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No other feasts or memorials are celebrated during that week. Every day we will have the Procession with the Blessed Sacrament inside our church. The faithful should receive Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Confession during Easter Season. This period for the Easter Duties is from Ash Wednesday until Trinity Sunday (this year May 18th) |
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HOLY MASS INTENTIONS We still have empty spots for Holy Mass intentions at beginning of April. If you would like to have Holy Mass celebrated for your intentions, or for your loved ones, (living or dead), please contact the Parish Office. |
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Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI. Saint Peter's Basilica I would therefore like to explain to you, dear Confreres, on this Holy Thursday, the essence of the priestly ministry, interpreting the liturgical vestments themselves, which are precisely intended to illustrate what "putting on Christ", what speaking and acting in persona Christi, mean.—Putting on priestly vestments was once accompanied by prayers that helped us understand better each single element of the priestly ministry.—Let us start with the amice. In the past - and in monastic orders still today - it was first placed on the head as a sort of hood, thus becoming a symbol of the discipline of the senses and of thought necessary for a proper celebration of Holy Mass. My thoughts must not wander here and there due to the anxieties and expectations of my daily life; my senses must not be attracted by what there, inside the church, might accidentally captivate the eyes and ears. My heart must open itself docilely to the Word of God and be recollected in the prayer of the Church, so that my thoughts may receive their orientation from the words of the proclamation and of prayer. And the gaze of my heart must be turned toward the Lord who is in our midst: this is what the ars celebrandi means: the proper way of celebrating. If I am with the Lord, then, with my listening, speaking and acting, I will also draw people into communion with him. The texts of the prayer expressed by the alb and the stole both move in the same direction. They call to mind the festive robes which the father gave to the prodigal son who had come home dirty, in rags. When we approach the liturgy to act in the person of Christ, we all realize how distant we are from him; how much dirt there is in our lives. He alone can give us festive robes, can make us worthy to preside at his table, to be at his service. Thus, the prayers also recall the words of Revelation, which say that it was not due to their own merit that the robes of the 144,000 elect were worthy of God. … But with the garment of light which the Lord gave us in Baptism and in a new way in priestly Ordination, we can also think of the wedding apparel which he tells us about in the parable of God's banquet. … Now that we are preparing for the celebration of Holy Mass, we must ask ourselves whether we are wearing these clothes of love. … Lastly, one additional brief word on the chasuble. The traditional prayer, when one puts on the chasuble, sees it as representing the yoke of the Lord which is imposed upon us as priests. And it recalls the words of Jesus, who invites us to take his yoke upon us and to learn from him who is "gentle and lowly in heart" (Mt 11: 29). Taking the Lord's yoke upon us means first of all: learning from him. It means always being ready to go to his school. From him we must learn gentleness and meekness: the humility of God who shows himself in his being a man. St Gregory of Nazianzus once asked himself why God wanted to become a man. The most important and for me the most moving part of his answer is: "God wanted to realize what obedience means to us and he wanted to measure everything on the basis of his own suffering, on the invention of his love for us. In this way, he himself can directly know what it is that we feel - what is asked of us, what indulgence we deserve - calculating our weakness on the basis of his suffering" (Orationes 30; Theological Talk IV, 6). At times we would like to say to Jesus: Lord, your yoke is far from light. Indeed, it is tremendously heavy in this world. But then looking at the One who bore everything - who tried out on himself obedience, weakness, suffering, all the darkness -, then these complaints of ours fade. His yoke is that of loving with him. And the more we love him and with him become loving people, the lighter becomes his seemingly burdensome yoke. Let us pray to him to help us become with him people who are loving, thereby to increasingly experience how beautiful it is to take up his yoke. Amen. |
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Liturgical Calendar for the
Trad. Latin Mass
Extraordinary Form
of the Roman Rite
Sunday March 23
Easter Sunday Epistle: 1 Cor. 5:7-8 Gospel: Mk. 16:1-7 Monday March 24
Easter Monday
Tuesday March 25
Easter Tuesday
Wednesday March 26
Easter Wednesday
Thursday March 27
Easter Thursday
Friday March 28
Easter Friday
Saturday March 29
Easter Saturday
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Catechism Study Group Santa Clara/San Jose The Catechism Study Group meets with Fr. Wiener the first Wednesday of every month. The next meeting will be held Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the home of Roseanne Sullivan: 410 North 17th Street San Jose, CA 95112 We follow the same study outline used by the Oakland class. If you plan to attend, need a study outline, or have questions, please email roseannesullivan@sbcglobal.net or call 408 885-1740. |
