Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Today the Church celebrates the Annunciation, when the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary and our Blessed Mother offered the Lord her fiat: “May it be done to me according to your word.” This solemnity is usually celebrated March 25 – nine months before Jesus’ birth – and it oftentimes occurs during Lent, giving us a small reprieve of celebration within that penitential season. But this year, since March 25 fell on Monday of Holy Week, the feast was transferred to today.
Today’s celebration falls on the heels of the second Sunday of Easter, also celebrated as Divine Mercy Sunday. It was beautiful to see the hundreds of faithful who came to the Cathedral yesterday afternoon to celebration the sacrament of Reconciliation and to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet. This devotion to the deep mercy of Jesus, exemplified and promoted by Saint Faustina, has become amazingly popular in our modern church thanks in part to St. John Paul II. St. Faustina had spent much of her life in the Archdiocese of Krakow, where Pope John Paul would later be Archbishop, and it was clear that he was deeply moved by her writings. I consider it one of the great privileges in my life to have been at the Mass in 2000 when Pope John Paul both declared Faustina to be a saint and instituted the Feast of Divine Mercy Sunday. I’m not sure who was more excited that morning—me or the Pope? It would later be considered providential that he would pass from this world to the next just after praying First Vespers on the Feast of Divine Mercy.
You may recall that the original depiction of St. Faustina’s vision, with rays of blue and red pouring forth from the heart of Christ, bears the following phrase in Polish: Jezu ufam tobie (Jesus I trust in you). The image and phrase are a stirring reminder that we can always trust in the Lord’s promise of his mercy.
It’s that call to trust that connects us back to the Annunciation. Of all the ways in which we are called to follow our Blessed Mother’s example, trusting would seem to be at the top of the list. Imagine how challenging it must have been for her, as a young woman betrothed but not yet wed to Joseph, to receive the news that she was to be with child, given the societal consequences of an unwed pregnancy at that time. Yet Mary responds in faith and deep trust: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.”
That trust would be tested multiple times in her life. Think about the moment of Simeon’s prophecy at the time of the Presentation, or about Mary’s experience as she stood at the foot of the cross. (The connection between Mary’s trust at Calvary and her trust in Nazareth at one time supported the belief that the crucifixion also took place on March 25). Through it all, our Blessed Mother remained firm in her trust in our Lord – a model that we can turn to when our own life circumstances seem impossible or break our hearts. We can trust in our Lord’s promises. We can trust in his mercy.
Jesus we trust in you.
That trust would be tested multiple times in her life. Think about the moment of Simeon’s prophecy at the time of the Presentation, or about Mary’s experience as she stood at the foot of the cross. (The connection between Mary’s trust at Calvary and her trust in Nazareth at one time supported the belief that the crucifixion also took place on March 25). Through it all, our Blessed Mother remained firm in her trust in our Lord – a model that we can turn to when our own life circumstances seem impossible or break our hearts. We can trust in our Lord’s promises. We can trust in his mercy.
Jesus we trust in you.
Jesus gathered with his disciples to celebrate a ritual meal that marked the dawn of the Messianic Age. The earliest Christians continued this ritual meal, the Lord’s Supper, in their house churches, now with the bread enacting the continuing presence of the resurrected Christ in their midst. How did the earliest Christians understand this “real presence” of Jesus Christ before the doctrine of transubstantiation?
Catholic Racial Justice Coalition is hosting this archdiocesan-wide morning of prayer, story-sharing, listening and restorative practices. This gathering is open to the public including Archdiocesan leadership, parishioners, and the larger Catholic community as we work to convert hearts, promote healing, and inspire transformative racial justice action by providing sacred space for stories of racial harm and healing.
The girl who may have saved your life
Amara Strande spent her final months lobbying for a state law that restricts the non-essential use of “forever chemicals,” also known as PFAS, in a large swath of products. The then-20-year-old woman from Woodbury believed the chemicals led to her developing cancer. Legislators passed Amara’s Law, named in her honor, a week after her death in 2023, and it is now state law.
St. Paul-based Catholic gift shop, athletic association celebrating 75 years
An April 15 sold-out banquet will honor former Catholic Athletic Association (CAA) players — Joe Mauer of Minnesota Twins fame and Hannah Brandt, a center for Boston in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) — and will celebrate the CAA’s 75 years serving parochial schools in the Twin Cities and sites beyond.
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The countdown to priestly ordination 2024
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"We’ve spent much of this letter reflecting on the need for evangelization. Yet the very word 'evangelization' frightens many. We have to admit today that often we resemble more the pre-Pentecost community of believers, huddled behind closed doors, than Peter and the Apostles afire with the Holy Spirit.
But a great voice reaches us today through those closed doors, saying, 'Be not afraid!' It is the voice of St. John Paul II, and it carries a prophetic word: 'I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization and to the mission ad gentes (to the nations).' St. John Paul II foresaw a 'new evangelization' in formerly Christian regions of the world that would need to be 'new in its ardor, methods and expressions.' But there is a key aspect of the 'newness of the new evangelization that is often overlooked: its protagonists."
But a great voice reaches us today through those closed doors, saying, 'Be not afraid!' It is the voice of St. John Paul II, and it carries a prophetic word: 'I sense that the moment has come to commit all of the Church’s energies to a new evangelization and to the mission ad gentes (to the nations).' St. John Paul II foresaw a 'new evangelization' in formerly Christian regions of the world that would need to be 'new in its ardor, methods and expressions.' But there is a key aspect of the 'newness of the new evangelization that is often overlooked: its protagonists."
Sent forth by the Holy Spirit to make Jesus known and loved.
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April 8 2024