February 28, 2021
Dear Friends in Christ,
After consultation with the deacons & the parish staff, we decided to have the annual parish Lenten mission that our previous pastor, Fr. John Kha Tran, scheduled. Why? We thought we had to provide some type of “normalcy” to our Lent. Though so many people have been affected by the recent freezing weather, especially with damage due to frozen water pipes, we are still called to take Lent as seriously as possible. As I preached last weekend, will I be a better Christian who has taken seriously the Gospel and this Lenten Season? Or will I be unfortunately the same person with no change?
he mission’s theme is the Passion & Resurrection of Jesus in the Gospel of John. We welcome this weekend Fr. Ron Mrozinski, our Lenten mission priest presenter who will be preaching at all the Masses this weekend. He will be celebrating the 8:30 am Mass Monday-Wednesday (March 1-3) and then speak for about 30 minutes after the 8:30 am Mass. That way people can attend Mass and leave if their schedule requires it. That 8:30 am Mass along with the following 30 minute session will be live-streamed and available on our parish website throughout the day to be viewed at your leisure. This way, for those who are reserved about coming to church due to Covid, are still able to benefit from the Parish Lenten Mission. Then basically the same morning session with some adjustments will be repeated at 7 pm on Monday-Wednesday in the context of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Ron will be available for confessions after his talks on the 3 weekdays. Both the 8:30 am Mass followed by his session & the 7 pm session will be held in the church.
Fr. Ron is a priest of the Diocese of Saint Georges in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada. Inspired by the life of St. Francis of Assisi to work with the poor, Fr. Ron joined Cross Catholic Outreach in 2002. With his association with this Outreach, Fr. Ron lives in Fort Lauderdale. His life prior to working with Cross was in post-secondary education as a teacher and administrator.
Why will Fr. Ron’s 7 pm presentation be done in the context of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament concluding with Benediction? “I thought time before the Blessed Sacrament with Exposition is suppose to be in silence? That is all my experience.” Well, that tends to be the experience when any parish has Perpetual (24 hour) Exposition like we do. But what does the Church document on “Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist outside Mass” state? “During the Exposition there should be prayers, songs, and readings to direct the attention of the faithful to the worship of Christ the Lord. To encourage a prayerful spirit, there should be readings from scripture with a homily or brief exhortation of the Eucharistic mystery. It is desirable for the people to respond to the word of God by singing and spend periods of time in religious silence. (#95)” Ideally, there should be a larger group of people gathered with Exposition, unlike what we have here with Perpetual Exposition (at least 2 persons are to be present). That is why the Church notes there should be prayers, song, even a homily or a brief exhortation. But when there are so few people during Perpetual Exposition, the practice tends to be silent adoration with a person’s private devotions.
Are you taking advantage of the online Lenten resources listed on p. 6 & our website? Will you participate in our Parish Lenten Study entitled “Forgiven: the Transforming Power of Confession”? Have you picked up your copy of the 3 different Lenten resources available in the narthex (church’s entrance): The Little Black Book, Magnificat Lenten Companion and “I Thirst: 40 days with Mother Teresa”? Will you come to our parish Friday, 7 pm Stations of the Cross in the church? Remember, the Knights of Columbus have their famous Lenten Fried Fish Dinners “to go” this year. $10 per plate of fried fish, french fries, hush puppies & cole slaw.
During this Lent, I am asking you to pray the Vocation Prayer that is available on p. 7. How we need all types of vocations (including stable, holy marriages), but especially more priests and religious to serve the Church.
Let us pray for all those affected negatively by the cold weather, especially who had broken water pipes. Though we had about 5 different pipes break on the church’s campus (none at my residence), overall we were very fortunate and did not have major damage, but some damage nonetheless.
Let us also pray for all our military personnel, first responders, medical staff and teachers, etc.
St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for us!
Fr. Lawrence W. Jozwiak
Pastor
“The Cross is the school of love.”
—St. Maximilian Kolbe
“There is no greater love, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.” John 15: 13