The Paschal Triduum is underway and the Holy Thursday celebration last night was magnificent. It is a profound privilege to celebrate these liturgies as a deacon at the Cathedral of St. Mary in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I completed my sixth year at the cathedral in November. Thus, this is my seventh Holy Week serving as a deacon at the cathedral.
If you are praying the Divine Mercy Novena please remember that it begins today (Good Friday). These nine days of prayer leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday can bring immense blessing to you as you focus on the abundant mercy of God.
Today we will hear the passion narrative according to St. John. Veneration of the cross is also a significant part of today’s liturgy. The solemn intercessions provide an opportunity to pray for a wide range of people. I hope you are able to participate as we commemorate this day with fasting and abstinence.
Assisting Bishop Paul Etienne as he prepares for the washing of feet ritual.
The Holy Thursday tradition of Washing Feet.
Receiving the Holy Oils consecrated last week at the Chrism Mass.
The Eucharistic Procession is always a sacred time on Holy Thursday.
The Paschal Triduum serves as a profound reminder of the beautiful gift of our faith. On Holy Thursday night we especially celebrate the gift of the Eucharist. At the end of Mass there is a solemn procession of the Eucharist to an altar of repose. This procession through the church highlights the magnitude of this awesome gift.
Each time I read the various statistics stating how few of Catholics attend Mass on a regular basis I feel a deep sense of sadness. How can we turn our back on the beautiful gift of the Eucharist? In what ways have we in church leadership failed to provide solid catechesis and understanding of what takes place at each and every Mass? If people more fully understood the sacrifice of Calvary made present to us in the liturgy they would come, wouldn’t they?
My dear people, I want to encourage you to utilize this night to renew your faith in the Eucharist. We encounter Jesus Christ–body, blood, soul, and divinity–in the Eucharist. Any time you start to doubt or waver in your faith regarding the Eucharist, please read chapter six of John’s Gospel. Look closely at the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Let that love permeate every fiber of your being.
May the celebration of Holy Thursday fill you with an abundance of love, joy, hope, and peace!
I can only imagine the roller coaster of emotions that the disciples must have felt beginning with the arrest of Jesus. Hearing the chants “Crucify Him!” must have reverberated deep within their beings. The scourging at the pillar, the mockery with the crowning of thorns, the carrying of the cross, and finally, the crucifixion must have been too much to witness. What had just happened?
These men who had left their nets to follow Jesus and become “fishers of men” were now experiencing chaos, confusion, and immense grief. What were they going to do? In modern times I hear people speak about the difficulty of discerning God’s will in their lives. Can you imagine the lack of clarity the disciples must have been feeling during these hours of the Lord’s passion and death?
Holy Week is a good time to ponder. Here are some reflection questions.
1. What is the process you follow in discerning God’s will for your life? 2. How does prayer impact your decision-making process on a daily basis? 3. How do you respond when there is a lack of clarity? 4. Are you willing to stand by the Lord when the going gets tough? 5. Are you able to name some specific examples related to question 4? 6. In what ways have you experienced God searching for you? 7. In what ways are you persistent in prayer? 8. How has the Eucharist nourished you for mission? 9. What are the things in your life that you place before God? 10. How do you live out the Beatitudes in a concrete way?
Please don’t miss the beauty of these days during Holy Week. God is calling each of us deeper. Let us cast our net into the deep and trust in the Lord’s extravagant grace.
Words cannot adequately describe the chaos of our world. We are a troubled people. The violence that permeates planet earth is simply a sad state of affairs. The sacred dignity and value of each human life is ignored.
How did we get to a place where bombing buildings, airplanes, and other crowded facilities become almost expected? When did we grow accustomed to mass shootings taking place on a repeated basis? When did we become complacent and complicit with the killing of millions of unborn babies through abortion? How did we become so broken as a people?
Sociologists and psychologists will look at many different angles trying to put the pieces together to give us expert opinions. What circumstances help to create a psychopath or a sociopath? Is this solely a mental health problem? How does religious fanaticism come into play? What are the many other issues at work including socio-economic factors, education, indoctrination, hopelessness, desire to famous on social media, and a laundry list of other possibilities? More importantly, what can we do about it?
As we hear the Gospel of John on Good Friday detailing the passion narrative of Jesus, do we get any clues from the account about why we suffer in modern times with extreme violence? What can we learn from Christ? What can we learn from the Roman soldiers, Judas Iscariot, the crowd, Pontius Pilate, Herod, or the disciples?
During these days of Holy Week leading up to the Easter Triduum there is a lot of activity in the Church. Choirs are practicing, rehearsals with other ministers are being held, and the staff and volunteers are cleaning the church. The liturgical environment changes for each of the days and there are key people behind the scenes preparing altar linens, ordering flowers, cleaning vessels, changing candlesticks, preparing an altar of repose, and a multitude of other tasks requiring attention to detail. The liturgies are beautiful experiences of prayer because there are dedicated people behind the scenes making all of these things happen.
Obviously, the bishops, priests, deacons, and lay ministers each have their unique roles in these liturgical celebrations. Lectors, cantors, servers, ushers, greeters, and communion ministers step forward to fulfill their roles with great reverence and skill. We are all blessed when generous people give of their time and talent during these holy days.
There is one group of people that do a lot of work during these days that don’t often hear a lot of praise. It is the people who work in our parish offices as receptionists, secretaries, bulletin editors and office managers. They are the front line people meeting the needs of the parishioners and guests as best as they are able. This is no small task. The number of times the parish telephone rings during this week is astounding. Frequently the person on the other end of the line simply wants to know the times of the services or some other piece of information regarding the Holy Week celebrations. However, there are still many other “business as usual” items that must be addressed in the midst of all these additional queries. Bulletin deadlines change during these weeks because of the holidays, and this disruption to the normal schedule does not always go by without a certain level of difficulty or glitches. Patience is definitely a virtue during these busy days.
“Platform—Get Noticed In a Noisy World”is a book written by Michael Hyatt. He sums it up quite well when he says that the receptionist’s title should be Director of First Impressions. This is true for any organization, but it is especially pertinent for all those in our parish offices who fill the role of receptionist regardless of what their actual title is. At the moment someone comes into the office or calls on the telephone, the receptionist is the face of the Church. That is an awesome privilege, but it is also one with commensurate responsibility. Evangelization happens when the Director of First Impressions fulfills that role of hospitality well.
I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of those individuals working in the front areas of our parish offices. Your kindness with parishioners and guests during these activity-filled days is sincerely appreciated. Thank you for your ministry!
St. Joseph’s Mission Church in Albin, Wyoming is like many other rural locations throughout Wyoming. It is a small church attended to by one of the larger parishes in the area. The church in Albin is served by the pastor from Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. The small church sits at the intersection of State Highways 215 and 216. As I drove by the church on my way to a funeral vigil in Nebraska, I had to stop to have a look. The small building just captured my attention. (Yes, those are grain bins in the background of the photo.)
I have traveled much of Wyoming in my ministry as the Director of Pastoral Ministries and have been to almost every parish. However, there are still quite a number of the parish missions located in very isolated areas that I have not yet seen. These small faith communities demonstrate the commitment of Catholics to keep the faith alive in the most rural of settings. It also confirms the generosity of so many Catholics who contribute to Catholic Extension Society which helps small mission churches like this one to keep going financially. The congregations are frequently too small at these mission churches to stay financially afloat without help from the larger parish which attends to their needs as well as the Catholic Extension Society. (The larger parish attending the small mission church may not be all that large either.)
There are many people who work behind the scenes to keep our parishes and missions going. The generosity of parishioners never ceases to amaze me. The sacrifices made by dedicated individuals to build up the Kingdom of God by giving generously of their time, talent, and treasure is a true blessing.
On this Third Sunday of Lent take some time to reflect upon how you are actively involved in building up the Kingdom of God.
I spent my day with fifty women on fire with love for God! It was a wonderful day . I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to lead this retreat and enjoy such beautiful fellowship with women striving to be in union with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Ladies, thank you for your faithful witness to Jesus Christ and His Church. You are blessing to the people around you. May you continue to grow in wisdom, grace, and holiness!
We are just over two weeks away from the beginning of the parish mission at Holy Spirit Catholic Community in Rock Springs, Wyoming. These days will give us an excellent opportunity to focus our attention on God’s Extravagant Mercy
and prepare us to enter into Holy Week. I look forward to seeing many of you from the Rock Springs and Green River areas.
Please note that the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be available in the SCM Church on Monday and Tuesday evenings from 5:30 to 6:45 P.M.
These last days of February have me thinking about warmer weather, green grass, and less wind. My heart is filled with anticipation as we experience some nice days while realizing that there still could be a lot of snow between now and summer. It has snowed the last two years on Mother’s Day. I am okay with it if we discontinue that tradition this year.
As we approach the Third Sunday of Lent, we can look more and more intently at our journey toward the Paschal Triduum. Will we experience the abundance of new life promised by the Savior? Will the power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ transform our lives? The days of Lent are quickly passing by. Are you making the most of these days? Are you closer to God now than you were on Ash Wednesday?
Our lives can be very busy. We can fill up our days with a lot of activity. How much quiet time have you spent with the Lord since Lent began? Please don’t miss the opportunity to grow in holiness. Embrace the disciplines of Lent. Look forward with eager anticipation to the Light of Christ which we will celebrate profoundly at the Easter Vigil.
“I have never heard anything about the resolutions of the apostles, but a good deal about their acts.”
