Apr 07, 2022

Greetings,

We are entering into Holy Week. Please double check the Mass schedule for this week as times and events are different than a typical week. Here are some reminders:

Our final chance for scheduled confessions is on Saturday, April 9, at 9:30am until 10:00am or until the last confession, whichever comes last.

Tuesday of Holy Week is the Presbyteral Day of Sanctification and our diocesan Chrism Mass. This day all the priests of the diocese spend the day with our Bishop which means that there will be no confessions that Tuesday night. There will be Compline at 7:40pm, but not benediction.

You are invited to the Chrism Mass at 7:00pm at our Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. It is at this Mass that the Bishop blesses all of the Holy Oils that will be used by the entire diocese during the upcoming year. The old oils are either burned (which is what we do) or buried in an appropriate place. If you cannot make it to the Chrism Mass but would like to see it, you can find it on the Diocese of Cleveland website. There will be a link in the Angelus Letter.

TRIDUUM

Maundy Thursday, April 14, is the day we celebrate the Mass of the Last Supper at 7:00pm. There is not a morning Mass that day. There will be adoration in the church following the Mass until 11:00pm.

Good Friday, April 15, is the day we celebrate the Lord’s Passion. There are Family Stations of the Cross at 12:00pm followed by the Passion Liturgy at 3:00pm.

Holy Saturday, April 16, there is no morning Mass and there are no confessions. There will be the Blessing of Food at 1:00pm and the Easter Vigil takes place at 8:30pm. (There is no 4:30 Mass.)

Easter Sunday:  Finally, on Easter, we return to our typical schedule of 9:00am, 11:00am and 1:00pm Masses.

IN OTHER NEWS:

VEILING OF STATUES:  You undoubtedly noticed that our statues are covered in purple cloth.  A group of young adults asked if they could do this for the parish a number of years ago and we have kept up the practice since.  In the Missal, the book that gives us directions on how to pray the Mass, on the fifth Sunday of Lent it says, “In the Dioceses of the United States, the practice of covering crosses and images throughout the church from this Sunday may be observed.” It is also a practice that is recommended to be carried out in the domestic church, that is, in your home.

If you are wondering as to the why of this practice.  Before reading any further, take a guess about it for yourself and see if it worked.

There are a number of reasons for the viewing. One is to make a dramatic, visual statement that something is happening: we are heading into the heart of the Passion. If you came in and were anywhere from shocked to merely noticing, it worked. Secondly, we use purple, which is a penitential color, of course. If you miss the faces of the saints, you get it! Like other things we give up, on the personal level maybe something like chocolate and on the liturgical level, the Gloria, Alleluias, flowers and the like, we remove these images so that we all will appreciate them more when they return. Finally, the starkness is supposed to help focus us on Passion until the Easter Vigil when we once again overflow with an abundance of delights in hearing, smelling, tasting, in speech and singing, and of course, visual delights!

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck