Holy Week, Easter Services & Stations

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER SERVICES AT ST. PAUL’S

 Holy Thursday, March 28th – Mass of the Last Supper at 7:00 PM
Eucharistic Adoration until 9:00 PM.
(There will be no other daily Masses celebrated on Holy Thursday or Good Friday).

 Good Friday, March 29th– Liturgy of the Word and Communion at 3:00 & 7:00 PM
Stations of the Cross at 5:30.
(REMINDER:  Good Friday is a day of fasting and abstinence).

Holy Saturday, March 30th – No Masses at 8:00 AM or 5:30 PM
9:00-10:00 AM Priests will be available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The Easter Vigil will begin at 8:00 PM.
All are encouraged and welcome to attend.
 
Easter Sunday, March 31st – Masses at St. Paul’s:
8:00 AM in the main church and gym.
10:30 AM in the main church and gym.
5:30 PM in the main church.
Mass at St. Peter’s:  9:30 AM

 


 LENTEN STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Come closer to Christ as we meditate
on the great love he showed for us in his most sorrowful Passion. 

JOIN US FOR STATIONS OF THE CROSS AT ST. PAUL’S
Good Friday at 5:30pm

 

Easter Sunday – A Good Day to Die and be Born Again

Do you remember your own baptism? I wish I could; I was baptized as an infant, just a few days old. I envy the adults I have seen baptized at the Easter Vigil. Hopefully, they experience what St. Paul says in the epistle we hear at the Vigil. For Paul, baptism is a sign of dying and rising to new life. Sounds like Easter to me. So when Jesus died, he rose from the dead. Is Paul telling us that we will rise from the dead, too?

Yes, but that is not his main point. If all we think about is our physical death, and hope we go to heaven afterwards, we’re missing the point. The new life starts with our baptism, not just our physical death. That’s why Paul says things like, “our old self was crucified” or “sinful body done away with….” (Rom 6:6) Baptism gives us a new life NOW. The water is both cleansing and a sign of dying (symbolic drowning) that help us see we are free from sin. We are dead to sin when we begin to live in Christ. The fictional Klingons have a saying “today is a good day to die” to express courage in battle. But real Christians might say that Easter is a good day to die: we have died to sin and begun a new life in Christ.

How do we experience this dying to sin? First, we identify the sinful areas of our life. Do I watch movies, video games, or TV shows that encourage promiscuity, lying, revenge, hatred or selfishness? What sins do I confess repeatedly and what can I do to avoid them?

Next we look for ways to act differently: Can I spend more time with friends/relatives who are examples of love? Can I spend less time entertaining myself and more time in prayer? Instead of complaining about what is wrong with the world, can I find ways to make it better? (If not the world, then my community or family.) These are a few of the ways we begin our new life in Christ. -Tom Schmidt,  Diocesan Publications


THE EASTER OCTAVE

Easter Sunday

The First Sunday of Easter

               Eastertime lasts fifty days: seven weeks of seven days (seven equals Biblical perfection) plus one day: perfection plus! Like an eight-day Jewish wedding, or a child who can’t bear to let go of Christmas, birthdays, and  school vacation, the Church celebrates the Easter Octave: “the marriage of heaven and earth,” as the Vigil calls Jesus’ resurrection; our new members’ baptismal rebirth; our renewal of baptismal vows; our hearts’ “divine vacation” (Latin vacare, “to be empty”), newfound time and space for love of God and neighbor. Make home an Easter garden! Adorn the dining table with a pillar candle (your “paschal candle”), a bowl full of water (ideally, from the parish’s baptismal font), a vase of flowers or bowl of sprouting grain with Easter eggs. Even non-singers can handle the three-fold Gospel Alleluia! Let that be your grace before meals, perhaps with a prayer recalling Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35): “Be known to us, Risen Lord Jesus, as you were to the first disciples, in your word, in the breaking of bread, and in everyone we meet.”        —Peter Scagnelli, Diocesan Publication

 

ST. PAUL’S PARISH LENTEN APPEAL 2024 & Divine Mercy Sunday

PAUL’S PARISH LENTEN APPEAL

MISSIONARIES OF THE POOR

Please consider a Lenten donation by using the envelope you received in the mail, by picking up an envelope from the collection boxes in the back of the church or online using the drop down menu: click on “Second Collection,” then “Sub-Fund,” then “MOP.”  For more information, please call MJ at 904-222-0608 or email mjstpaulre@gmail.com


APRIL 7TH – DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

In the 1930s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations concerning His Divine Mercy that were recorded in her Diary. St. Faustina’s Diary records 14 occasions when Jesus requested that a Feast of Mercy be observed. On May 5, 2000, five days after the canonization of St. Faustina, the Vatican decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would henceforth be known as the Sunday of Divine Mercy.

Jesus appeared to St. Faustina in a vision, with his right hand raised in a blessing and his left touching his garment above his heart.  Red and white rays emanate from his heart, symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out for our salvation and our sanctification.  The Lord requested that “Jesus, I trust in You” be inscribed under his image.  Jesus asked that his image be painted and venerated throughout the world.  A beautiful Divine Mercy image has been donated to our parish by Mrs. Ana Vrban in honor of her devotion to Jesus and His Divine Mercy, and to St. Faustina.

St. Paul’s will host a Divine Mercy celebration beginning at 3:00 PM on Sunday, April 7, 2024, in the main church.  Fr. Joseph will preside and lead the Chaplet of Divine Mercy along with other prayers and devotions.