Christus Resurrexit Sicut Dixit! Christ is risen, just as He said! Happy Easter to you all and may God bless you abundantly this holy season!

Over the past week we have celebrated, as a parish, the mysteries of our faith: the Passion, Teachings and Death of Jesus Christ. This morning we celebrate his glorious Resurrection from the dead!

A very blessed Palm Sunday to everyone. Following our six weeks of preparation in Lent we have come to the beginning of this most sacred week. Together, over the coming days, we will commemorate the central mysteries of our faith: the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Just like we found with Advent and Christmas, time flies when you’re having fun (and busy!) It’s hard to believe that Palm Sunday is next week… I hope your Lent has been full of many blessings and graces that have brought you closer to Jesus. As a parish, SJV has celebrated a Mission, weekly Stations of the Cross, daily Mass, and many good confessions. Of course we have also had opportunities for fun like our weekly Fish Fry and the various spring activities in school, youth ministry and religious education. We have celebrated together at weddings and baptisms and mourned together at funerals.

I continue to receive lots of notes and messages from parishioners who attended our parish mission, “The Missing Piece: What Are You Searching For?” that we offered on Feb. 25 - 27. To a person people have expressed gratitude to the Holy Spirit for what we received there. As well, we all owe much thanks to David Portugal, Fr. Andrew, the Faith Formation Office and various parish missionaries who helped to coordinate this. It’s no small project!! Keep your eyes out (and ears tuned) for information on how to participate in “quads” of discipleship.

I can only speak for myself, but all I can say about the Parish Mission is WOW! I felt the Holy Spirit moving in a most palpable and beautiful way. Jesus was present - as He promised - when 2-3 are gathered in His Name and I think we ended up over 500 gathered together on Night 3. He also walked among us in the Eucharist and we proclaimed and heard and shared His Word. Take a look at the pictures we included in this week’s bulletin and if you were with us, please share your experience with those who weren’t able to attend this year.

Greetings to all and messages of prayer and gratitude from Fr. Tom! He continues to recuperate and is getting stronger each day. Like I mentioned in my email to the parish last week Fr. Tom so wishes he could be with us for the sacred liturgies, devotions, and activities of these first weeks of Lent. However, he is listening to his doctors and us brother-priests in Holy Cross to rest and feel better. We’ll be very ready and excited for his return to SJV but in the meantime he knows we’re all praying for him and love him very much. He asked me to let you all know how grateful he is and that he is praying for all the faithful of the parish.

Since the 10th century we Christians have begun our Lenten observance with the ancient Latin hymn Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (“Look down, O Lord, and have mercy, for we have sinned against You.”) I mentioned last Sunday that I do not believe Catholics are obsessed with sin, as many in society would claim about us. There are people who laugh at the phrase “Catholic guilt” and think our religion causes us to constantly feel guilty or ashamed. If you’ll pardon the old-fashioned response, what a bunch of poppycock!

Parishioners of a certain age may remember the Question 6 from The Baltimore Catechism “Why did God make you?” and its answer “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.” A young person asked me last week this very question - from his own curiosity, not from a catechism class - and I thought of this answer. We exist because God desired (and still desires now) that we exist, and so we are born. No one is an accident or superfluous.

In his book Priests for the Third Millennium, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan tells the story of an older man on his deathbed, surrounded by his children and the parish priest. Wanting to settle his affairs before he passed away, he gave each of his sons and daughters an assignment based on their profession: to the attorney went the responsibility for settling the estate, to the accomplished businesswoman daughter went taking care of the family store, and so forth. Each had a stated responsibility except the priest, who asked “sir, and what would you like me to do?” To which every head in the hospital room turned and looked with surprise at the priest and the old man said “Well Father, you pray of course!”

This week we begin Catholic Schools Week with lots of celebration and prayer here at St. John Vianney Catholic School. The national theme this year is Catholic Schools: United in Faith and Community.

Saint John Paul II addressed U.S. Catholic school teachers in 1987:

“The ultimate goal of all Catholic education is salvation in Jesus Christ. Catholic educators effectively work for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom; this work includes transmitting clearly and in full the message of salvation, which elicits the response of faith. In faith we know God… and in faith we truly come to know ourselves.”

Thanks to the wonderful generosity of so many of you and your commitment to serving Jesus by serving his vulnerable brothers and sisters the SJV Pantry is one of our largest ministries. Week in, week out our many volunteers, led by Deacon Bill Booth and his amazing leadership team, receive, organize and distribute food to those who seek it.

Many of you know that St. Gerard Majella is the patron of pregnant mothers and many couples over the years have been blessed with conception after praying through his intercession. Less well known is that Gerard was born to a very poor family and his father died when he was just 12. Besides the terrible grief he experienced in this tragedy, little Gerard was forced to leave school and work to help his family survive. Years later, after his family was able to get onto its feet again, he joined the Redemptorists as a lay brother and helped to serve the many poor families of Muro, Italy - especially those struggling and grieving after the death of a parent.

After the whirlwind of sacraments, prayer and activities in Advent and Christmas, I hope everyone has had a chance to catch their breath! From the Immaculate Conception and dedication of our new Grotto to the many celebrations of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Las Posadas all the way through Christmas and our Masses last weekend for Holy Mary, Mother of God we have been going, going, going. Which certainly speaks to the Holy Spirit moving and blessing us in the parish!