Fr. Mike's Message - 02/14/2021

Wednesday of this week is Ash Wednesday.  We will have Mass here at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and at 6:30 p.m.  We will hold a Mass for our Grade School at a different time and I’ll also be celebrating a Mass at Borgia High School during the day.  As with most things these days, we will slightly modify how ashes are distributed.  Ashes will still be distributed on your foreheads, but we will not be reciting the words that normally accompany the application of the ashes for each person.  Rather, the presider will say the words once for everyone and the distribution of ashes will follow that with no words being spoken while ashes are placed on foreheads.  Ashes will be distributed at the end of Mass and people can exit Church immediately after the reception of ashes. This is a way we hope will help to keep people safe.
 
During this Lent, I hope we all take the opportunity to use this as a time to grow in our faith.  We will have the Little Black Books available for your reflection.  Check out Formed.org for many resources for Lent that can be of use for you to help with prayer and reflection.  There is an opportunity to receive daily reflections from Formed as well.  You’ll see details of how to sign up here on our parish website.  Another helpful resource is the website for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ( usccb.org).  There you can find the readings for Sundays and daily Masses, and you can even have them emailed to you each day.  What a great way to prepare for Mass!  We will have confessions on Tuesday morning after 7:00 a.m. Mass and then again on Tuesday evenings after 6:30 p.m. Mass.  Fr. Tony and I will also be available for confessions on Saturday mornings after 8:00 a.m. Mass and on Saturday afternoons from 3:30 - 4:15 p.m.  Stations of the Cross will be prayed in Church on Friday evenings at 7:00 p.m.  Our Sunday Evening Prayer and Chat with the Priests will be back beginning February 21 at 5:30 p.m.  Be sure to tune in on Facebook Live ( www.facebook.com/borgiaparish).  We hope to use some of that time to discuss FORMED's new series "The Case For Jesus" that becomes available on Ash Wednesday.  Whether you can join us or not on Sunday evenings, you may want to check out this new series.
 
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we will not be holding any Soup Nights this year nor will we hold the sung Stations of the Cross led by our Choir.  Let’s hope and pray that we can get back to those next year.  As always, thank you for your cooperation and patience.  And thank you for all you do to help keep yourselves and others safe and healthy. Let’s keep it up, SFB!
 
Since we have been encountering some inclement weather due to snow and ice, I want to take an opportunity to remind all of us to exercise extreme caution when coming to Church.  While Joe Holtmeier and our maintenance staff do an excellent job with clearing the walks, we don’t always know if it will be possible to get all of it cleared before a morning Mass.  So as you make a decision about whether to come to Church or not, it is better to be safe than sorry.  You can always tune into the livestream of the Mass right from the front page of our parish website in the safety of your home.  
 
Come on up to the KC Hall this Friday for a Fish Fry from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.  Our SFBGS volunteers will be staffing the Fish Fry this week.  There are also going to be a few other Fish Fry Nights at the KC Hall during Lent, all of which support the Catholic Schools in the area. In fact, the proceeds of this year's fish fries will be shared equally between the participating schools.  Plan on enjoying some good fish and a night off from cooking! Dinners will be available for drive-through only.  I hope to see you there!