed by the Lord at the will of His Father. The chalice will not pass Him by. He will indeed drink of it. He requires us to respond to His saving actions and not simply remember. We are not to be detached observers...we are to try our best to be caught up into the joy and rapture of the Sacred Mysteries, which bring us ever closer to salvation.

     As we now begin this Holy Week, let us
commit ourselves to do our best to immerse
ourselves in the Triduum for two reasons. “The
Master has need of it,” and because we have
need of Him. The sacraments of Reconciliation
and Eucharist and the institution of the holy
priesthood, all have a special significance for us this Holy Week. We ask all to join in prayer for the Church and for our parish. “The Master has need of you.”

“He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

LENTEN REGULATIONS FOR CATHOLICS

     Time for us to prayerfully consider our spiritual preparations for the season of Lent is upon us.  The Lenten Season begins with Ash Wednesday, this year [2019] that was March 6th.

ABSTINENCE forbids the eating of meat. Abstinence obliges from the 14th birthday throughout one’s life.    All Fridays of Lent are days of abstinence from meat.

FASTING prescribes that only one full meal be taken a day. Two smaller meals may be taken to maintain strength, but these taken together should not equal another full meal.  Fasting obliges from the 18th to the 59th birthday.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the two days of Fast AND Abstinence from meat.

     There is a serious obligation for Catholics to observe these penitential practices in a substantial way. Those whose work or health would be impaired are excused from fast and abstinence. Individual conscience should decide proper cause for excuse.

     Lent, in a very special way, points out that we are pilgrims.  For seven weeks we walk with Christ, in response to His invitation, “Let us go up to Jerusalem.” The penances, the fasting and all the other aspects of Lent are the hardships of the journey.

+HOLY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER (4/18)
This concelebrated 7:30 p.m. Mass, with parish choir, commemorates the Last Supper of Christ and His 12 Apostles and the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, or Holy Eucharist.  It is celebrated in white vestments and the overall tone of the Mass reflects a measure of joyous solemnity. The “Gloria in Excelsis” is sung and during it there is a general ringing of the bells, after which the bells are silent until the Gloria is heard again during the Great Easter Vigil Mass (Holy Saturday).
 
During the Mass, special attention is given to the reservation of an additional large host and several vessels of small hosts, which are consecrated and which will be consumed the next day (Good Friday).  The Liturgy of the Eucharist concludes with the Blessed Sacrament being borne in solemn procession to an “altar of repose” (parish hall) adorned with flowers and lighted with a profusion of candles.  The hymn, “Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporus Mysterium” is sung during the procession.  The Chapel of Reposition is kept open for the remainder of the evening until eleven o’clock in order to allow the faithful to make visits.  Our Eucharistic Adoration is brought to a conclusion at midnight with the Night Prayer of the Church and Benediction.
 
An especially unique feature of Holy Thursday Mass is the Washing of the Feet, in memory of the loving service of Christ at the Last Supper and also the stripping and removal of the altar linens.  (We will remain open until midnight this year to accommodate those who enjoy following the tradition of visiting and praying at multiple Church Repositories Holy Thursday evening.)
 
+GOOD FRIDAY (4/19)
On Good Friday, the Church mourns for Christ’s death, reverences the Cross, and marvels at His obedience till death.  Holy Mass is not celebrated and the Eucharist is not consecrated that day.  Holy Communion takes place with the hosts which were consecrated at the previous day’s Holy Thursday Mass.  The celebrants wear red vestments.
 
On this day, the Church remains stripped of ornate objects, including the altar cloth and candles, as a sign of respect.  Holy water fonts remain empty.
 
Also, on this day, the Stations of the Cross are often prayed either in Church or outside.  Our parish provides Stations booklets for those who wish to pray the Stations privately. The Living Stations of the Cross begin at 12 noon; held outside, weather permitting.  The Solemn Good Friday Service is held at 3 p.m. and combines a number of separate and unique features dating back to antiquity.  First, we have the Reading of the Passion according to Saint John.  Second, there is the Adoration of the Cross where the faithful step forward to kiss the cross.  Third, there is the Communion Service, using the sacred hosts consecrated the evening before at Holy Thursday Mass and stored in the tabernacle of repose.  At the conclusion of the liturgy, all depart in silence.  Christ has died.  At 7:30 in the evening, you are invited back to join in the Solemn Stations of the Cross where we join our hearts and our prayers with the suffering Christ as He walks the way of the cross to Calvary.
 
+HOLY SATURDAY (4/20)
This is a day of silence and prayer which commemorates the dead Christ in the tomb.  No Mass is celebrated during the day.  The tabernacle is left empty and open.  Again, there is no Holy Water.  The tabernacle candle, denoting the Presence of Christ, is extinguished and the Eucharist is reposed elsewhere.  The faithful are encouraged to observe the Pascal fast to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share more deeply in His Resurrection.
 
This evening is marked by the 8 o’clock Great Easter Vigil or “watch-service” and is held after darkness has set in.  In olden times, the Mass barely terminated before midnight.  This is the absolute superlative of all Catholic Masses. It is very beautiful, unique and throughout the rest of the year, there is nothing like it.
 
The Vigil Mass, appropriate for adults and older children, consists of four parts: the Service of Light, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of Baptism and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  The liturgy features the choir of the parish accompanied by special instrumentation.  The congregation gathers, with their unlighted candles, in darkness reminiscent of the tomb.  The celebrant lights and consecrates the new fire with a view to the lighting of the lamps “like those awaiting their master’s return.”  Next, comes the Benediction of the large Paschal Candle, with its suggestions of night-turned-into-day and its reminder of the glories of that vigil once kept so long ago at the beginnings of the early Church.  Next, the singing of the “Exsultet” takes place with its explicit reference to “this most holy night.”  The reading of the Sacred Scriptures from both the old and new testaments leads up to the witness of those who experienced the empty tomb and, of course, the Easter homily.  The Prophecies, the Blessing of the Font, and the Litanies of the Saints are all a part of what has been a very essential feature of the Easter Vigil from the earliest days.  Finally, there is the Mass with its joyous Gloria, at which the bells are again rung and the triumphant Alleluias which mark nearly every step of the liturgy proclaim the Resurrection as an accomplished fact.
 
Again, this special liturgy is the ultimate worship experience for Catholic Christians who wish to truly revel in and savor what is at the very heart of our faith “Save us Savior of the World, for by Your Cross and Resurrection You have set us free.”  Please try to set aside this evening and do not let anything else you may have planned stand in the way of your experiencing this Mass.
 
+TENEBRE – THE DIVINE OFFICE OF THE CHURCH
Holy Thursday + Good Friday + Holy Saturday mornings at 10:00 a.m.
Throughout the world, Daily Mass is not celebrated on the three days of the Triduum.  However, you are invited to share in morning prayer services which are unique to these three special days.  Come worship together and pray the same prayers as the Holy Father, the bishops, our parish clergy and religious brothers and sisters the world over.  This is the Divine Office of the Church.
 
It is ancient.  It is solemn.  It is beautiful.
 
The most conspicuous external feature of the Tenebre service, apart from the distinctive and very beautiful chant to which the Lamentations of Jeremiah are sung as lessons, is the gradual extinction of the fifteen candles in the “Tenebre hearse” or triangular candle stock, as the service proceeds.  At the end of the Benedictus at Lauds (Morning Prayer), only the topmost candle, considered to be typical of Jesus Christ, remains alight. On account of the gradual darkening, the service, since the ninth century or earlier, has been known as Tenebre (darkness).  The antiphons and proper lessons vary each day of the Triduum.  Come….pray with us!