From the Pastor's Pen - More Easter Things!

MORE EASTER THINGS—starting with 1st Communion last Saturday. What a joy it was, as always! This year it was 15 children, all from our full-time school. Of course they looked darling, as always. More to the point, their faith was evident and strong. They answered many questions at Mass about the sacraments and other things. One father said his son was so excited that day, from waking up through the whole day—more excited than on his birthday!

What the kids get, in faith and psychologically, is called operational belonging—they get to take part physically in something, and experience deeper belonging.

This brought to mind good memories of my own First Communion at St. Pius V - can you spot your pastor in the group picture?

We also had Divine Mercy Sunday, in which, in prayers after Sunday Masses and in a special Mass at 2, many people also took part in something beautiful: prayers and practices promoted by St. Faustina, and Pope St. John Paul II, for our salvation, and that of “the whole world.” I appreciate Fr. Bob Brockland, a priest son of the parish, coming again to preside at this Mass, and Deacon Denny assisted. Paul Horn did most of the arranging of the event, thank you.

Another sign of Easter, the Friday after Easter, was our 150 Club Dinner. This has been an important fundraiser for our parish since the beginning, and it leads up to this nice dinner night with music, now nearby. It begins with buying a ticket good for monthly drawings done at Mens’ Club, and a lot of drawings on the Dinner Night.

Along with the Youth Living Stations I mentioned last week, other parish groups led our Lenten Friday Night Stations: Respect Life, Social Justice, and the ACTS Community. I like how the Stations are adaptable this way. It’s perfectly valid to adapt St. Francis of Assisi's traditional reflections on the moments of Jesus’ sufferings, death, and ultimate triumph, to the modern human forms this suffering takes, so we see how relevant they are to our own. Good Friday afternoon also saw our own parish stations, in which many took a meaningful part. Thanks to all who led this, and our deacons for Benediction.

With all this, we’re certainly doing our best to walk with Jesus!