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This weekend, I wanted to put into writing two updates that have been shared verbally at Mass over the past few weeks. For some, one or both of these updates you may have heard already, but for others this may be “breaking news.” Either way, I wanted to put both of them in writing so that everyone heard (or read) the same message.

Change can be hard, change can be difficult, change can be a challenge, but change can also be a sign of growth and of life. Change can bring with it its share of fears, worries, anxieties, and questions.

While I understand the desire to maintain things as is, the reality is that it will be beneficial to space our Saturday Vigil Masses in much the same way as we currently do with our Sunday Masses. With the current schedule, 1 Priest could (and will next weekend) easily cover both Sunday Masses, but that is not possible with the current Saturday schedule.

 Happy Corpus Christi Sunday! The Eucharist is the source & the summit of our faith. No matter which individual parish we are a member of, St. Patrick or St. Vincent de Paul or any other parish, we are united as one in our celebration of the Eucharist.

This Monday we observe the Memorial Day holiday. The history of our country is marked by countless numbers of men & women who have paid the ultimate price, laying down their lives under the banner of freedom. Men and women who have been willing to pay the ultimate price for a higher ideal & for the good of all...

As we continue our journey through the Mass we’ve spent the last few columns looking at what we do, but for this column I wanted to take a moment to look at what we use. Not only do the words & actions of Mass hold meaning, so do many of the items that we use as a part of the celebration.

  Happy Mother’s Day to all of our mothers, grandmothers & mother figures! And certainly we extend our payers to all those mothers who have lost children, all those who have wanted to be mothers & who never got the chance, & all those who have lost their mothers.

Picking up where we left off last week in our walk through of the Mass, we move into the preparation of the Altar & the gifts. As the Altar is prepared & as the bread & wine that will be transformed into the Body & Blood of our Lord there are a number of different prayers & actions that happen & over the next few weeks we’ll look at a few of them.

Back in the fall we began a walk through, in my column, many of the different parts of the Mass, looking at what we do & why we do it. We had gotten through the first part of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Word, and then Advent began, then Christmas, then Lent soon after that, & we got a bit off course from our walk through the Mass.

Happy Easter! It’s Angel again. I wanted to take the opportunity this weekend to share with you my favorite moment from Easter. It happened about 2:00 in the afternoon that day, when I jumped up on my grandma’s couch & saw my dad getting out of his car. I was so excited!

He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! With the timing of last week’s eclipse, I put off for a week doing something very important, that I wanted to make sure to take the time to do in this weekend’s column & that is to say THANK YOU! As we continue in the joy of the Easter season, I want to take the opportunity to thank all those who have helped to make this joyful time so joyful for us as a parish family.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, what we celebrate is, in a sense, the eclipse of God’s mercy on our sins. Our shame, our guile over our sins can at times block us from seeing God’s love & mercy at work in our lives. Our unbelief, our doubts, our worries, our fears, our struggles, can eclipse, in a sense, our noticing & paying attention to the action & the presence of our God who is always there.

Alleluia! Alleluia! He is risen! Happy & Blessed Easter to all! As we stand here on this day of great rejoicing, the question that’s placed before us is, “Are we in shape?

May we, filled with the zeal for God that filled St. Patrick, strive to bring the good news of God’s joy & love to all that we encounter. St. Patrick converted so many through his preaching & witness, each of us can do the same. Where is the Ireland that we are being sent to? How is God calling us to bring others to faith in His Son?

In this week’s reflection on the 8th Station, Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, David Knight reflects that “Onlookers just see what happens. Leaders ask, ”Why?” and “What can I do about it?”

Greetings, everyone! On the Fridays of Lent, we have the opportunity to pray the Stations of the Cross. The Stations are prayed at 9:00 am at St. Vincent de Paul & at 7:00 pm @ St. Patrick, please join us for either time as we walk the way of the cross with our Lord.

Whatever practices we’ve undertaken during these Lenten days...our prayer, fasting, & almsgiving, shouldn’t they be practices that are going to intentionally help us to be a more loving, caring, compassionate disciple of Jesus Christ? They should.

I know that over the past month or so, you’ve been hearing about some of the upcoming changes that we’re looking at around both parishes, especially when it comes to our Masses. It’s not easy to think about change, is it?

  This week we begin our Lenten journey as Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day. So many will use Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to express their love to someone significant in their life in ways such as buying flowers or chocolates or sharing a meal together.

Over the next two weeks we will have two opportunities to experience the Eucharist in action. Certainly we will experience the Eucharist in action in our celebrations of the Mass as we receive Jesus; Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.