Memo from Msgr. Raun - Saturday, April 4th, 2020
My dear family in Christ, Tomorrow is the start of Holy Week. Our schedule for tomorrow is - Palm Sunday – April 59 am Holy Mass – live-streamed from the church Blessed palms will be distributed through the car window to all who drive to the church from 11 am to 1 pm, and 4 pm to 6 pm, on Palm Sunday. Please follow traffic instructions. 6 pm – Holy Hour live streamed from the rectory 7 pm - Sacred Music for Palm Sunday Concert by Steve Woodbury featuring The Holy City live-streamed from the church We are going to try to stream the main Holy Week services from the church. Pray that the Internet demons are driven away! How we are going to distribute the palms is a little goofy, but it is the best we could come up with. From 11 am to 1 pm, and from 4 pm to 6 pm, there will be people outside the church. They will have sanitized hands and will be wearing protective gloves. You drive up to them, open your car window a little, and they will pass through palms. Then off you go to the safety of home. This will be your only opportunity to get blessed palms this year. The reason we are doing it this way is that we don't want someone to go into the church and spread virus all over a big pile of palms, that then will be passed on to everyone else. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but the alternative is to do what they are doing in New Jersey :there, the bishops have banned ALL distribution of palms. Also, please note : the church will be closed from 8:30 am to 10:30 am tomorrow during the broadcast of the Mass. ______________________________________________ A HOME GUIDE FOR HOLY WEEK : Our fantastic Communications team has created a very useful guide to celebrating Holy Week in the Home. I really like it. Go to https://bit.ly/39Chfzi or go to the app or website. Remember, this Holy Week, HOME is the Holy Place. ______________________________________________ PRAISE REPORTS : A report from one of our Care Callers, Kathy Claus : "Monsignor asked for inspiring stories. I won't mention the name as the wife asked me not to do so. Her husband works as a driver for Smith's. He had delivered to a store and was inside. An elderly man was trying to find food that he could both purchase and afford. He was having trouble finding things, so her husband helped him and then paid for the man's groceries. We all can do something to bless someone each day." ______________________________________________ JESUS CHRIST said: In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. If you have a testimony to share, please email me at pastor@stanm.org ______________________________________________ CARE KITS : yesterday, our wonderful Care Kits team delivered 6 Care Kits of essential food and household goods to people who are not able to leave their houses and go shopping. These Care Kits are delivered free of charge. If you would like to donate to the Care Kit Fund, just go to the donation section of the website, or mail it to the office (1502 Sara Rd. 87124) marked for the Care Kit Fund. ______________________________________________ SPIRITUAL TIP FOR THE DAY : Get your mind off your troubles through movies with good Catholic messages. For suggestions go to .https://www.imdb.com/list/ls027076387/ or https://www.ncregister.com/info/top_100_pro_catholic_movies or https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/coronavirus-quarantine-streaming-options-for-lent-and-easter-and-more | | |
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| | REGULAR PARISH UPDATES THE HOLY MASS is being offered by Fr. McKee and me each day at 9 am. You can watch it on the website any time during the day. I am offering the Holy Mass each day for the intentions of our fellow-parishioners. Unite yourself in your heart to the divine mystery of the Holy Mass. Sorry for any technical glitches. We are doing this off my I-Pad ! ______________________________________________ HOLY HOUR is being aired every night on our website and app at 6 pm from the rectory chapel, being lead by Fr. McKee. Join in adoring the Holy Eucharist, and praying the Holy Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. ______________________________________________ CONFESSIONS are being heard each evening, Monday through Saturday, in the church at 5:30 pm. The priest will remain until the last person in line has confessed. What this means is that if you want to go to Confession, show up at 5:30 pm. The priest will hear the confessions of those people in line. He will then go home. If you can never make it at 5:30 pm, give a call to the parish office and we can set up a special time for you. We are using the Adoration Chapel for Confessions. This is working out very well.Please follow the directions on the sign. Also, remember what the Pope said a few days ago: "I know that many of you go to confession before Easter… Many will say to me: ‘But Father…I can’t leave the house and I want to make my peace with the Lord. I want Him to embrace me… How can I do that unless I find a priest?’ Do what the catechism says. It’s very clear. If you can't go to a priest to go to confession, speak to God. He’s your Father. Tell Him the truth: ‘Lord. I did this and this and this. Pardon me.’ Ask His forgiveness with all your heart with an act of contrition, and promise Him, ‘afterward I will go to confession.’ You will return to God’s grace immediately. You yourself can draw near, as the Catechism teaches us, to God’s forgiveness, without having a priest at hand." ______________________________________________ THE CHURCH is open from 7 am to 7 pm. Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is present in the Tabernacle. Our parish staff is disinfecting the church three times a day. HOLY WATER AND BLESSED SALT are available in the back of the church. These are two very powerful sacramentals that we can use to protect ourselves and our homes. Traditionally we sprinkle our homes with the holy water, and sprinkle the blessed salt around our property. Please take what you need (bring your own container for the holy water. The blessed salt is pre-packaged.) The exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and 24 Hour Adoration has been suspended for the duration of the emergency. ______________________________________________ CARE CALL: Reaching out to our parish family with phone calls of concern and prayer. If you would like to volunteer for this, please email your name, phone number, and email address to viana.sikes@stanm.org CARE KITS: Taking essential household goods and food to those who have no way to leave their house: If you would like to volunteer for Care Kits, please email your name, phone number, and email address to frank.smith@stanm.org (Please: no one over 60 or with serious health problems should volunteer for this ministry.) If you need a Care Kit, please call the parish Office at 892-1511. Please give this number to people you know who might need a Care Kit. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION : Our staff is doing wonderful things to continue to provide religious education to our kids:
YOUR TITHING : Friends, for those of you who are able to support the parish, we are really going to need your tithes and offerings at this time. The best way to do this is on-line: Go to the parish website stanm.org and click on the "Three Ways To Give" button. You can use your credit card or checking account, and you can set it up for a one-time gift or a reoccurring donation. If you can't do that, mail it to the parish office. ______________________________________________ WONDERFUL FREE PRAYER RESOURCES : The Magnificat: the prayers and readings of daily Mass, and a simplified form of Morning and Evening Prayer : https://us.magnificat.net/free Live-Streamed Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament : from the chapel of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit: http://savior.org/ SPIRITUALLY ADOPT A PERSON WHO IS DYING ALONE : This is really on my heart, friends. These coronavirus victims in the ICU units are dying alone. No family and loved ones, no priest and sacraments. Often, I am afraid, little or no knowledge of God or faith in His love for them. Just facing death terribly alone. It's real simple: Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Then say to our Heavenly Father words to this effect: " Dear God, I offer up this Chaplet for that person whom You know is at this time dying alone." I think this is a great work of mercy, much needed at this time! ______________________________________________ Prayer, dear friends, prayer! Remember, Christians are to set the best example in following the directions of our civil and public health officials. In all of this let us in a dark world be bright lights of Christian patience, service to others, cheerfulness, and Christ-like love. ______________________________________________ TELEPHONE NUMBERS ! EMAIL ADDRESSES ! There is a lot of ministry going on in this parish right now, and we want to minister to each person in our parish. But I need your working current phone number. Many of you registered with a land-line, then got cell phones and dropped your land-line without telling us. Please, if you have not received a phone call from the parish in the last week, please email your name and phone number to viana.sikes@stanm.org Help others, especially the elderly who do not have the Internet, to get their phone numbers to us! Also, I keep on talking to parishioners who have no idea that we have a website, daily email, on-line services, and so forth. Please - when you talk to parishioners, ask them if they are getting my emails. If not, encourage them to right away go to our website, stanm.org and sign up for our emails and download our parish app. This is the only way we have to directly minister to people right now, and I do not want any of our parishioners to be missing out on the spiritual resources their parish has to offer them to get through these difficult times! ______________________________________________ Our Prayer for the day : O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. I send you my fatherly blessing, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen ! Msgr. Doug Raun | |
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