March 28, 2021: Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Dear Parishioners,
This weekend we find ourselves at the very start of our Holy Week activities and what an exciting week it is!
Palm Sunday is the day that we historically celebrate Jesus’s victorious and heralded entry into Jerusalem, when many in the crowd cheered him as he rode into the great city. Of course, some understood him as being the one who would save Israel, therefore they laid their cloaks and “leafy branches” down at his feet and in his path as a joyful way of welcoming him. They shouted, “Hosanna in the highest!” This is why we use palms on this day.
For many of the Jews, they recognized him as a leader who might rescue them from the oppressive Romans and perhaps their Savior. Later on, however, we also commemorate in our lengthy Gospel reading, that many turned their back, rejected and scorned Our Lord also while he was in Jerusalem. This led to his Passion, his suffering that led to death on a cross for us.
We cannot enter into this week without mixed feelings: the celebration of our salvation is at hand in just a few days, by the end of the week; but in the meantime we also commemorate the painful suffering of Our Lord in the days before. Again this year, I want to invite you to share in these emotional moments of our salvation.
As I mentioned, Palm Sunday has the cheers of Jesus entry juxtaposed to the jeers at his crucifixion. On Holy Thursday, we celebrate the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist as well as the beginnings of the priesthood, as we refer to those who celebrated the “that first Eucharist,” the Passover meal with Jesus to be our first priests. Ordinarily, we would also celebrate and commemorate the mandate of service that all Christians are called to by having the washing of the feet at Holy Thursday Mass, but this year, because of restrictions, that aspect of the Mass will be eliminated. Nonetheless, we most passionately celebrate that Jesus left himself available for us to receive and to take part in the New Covenant, by offering us his Body and Blood. Reception of this Sacrament and its grace should be the drive for our service of one another.
Because our restrictions do not allow us to have a procession with the Eucharist around the church and downstairs to the lower church for adoration as well usually do each year, we will simply expose and adore the Blessed Sacrament on the altar for a few minutes for us to adore before the Host is reposed in our tabernacle and the final blessing is given.
On Good Friday, of course, we commemorate the saddest of our Christian events, when we again read the Passion, the story in the Gospel of John, that details our Lord’s “Way of the Cross,” particularly His suffering before and on the sacred cross. This, sadly, allows us to enter into not only the sorrows of the day Our Lord was crucified, but also it allows us to deeply reflect on and venerate the instrument of his death, the cross. This year, the veneration of the cross will be different than in the past, as no one will come forward to touch it, but instead, all will stay in their place, kneeling for a few moments, as a sign of veneration.
Of course, on Holy Saturday evening, we celebrate the most solemn of all liturgical events in our Catholic liturgical calendar: the Easter Vigil. The Vigil, is an ancient ritual that goes back to the very early church and usually gives us a beautiful visual of how, prior to Our Lord and the events of our salvation, the world was in darkness. It was his sacrifice on the cross that brought light into the world. Again, ordinarily, we would light our Easter fire and from that fire we would light our Easter candle. The small candles would illuminate the Christ the same way that Jesus’ salvation brings light to the world. However, this year, again, because of our restrictions, we will simply light the Easter candle and process in with it until the lights of the church are turned on. A lot less dramatic, but no less important. After six weeks of our Lenten journey, we can now robustly celebrate Jesus’ rising from the dead and the light of the world!
My prayer is that all of you will be able to enter into our Holy Week celebrations, either in person or at home while watching the live stream. It is a good time to pray and contemplate the saving events of Our Lord. Please consider attending mass in person safely, either on Palm Sunday or Holy Thursday. Attend our Good Friday Service. Perhaps too you might consider simply reading the Stations of the Cross as a family. Incidentally, this past week, one of our young parishioners who is about to receive his Eagle Scout award, installed Stations of the Cross in our back patio. That is another option for entering into this most sacred time of year.
There is an old sporting expression that says: “It doesn’t matter how you start; it is how you finish.” Even if this Lent has not the best you’ve ever had, there is still time for us to be very prepared for Easter. We all can still finish strong and I encourage all to finish strong by attending these Holy Week events either in person or online!
I look forward to celebrating the next week with you, commemorating the most important days of our Christian salvation and please remember: if you attend these events in person, please be sure to wear a mask, wash your hands and remain distanced from one another so that everyone stays safe and healthy and make sure to register for the events online if you will attend in person.
Holy week blessings to you all!
Rev. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor
March 21, 2021: 5th Sunday in Lent
Dear Parishioners:
At the very beginning of Lent, in my bulletin message, I wished everyone a blessed and happy Lent. Hopefully this season has been a time of joy, in not only growing in closeness and holiness of the Lord, but in allowing our sacrifices to help us to be more charitable, more prayerful and more restrained in our desires and prepared for the Paschal Mystery that we celebrate in Holy Week. I want to use this message as an opportunity to remind everyone about what our sacred Paschal Mystery is.
In a sentence it is a celebration of the suffering, death, resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord. Celebrating the Paschal Mystery begins on Palm Sunday with our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem as we celebrate it that day. The Paschal Mystery concludes with Jesus’ Ascension, His “going up” to the Father 40 days after Easter.
The phrase “Paschal Mystery” comes from the Hebrew word “pasch” or Passover. Obviously Holy week coincides with the Jewish Passover, so in some ways we have adopted the word. Recall the Jewish Passover was when the Hebrews fled Egypt and the Angel of Death “passed over” their firstborn males and later they safely passed over from Egypt to the desert. In adopting that same word Paschal, we have also adopted the idea that there is a Passover for us Christians, as Christ “passes over” from death to life on Easter Sunday, the core belief of our Christian faith, the Resurrection.
Of course, the word “Mystery” means that these events, the events that brought us salvation and begin in Holy Week and conclude on the Ascension, are divine and scared events that our finite, human minds cannot completely understand. These Paschal events are mysterious to us (just as the sacraments are) because of our human limitations. Only God can understand them completely. The priests who will be helping during Holy Week and I are so excited about celebrating these Paschal Mysteries with all of you.
I just want to let everyone know how Palm Sunday will occur next week. Because we are still under the directive that we are not allowed to hand out items, which is why we have not been handing out bulletins or the Orders of Mass, we are still not able to “hand out” Palm. Therefore, for Palm Sunday, our palm branches will be laid out on a table for you to pick up your own. It is obligatory that you only touch the one or two branches that you will be taking with you into church. We have to be very particular about this, in that we cannot touch the palms that other people will be taking, just our own. Once you have your palm branch, you can enter the church with it. The Mass will begin as a regular Sunday Mass; there will not be the extra Gospel reading at the beginning of mass and there will not be the blessing of the palms. The palms will be blessed simply by their presence during the mass. At the final dismissal, please be sure to take your palm home with you. I know this all sounds very particular, but in order for everyone to remain safe and healthy, it must be done this way. At the same time, please make sure that you are aware that there might be more people then we have experienced in the church in a while and that we need to accommodate one another so that we are spread out well and safely. Please make sure to sign up for masses, as well. Again, I look forward to seeing you all as we begin celebrating the Paschal Mystery on Palm Sunday. Obviously, Lent is not yet over and I hope that it continues to be a blessed and happy one for you as we get closer to the celebration of our salvation.
Lenten blessings,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari
Pastor
March 14, 2021: 4th Sunday in Lent
“Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exalt and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”
This is the entrance antiphon that is recited just before Mass begins for the 4th Sunday of Lent, this Sunday. Because it begins with the word “rejoice,” which translates into “laetare,” we call this Sunday “Laetare Sunday.” That prayer before the beginning of Mass reminds us that not only should we continue to rejoice during the Lenten Season, but that as we reach the midway point, we should be rejoicing because we are getting closer to Easter and the celebration of the Risen Lord and our salvation being won for us! So as we come to and celebrate Mass this weekend, it would do us well to have that attitude of joy and rejoicing. It is also why we priests wear the rose-colored vestments; it is the sign of hope in the midst of what can sometimes be a difficult or gloomy Lenten season.
We also have many other reasons to rejoice, as we come closer to the end of our pandemic, we rejoice because the end is getting near! We all continue to see new faces at Mass and many whom we have not seen in a while. I rejoice because you are safely coming back.
We also rejoice because our Parish is continuing to do the great things that we do. We continue to collect food for the needy in our continuous food drive; daily Mass attendance continues to grow; so many of you have been generous in giving to the Annual Appeal and we rejoice because we are getting closer to our goal. We rejoice, also, because the sacraments that we celebrate this time of year, especially the springtime are all being scheduled and celebrated. All of our second graders have celebrated their First Reconciliation and there will be First Communion Masses in May. Our eighth graders, our confirmation candidates, just as we did last year, are scheduled for Confirmation ceremonies in April. Cardinal Tobin has delegated pastors to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation again, therefore, I will be presiding over these ceremonies.
The Archdiocese of Newark just informed all pastors of the directives regarding Holy Week this year and the good news is that we will have a Holy week this year unlike last year. Things may be different, but at least we will be able to celebrate Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Masses. The three adults who will be received and fully initiated in the Church this year will celebrate initiation at the Easter vigil. Of course, those who cannot come or still don’t feel safe, all of those ceremonies will be live streamed.
So, dear Parishioners, there is great reason for rejoicing these days. We are halfway through Lent; the Paschal Mysteries of Holy Week and Easter are near; we are getting closer to the end of this pandemic and more and more people are coming back safely. We should rejoice!
Blessings and joy,
Rev. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor
PS: Last week was Commitment Sunday on March 6 and 7. If you did not get a chance to bring your Annual Appeal envelope to church last week, please do so this week, as every offering makes a great difference in us reaching our goal. More importantly, however, is that it will be helping the most needy and marginalized in the Archdiocese of Newark.
March 7, 2021: 3rd Sunday in Lent
Dear Parishioners,
I hope this finds you all well as we get closer to not only spring and the Easter Season, but to finally getting through the Covid crisis. Last week, someone asked me how many people from our Parish died of the virus, and I responded, “Zero!” Thankfully, while we know that some relatives and friends of our Parishioners have been stricken by and succumbed to the virus, I am not aware of any of our Parishioners who did. Thankfully, I am not even aware of anyone who may have contracted the illness at church. That is a true testament of all of you and your willingness to follow the guidelines and the restrictions of both the CDC as well as the Archdiocese of Newark. While we are not “out of the woods” yet, I believe that your diligence has saved many from being sick and perhaps even saved lives! Thank you for being so conscientious and accommodating!
You probably have heard that last week Governor Murphy announced that houses of worship, obviously, churches included, are allowed now to open up to 50% of capacity. I just want to clarify this for a moment: our church’s capacity is about 450 persons. 50% of that is obviously 225 person. Because of social distancing, everyone needing to be six feet apart, it is impossible for us to accommodate that many persons. However, it does allow us to be a little bit more flexible with our seating.
For the past few months, we have had ribbons up on every-other pew in order to maintain distance from front to back. But seeing how we have been so conscientious as a Parish about distancing ourselves, I will be removing the ribbons from between the pews and this will allow us to have individuals seated in each pew as long as they are distanced from each other. After a year of this, we all know what “six feet” looks like as far as social distancing goes. I trust that we will able to gauge that when we are seated as individuals, couples or families. I ask you all to be very aware of that and to accommodate one another: that may mean allowing people past you to get to the middle of the pews or even you moving to the middle yourself so that we can fit more people and also remain safe.
The trend that I have been seeing is that more people are coming to Mass. This is a great sign as I believe that many people are hopeful for not only an end to the virus but a return to Mass. It is important that we do look out and accommodate one another so that we are all safe, yet able to worship in a larger group safely.
About two weeks ago, our archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Tobin released a Pastoral letter on the Eucharist. This is a beautifully written letter to the Faithful, not only encouraging us all to return to Mass and the Eucharist when it is appropriate, but it is also a wonderful reflection on how important the True Body and Blood of Christ is for us Catholic-Christians. While live streaming has and will continue to serve an invaluable purpose for us, as it allows many to stay connected to our Parish and to worship at home, it will not become the norm. As I have said many times, there is no substitute for the Eucharist, Jesus’ True Presence, in our lives. Our Cardinal’s reflection is written beautifully and very pastorally.
Like many of you, I am excited that we will be able to celebrate the whole Lenten Season this year, including Holy week. As the restrictions are being lifted and new directives are being explained, I will share with you what we are doing in the weeks ahead. While Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday, will not be exactly the same as in years past, at least this year we will be able to joyfully celebrate them in person.
I continue to look forward to celebrating the liturgies of Lent, Holy Week and the Paschal Mysteries of the Easter season with all of you.
God bless and stay healthy!
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor
February 28, 2021: 2nd Sunday in Lent
Dear Parishioners:
Last week I wished you all a “Happy Lent,” hoping that this time of intense spiritual practice and commitment will be not only fruitful, but also joy-filled because we will soon be celebrating the Passion of Our Lord that claimed a victory over sin and conquered death for us. The promise of eternal life with God has been won for us, and in another month or so, we will celebrate that glorious victory of Easter. In the meantime, however, we practice our Lenten discipline in order to be fully prepared for that great celebration.
This is why we fast, pray and give alms (charity), in order that we will practice these disciplines so that they will carryover after Easter and continue to be part of our lives, and, specifically, our spiritual practices.
While “giving something up” like sweets or video games or watching television can be fruitful and is a long-time practice of many Christians and will oftentimes help us to “be strong” in order to resist temptation and sin. It is not the only discipline that we can work into our Lenten practices.
Pope Francis has spoken often about the power of our words and how they affect others. Good words can lift others up while cruel words and gossip and calumny can destroy others. He has suggested that we “fast” from the evil behavior of malicious talk. Lent would be a good time to restrain ourselves from that which is spoken and can be hurtful. “Fasting” from bad behavior like this is a good thing.
At the same time, the Sacred Scriptures tell us what God wants from us when it comes to the type of sacrifice He desires. The prophet Isaiah tells us of God’s desire for our sacrifice in the 58th chapter of Isaiah:
Thus says the LORD:
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always…,
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD’s holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
The prophet Isaiah gives us a wonderful compilation of items that the Lord would like to see us do when we are sacrificing. These can all be very much part of our practice for the Lenten season and it is not too late to incorporate Isaiah 58 into our Lent.
Just a reminder: The Day of Commitment for our Annual Appeal is March 6/7. We have received about $15,000 toward our parish goal of $83,000. If you have not yet contributed to our Annual Appeal, please make sure to bring your envelope to Mass with you either March 6 or 7 and simply drop it in the basket with your Mass offering. Remember that our Appeal’s intentions are focused on not only spreading the Gospel, but helping the poor and marginalized: those whom the prophet Isaiah makes reference to in the above reading. It also is very much in line with our Lenten disciplines of prayer and giving to charity (almsgiving) to help the needy. Please be generous and helpful in our parish meeting its goal.
I continue to pray that this Lenten season is one of grace for all of you.
Happy Lent,
Fr. Marc A. Vicari,
Pastor
