These were the first words Jesus spoke to his disciples after He rose from the dead.  “Peace be with you.”  We see at first glace the mission of Jesus—offer peace, forgive sins, receive His spirit and be sent forth to do the same!  This is the desire of our God and Lord—that we offer what we have received!  This weekend we celebrate the great gift of God’s merciful love being given to us abundantly.  It’s not too late to come this Sunday, April 27 at 3:00 p.m. to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and venerate the image of Divine Mercy.  During the Holy Hour this year, deacon-in-training Michael Niese, will speak on the gift of God’s mercy in our lives.  Come support him!

Pope Francis.  This has been a beautiful and emotional week for the Church.  Thank you for praying for our Pope.  He has been such a gift to our Church in bringing forth the message of mercy and hope to a world that yearns for it.  He prayed constantly for peace on earth.  Let’s continue to do that in his honor as we pray for his successor in the days ahead.  Peace!

Listening Session on May 1 at 7:15 p.m. in the Memorare Center.  Please join myself, along with guest moderator, Fr. Damian Ference, our Diocese Vicar of Evangelization, who will help us to reflect on our Bishop’s letter and pray about how we can respond to his invitation to worship, evangelize, and serve.  Fr. Damian will be celebrating Mass at 6:30 p.m. beforehand.  I truly need your thoughts, prayers and ideas on how to help our parish make disciples for His kingdom!

Catholics Returning Home.  If you know someone who has been away from the Church and is thinking about coming back, please invite them to come for Catholics Returning Home on May 7 at 7:00 p.m. to the Memorare Center.

Thank you!  I want to offer a special thanks to our St. Francis de Sales staff who made our Holy Week celebrations so beautiful.  To all the liturgical ministers, ushers, servers, music ministry, OCIA team, maintenance, art and environment, etc. who made all of this possible—thank you!  I particularly want to thank Colleen McVicker, who led the music ministry, and Shirley Clark, who prepared the church environment and ministers, for spending most of their time in the church that week and always!  God bless you!

Peace be upon us,
Fr. Jeremy