Christ has Risen, as He said He would, Alleluia!!!
Happy & blessed Easter to everyone. I pray you have a blessed and joyous Easter Sunday & Season.
The image below is part of a collection of the Paschal Mystery of Christ painted in the chapter room in the great Cathedral in Toledo, Spain. The chapter room is where Canons of the cathedral gather to pray, discern, and decide the well-being of the community. Canons are religious priests and/or laity tasked with the care of the parishioners and people of a Cathedral parish and its building. I am struck at how fitting it is that as such decisions have been and are being made, those making them have the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ all around them. To keep the centrality of Christ’s saving death & life ever mindful when such decisions are made, for no sound and holy decision for the well-being of a parish community could ever be made apart from Christ or Christ’s Paschal Mystery. As I strive to pastor our parish into the next term and with the Seventy & Strong campaign, I try to keep Christ’s Cross and Resurrection before me. I invite you to share this vision, this responsibility, this joy with me.
We are created to participate in Christ’s Resurrection, which means we must freely participate in His Suffering & Cross. We can do this in small and large ways, but it must always be total, faithful, and free. Let us take up our Cross to follow Him, until He takes us up to be forever with Him in Heaven with the Father.
I pray that as you have walked the Way of the Cross and embraced Christ’s Passion this past Holy Week – from Palm Sunday to Holy Thursday to Good Friday to this Easter Morning – you are ever more conformed to Christ’s Passion of love & mercy, of generosity & self-gift. May His Passion help make you passionate about Christ and His Church. May it impassion you to be a fervent Ambassador for Christ (II Cor 5:20) as we move into these joyous Easter days – sharing the wondrous Good News of forgiveness, life, love, Resurrection, and eternal Hope.
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Celebrating 70 years in our church together as the Holy Family of God…
We are enhancing the church environment. This will include an HVAC upgrade, replacing carpet, replacing sanctuary spot lights and repairing existing nave pendant lights and fans, plus refurbishing the pews. Our parish goal is $400k. Make your donation today.
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Happy Easter! Please embrace the Cross & Resurrection and give faithful witness to it as you go forth as an Ambassador for Christ and the Church.
Nothing less than saints for the Holy Family of God.
Holy Family, Witnesses to Joyful New Life, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries