Fr. Daniel's Letter to his Parishioners

 

Dear Parishioners,

February 11 is the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes.  It is also the World Day of Prayer for the Sick.  This becomes a great time to remind everyone about the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.  Included in this bulletin is information on the celebration of this Sacrament, the conditions for receiving the Sacrament and the reminder that it is not good to wait until the last minute to call the priest for someone who is dying.  With the fewer number of priests available in Lewiston, we cannot promise to be able to anoint someone at a specific time.  Therefore, it is important to remember that it is best to request a priest for the anointing before someone is “actively dying” or the morning of a surgery.  Celebrating the World Day of Prayer for the Sick reminds us of the call to care for those who are ill and to ask God to be present and close to those who are suffering.  Due to COVID-19 protocols, we will not have the celebration of the Anointing of the Sick at the weekend Mass, but it does not mean that we as a community are not praying continuously for the sick.  It is also not a bad time to remind everyone in the parish that you can submit a prayer request on the website or on our parish app and each night I include these intentions online at 9:00 PM when we do Night Prayer with our parishioners.  If you have not joined us yet, please consider praying online with us each night at 9:00 PM.

It is nice to see people who have not yet felt comfortable coming to Church to take advantage of the times when the priests distribute Holy Communion outside of Mass.  Please refer to the bulletin for the times when and places where you can come to the Church, receive Holy Communion and say your prayers.  It allows people who are compromised to receive our Lord during this long and arduous pandemic.

I want to make sure our parishioners are prepared for how we will celebrate Ash Wednesday this year and the beginning of Lent.  For a few weeks, I have published in the bulletin the Vatican’s directives for distributing ashes during a pandemic.  The priest will say the words once to everyone as a group and then parishioners will receive the ashes by the priest sprinkling them on top of the head.  I have already received some pushback for this method and directed them to the letter from the Vatican.  Please help me explain this to others who question why we are doing something different this year.  Also, if you cannot get into a Church for Ash Wednesday, you may receive it outside at Holy Families during the scheduled times on that Wednesday.  We will make it the best Lent we can given COVID-19.  

-  - - Fr. Daniel

 


Popular posts from this blog

Fr. Daniel's Letter to his Parishioners

Image
  Dear Parishioners, Lent is now over, and it is time to celebrate Easter.   Even with restrictions in place, it was amazing to see so many people continued to make Lent a time of deepening prayer and spirituality.   Now that these forty days are completed, we look forward to the next 50 days of Easter to celebrate and rejoice.   As we see signs of relief from the pandemic, of warmer weather and of spring, it is a bit easier to celebrate the new life that Christ brought us in Easter.   Many people have carried heavy crosses this last year.   Hopefully Easter is a time of great resurrections for them and for all of us.   In some ways, it will never be like it was before the great shutdown last March, but that is not all bad if we come through this year long experience stronger and wiser.   That is certainly my prayer. There has been much discussion about how many people will return to the faith after this pandemic.   I tend to be in the more pessimistic camp of out of sight, out of
Read more

Prince of Peace has a new Coordinator of Youth / College Ministry

Image
  Prince of Peace would like to announce that it has a new Coordinator of Youth and College Ministry. Gabriel Jacques will be the primary facilitator of our Youth Ministry program geared to teens grade 6 – 12 as well as the facilitator of College Ministry at Bates College here in Lewiston. He will be planning the calendar for youth and college ministry sessions as well as communicating with college students, youth, and their families to help them grow their relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church. Please welcome Gabriel as he begins his new position!    
Read more