Weekly Tri-Parish Update

5th Sunday of Lent

Father Marreddy's Weekly Message:

Readings: Ezekiel 37:12-14, Romans 8:8-11, John 11:1-45

Even though we say that we believe, there is a part of us that doesn’t. There are many times in our lives when we experience death, whether it be the physical death of someone we love, a failed relationship, the loss of a job, or a broken dream. As we are going through these death experiences, we can easily find ourselves reaching out to God to make it better and fix it! We think that the proper order of life is to maintain the things of this world, especially those things that are essential to our sense of well-being and security. We do not like change. The grieving that comes from our death experiences can keep us stuck and in despair. If we have lost something or someone of great value, the very meaning and essence of life is lost with them. We need gentle companions to lift us from despair and that is precisely who God desires to be in our life as well.

God calls us out of our tombs, where we have been closed up in fear and despair, and shouts, “Come out!” He desperately wants to show us the path to hope and the new life that is possible after loss and death. But our faith can be weak, and we still prefer to cling to the memory of what we had rather than the joyful possibilities of tomorrow. We sometimes live as if God is not real and that the transformative power of His resurrected presence is a story found in the Bible rather than a narrative unfolding in our lives.

God is the God of surprises, not our demise. God opens new possibilities, begins new chapters, creates new verses, and brings us to new heights! We spend so much time and energy ruminating over what we left behind yesterday that we are far too tired to see what can unfold tomorrow. Loving someone new doesn’t negate our past loves. Embracing the love of a person, God, or life itself tomorrow doesn’t diminish the love of yesterday. Each of our loves is different, and one cannot be replaced by another. They don’t cancel each other out. God truly has tended to every detail of our lives, and if we listen to each detail, we find that they all lead us back to Him. Jesus wants us to come out of our closed-up tombs. Are we going to listen this time?

Blessings!

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In addition to our goal to help keep people safe and healthy during this difficult time, we are also committed to meeting our other financial obligations. Please continue your financial support of your Parish by sending  a check to your parish. The tri-parish church addresses can be found on the the right side of this page. Thank you.

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Sunday, April 5th is Palm Sunday. Father Marreddy is going to bless all the Palms on Sunday morning and distribute them to the 3 parishes. There will be a table outside of each church with the palms on them. Please stop by your parish and pick up enough palm branches for your family. They should all be at the churches by 10 am.

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Here is an article about the efficacy of spiritual communion: https://catholicstrength.com/2017/09/20/the-efficacious-practice-of-spiritual-communion/ (hightlight the address and right click to open it)

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Public Masses in all churches in the Winona-Rochester Diocese are cancelled until May 15, 2020. 

You can still watch the weekly Masses on YouTube or on our local Channel 6 on Sunday morning at 9:00 am.

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 All weekend Mass readings are on this website.  Just click on the tab left of here.

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Watch "CoronaVirus: The Divine Interdict" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/HvfZTZ65Yaw

(Highlight above website, right click, hit Go to https...)

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If you are concerned about funding for the mission of the parish in this "no public masses and people getting laid off" context, this webinar was just held by Your Parish Matters (part of Revive Parishes). It is worth your time. It gets down to business at the 7 min mark (1 hr discussion with Director of Mission Advancement in Phoenix).It is EXCELLENT listening to or viewing, and about more than money. Time for an engagement drive. NOW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwiBik6oDVU&authuser=0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwiBik6oDVU&authuser=0

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The Blessed Virgin Mary asked the children at Fatima to pray the rosary every day during their troubled times.  Let us do as Mary asked and pray the rosary at home during our days of isolation.  Join some who will be saying it at 3 pm, but if that doesn't work for you, say it any time of the day or night.  God will hear our prayers!