Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we enter into Holy Week, I invite you to celebrate with us! It is important that we remain united in prayer as a parish community, so we will be celebrating and recording liturgies for you to participate in at the parish each day. However, at this truly historic moment in our lives, it’s important to recognize that we are also going through this together as a country, a city and as an Archdiocese, which is why I am encouraging everyone to pray with Cardinal Cupich for the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. I would like for us to be united in prayer with the Cardinal, our Spiritual Father, Shepherd and successor to the Apostles, to hear what God is trying to say to us at this time in our local church and as Catholics united in prayer. (Read more detail on the schedule below.)
While this is definitely a most unusual way to celebrate Holy Week as Catholics, I have been receiving emails and phone calls from parishioners who have told me that our online efforts have helped you to feel connected as a parish and bring some much needed peace and normalcy to your lives. I am grateful that our efforts have been fruitful for so many of you.
In some ways, these posted videos, emails, etc. remind me of St. Paul’s letters in the New Testament. Paul’s missionary journey kept him moving from place to place, so he wasn't able to remain physically present to the communities he founded. Paul’s letters were his way of staying connected with his people, to give them hope and to teach them to grow in their faith and love for Jesus. They were his way of caring for his people and showing his continued love for them even though he couldn’t be physically present to them.
It is my hope that our recorded Masses, videos, Zoom meetings and ministries, emails and Facebook posts achieve the same purpose as Paul’s letters did in his day. Like St. Paul, there is so much more that I want to say and do for each of you, but I hope these new digital efforts are received at least as a small measure of my continued love for all of you and as an expression of my desire to be with you again. It is with great hope and anticipation that I look forward to seeing all of you again in Church! Until then, know that you are in my prayers!
God Bless,
