April 11 update from Fr. Sean

Parish Update – Saturday, April 11 from Fr. Sean

It’s Holy Saturday, and  “there is a great silence on earth,” as an ancient homily recounts. Read it all at this  link. It’s quite beautiful and moving and sets the scene for this day that will lead us into the glory of the resurrection. But for now, we keep vigil.

• I invite you to keep watch throughout the day and wait in joyful hope of Easter Sunday. Our celebration commences this evening with the Mass of the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night, as it is known, at 8:30 p.m.  via livestream on Facebook and YouTube. Though we won’t have the Easter fire this year, the Paschal candle will be lit and the light of Christ will lead us out of the darkness of death and into its marvelous light. And, yes, we will sing the  Easter Proclamation, the Exsultet, for “this is the night!”

Be sure and print a copy of the worship aid, found on  our website at this link, to follow along with the liturgy this evening and tomorrow. There are also resources on the Faith at Home page for family prayer services that you can use to help all ages enter into the celebration more fully.

• We will celebrate  Easter Sunday Mass at 9 a.m. tomorrow, also on our livestream. I invite you to join us, and might I encourage you to don your “Easter best” for Mass, even though you’ll be in your living room? I always love to see everyone wearing their bright colors on that day as you come streaming into church. I must say, CtR parishioners are a very nattily attired people! If you’ve been wearing sweats and t-shirts everyday around the house during this pandemic, then Easter Sunday is THE day to break out the good stuff. Be sure and take a picture of your family gathered to watch the livestream and post it to your social media pages and include us with the  #weareCtR hashtag.

• Please remember to keep our  Elect and Catechumens in your prayers. This would normally be the day they would gather for a final half-day of prayer in preparation for the entrance into full communion with the Church. Sadly, that’s going to be delayed somewhat, but let’s keep them in our prayers, along with praying for the sick and those health care workers who are attending to them.

• Lastly, a few of you noticed a  picture of yours truly in the Houston Chronicle today (clearly they were desperate for a model!) and inquired how that came about. The photographer,  Brett Coomer, contacted me yesterday morning and asked if we had a Good Friday scene that he could shoot. Brett and I met previously years ago and we have some mutual friends from back when I was in the journalism business. I invited him to shoot pictures of  Deacon Steve Moses leading our Stations of the Cross in the chapel, and he did. You can see some of  those shots at this link in the Chronicle. They’re really good of him and  Carrie Taylor doing the livestream, but then I invited him to see the pictures on the pews in the main church and that’s when his eyes lit up. The photo you see in the paper is a result of that. I wish I wasn’t in it, but it sure is good to see many of you. I see  Kerry and Emma Chu, Rosemary Potter, Andrew and Elizabeth Spies, Andy and Debbie Havelka, and quite a few more. It’s a cool shot, but I really can’t wait to see your real-life smiling faces in those pews instead!

Our Lady of the Resurrection, pray for us!

Peace, Fr. Sean