Search
-
April 3, 2025Dear friends in Christ,
This Sunday is the 5th Sunday of Lent, and we are now coming into the home stretch of our 40-day journey to Easter. We’ve got one more week of Lent this week, and then next weekend, we will celebrate Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. (More on that in a moment.) If your Lent has been less than spiritually fruitful, fear not. There is still time to have “a good Lent.” Recommit yourself to your prayer, fasting and almsgiving the next two weeks and see if you don’t see an improvement in your walk with the Lord. Remember the words of Ash Wednesday: “Now is an acceptable time!” The time is now to return to the Lord. There are still plenty of good days ahead to prepare yourself for the coming Easter celebration.
Speaking of almsgiving, we are in our final two weeks of our parish-wide Lenten Almsgiving initiative to assist St. Joan of Arc Church in Weslaco, TX, in the Diocese of Brownsville, with the building of a new rectory. It’s our opportunity to join with the parishioners in that small, poor parish to raise money so that they may build a proper residence for their priests who serve the surrounding community. Having built our own rectory at CtR many years ago, this is certainly the type of project we know well, and it’s a great way for us to collectively put into practice one of the hallmarks of Lent. To give alms toward this project at St. Joan of Arc you may make a donation via www.ctrcc.com/catholicextension or use the designated envelopes in the narthex. For those who give electronically, you’ll find an option on your Faith Direct account, but for those writing a check to drop in the offertory, please indicate Catholic Extension or “St. Joan of Arc” in the memo line.
This weekend at the 9 a.m. Mass, we celebrate the third and final Scrutiny for our catechumens who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, April 19. Please remember to keep them in your prayers, as well as our Candidates (those who have been baptized already and now seek full communion with the Church), who will be received into the Church the following week on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27.
It’s not too early to begin looking ahead to next Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. It begins with Passion (Palm) Sunday. Palms will be distributed and blessed at all masses next weekend. If the weather cooperates, the 9 a.m. Mass on Palm Sunday will begin outside on the plaza as we remember Jesus’ procession and entry into Jerusalem. A nice tradition that has developed over the years at CtR is the wearing of the color red on Palm Sunday by members of the congregation. It’s the liturgical color of the day, of course, and a good reminder of the passion and suffering our Lord endured for us.
We’ll cover more of the Holy Week schedule in next week’s bulletin, but to help you prepare our liturgy schedule for the Triduum will be as follows: Holy Thursday, April 17, 7 p.m.; Good Friday, April 18, 3 p.m.; Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil), April 19, 8 p.m.; and Easter Sunday, April 20, 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. (bilingual). We’ll have overflow seating in the Parish Hall for the morning masses on Easter Sunday, with the livestream showing on the screen and Holy Communion brought over. Note the last Mass on Easter Sunday is at 1 p.m. and it will be bilingual in both English and Spanish. There is no 5 p.m. Mass on Easter Sunday. Again, we’ll have more details next week, but plan now to join us for these holiest of days.
As always, I make a special appeal to our ushers, greeters, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and other liturgical ministers to please sign-up in advance to assist at these liturgies. If possible, I encourage you to sign up for multiple services. I assure you the Lord will double the graces you will receive if you do!
If you were at Mass last weekend you heard the announcement of our upcoming 40th annual CtR Spring Festival taking place on Saturday-Sunday, May 3-4. The Spring Festival booth will once again be open outside on the walkway between the church and Parish Hall this weekend (and next) after all masses. I ask that you take a moment and do your part to help our community at the Festival. Stop by the tent to turn in your raffle tickets (and pick up more!) for a chance to win a $12,000 Visa gift card, get one of the sharp-looking t-shirts (they were selling briskly last week), buy advance tickets for rides and games, and sign-up for donations to the Sweet Shop. Remember that the always popular Flea Market in the Community Center will begin accepting donations on Saturday, April 26, and begin selling the following day, so now is the time to prepare for it. There’s no shortage of ways to get involved, and the help of everyone is truly needed to make it a successful weekend.
In particular, I would ask that you please consider taking one of the open spots to work at the Festival in one of our booths, rides, or games, or to commit to helping with the set-up the week prior to the Festival. Perhaps some of you who are retired or who can get away after work can commit to helping on those days would be willing to join us? That would be a great help to the committee. We have plenty of ways for young and old alike to serve the community, and you can learn more by stopping by the Festival tent after Mass. For now, mark your calendar for May 3-4 and join us for what is shaping up to be an amazing Spring Festival. We look forward to seeing you here.
Remember that our final Lenten Fish Fry is next Friday, April 11 from 4:30-7 p.m. We’ve seen great crowds this year, and my thanks go out to all the Knights of Columbus for their hard work, as well as the Ladies Auxiliary for stocking their bake shop each week with delicious homemade desserts. Come support them one final time before Holy Week, and stay for our last celebration of the Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m.
Please note that there will be no evening Mass (nor confessions beforehand) this coming Wednesday, April 9, as Fr. Vincent and I will both be at the Lenten Day of Prayer for Priests with new Archbishop Joe Vasquez. There will be morning Mass that day.
Peace, Fr. Sean