“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” (Jn. 11:21-27) At a recent school Mass, I spoke to the students about fear. I mentioned that I had been afraid of the dark when I was younger, and that I was still scared of snakes now that I am older. And I asked them … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2023
Nine Church Walk
At the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday (7:00 p.m.) sufficient hosts are consecrated for that Mass and for the next day. These consecrated Hosts remain in a ciborium on the corporal in the center of the altar until the end of Mass, after which they are carried in Solemn Procession to the Altar of Repose, with the priest vested in a Cope and Humeral Veil, and covered with a canopy. The Blessed Sacrament remains in the temporary tabernacle at the Altar of Repose, and the Holy Thursday service concludes with the stripping of all altars except the Altar of Repose. Holy Thursday is a day of exceptional devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and the repository is the center of the love, prayers and aspirations of the faithful. After the Good Friday service, the Blessed Sacrament … [Read more...]
Easter Lilies!
One of the most beautiful and fragrant reminders of Easter morning are Easter lilies. We will be purchasing them for the altar for use over the Easter season. If you would like to donate an Easter lily in the name of a loved one, there are envelopes in the back of church. Please return by April 2, 2023. … [Read more...]
From the Pastor – March 19, 2023
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”(Jn. 9:39-41) The Gospel this Sunday is about the cure of the “man born blind.” Jesus did so by making clay out of dirt and saliva, by putting the clay on the man’s eyes, and then by instructing the man to wash in the Pool at Siloam. The closing words of this Sunday’s Gospel passage sum up the meaning of the cure of the man born blind. It’s not just a miracle cure of a physical illness. It’s about opening the eyes of … [Read more...]
Adoration and Confessions
Many of you know that two seminarians from the Community of Jesus Crucified are now living on the top floor of the rectory. These seminarians make a Holy Hour of Adoration each day at 5:00p in the Basilica of St. Stephen. During the next two weeks the Archbishop has asked every parish in the Archdiocese to offer Confessions from 5:00-6:30pm on Wednesday. So the basilica will be open for Adoration and Confessions over the next two Wednesdays, and we are considering making this a regular practice. … [Read more...]
Lætare Sunday
This Sunday is “Lætare” Sunday, which comes from the introductory antiphon of Mass “Laetare Jerusalem” shown above (meaning “O be joyful, Jerusalem”). On this Sunday we are called to have a restrained joyfulness because we’re halfway through the pilgrimage of Lent and getting closer to Holy Week. While we should strengthen our resolutions regarding our penitential sacrifice, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The rose vestments testify to this special Sunday which also has several other meanings attached to it throughout the centuries. Since the Jews frequently referred to the city of Jerusalem as “Mother Jerusalem” the early Christians began referring to the Church as “Mother Church.” And since Jerusalem was mentioned in the introit, Lætare Sunday began to known as … [Read more...]
From the Pastor – March 12, 2023
Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”(Jn. 4:13-14) Most of us don’t know what it means to be literally “dying of thirst.” We may have used the expression before, but it might just have been a hot July afternoon. I would venture to say that there are very few of us who have gone entire day without something to drink, let alone a week. But to people living in the desert at the time of Jesus, water was something precious. Since rainstorms were few and far in between, water had to be found by digging or collected for storage in cisterns. The idea of a “running stream” was something that … [Read more...]
Stations of the Cross and Confessions During Lent
On Fridays in Lent there will be Stations of the Cross at the Basilica of St. Stephen with Confession at 5:30pm and the Stations at 6:00pm. Remember that Msgr. Nalty is also in the Confessional from 3:00-3:45pm on Saturdays and 9:00-10:15am on Sundays. Following Stations, there will be Fish Fry in the parking lot behind St. Stephen Church! … [Read more...]
St. Patrick
March 17, 2023 St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain in the 5th century. When he was a young boy he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave to tend sheep. Ireland was a land of druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God for help. In his Confession, he later wrote: After I came to Ireland the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me-- as I … [Read more...]
