April 24 update from Fr. Sean

Parish Update – Friday, April 24 from Fr. Sean

Happy Easter! Yes, it’s still an Easter day. We’ll continue in the great 50 days of the Easter season throughout the coming month of May until it culminates on May 31 on the Feast of Pentecost. So, rejoice! Jesus Christ is risen this day.  Alleluia!

Our gospel for this  3rd Sunday of Easter is one of my all-time favorites, the Road to Emmaus from Chapter 24 of St. Luke. It’s so vivid that you can close your eyes and picture that very road, can you not?  “Were not our hearts burning in us?” the two disciples say to one another. For whom or what do our hearts burn for, my friends? If it is anything other than Jesus, we might want to ask the Lord to reignite His spirit within us.

It’s also  Spring Festival weekend at CtR – or rather, Virtual Spring Festival weekend! We’ve got some fun things planned so join in. Details below.

• Join us for Mass on Sunday at 9 a.m.  via livestream on Facebook and YouTube. You’ll find the link for it at  www.ctrcc.com/live-stream where you'll also find the worship aid to use during Mass. (You'll notice we've combined the worship aid with the parish bulletin so it has a bit of a different look this week.) As always, I ask you to support us in the weekly offertory electronically at  www.ctrcc.com/donate or by mailing in or dropping off your envelope. Thank you for your generous gifts to the parish through these difficult days. 

• For our virtual Spring Festival we’ve got a number of ways to participate. The first is not virtual at all – our annual Spring Festival t-shirts are actually here and  for sale at this link. Buy yours now for just $10 as a way to show your support for CtR. We have all sizes in stock and  we’ll make arrangements for you to pick them up in the coming week. (Still working on those details so that it will be safe for everyone, but we’ll get them into your hands just as soon as we can.)

• Since delivery will be after this weekend, and you likely have a t-shirt from a previous Spring Festival (or if you are like me, you’ve got a drawer full!),  we encourage you to wear your favorite “old Spring Festival” shirt this weekend. Post a picture on your social media page with the hashtag  #weareCtR and  #CtRVirtualSpringFestival. Who has the most “vintage” shirt? Fly your CtR colors for all to see!

• Also  on that page you’ll have the opportunity to participate and support the parish by making a straight donation, or perhaps purchasing a virtual pack of ride tickets, or a virtual snow cone or funnel cake, or even (be still my heart) a virtual beer. Might not be as fun as the real thing, but it’s a wonderful way to show your support for CtR.  You would normally be here on Festival Sunday, right? Well, how about attending online and buying something you would usually do anyway? We’ve got all levels of giving and  100 percent goes to help our parish in these unprecedented times.

• On our  Spring Festival page you’ll see a number of videos from familiar faces at the Festival over the years. We’ll have a virtual obstacle course for the kids, and a few cooking tutorials, too. Check ’em out and give them a high five – from a distance. There's a good chance you'll see me pop up live on Facebook Sunday afternoon so be on the lookout.

• One of the great traditions of the CtR Spring Festival is all the  wonderful food that is available – I’ll miss the barbecue, jambalaya, Vietnamese spring rolls, nachos, and all the tasty treats that make it such a special event. While you’re at home this weekend, I suspect you’ll be cooking up something good in your kitchen or on your grill. Who is the Bobby Flay of CtR? Let’s see what’s cooking! Today's video below finds me working on my grill skills! Snap a picture this weekend and tag us in your social media so we can “get a taste” of what it is like at your house. Use  #weareCtR or even  #CtRBBQ!

• Lastly, beginning on Sunday after Mass  we’ll have a live auction up on our  website. The auction is always a great fundraiser for the Festival and while we can’t gather this year, we still want to offer a handful of items for you to bid on. We’ll keep it up throughout the week and plan to close it the following Sunday so you can  check on your bid. As Dan Block, our auctioneer always says, you are not participating to get a deal! You are bidding to support the parish, so don’t hold back! We’ve got some nice items that I think will be of interest to a number of you, so join in. The link will be on our  Spring Festival page beginning on Sunday after the 9 a.m. Mass.

• One final note, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston presents a  daily spiritual reflection online from the priests of the diocese. If you tune in tomorrow, Saturday, April 25, you might see a familiar face. You can find it  at this link, or on the Facebook page of the Archdiocese.

St. Mark the Evangelist, whose feast day is tomorrow, pray for us!

I’ll see you  (sort of!) at the Festival!
Peace, Fr. Sean