Father Vesely & I wish to thank all those who sent cards or brought Easter foods & sweets for us to enjoy. I was tempted to hide the Easter baskets around the rectory but I think Father Vesely would have suspected that something was up. So we shared the bounty. I can say that Michaela & Abby made out quite well too…Michaela is almost near the size of Napoleon! And Abby looks more like a tiger than a little house cat. But we’ll all grateful for the goodies & will try to get back down to size once the sugar rush is over.
My thanks to our Parish Life Coordinator, Nancy Zola, for all the time she put in over Holy Week making sure that our services ran smoothly. And along with many other faithful people, everyone really did such a wonderful job filling the altar area with beautiful flowers & arrangements for our Easter celebrations. Thanks to everyone who played a part in our prayerful Holy Week liturgies.
This weekend we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, so named by St. Pope John Paul II due to the annual gospel where the Risen Christ extends his Divine Mercy to the apostles & to all those who abandoned him during his passion. How comforting it is for us to know that even the first chosen disciples struggled to be faithful. But Christ extends his great mercy to us as he did to them. The picture of Jesus you see displayed in the church is based on the vision St. Faustina had of him. The Divine Mercy Novena and Chaplet will be prayed today and you can find more information about that in this bulletin.
We ask the Divine Mercy of Jesus to be shown to Sophie Kapral, a long-time parishioner who died on Easter Sunday morning. Her Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Monday, April 13th at 10am. Sophie & her son Dennis have been members of St. Leo’s Senior’s and when I gave her Holy Communion on Holy Thursday, I assured her of our prayers for her. As she died on Easter morning, we pray that she may share in the fullness of the resurrection.
Another long-time parishioner devoted to the Divine Mercy was Fran Zingalie whom I spent some time with on Good Friday. Fran passed away during Easter week & her funeral Mass will also be on Monday, April 13th at 11:30am. She was at home with her family and she continued to speak of God’s goodness even in the midst of her pain & weakening condition. To see such faith in God’s holy people is such a privilege for me. We lift her up in our prayers as well.