Happy Easter! Still! We continue to celebrate the octave of Easter, the 8-day celebration as if each of these 8 days is Easter Sunday celebrated over and over. The last day is this Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. Then we continue the regular Easter season for a total of 50 days, ending with Pentecost. 

On Divine Mercy Sunday, we will have a Holy Hour at 3pm at OLL. It will consist of Exposition, a reading and short homily, the Divine Mercy chaplet, silent Adoration, and then Benediction, and end at 4. In the 1930s, Jesus appeared to St. Faustina and asked her to spread the message of His Divine Mercy. He entrusted to her the Divine Mercy chaplet. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II declared the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. If you do not have a pamphlet to help you pray the Divine Mercy chaplet, you can find the prayers here: https://www.thedivinemercy.org/message/devotions/chaplet

Jesus promised great graces for those who recite this chaplet, not only for one’s self but for the hardest of sinners if they pray it or if we offer it for them. 

This Sunday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles reminded me of a Bible joke: What kind of car did the Apostles drive? A Honda. It says, “At Pentecost, they were all in one accord,” Acts 2:1 (a loose translation). Bonus joke: Why should the man make coffee at home? The Bible says, “Hebrews.”

This week, we pray for the repose of the soul of former OLL parishioner, James Towey, who passed away on April 4^th. Here is his obituary: https://www.hansonneelyallison.com/obituary/james-p-jim-towey

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. 

We still have small holy water bottles filled with holy water available for pickup in the churches. You may take multiple bottles for your family to bless yourself and your home with. You can then bring them back to refill when needed. Starting this weekend, we will have the filled holy water containers by the front doors of the church so that you can refill your bottles at any time. 

I said just before Lent that I would re-evaluate whether or not to continue saying Mass Ad Orientem after Lent based on the feedback I received. If it was really bothersome to people, I would not continue it. I am pleased to say that I have only received just a handful of comments of those who were less than enthused and they were mild such as “It’s ok to do, but not all the time” or “I do not find it spiritually enriching.” Most people might simply be indifferent or at least okay with it. However, I wanted to explain it a bit more because I think this is a good opportunity for catechesis on the nature of the Mass itself. Part of the Mass comes from the Lord’s Supper: “On the day before he was to suffer, he took bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, Take this all of you, and eat of it…” This is the moment of consecration where the bread no longer is bread but becomes the Body of Christ. In a similar way, the chalice: “This is the chalice of my blood…which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” The “pouring out” refers to Good Friday when Jesus shed his blood for us in His Passion and death on the cross. He sacrificed himself for us and we offer his sacrifice to God the Father during Mass. This sacrifice is spoken of throughout the Eucharistic prayer. “Pray that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father” (we all offer our own sacrifices to God in union with Christ’s sacrifice). “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands…” “We offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice…” Other words used in conjunction with ‘sacrifice’ are ‘oblation’ and ‘offering.’ The very name of the Mass is “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” In every true worship of God, there must be a sacrifice offered. Even in pagan worship, some cultures of old would sacrifice children or virgins to their pagan gods. Even though their worship was distorted, they still had the sense of needing to offer sacrifice. They would sacrifice children or virgins because they needed to offer something pure. In addition, because they were children or virgins, their offering would be more sacrificial for them. Thus, their sacrifice (the value of what they gave up) would be more meaningful to their gods. For Christians, the perfect, pure, and undefiled sacrifice is the offering of Jesus’ sacrifice. He is the “pure, holy, and spotless victim.” We are not ‘killing Jesus’ over and over again at every Mass. Instead, it is a once-for-all sacrifice where the one and same sacrifice of Jesus, in a mysterious way, is being presented and offered to the Father at every Mass. Jesus willingly offered his life for us, so he is allowing us to offer the sacrifice of himself to the Father. 

Because of this sacrifice that is taking place at every Mass, it is serious business, not to be taken lightly. That is why everything done at Mass is to be in conformity with the very nature of what is taking place, whether it is with sacred music or with ritualistic actions. This does not mean that the priest cannot make people laugh in his homily, or that we cannot sing joyful songs, or that we cannot smile during Mass. However, it does mean that our posture and prayerfulness make a difference.

The Mass is the highest form of prayer in the Church. Precisely because it is the very sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered to the Father, it is extremely powerful. We see this in the Book of Revelation, the very last book in the Bible. People sometimes say that the Book of Revelation is scary…and it is scary because of what is taking place. It is a war between good and evil: between God, the Saints, and angels in heaven and the evil ones: the devils and the people on earth who reject God. Guess what weapons all of those in heaven are using to fight against the evil ones: the liturgy! The very Mass is a weapon of war against evil! Beginning in chapter 4, you have heavenly worship of God. God is on his throne and those around him are singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the lord God Almighty.” Sound familiar? You have “golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of saints.” Later on, we hear about the altar, trumpets, and the angels in heaven casting down the bowls of incense to earth to destroy the evil ones. Even silence plays a part in the liturgy: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” Everything is also orderly: the opening of the first seal, the second seal, the third seal…first trumpet blast, second, third, etc. At Mass, everything is orderly and predictable: First reading, second reading, Gospel, etc. In Revelation 19:9, we hear “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb” as we say at Mass just before communion. I encourage you to read the Book of Revelation. It can feel a bit overwhelming because it is a great war, but it is very interesting to see so much of the Mass within it, and especially how it is used as a weapon against evil. (Even our non-Mass spiritual practices are great assaults against the evil one. That is why, for example, the rosary is called a weapon! Or short little prayers like “Jesus, I trust in you!” are a javelin against the enemy. The more you pray or take up spritual practices, the more you drive out evil from this world!)

When it comes to the Ad Orientem posture of the priest facing the same direction as the people during the Eucharistic prayer, it is like we are in a battle against evil. I think again of the analogy of a general leading his army on the battlefield. He faces the enemy with his soldiers, leading them forward. Yesterday, I watched Saving Private Ryan again on Netflix. In the battle scenes with Captain Miller (played by Tom Hanks), the only time he and his men are facing each other in the heat of battle is when he is giving them directions. Otherwise, they are all facing the enemy together. At Mass, we are not necessarily “facing the enemy” as much as we are “facing God” in our worship of Him. Spiritually though, we are certainly engaging in battle through our liturgy. We are all participating with the Saints and angels and with God in heaven in the war against evil as it is described in Revelation. Think of that the next time you’re at Mass! 

So, feel free to sing out with joy and cry out with loud prayers like the multitude in Revelation 7 and 19. It gives glory to God. “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!”

I am attaching again the Ad Orientem explanation created by another parish. This was in my pastor’s update 29 that I put out on January 29^th. 

Please return your CRS Rice Bowl to the church. 75% of the donations support CRS’s work around the world. 25% stays here in our own diocese to combat hunger and poverty. As part of your almsgiving, if you had nowhere else to give alms, you can still contribute to CRS at www.crsricebowl.org 

The livestream of the Mass for this Sunday, April 11th, will be from OLL at 11am.  

Attached are the bulletins, the worship aid, and the Ad Orientem explanation.

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!      

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!   

God bless!      

Fr. Ed