​Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
 
Dear friends in Christ,
 
Pope Francis in his Easter message tells us: “And in the silence of our cities, the Easter Gospel will resound.” This has, without doubt been one of the strangest Lents I have ever known. And now we begin this holy season of Easter, the time of the victory of the Risen Lord Jesus in an equally strange and challenging time.
 
In his Easter address, Pope Francis directs his comments to a number of groups. First he addresses families:
“I can imagine you in your families, living an unusual life to avoid contagion. I am thinking of the liveliness of children and young people, who cannot go out, attend school and live their lives.”
 
As I speak to my brother priests, that is the one thing that comes up over and over, we miss you. I miss seeing you at the Liturgies. I miss greeting the kids after Mass with a high five or a hand shake.
 
Secondly, the Holy Father addresses those who feel alone, and the elderly: “These days I often think about people who are alone, and for whom it is more difficult to face these moments. Above all I think of the elderly, who are very dear to me.”
 
St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta often noted that she felt Western culture was the poorest culture. Not because of monetary poverty, but the poverty of loneliness and isolation. In particular, I have experienced the greatest difficulty lately being cut off from those in hospital – whom we are forbidden to visit at this time.  
 
I have found myself on the phone a lot with parishioners who are struggling with the stress on their families, marriages, the unemployed and those feeling overwhelmed by this pandemic.
 
I also have felt this sadness as I have had to bury four of our parishioners lately without being able to extend a hand, or get close to the families who are mourning. I believe that after all this is done, there is going to be a lot of ministry needed for those whose mourning and those who are left with the anxiety and stress at having been alone and cut off.
 
The Pope goes on and acknowledges our health care workers and first responders: “I am aware of the generosity of those who put themselves at risk for the treatment of this pandemic or to guarantee the essential services to society. So many heroes, every day, at every hour.”
 
I am so grateful for all these folks that are putting in extra hours to server our communities, and those who are risking their own health and well being by serving us.
 
Ultimately, what do we do with this time that God has allowed His people to experience? We can be angry, resentful, selfish and depressed. But let us make the best use of this time. Let us be generous and help our neighbor.  Perhaps by telephone or social networks let us reach out and make sure that there is no one who spends Easter, our greatest Feast, “alone.” Pope Francis says that:  “what is needed is the creativity of love.”
 
God bless you all with a Blessed and Holy Easter
Fr. Dennis

​Dear friends in Christ,
 
I have to say that this is going to be one of the strangest Holy Weeks that I will ever have celebrated.0
 
I sure miss having public Masses.  I think it’s even more poignant with Holy Week and Easter not to be able to celebrate together.  This is when people need their faith.  They need the Lord. They need the church most of all.  That’s what makes it all the more.  But at the same time, we must remember, God never abandons us.  So, we may be inconvenienced for now, and may not be able to celebrate our faith in Christ publicly.  But this does not stop us from praying, worshiping on line, doing works of charity, showing love and forgiveness.  
 
Maybe God is allowing this so that we can re-learn that, as the old saying goes, “Charity begins at home.”  Cooped up together, families are being tested, patience stretched, creativity is being called upon.  Maybe God is trying to take us back to the basics.
 
And we must not forget that charity means thinking of others first.  We must practice social distancing for now, so that this pandemic doesn’t spread.  We have a moral responsibility to protect people in the wider community.  It would be the height of selfishness to ignore the good of our neighbor and selfishly seek our own convenience and desires.  And we’ve certainly seen in the news many examples of people being selfish and self-serving.
 
However, I have been noticing some special graces through these past few weeks, and I have no doubt that there will be many more this coming week.
 
One of the many messages I have received over these past few weeks is how grateful they are for the liturgies and devotions that we’ve been posting on Facebook and on our parish website.  How many people, who don’t normally get the chance to come to daily Mass can access it now from their homes and personal devices.  I’m grateful for the staff who have organized, filmed, edited, played music so that we can provide them for our parishioners.
 
The other grace I have experienced myself and have heard from others is, how many people have a deeper appreciation of the Sacraments and our Masses now that we can’t have them publicly.
 
As I’ve said before, the saints always spoke about Spiritual Communion and the Sacrament of the Present Moment.
St. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans:  
 
“What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?  As it is written: For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.  No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  We can be put out and angry – or we can be grateful and become more thoughtful about how precious our Faith and the Sacraments are, and never take them for granted again.  I hope that’s a lesson we will all take away from this time.”      Romans 8: 36-39
 
This pandemic too shall pass.  We must be patient and practice charity and continue to pray.  I have included with this article the various ways we will celebrate Holy Week and Easter this year.
 
I invoke this ancient Aaronic and priestly blessing that God gave to Aaron, the brother of Moses, the first priest of the temple  
 
“May the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you 
and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his
face toward you and give you peace.”
Numbers 6: 24-26

In recent weeks, the inconveniences that we are experiencing as a result of the coronavirus are touching a nerve in our culture. There are people who don’t think the restrictions apply to them. They are the exception. This was most recently played out in Florida where young people ignored the ban and remained on the beaches during Spring Break. It has now been revealed that some of them have contracted the virus. Who knows how many other people they have infected? Our Holy Father, Pope Francis said recently: “Every man for himself is not a solution to pandemic.” When a common danger arises, it often destroys human ties and everyone begins to think only about themselves. We resent having any restrictions placed on us. It is all symptomatic of that inner rebellion – the rebellion that stems back to the very beginning of our race. We call it the Original Sin. All sin has pride at its roots. Just recently I read the story of Fr. Giuseppe Beradelli, a pastor of the parish in Casigno, near Bergamo in northern Italy, one of the worst hit regions in Italy. He contracted the coronavirus and died last week in Lovere hospital. According to the hospital staff, he refused to use a respirator his parishioners had bought for him. He chose to give it to a younger patient, instead, a respirator that his parishioners had purchased for him, to a younger patient, whom he did not know. Residents of Casnigo were reported to have applauded from their windows and balconies as the coffin was taken for burial. On Tuesday, Pope Francis led a prayer for the deceased doctors and priests, “thanking God for their heroic example in serving those who were sick.” I want to share some other encouraging stories of people and organizations out there who are making sacrifices and doing acts of charity to help their neighbor. There is a landlord in the State of Main, Nathan Nichols, who announced he won’t be collecting rent in April to ease his tenants’ financial worries. A store in England has set aside one hour every morning for elderly and other vulnerable individuals to buy the items they need. Two major car companies have pledged to cover up to six months of car payments for owners who lose their jobs in the wake of the outbreak. A number of school districts throughout the country are providing free breakfast and lunch to kids while its schools are closed. A convenience store in Edinburgh, Scotland, is giving out free “coronavirus packs” to people over 65. Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has announced that he will donate 500,000 test kits and one million masks to the U.S. to help with supply shortages. A college in the US is issuing refunds to students who live on campus, but it’s helping with moving costs! And we’ve all heard of the doctors and health care workers who are working overtime in our hospitals and emergency rooms under great pressure and experiencing a lack of resources in fighting this virus and keeping up services to all those suffering from other illnesses and diseases. I want to express my gratitude to all the doctors and health care workers, emergency workers, police, laborers, priests, clergy and lay workers and all of those people who are making sacrifices for the good of our society in crisis. I want to pray for all those whose businesses are shut down, all those affected financially by this crisis. We will remember them in a special way during Holy Week. Next week we begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday. These most holy days of the entire Liturgical Year are a reminder of the battle that happened between good and evil, between sin and love, the primordial battle that is still being waged in our world. I invite us all to reflect on how can unite ourselves with Christ in His Passion, Death and Resurrection this coming week. I know many of us are making sacrifices already, whether work, money, no school, extra duties and hours we never expected. But I am going to ask everyone to think of how we can sacrifice a little bit more – trying to focus on God’s love that brought Jesus to the cross. Let’s pray for one another and ask Our Lady to intercede and pray for all of us. Join me at 6:00 am., 12 noon, and 6 pm. when our church bells ring to pray the Angelus for all those in need. God bless, Fr. Dennis