The past two weeks, including this weekend, have been extraordinarily busy for us here in the parish. The visit of the relic of St. John Paul II to our parish community was met with great devotion and participation. There were close to a thousand or more people who took part in the celebration. The relic was originally scheduled to depart from St. Cecilia at 11am, but due to the number of people waiting in line to do the veneration, the Sisters were able to leave at 11:35am for their noon Mass at the Grotto in Portland. See photos of this wonderful and blessed event on our parish website. Thanks to Tony Halford who did a fabulous job documenting the event.
Last Wednesday, the Vocation Committee brought to our parish Saint Luke Productions’ Therese: Story of a Soul. It was a great evening of coming together as one faith family,
reflecting on the life of one of the most remarkable saints of modern times who is not only the patroness of missionaries but also a Doctor of the Church. Our deepest appreciation goes to Tom Eyer and the rest of the members of the Vocations Committee who worked really hard to put this together in celebration of the Year of Consecrated Life.
As announced for several weeks already, this weekend the Knights of Columbus and the Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration Association are sponsoring an exhibit of the Eucharistic Miracles around the World that are officially approved or sanctioned by the Vatican. Each panel/poster will practically bring you back to the place where the miracle took place, giving us a splendid overview of the historical background of each event. Similar exhibits on Eucharistic Miracles conducted by the Vatican International Exhibition have been done in more than 3,000 parishes in the US, Canada and Italy. This exhibit is a great recap of the Friday Lenten talks that
Fr. Mark and I have been giving on the celebration of the Mass. I encourage you to stop by the Activity Center, and I assure you that you will leave the place with a deeper awe, devotion and love for the most sacred treasure of our faith: The Eucharist.
Next Friday is the last Friday of Lent before we enter into Holy Week. Yes, you read it right, next Sunday is Palm Sunday already! To mark the end of our Friday Lenten talks on the Eucharist, we will have a Mass in the Extraordinary Form/Tridentine on Friday, March 27 at 6:30pm presided by Fr. John Boyle, the Director of the Tribunal of the Archdiocese, in lieu of the communal Stations of the Cross and the talk. Why are we offering this? Well, there have been some requests from our parishioners to have an experience of the Extraordinary Form since it is part our rich liturgical tradition. The Roman Rite is composed of two rites: the Ordinary Form (which we normally do at regular Masses) and the Extraordinary Form. Having a knowledge and experience of both forms will bring about a deeper understanding and learning of our liturgical heritage, and hopefully with a profounder knowledge of both forms, we can see the mutual enrichment that takes place between the two forms of the Roman Rite, inviting us also to a deeper and profounder experience of the greatest mystery of our faith.
It is my prayer and hope that as we enter into the holiest of all weeks in the liturgy, our hearts and minds are renewed once again with the sublime love of the Father, manifested through his giving up of his very life so that we may have life to its
fullness. – Fr. Cary