The Lord is truly risen, alleluia. To him be glory and power for all the ages of eternity, alleluia, alleluia. (Luke 24.34; cf Rev. 1:6)
The Lord is truly risen, alleluia. This is the truth of Easter. This is the truth that we celebrate. This is the truth that we give witness to. Our Lord Jesus Christ who died on the Cross has risen and is now alive. He rose from the dead and opened for us eternal life with God. In the Gospel, the message of the Angel to the women who went to see the tomb is encouraging: “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’” (Mt. 28.5- 7) Like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, this good news should be a cause of great joy for us!
My sincere appreciation to all of you for making our Lenten and Easter celebrations prayerful and beautiful. Let us continue to renew our faith in the Risen Lord as we gather daily and weekly to celebrate God’s everlasting presence among us in the Eucharist. We once again cheer, rejoicing and singing, “Jesus Christ is risen today. Alleluia!”
I along with Fr. Henry and our staff wish you a joyous and glorious Easter. My prayers that God’s blessings come upon you and your loved ones in a special way this season.
As Lent comes to a conclusion and we stand on the threshold of the Sacred Triduum, we prepare to celebrate the deepest mysteries of our faith, the mysteries that make us a community of Catholic Christians: the priesthood and the Eucharist.
Next Sunday our second collection will be towards the Pallottine Missions – whatever way you can help the Pallottines continue our work and missions back in India we will be ever grateful. In the past years you have always been very generous and we thank you for that. Know for sure that your sacrifices will go a long way. If you are not able to help financially do not be disheartened, just offer a prayer for our works and mission and you will receive your blessings in return. The very fact that we as Pallottines are allowed to ministry in this country is already a great help for our Society. As I have mentioned in the past, through our ministry here we are obliged to contribute to our Society through our salary and also through mission appeals so that our work as Pallottines can be enhanced. You have been very generous and gracious towards us by accepting and supporting us in our ministry. Your words of encouragement and support help us to continue our ministry more joyfully. My sincere thanks to each one for your support. May our Founder St. Vincent Pallotti and our Patroness Mary Queen of the Apostles, continue to intercede for us as we all strive to make God’s kingdom come on earth through our lives and activities.
Our next Blood Drive is Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017 from 8am to 2pm. Please consider donating since the Red Cross has had low amounts of blood donations this winter and they need our help. You can email – cgallredcrblooddrive@gmail.com – or see me after mass for the next few weekends. If you can’t donate please consider donating a dish to feed the Red Cross Staff that day. Just see me after mass to let me know. Thank you and God Bless!