Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Hi! How are you doing? I feel like with these frequent updates I should be speaking more familiarly now. Feel free to respond and let me know how you are doing.
For many who are not online, please know that we have initiated a check in contact process by which all parish council leaders in each parish and additional volunteers have offered to call on each parishioner of our OPV to see how they are doing. It's a long list of almost 16,000 in over 6,000 families so it will take some time to complete. You can join in this by the Volunteer to Help link on our website and Kristin Consuegra will get your name to one of the parish leaders to get you a list to call. (
https://www.opvcatholic.org/volunteer-to-help)
This update is mostly about prayer as we enter Holy Week. I am attaching several prayers that you can use for this Holy Week or anytime. If nothing else, a Rosary or Chaplet of Divine Mercy daily during the crisis, alone or with your family, would be an excellent form of prayer also. They are all attached documents and include:
- Prayer Resources (including Prayer for Renewed Strength, A Blessing Prayer for Those Who Are Sick, A Blessing Prayer for An Elderly Person Who is Sick, Prayer of the Elderly, Prayer for all about to die.)
- Plague Prayer to the Holy Cross
- Prayers to Stem the Scourge of the Pandemic
- Also, everyone is invited to pray the Litany of the Sacred Heart at Noon on Good Friday with Archbishop Jose Gomez, President of the US Bishop's Conference and Archbishop of Los Angeles. A graphic is also attached that explains how to join in the prayer or you can simply print or open the attached Litany of the Sacred Heart and pray from paper or your screen at that time.
For those who are joining us for Mass regularly through livestream, I think all of the OPV priests and deacons are inviting everyone watching to repeat this Act of Spiritual Communion at the end of their homilies, so that you are more prepared to receive the Eucharist spiritually at home. I also encourage you, especially if you are watching Mass with your family to stand, sit and kneel at home if you are able and follow the responses as best you are able. The livestream from St. John the Baptist at 9 a.m. on Palm Sunday has the ability to put the prayers on the screen to help you. I also encourage anyone watching our livestream on Facebook, to enter your own prayer intentions at this time. Others will be able to see them, but we will lift them all up in prayer during our Masses as well.
Act of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things and I desire you into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen
I have been receiving many thanks for these messages that we are/I am sending and I know most of you appreciate them. I apologize for the extra messages that are sent and the "can" message sent last night accidentally. We're learning more about Flocknote as we go through this. There are now almost 7500 Flocknote users - wow! Nevertheless, we are all becoming community-starved right now. I know this crisis must be for some greater purpose and likely to bring us all together in love with God and one another more than we have been before this. If you have any requests or suggestions for these updates, please send them or comment in Flocknote replies and we will try.
Sadly, we are NOT permitted to pass out the palms we will bless this weekend, nor the special Easter treats we had for kids on Easter Sunday out of concern for virus attachments to those things. Nevertheless, when this is over, we will have those items for everyone. Thank you for your prayers and understanding.
Finally, when I lived in Slippery Rock and saw the college students before final exam times and the anxiety and grief on their faces, I would say at Mass and as frequently as I could to them, "In your anxiety, try to remember to pray, it will help; but if you don't, just know that Jesus is praying for you." I am praying for you too.
In Christ's love,
Father Kevin