Posted on March 31, 2023 View all Pastor's Letter
Greetings to all:
With the grace of God we begin Holy Week. The Gospels remind us that on this day Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem, and he is received with joy by the people who cheered him with branches and palms. He enters riding a small donkey as a sign of humility and to show that his kingdom is not of this world, the people shouted with joy: “Hosanna! Long live the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in heaven!” (Luke 19, 38). It is the procession of a king. But it is not a procession. There are no trumpets or fancy clothes, no signs of wealth. It was just people and their makeshift red carpet made of layers and palm branches. Jesus invites us to enter this Holy Week with humility, with a desire for conversion and contrite for our sins. We will all receive palms as a sign of peace and hope; sign that we have chosen to follow Jesus on the path to the Father. The presence of the palms in our homes is a reminder that we have cheered on Jesus, our King, and have followed him to the cross, so that we are consistent with our faith and follow and acclaim the Savior throughout our lives.
Like last year, this year we will also have Eucharistic adoration on Monday, Tuesday and Holy Wednesday, we will have adoration with the Blessed Sacrament. I invite everyone to pray in silence and meditate on the passion of Our Lord, we will expose the Blessed Sacrament from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. I encourage everyone to participate.
On Holy Thursday, we commemorate the institution of the Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood – I ask you for a special prayer for all the priests and especially for those who work with you – the Mass of the Lord’s Supper (bilingual) will be at 7:00 pm , then we will take the Blessed Sacrament in procession to Hannan Hall where we will prepare a special altar and there we will remain in adoration until midnight.
On Good Friday, a day of penance and reflection, we will have confessions starting at 9:00 am, we will pray the Stations of the Cross in English at noon, and the liturgy of the Passion in English at 3:00 pm. At 5:00 pm we will pray the stations of the cross in Spanish, we will pray it around the parking lot, and at the end we will have the services of the Passion of the Lord.
Holy Saturday is a day of silence and meditation, let’s imagine the Virgin Mary with her heart broken by the loss of her son, I invite you to pray the rosary commending all those mothers who have lost their children. At night, we will celebrate the Easter Vigil as in previous years we will have two celebrations, one in English at 8:30 pm and in Spanish at 11:30 pm. The main objective is that everyone can participate and enjoy the liturgical richness of this vigil in their own language. I hope that many will participate. The Easter Vigil is the most important celebration of the liturgical year, it is the heart of the life of the church. I would like many of us to celebrate as a family this holy night of the resurrection.
Finally, I inform you that during Easter week, we will only have one daily mass at 9:00 am, we will not have confessions during the week either, until Saturday afternoon. I hope you understand that after Lent we take a space to rest a bit,
I commend myself to your prayers and rest assured that I always carry you in my prayers. I wish that we live this Holy Week with great intensity and that you can celebrate the Paschal Triduum in grace.
God bless you.
Fr. Alex
