Dear Brothers & Sisters,
 
Covering Crosses and Statues
You might have seen this week that all the sacred images and statues are covered since last Monday. The Church recommends to cover them after the 5th Sunday of Lent to help heighten our sense to build a longing for Easter Sunday. When we walk into the church and see things are different, we know something is about to happen. These last days of lent are meant to be a time of preparation for the Sacred Triduum and these veils are a powerful reminder to get ready.
 
Prayer, Almsgiving and Fasting
Since we are still in Lent, we are called to pray, fast, and give alms. We have prayed during adoration, the Triduum of St. Joseph, and at Mass, and will be doing a Novena for Divine Mercy everyday at 7pm, starting on Holy Saturday. For Almsgiving, I invite you to be generous in the offertory during Holy Week. All the collections of Holy Thursday will be towards IC Saint Vincent de Paul, on Good Friday we will help the Shrines in the Holy Land, and on Easter we be helping the Clergy Benefit Trust.  As Good Friday is a day of Fasting and Abstinence, we will be collecting food this week to help Marlboro’s Community Cupboard in the Walker building. They serve many people from our communities and, especially during these difficult times, they need our help. Currently they are in need of diapers and baby wipes, dish detergent, hot cereals (sweetened cereal), cooking oil, sugar, mixes for cake, muffin, pancake, Jell-O, pudding, Spaghetti O’s, raviolis, spaghetti and meatballs, hash, chili, corn, crackers (all varieties), cookies, granola bars, popcorn, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and jellies. Look for a box at the entrance of the church where will be collecting all these goods. May God bless your generosity.
 
Church Seating
Some people have inquired about the seating in the church. We currently can safely accommodate over 100 people in the church at a time without the choir loft. We don’t have an exact number, because it depends on how many people come from the same family. During the Triduum we have increased the number of masses we will be ready to have overflow masses if necessary. We ask you to follow the instruction from the ushers for these coming days. The current regulations from CDC allow children to be 3ft from each other in the classrooms. The archdiocese has instructed us to two arm’s length for the distance. This will allow us to increase the capacity in the church in a safe manner.
 
 
   God bless,
   Fr. Steven
 ​

​Dear Brothers and Sisters,
 
As we enter into the final weeks of Lent and then go into Easter, we are working to provide a safe preparation with overflow and social distancing.  We are finalizing the minor details of the Easter Schedule and will publish it next week.  The Holy Week Schedule is below.  Stay tuned.
 
God bless,
Fr. Steven
 
Palm Sunday - March 28
 
7:30am   Upper English
9:00am   Upper Portuguese
9:00am   Lower Portuguese
11:00am Upper English
11:00am Lower English
1:00pm   Upper Spanish
1:00pm   Lower Spanish
5:00pm   Upper English
 
Holy Thursday – April 1
 
8:00am Morning Prayer
6:00pm Upper English
6:00pm Lower English
7:30pm Upper Brazilian
7:30pm Lower Spanish
12:00am End of Adoration
 
Good Friday Passion of the Lord – April 2
 
8:00am Morning Prayer
2:00pm Stations of the Cross - English
3:00 & 6:00pm English
7:30pm Upper Brazilian
7:30pm Lower Spanish
 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

 As you may have read back in December, Pope Francis has proclaimed the "Year of St. Joseph" on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of St. Joseph as the Patron of the Universal Church by Blessed Pope Pius IX. Since on Friday we will celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph, I would like to share with you a reflection by Pope Benedict on this important figure. In order to prepare ourselves for this celebration, we will have two day reflections on St. Joseph starting Wednesday at 6:00pm. Please see the details on the following page.
 
God Bless,
Fr. Steven
 
By Pope Benedict XVI
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
3/19/2010 (1 decade ago)

ROME (Catholic Online) - On the Feast of St. Joseph, a patronal feast for our beloved Pope who, before taking the name Benedict, was Joseph Ratzinger. We offer our readers excerpts from this address given by the Pope on December 18, 2005: in an Angelus Address:

Pope Benedict XVI on St. Joseph, The Just Man
​
"I would like today to turn my attention to the figure of St Joseph. In today's gospel pages, St Luke presents the Virgin Mary as "engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David" (Lk 1:27). However it is the evangelist Matthew who gives the greatest prominence to the putative father of Jesus, pointing out that, through him, the Child was legally inserted in David's line and thus he realized the Scriptures, in which the Messiah was prophesied as the "son of David".

"But Joseph's role certainly cannot be reduced to this aspect. He is the model of the "just" man (Mt 1:19), who in perfect sympathy with his spouse, welcomes the Son of God made man and guards over his human growth. For this reason, the days leading up to Christmas are as good a time as ever to establish a sort of spiritual conversation with St Joseph, because he helps us to live to the full this great mystery of faith.
"The beloved Pope John Paul II, who was very devoted to St Joseph, left us an awesome meditation dedicated to him in the Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos, "Guardian of the Redeemer". Among the many aspects it highlights, particular emphasis is placed on the silence of St Joseph. His is a silence permeated by contemplation of the mystery of God, in an attitude of total availability to his divine wishes. In other words, the silence of St Joseph was not the sign of an inner void, but on the contrary, of the fullness of faith he carried in his heart, and which guided each and every one of his thoughts and actions.

A silence thanks to which Joseph, in unison with Mary, could be the guardian of the Word of God, known through the Sacred Scriptures, coming face to face with it continuously in the events of the life of Jesus; a silence interwoven with constant prayer, prayer of the blessing of the Lord, of adoration of his holy will and of unreserved trust in his providence. It is no exaggeration to say that it was from his 'father' Joseph that Jesus acquired - on the human level - that robust interiority which presupposes authentic justice, the "superior justice" which He would one day teach to his disciples (cfr Mt 5:20).
 
Let us allow ourselves to be "infected" by the silence of St Joseph! We have much need of it in a world which is often too noisy, which does not encourage reflection and listening to the voice of God."
 
 
 
 

​Dear Brothers and Sisters,
 
The moto for the Jesuits from its inception is “Ad Gloriam Dei” (For the Glory of God). This weekend I would like to share with you some good things that are happening here in our parish. Almost every day there is a small miracle that we witness. I only write about them to give Glory to God and I hope this also encourages us to know that many good things are still happening.
 
The first one I would like to share is that there are 2 youth that will be getting baptized on this Easter Vigil and another teenager that will be entering into the church and all three will also be confirmed and receive first communion. This past Sunday at the 5:00pm mass we had the Rite of Election and the Call to continuous conversion in which all three were officially accepted as candidates for the sacraments.
 
Other good news is that recently a young man began the process to discern the vocation to the priesthood! Please pray for him as God continues to work on him.
 
In the month of March, our children who will be receiving first communion will be preparing for their first reconciliation. Among the English community we have about 19 children. Among the Spanish and the Brazilian community, we should have about 50 children receiving first communion. Besides them, we have about as many teens preparing to be confirmed in May. Speaking about sacraments, we also have 20 couples preparing to get married! There is a good number of babies being born in all three communities and a few more on the way! 
 
There are many more other good things that have happened these days, but I would like to give Glory to God for what he has done and continues doing in our midst. Please keep everyone in your prayers, especially the people who are struggling during these difficult times, the sick, and all those preparing to receive the sacraments.
 
God bless,
Fr Steven