Letter From Fr. John

Friends, just before we began the Lenten season, I preached on the need to be “Cross-contaminated.” I used the pandemic as an example, where cross-contamination could lead to infection and how decontamination would keep us healthy. I reversed this notion in regard to our faith and asserted that we need to be “contaminated” by the “cross” of Jesus in a world that strives to decontaminate us and make us immune to the message of the Gospel and render us inept in the Way of Christ.

We now enter the most holy time of our liturgical year, Holy Week. We here at St. Timothy would like to do our best to help you prepare well for Easter. I want to share with you some opportunities this week that you may find valuable in terms of “Cross-Contamination.”

We have many Confession times this week: Tuesday 9:30am-10:30am, 1:30pm-3:00pm, 6:30pm-7:30pm; Wednesday 5:30pm-7:30pm; and Saturday 9am-10am. Come receive the healing grace of this Sacrament, especially if you haven’t been in a while. Christ is waiting for you there.

Morning Prayer will be prayed before the weekday Masses at 8am this week on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. You are welcome to join us and we have extra prayer books if you don’t have one. Daily Mass will follow at 8:30am.

I encourage you to pray the Rosary daily (perhaps the Sorrowful Mysteries) and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Through these prayers we meditate upon this great mystery & gift of the Lord’s Passion. Maybe watching videos like The Passion of the Christ or Jesus of Nazareth on Palm Sunday would assist you in entering Holy Week with a deep sense of what Jesus has done for us. Follow this up with praying the Stations of the Cross individually during the week or with the parish community at 2:30pm on Good Friday.

We remember also that Good Friday is a day of abstinence and fasting. All healthy Catholics ages 14 and up are called to abstain from meat on this day. Additionally, all those ages 18-59, who have no medical condition preventing them from participating, must fast. The norm is to have one full meal with two smaller meals for the day and no snacking in between.

As we anticipate Easter, which is all about the Resurrection of Jesus, and the hope of bodily resurrection in which we desire to participate, it might be spiritually efficacious to go to a cemetery and pray for the dead. We remember the words of God found in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, of which we hear during Lent, “I will open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people!”

Most of all, I invite you to come and participate in the liturgies of the Triduum at the end of the week. These liturgies are profoundly beautiful and will deepen your experience of sharing in the cross of Christ and glorying in his resurrection. Please join us for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7pm on Thursday the 14th, followed by a time of adoration in the Garden until midnight. The Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion will be at 7pm on the 15th and the Easter Vigil, the “Mother of all Vigils”, will be at 7:30pm on Saturday the 16th.

As we enter into this Holy Week, ask the Lord which of these opportunities He wants you to participate in, to experience a “cross-contamination” that will conform you more closely to Him so that you can better reveal to the world what it means to be a follower of our Risen Lord.

As always, we welcome any visitors to our parish community! If you are looking for a home, we would love for you to make St. Timothy your parish family.

In Him Who reigns forever,

Fr. John Greb