Pastor's Notes - 03/24/2019

H ow is your Lent going?  Are you doing well, struggling or hardly started yet?  It is a special gift given to us.  Have you increased your prayer time?  Have you attended the Stations of the Cross?  Have you attended Adoration?  Have you used the little black book?

If you have the internet, have you joined FORMED.org?  (We have paid a fee for the entire parish to be able to use this Catholic online site.)  Our password to start your own entrance is RTP4VN.  You will set up your own password to be able to access it on your computer, tablet or phone.  There are daily meditations, talks and movies on this site.
 
Besides the words during our Eucharist, they are sometimes accompanied by symbols.  Since we are now are using the “I confess” during the penitential rite, there is the symbol of beating our chest three times in reparation for our sins.  People sometimes do this same action at the consecration of the bread and wine.  At the introduction of the gospel we sign our foreheads, lips and heart to say the words:  “May these words of Jesus be in our thoughts, from our lips and desires of our heart.”  When we enter church we sign ourselves with Holy Water to remind us of our baptism, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  We respond “Amen” when we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, which means that I believe.  The sign of peace is not just a sign given to those around us, but a symbol that we are at peace with all people.