It's Holy Week!
After the unprecedented experience of last year when we celebrated the Triduum and Easter virtually from our homes, it is so good to be able to come together physically once again. Please join us for some or all of our Holy Week offerings, entering more fully into this sacred season of the Church.
Pope Francis has asked each Catholic parish around the world to support the Pontifical Good Friday Collection, which helps Christians in the Holy Land.
Through the Pontifical Good Friday Collection, you stand in solidarity with the Church in the Holy Land as a witness of peace, supporting Catholics there in parishes and schools, maintaining Christian shrines, and caring for refugees in the Holy Land. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
In the millennial year 2000, St. Pope John Paul II officially declared the Sunday after Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday during the Mass for the Canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska. St. Faustina was a Polish nun who received visions from Jesus, including one of Jesus wearing a white garment with beams of red and white coming from His heart, which came to be known as the image of Divine Mercy.
She wrote in her diary that He said:
"I want the Image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it…My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy."
Our Lord also told St. Faustina that those who receive communion and attend confession on the Feast of Mercy would receive total forgiveness of sins.
As part of this beautiful devotion, a nine-day novena traditionally begins Good Friday with the faithful lifting up a particular prayer intention to the foot of the cross each day.
Know that you and your loved ones remain in our thoughts and prayers this Holy Week and Easter. - St. Benilde Staff