Posted on April 4, 2025 View all Pastor's Letter
Dear Parishioners:
We are celebrating the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Sunday before the beginning of Holy Week. I am sure our hearts are more than ready to celebrate the Easter festivities. We have been preparing all these weeks with sacrifice, prayer, and penance, and we must continue to do so with a spirit of recollection this last week. Lent is always a special time to reconnect with God and ourselves, and although we are just a few days away from the end of this spiritual journey, it is never too late to reconnect with the grace of his love. Don’t forget to make a good confession, preparing it with great dedication and faith. A good confession is always restful for the soul.
As is traditionally done each year on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the statues, crucifixes, and crosses in the Church will be covered with purple veils until the end of Good Friday, when the Lord’s Passion is celebrated, and the priest or deacon solemnly unveils the cross. Although the cross is revealed with a prayer, the images remain veiled until the beginning of the Easter Vigil. These are days of mourning, and the Church is covered with the veil of widowhood. The time of the Passion is consecrated to the memory of Christ’s sufferings through which we have obtained redemption. This ancient custom of covering religious images is intended to help us focus on the penitential aspect of this liturgical season. It reminds us visually that our faith in all its glory is only possible through Christ’s work in his suffering and death on the cross. Changing the subject, please mark your Holy Week activity schedules on your calendars. You will find a detailed schedule of our Holy Week activities in the bulletin, but it doesn’t hurt to remind you how important it is to participate in all the activities we will have at our parish. On Holy Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we will have the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, silent prayer at 5:00 pm, and confessions at 6:30 pm. This will help us live this sacred time more intensely.
We are eagerly looking forward to Palm Sunday, a day of two processions. The first will commence at 10:00 am in front of the school, where the palms will be distributed and blessed. We will then proceed to the Church to celebrate Mass. Additionally, we will hold a procession and blessing of palms before the Spanish Mass, which will start at 2:00 pm in front of the school. We will distribute the palms and walk in the procession around the parking lot, singing as we make our way to the Church to celebrate Holy Mass at the end of the procession.
Finally, I invite you to offer the Stations of the Cross and the prayer of the Holy Rosary next Friday, the 11th, the last Friday of Lent, traditionally called the Friday of Sorrows, because it is dedicated to meditating on the sufferings of our Mother Mary. We will pray the Stations of the Cross and the Holy Rosary for all those mothers who suffer the loss of their children, as well as for those children who are not grateful to their mothers. Mary, our mother, also begins her painful journey with her son Jesus, just as many mothers do to this day.
Thank you for your active participation and dedication to our church community. May you have a fulfilling week leading up to Holy Week.
Fr. Diaz
