+JMJ
Dear Parishioners,
First on the agenda is to thank everybody who put such competent work into making our Easter Triduum liturgies so beautiful: our decorators, lectors, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, our Holy Thursday and Easter Vigil choir, our Good Friday schola, our Easter Sunday contemporary ensemble, the pyro-technicians who managed the Easter Fire, the altar servers and emcees, the deacons, and the rest of the parish staff, all of whom played a role. I believe the Lord was honored by what our cumulative efforts accomplished for His Greater Glory! Thank you for all the hard work!
Also, a blessed Divine Mercy Sunday to you! Perhaps you remember that Pope Saint John Paul II – following the desire Our Lord Jesus which was revealed to fellow Polish countrywoman Saint Faustina Kowalksa – declared the second Sunday of Easter “Divine Mercy Sunday”. We have a special Jesus By Candlelight at our parish on this occasion, and we offer the Sacrament of Confession, since this is such a great fountain of mercy – the absolution of sins, by the power of Jesus Christ through this Sacrament which he gave to His Church.
Here are some fine quotes of Saint Faustina:
On great love in small things… and suffering
“Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions. And the purer our love becomes, the less there will be within us for the flames of suffering to feed upon, and the suffering will cease to be a suffering for us; it will become a delight! By the grace of God, I have received such a disposition of heart that I am never so happy as when I suffer for Jesus, whom I love with every beat of my heart.” (par. 303)
On not losing recollection totally in the midst of our very busy lives
“I will not allow myself to be so absorbed in the whirlwind of work as to forget about God. I will spend all my free moments at the feet of the Master hidden in the Blessed Sacrament.” (par. 82)
On abandoning our souls totally to Jesus
“O my Jesus, You have tested me so many times in this short life of mine! I have come to understand so many things, and even such that now amaze me. Oh, how good it is to abandon oneself totally to God and to give Him full freedom to act in one’s soul!” (par. 134)
On encountering Jesus' invisible majesty in the Eucharist and consoling Him there
“O Jesus, Divine Prisoner of Love, when I consider Your love and how You emptied Yourself for me, my senses fail me. You hide Your inconceivable majesty and lower Yourself to miserable me. O King of Glory, though You hide Your beauty, yet the eye of my soul rends the veil. I see the angelic choirs giving You honor without cease, and all the heavenly Powers praising You without cease, and without cease they are saying: Holy, Holy, Holy. Oh, who will comprehend Your love and Your unfathomable mercy toward us! O Prisoner of Love, I lock up my poor heart in this tabernacle, that it may adore You without cease night and day. I know of no obstacle in this adoration, and even though I am physically distant, my heart is always with You. Nothing can put a stop to my love for You. No obstacles exist for me. O my Jesus, I will console You for all the ingratitude, the blasphemies, the coldness, the hatred of the wicked, the sacrileges. O Jesus, I want to burn as a pure offering and to be consumed before the throne of Your hiddenness.” (par. 80). Have a blessed Easter season!
In cordibus Iesu, Mariae et Iosephus,
Father Poggemeyer