My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We celebrated the Solemnity of the Annunciation last Tuesday, March 25. From the Gospel reading, we hear the account of the Angel Gabriel inviting Mary to participate in our Salvation History by bringing Jesus into our world. We continue our season of Lent, using it as a season of renewal and allowing us to take this season to invite Jesus into our lives just as Mary allowed God to work through her.
In the weekend’s reading, we hear the parable of the prodigal son. If you can take some time this week, I would like to invite you to place yourself in the shoes of the main characters in the parable: the father, the prodigal son, and the brother. How can each character allow us to be open to the light of Christ in our lives? There is a lot we can draw from this parable. However, I believe the character with the most to lose in the parable of the prodigal son is the fattened calf.
Once again, during the Season of Lent, both St John Vianney and Mary Our Queen Knights of Columbus will be hosting their Lenten Fish Fries at our Family of Parishes. Please see the times and details in our bulletin.
SJV/MOQ will continue our Lenten Series on Monday, March 31st in the Trinity Rooms at MOQ, at 7pm. Please join us if you can. We had the first of our two-part Lenten Series last Monday. Last Saturday, we had another Trinity House Community Gathering for our young families with children. It began with dinner and fellowship followed by a parent presentation and small group discussion while our kids volunteers supervise kids. It concluded with more fellowship and dessert. Our next Trinity House Community Gathering will be on May 3rd.
Next Sunday, April 6 will be our Encounter Sunday beginning after the 10:30 Mass at SJV. We invite you to stop by any time during the afternoon to spend time in prayer in the presence of the Lord and experience the “peace and understanding” which only God can provide. Optional booklets, prayer guides and handouts will be available to help you make the most of this time. 11:30am Prayer Teams are available to pray for your personal prayer requests, 1:00 – Rosary for Priests, 2:00 – Rosary for Families, 3:00 – Divine Mercy Chaplet, 4:00 – Family-Friendly Holy Hour, 5:00 – Teen Holy Hour with music, and benediction. 6:00 – Teens are invited to stay after Adoration for food and fellowship.
We have reestablished confessions at Mary Our Queen on Thursdays at 5:30pm. We invite you to use this Season of Lent to make a good confession. Please also see our bulletin for more details about our Lenten offerings. Please also note that St John Vianney’s new website is up and running. We continue to work to improve communication through social media and websites.
God Bless,
Fr Marc
