Pastor's Letter - March 18, 2018

“I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” That short passage from today’s first reading from the prophet Jeremiah expresses a simple and beautiful truth. God has formed with us a covenant – an irrevocable bond of love. This covenant has been renewed with us in a definitive way in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are reminded of this each time at the Mass when the priest says the words of the Lord which He spoke at the Last Supper: “This is the Chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant.” Each time we receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist we say our “Amen” to this covenant.

Next Sunday we begin Holy Week with the commemoration of the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We will observe this in a simpler ritual at both the Saturday 4:30pm and Sunday 7:00am Masses. At the principle mass only on Sunday, at 10am, (weather permitting) we will observe the full rite by assembling outside the church for the blessing of palms and the reading of the Gospel, and then processing into the church in commemoration of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. I heartily encourage, for those who are able, participation in this fuller rite when attending the 10am Mass.

May God bless you!

Fr. Schaller