24 Hours for the Lord

03-15-2020From Fr. Antony's DeskFr. John Barbella

I am excited to announce that our parish will host 24 Hours for the Lord. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed in our Church (rather than the chapel) from 8:30am Friday until 7:30am Saturday. People are invited to come and spend some quiet time with our Lord that day and night. You may come and stay for as long or as little as you like. It would be great if you could spend at least an hour with Jesus.

Confessions will be heard after the Stations of the Cross, Friday evening from 7:30-9:00pm and at 9am Saturday morning. Stations of the Cross will be prayed in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament at 3pm and 7pm Friday, and the Daily Masses will be offered as usual.

Spending extra time in prayer is a great thing to do during Lent. To make a special effort to come at an “inconvenient” hour in the middle of the night is a special sacrifice to make for Jesus. It can even be offered as a special prayer for yourself, your family, or others. I hope many of you will take advantage of the opportunity!

Speaking of spending time with our Lord this Lent, I was very happy to see so many people at the Lenten Parish Mission a few weeks ago. Fr. Venditti’s talks were excellent, and the presence of such a nice crowd was very inspiring. I hope we can make the Lenten Mission a yearly event in our parish.

For those who did not get to the Mission, remember that we will have an ongoing mission every Wednesday evening of Lent at 7pm. A different priest or deacon will offer a Lenten homily, lead some prayers, and celebrate Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament each Wednesday. I would encourage everyone to get to at least one, if not all, of these Lenten Benedictions.

Remember that we will have our parish Lenten Penance Service on Monday, March 23rd at 7pm. As usual, we will have about ten priests available to hear Confessions that evening. Some of our old friends will be here, as well as some new priests. My hope is that having a choice of Confessors will not only be helpful to you, but also ensure that you don’t have to wait too long that evening.

To help you prepare for Confession, an Examination of Conscience has been inserted in this bulletin. You can also find pamphlets on ‘How to Make a Good Confession’ around the Church. Please be sure to go to Confession before Lent is over, so you can celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with a truly pure and grace filled soul.

Last Saturday evening I had the pleasure of visiting a small group of our Parish Cub Scouts. They were doing some winter camping in a cabin about an hour north and west of here. While it was cold outside, they had a blazing fire going that kept their cabin nice and warm while the kids had fun. It was great to spend time with them.

Those who are devoted to our Blessed Mother may want to attend the Legion of Mary’s Acies Mass which will be offered in our Church on Sunday, March 22, at 3:30pm. The rosary will be prayed preceding the Mass at 3pm. While primarily a Mass at which the members of the Legion of Mary renew their commitment to our Blessed Mother, it is open to anyone who would like to attend, and is a nice way to honor our Blessed Mother!

Please say a Hail Mary for me today, and every day, and have a great week!

Fr. John

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