Alleluia, Jesus is risen!
Easter his is one of the most critical days of the year. It is also a weekend with a gathering with your family, our parishes’ family, and God’s family.
Know that you are always welcome here at St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Columban.
This year, I would like to show a few interesting tidbits around Easter. Here you go:
· Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which was on March 25th (or the vigil on Saturday evening on March 24th):
· Each year we have a Mass called Chrism Mass during Holy Week. For us, this took place on Monday, March 26th at our Cathedral in Duluth. Within this Mass, Bishop blessed the new year of oils that are used in four sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick and Ordination. During the same Mass, priests and deacons renew their vows;
· Through Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil is actually one liturgy, called the Triduum;
· Easter itself is celebrated for eight days, called an octave;
· During the Easter Vigil (Saturday evening) both water and the Easter Candle are blessed.
· Sunday, April 8th (or the vigil on Saturday evening) was recently announced to be “Sunday Divine Mercy” by Pope John Paul II (now named as St. John Paul II) on Sunday, April 22nd, 2001. We will be offering a Eucharistic Adoration with a procession around our buildings and a delicious brunch after.
Finally, I always like to remind each of you to remember what we are doing through Easter. Yes, each of us will probably have beautiful moments with our families, feasts, eggs, bunnies and Peeps. But the real reason why we have Easter is that Jesus gave his life, passion, death and resurrection.
Use this time to think some of these questions again: “Is Jesus really true or false?” or “Is Jesus really both God and man?” or “Has Jesus really opened the gates to heaven itself?”
If you really believe in Jesus Christ, the best time to see him is at Mass, and you can do this every week, and even every day.
God Bless!
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