Cathedral Family,
Happy Easter! This weekend we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. The first fruit of Jesus resurrection was His appearance to the Apostles in the Upper Room—He breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit---whose sins you forgive are forgiven, whose sins you retain are retained.” He gave the gift of reconciliation to His church. When the resurrected Lord met the frightened, grief stricken apostles, he did not condemn their human weakness, but rather gave them His mercy. We need His mercy today for our sins and our lukewarm response to His great love. Today let us claim the gift of mercy He gives to our Church by our response of re-commitment to Him—then extending that mercy to others. Please join us at 3:00 pm to pray the Hour of Mercy and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
I want to take the opportunity to extend gratitude to all of our clergy and staff for their many efforts to help us all to celebrate a beautiful Holy Week and profound Triduum: Kara Kwiatkowski and the Office Administrative Staff, Tom Baez and his facilities crew, Sacristan Linda Dalton and her assistants, Chris Deibert and the Choir with the many hours of rehearsal and hard work preparing sacred music, Jay Locquiao with communications and Phil Emma with livestreaming, Director of Evangelization, Tina Rossi and all who assisted her in forming and overseeing the conversion process for the 14 people who were baptized on Holy Saturday night, as well as, Deacon Rick Fortune who prepared and help execute the many sacred liturgies. We have so many generous and committed parishioners who show up to serve: our ushers, altar servers, lectors and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist and especially to all our people who faithfully show up week after week, tithe their gifts to the work of the Church, who pray and sacrifice and live their Christian lives!
Indeed our Cathedral of St. Francis is a City on the Hill offering a great witness and welcome to anyone looking to follow Jesus and be part of His Church. May the “perfume of Christ,” as the ancient Fathers said of the Church, waft far and wide for people to know of salvation won for us in Christ. May our living out the faith during this Easter season be bold and joyful.
Please come this Thursday night as we begin our three part series on the Franciscan Jubilee. We will welcome Father Luke Mary CFR who will give us a presentation on the life of St. Francis. He will focus his presentation on how St. Francis’ life has impacted these past 800 years. Please do not miss the opportunity to go deeper into this special Jubilee Year of St. Francis! It begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Cathedral.
Please continue to bask in Easter joy! Remain with Him….now that the season of penance gives rise to the resurrection---we now shift our attention to mission: what does the Lord want of me? How does He want me to use my gifts to advance His mission here on earth? What is something new He is calling you to?
Easter Peace,
Father Christy