Pastor’s Corner — April 16th, 2023
My Holy Thursday Homily
If you were at the Holy Thursday Mass last Thursday, you know that I opened up and shared my heart about my call to the priesthood in light of scandal in the Church and the love that Jesus has for you through me. I also say something important about the Eucharist and the renovation in the middle of the homily. After receiving some very positive feedback from parishioners, I’d like to ask parishioners who were not there on Holy Thursday, to listen/watch my homily. I hope it’s a shot in the arm about the gift of the priesthood and the Eucharist!
The Advantages of Planning Your Funeral w/Todd Borek and Fr Mathias (Tuesday at 6:30pm in PLC)
We have quite a few people signed up for this event on Tuesday. As of now, we are not planning to record this, but we might be ending up doing so. This event is open to the public and one does not need to be close to death in order to come. If you missed the description of this event, please read the description here from the March 19 bulletin. Because we need to know how many folders to prepare, we’re asking people to register online here by Sunday night.
Disrespecting Our Bodies after Death: Guidance on Proper Christian Burials
One of the topics we’ll be covering in the session on planning your funeral is that of proper burial of our bodies. It’s becoming more common that non-practicing Catholics (and even some practicing ones) are either misinformed or ignorant about the Church’s preferences about proper burials. Therefore, unChristian ways of treating our bodies after death are becoming more popular: “composting,” scattering ashes, or keeping ashes of the body in our homes, putting ashes in jewelry, etc. All of these are disrespectful and against the dignity of our bodies.
On March 20, the United States bishops released updated guidance that answers additional questions regarding newer but rather undignified ways of disposing of the body after death. To read more about why the Church strongly exhorts us to bury our bodies in blessed ground in a cemetery and why it only allows cremation if it is done not for reasons that go against the faith, please read the new 5 ½ page document released from the bishops here. I will likely publish a concise version of this the later in the bulletin.
Divine Mercy Service: This Sunday 3pm
On Sunday this weekend, we are having our special Divine Mercy Service at 3pm in which we will we will hear about the life of St. Faustina, and sing the Divine Mercy Chaplet to finish our parish novena.
On Divine Mercy Sunday the Church honors and celebrates in a special way God’s infinite mercy toward us in Christ. On this day, the faithful can obtain a plenary indulgence, which is the complete remission of temporal punishment due to sin.
In addition to the usual conditions of a sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and a prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father, a plenary indulgence is granted to faithful who, on Divine Mercy Sunday, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin (even a venial sin) simply recite the Our Father and the Creed, and also adding a devout prayer (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in you!).
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias