March 30-31, 2024
Dear parishioners,
Blessings to all of you as we celebrate this most glorious day of the Resurrection! As was sung in the beautifully worded Easter Proclamation last night at the Easter Vigil:
“This is the night, when Christ broke the prison bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed. O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”
I hope you have a chance to celebrate today with your family and/or friends Christ’s victory over sin and death. As we do, we keep in mind that the joy of this victory should stay with us all year long. As Pope Benedict XVI explains, “The Easter proclamation spreads throughout the world with the joyful song of the Alleluia. Let us sing it with our lips, and let us sing it above all with our hearts and our lives, with a manner of life that is ‘unleavened’, that is to say, simple, humble, and fruitful in good works. ‘Christ my hope is risen, and he goes before you into Galilee’ (Easter Sequence). The Risen One goes before us and he accompanies us along the paths of the world. He is our hope, He is the true peace of the world. Amen!”
Please join us for our annual Divine Mercy Sunday devotions next Sunday afternoon, April 7! We will begin with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament at 1:00 in the Paulding church. At that same time, the sacrament of Reconciliation will be offered; I am very grateful that two of my brother priests will be joining me in hearing confessions that day. During the time of Exposition and confessions, our relic of St. Faustina will be on display and all present are welcome to offer an act devotion or reverence to her relic; the most common way of making this happen is simply kissing the small reliquary. However, this is not necessary and the relic can be venerated without actually touching the reliquary itself. Then, at 3:00 we will begin our devotions. We will start with sung vespers at 3:00, and then we will proceed to the sung Divine Mercy Chaplet immediately after. Once the chaplet is completed, we will close the afternoon with Benediction.
Also, I am happy to announce that the Kingdom Builders program is coming to our parish! For those who are unfamiliar with it, Kingdom Builders originated in Fort Wayne, and its goal is to be a venue for adult women of all ages to grow in their faith. Although the program is solidly Catholic in its content and prayers, the meetings are certainly open to all women and one does not need to be Catholic to attend. Please consider coming as the Divine Mercy chapter of Kingdom Builders begins its ministry of helping women of all walks of life grow in their knowledge of the faith and their love of Jesus. The gatherings will take place every 3rd Tuesday of the month at the Paulding church, and the first gathering will take place on Tuesday, April 16. The gatherings will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the church basement where a new topic will be discussed each month. Each gathering will also include adoration time in the church. Every gathering will conclude with Benediction in the church. Special thanks to our team of parishioners who have been working hard to make this happen, and for their continued work to make sure the program runs as smoothly as possible!
Blessings,
Fr. Ammanniti
