Dear Friends:
Now that Easter Sunday has passed, I would like to say that the number of people who came to Mass both on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday was very impressive. The churches, both of them, were crowded, even the 7:00 at St. Agnes on Easter morning. This is due, in part, of course, to the reduction in the number of Sunday Masses which we undertook at the direction of the Archbishop. But there is something about Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter that resonates in the minds, hearts, and faith of so many Catholics, even those who come but a few times a year at most. We can, like some would be wont to, deplore the fact that so many Catholics do not come to Sunday Mass on a more regular basis, but we will take another view, namely, that we are thankful to God that, for so many, there is still some kind of connection. Those of us who do participate in Sunday Mass regularly can dare to invite family members and friends who they know are not doing so to join us. Nagging is counterproductive, to be sure, but a warm and genuine invitation may, with God’s help, work. It does not hurt to pray for those who have fallen away from the active practice of their faith, to pray that they will come back.
We are saddened by the death of the Holy Father, which occurred we could say suddenly, but, given the challenges he faced in these past few months with his health, not unexpectedly, last Monday, the day after Easter. When you read these words, the funeral Mass for the Pope will have been celebrated already and he would have been laid to rest, as he wished, in the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. We pray that God may grant Pope Francis everlasting rest and peace.
Now, we must pray for the cardinals as they prepare to gather in conclave to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis. May God grant us the pope that the Church needs in this present moment in history, with all the challenges the Church and the Catholic faith face in a modern, increasingly secular world.
Have a good week!