We welcome guests and family members who join us for Easter and we wish everyone a most blessed season. The Easter Sunday Mass is celebrated for 8 days, with a Gloria and plenty of alleluias at Mass each day. The Easter candle will burn in our sanctuary for seven weeks, as we continue our Easter Alleluias through this great season.
It is very exciting to have seventeen baptisms at our Easter Vigil Mass this weekend. In addition, we have five who were baptized in Protestant churches and made a profession of faith, joining in the Catholic sacraments. I have never seen numbers like these before. The bishop mentioned recently that throughout the diocese there are more people than ever joining the Church this year. In a culture in which less and less people are practicing any faith, we can see that the Holy Spirit is at work in ways that are mysterious to us. We welcome our new Catholics and we join with them in singing Alleluias.
We offer thanks to the musicians, the church decorators, the liturgical ministers, and all who have put so much effort into our beautiful liturgies this week. In these liturgies we give glory to God, we meet Him, and we are fed by Him.
The parish received a card this week from the Jewish Federation in Fort Wayne, offering best wishes for a blessed Easter. This is surely a nice reminder that Jesus and his first followers were Jewish.
Next weekend is Divine Mercy Sunday. It is a time to ponder the great mercy of our Lord and to remember why Jesus went through his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. A plenary indulgence is offered to those who take part in prayers of Divine Mercy Sunday and recite prayers for the intention of Pope Francis, which we will recite together at Mass. The usual conditions include a confession within 20 days before or after, receiving Holy Communion, and maintaining a detachment from sin.
