Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
This Sunday is Divine Mercy Sunday. The Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), is a relatively new addition to the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. Celebrating the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ, as revealed by Christ Himself to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the day that he canonized Saint Faustina.
During his life, Pope John Paul II had actively promoted the message of St. Faustina. In his 1980 encyclical on God’s mercy, Rich in Mercy, Pope John Paul II developed a scriptural and doctrinal basis for our faith in the mercy of God. In linking the revealed truth about God’s mercy to the Sunday after Easter, The Holy Father illumined the fact that the liturgy already proclaimed the divine mercy. Pope John Paul II goes to says that “The truth has been embedded for two millennia in the worship of the Church: The law of faith is the law of prayer.”
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we see that Christ is alive and shares that risen life with each one of us. Now is our time to encounter the risen Jesus in new ways so that we can continue throughout our lives to be that risen presence for the good of others. People see the risen Christ in our everyday acts of kindness, sensitivity, generosity, patience forgiveness and mercy
During the eight Sundays of Easter the first readings are selected from the Acts of the Apostles and deals with the Easter Faith of the early Christian community. Theses selections from the Acts of the Apostles record how those first Christians received the spirit of Jesus and carried the mission of Christ forward. These writings help us move forward with our mission to show love and mercy to the world in light of the risen Christ.
STHY is blessed to have an incredible amount of faithful people that are part of our Liturgy for Easter: Altar servers, acolytes, Readers, singers, musicians, cantors, and all contribute to making the Easter Liturgy on line possible for our parish.
We will continue to do our best to provide the faithful of STHY with a video of the Sunday Masses. Soo Please go ahead and subscribe to our St. Hyacinth YouTube and Vimeo channel for videos and live stream updates. All Liturgies are streamed through our parish website Sthyacinth.org as well.
With the Coronavirus affected every aspect of the Church I want to challenge everyone to continue to support the Church during this time. I ask the faithful to continue to support the St Hyacinth community through on-line giving or by mail. This will ensure that our parish will be able to meet payrolls and pay monthly bills. Go to online giving tab at Sthyacinth.org and either enroll online at www.faithdirect.net and our Church Code is TX526, or give online through PayPal, Text to Give, or simply mail in your contribution into the Church. Thank you for your support.
God Bless,
Fr. Reginald Samuels
