Mercy Sunday - prayer together

April 14, 2020

Dear Parishioner(s),
            I hope that your Easter turned out to be a resurrection with your household and in your own heart.
            I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our people, continuing to send their envelopes - through the mail, on the back porch, in the baskets at the back of the church and even slid under the rectory door. Many of our seasonal parishioners have written with donations and expressions of support.
            Both the Ave Maria Guild and the Knights of Columbus have arranged on-line or on-phone meetings, using the various formats and apps available. Right now, the big things on the horizon are First Communions for our younger parishioners, the Baptism of a pre-teen, a Marriage Preparation Conference, the Art Show and Blood Drive in the summer, the K of C Golf Tournament and such. With any luck, we will be able to gather socially by the time these events arrive.
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             Here’s a way for us to worship together, although we are apart. Not everyone will know about it, but those who check our website can tell others.
             This weekend’s Masses would have been the Octave Day of Easter. Saint Pope John Paul II renamed it “Divine Mercy Sunday,” to honor the devotion to Jesus begun by St. Faustina. If ever we needed to rely on God’s Mercy, it’s surely this spring. Bear with me while I set the stage for my proposal.
             You could look at the Mass as a drama in five acts. The first act is the proclamation of God’s Word in Scripture. The second is the preparation of the bread and wine. The third, obviously, is the Consecration.  The fourth is the entreaty of God through Christ present on our altar, as we prepare for the fifth act, receiving Holy Communion. Most people think of the consecration as the climax. When I hold up the host and the chalice, after I have spoken Jesus’ words of consecration, the instructions just read, “The priest shows the consecrated bread/wine to the people.” That’s called the minor elevation. The “major elevation” is at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer, when you all sing or say the Great Amen. You’re looking at the Eucharistic Christ and saying, “Yes. I believe!” “Amen.” Right afterward, we say the “Our Father.” The words of introduction are significant, “At the Savior’s command and formed by Divine teaching, we dare to say ...”
             Then we pray together, praising the Father, aligning ourselves with His creative plan, asking for what we need and offering ourselves to one another in reconciliation.
             The most important words are “We” and “Our.” The reason we both can, and must, do this at that moment in the Mass is because the Eucharist makes us one. That’s where the “we” and the “our” come from. So...
             At exactly 12 Noon on Saturday, April 18, I will stand before the tabernacle, wearing the stole that signifies my priesthood, my vocation as “bridge-builder.” I will recite the Our Father aloud. Wherever you are at Noon on Saturday - sheltering at home; out shopping or taking the fresh air; doing chores or homework; texting with friends or on line - stop and say the Our Father - out loud. You can do it alone or, if there are loved ones with you, in a group. We, the “Body of Christ” will be thinking of one another as we respond to the initiative of the Divine Mercy Himself, our Risen Lord in Eucharist.
             Remember Bell Telephone’s old slogan? “It’s the next best thing to being there!!”

                                                                                                 -- Fr. Pete