Last Thursday, our church was packed for the celebration of the Lord's Last Supper, HOLY THURSDAY, the first day of the TRIDUUM of the HOLY WEEK. When I say packed, I mean that we reached the maximum number of people allowed by the current 6-foot distancing. It was great to see so many people back in church. It was music to my ears to hear so many people tell me, "Father, I am so happy to be back." THE JOY OF BEING BACK had begun on PALM SUNDAY. IT IS CONTINUING! PRAISE THE LORD! Let us pray that more and more people will come back to join us to celebrate the Eucharist together as an assembly in our church!

Over 200 people participated in Holy Thursday Mass of the last Supper. The Narthex was packed with about 30 people (maximum allowed currently) and the Father Martin Hall with 60 people. The Altar Guild had done a wonderful job decorating the Father Martin Hall to allow the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the end of the Mass and until midnight. They had used their spiritual imagination and had decorated the Hall with Palm Trees and Flowers and had renamed the Hall, "THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE." The good surprise for all of us was when the procession with the Blessed Sacrament from the church entered the Father Martin Hall, we found out that all the chairs were already taken, and people welcomed the Blessed Sacrament and the Procession with great reference and joy. They truly were ready to spend some time in prayer with the Lord as he went through a night of Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. What an amazing way to join Jesus at the beginning of His Passion. We encourage everyone to spend time in silent Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during these 50 days of Easter Season. Make a resolution to come and spend at least One Holy Hour with the Lord in our new Adoration Chapel. You can sign up for one or two hours of weekly Adoration from 10 am till noon Monday through Friday.

The JOY OF BEING BACK in the church is truly "contagious". It can spread like a fire. The HOLY SPIRIT can use such renewed energy to make all of us more "PASSIONATE" Disciples of Christ, with the ZEAL to proclaim to everyone the Good News of Our Lord Jesus Christ, HE IS RISEN. HE IS TRULY RISEN. ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! When Jesus rises from the dead the world is changed ONCE FOR ALL. With HIS Resurrection we have reached the top of the Easter Mountain we have been climbing for 40 days, after this, there are no more heights to climb. We are already with Our Lord Jesus Christ, HOPEFUL that as HE is risen, HE will also lift us up where HE HAS GONE, HEAVEN! At the end of the 5O DAYS of the Easter Season, we will celebrate the DESCENT OF THE. HOLY SPIRIT at PENTECOST! We are no longer climbing! We are staying on this Spiritual PLATEAU of Easter
Season, a SPIRITUAL HIGH for another 50 days of continuous JOY OF EASTER, but at the end of those 50 days, GOD WILL SEND DOWN HIS SPIRIT UPON US! A SPIRIT TO TRANSFORM US, a SPIRIT TO GUIDE ALL OUR STEPS ON EARTH AND LEAD US TO HEAVEN!!!

As we are entering this most JOYFUL SEASON OF EASTER, I invite each of you to meditate on the following inspiring verses of the Easter Sequence which was sung at each Mass on Easter Sunday:

"Christians. To the Paschal Victim Offer your THANKFUL PRAISES!
A Lamb, the sheep redeem;
CHRIST, who only is sinless,
RECONCILES SINNERS TO THE FATHER...
YES! CHRIST MY HOPE HAS ARISEN...
CHRIST INDEED FROM DEATH IS RISEN,
OUR NEW LIFE OBTAINING!
HAVE MERCY! VICTOR KING, EVER REIGNING!
AMEN. ALLELUIA!!!

I encourage you to read again the above verses, and think about the SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION that Jesus instituted for us when HE breathed the HOLY SPIRIT upon His Disciples to give them and their successors, today's priests, this awesome POWER TO FORGIVE SINS in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (John 20:22-23)! We ask JESUS to HAVE MERCY on us. THIS IS THE GREAT GIFT OF DIVINE MERCY POURED UPON EACH ONE OF US! It includes the GIFT OF THE SACRAMENTS of Baptism and Confession, through the cleansing power of the WATER FLOWING FROM THE PIERCED HEART OF JESUS ON THE CROSS, AND THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL, THE EUCHARIST through the FLOW OF BLOOD from the same pierced Heart. This is the vision that St Faustina had of JESUS DIVINE MERCY last century. This is what we celebrate this weekend, DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY, JESUS, I TRUST IN YOU!!!

May our hearts remain open to receiving the Divine Mercy of God! May we trust in Jesus' Mercy and decide to go back to CONFESSION and confess sins that we have been so ashamed of, that we have never dared to mention them to a priest in the confessional.... or we have been thinking that God would never forgive such grace sins. Trust in Jesus! Trust in the MERCIFUL LOVE OF GOD!

I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt GRATITUDE to everyone who helped out to make this Holy Week so special, including the Musicians, the Altar Guild members, the Greeters, the Ushers, the Sanitizers, the Lectors, the volunteers that cleaned up and beautified the outside grounds, our Clergy and many more ...Let us all THANK the Lord for the abundant blessings HE keeps pouring upon our parish and parishioners though such a large and dedicated group of volunteers.

May God keep sending His Holy Spirit upon every parishioners and may HE give Peace, courage and strength to those of us who desire to come back to the church! Let us all sing together, " YES, CHRIST MY HOPE IS ARISEN! CHRIST INDEED FROM DEATH IS ARISEN , OUR NEW LIFE OBTAINING ! HAVE MERCY, VICTOR KING! AMEN. ALLELUIA!”

One in Christ,


Fr. Alain