Dear St. Louis Parishioners,
If the Resurrection doesn’t teach us that we can trust Jesus, what will? We can trust our Wounded Healer with all of our hurt, all of our brokenness, and even all of our sin. We can trust that He will receive it and redeem it. And we will be renewed. This is the central element of the mystery of His Mercy. We can trust Him. Hidden within His Sacred Heart, pierced for our salvation, are endless graces of both forgiveness and healing. The blood and water pouring from His Heart, as seen in the Divine Mercy image (front cover) allow us to visualize these graces moving out toward us. Devotion to Divine Mercy takes its modern form from the appearances of Christ, our Lord to the mystic Polish nun, Saint Faustina Kowalska in the early 20th Century. Its pertinence to our world today is great and I recommend a series on Formed.org, entitled Divine Mercy in the Second Greatest Story Ever Told, for more on that. And for more on the Message and Devotion of Divine Mercy, I also recommend the single talk (also on Formed), “Divine Mercy 101.” Yet, the reality of God’s Divine Mercy, pouring forth from Christ’s Heart, is so much more than a single devotion for a single people at a single time. The Divine Mercy devotion found expression in the early Church, also looking to the blood and water flowing from His Heart as a sign of His Mercy, especially as found in the sacraments. May we open our hearts more and more to this Mercy, especially as we ponder the glorified wounds of our Risen Lord.
PICTORIAL DIRECTORY: We completed the individual and family photography for the upcoming new pictorial directory at the end of Lent. Over the next few weeks, we will simply be getting a few pictures of our various groups and organizations to fill it out, in order to put finishing touches on it. Thank you to everyone who came and had your picture taken. I had a number of people tell me how much you don’t like having your picture taken - but you did it anyway! Truly and sincerely, I am grateful for that sacrifice. Also, I want to thank all of those who volunteered their time to work the table, to make phone calls, and carry out various other tasks. Especially, I want to acknowledge the organizational leadership of Vicky DeMay. Thank you!
PERSONAL THANK YOU: Thanks to the Catholic Post and Deacon John’s announcements and I’m sure other “talk” around the parish, the word got out about my birthday on Easter Sunday. It was indeed a humbling blessing to spend my 33rd Birthday (the age of Our Lord, at the time of the Paschal Mystery) celebrating the Easter Triduum with you all for the first time. I cannot adequately communicate what a joyful and blessed experience that was. Thank you to all who offered prayers, greetings, well wishes and even those who gave cards and gifts. Those gifts are never expected or necessary. But, I am very grateful. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.
NEXT WEEKEND: You may have noticed that this weekend’s first reading gives us a glimpse of the ‘economy’ of the Early Church, in which God’s people laid their possessions before the Apostles, to whom fell the task of distributing where need required. This takes a different form today, yet one of the ways we continue this principle of life is by the Annual Diocesan Appeal (ADA), in which we contribute from our material means to the work of the bishop (Successor of the Apostles), in order to support various needs throughout the diocese. This reading is a fitting reflection to ready ourselves for ADA Weekend, which is next week (April 14-15).
In Christ through Mary,
Fr. Gifford
St. Louis, pray for us!
Blessed Mary, Queen Mother of the King of Kings, pray for us!