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We come to Mass this weekend for Palm Sunday. We start each Mass with a procession from another point on campus and make our way into the church carrying palms, welcoming our new King into Jerusalem. By the time we get to the Gospel for today, we will choose to have Barabbas released from jail and Jesus crucified. How quickly the tide of public opinion can change!

On Tuesday of this week, we come to the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Jefferson City for the Chrism Mass starting at 3pm. At this Mass all the priests of the diocese reaffirm their promises made at ordination in front of the bishop and the lay faithful. The laity are asked to continue to hold us in your prayers as we promise to pray for you and the whole church five times a day during our Liturgy of the Hours. Bishop O’Donnell blesses the sacred oils used throughout this upcoming years; the oils of catechumen, oil of the sick and oil of chrism. We take them back to our parishes and place them in the ambry to begin our Holy Thursday Mass and the entire Easter Triduum.

After we place the holy oils in the ambry at Saint Patrick, we are ready to celebrate the birth of the Eucharist and birth of the priesthood during the Mass of Holy Thursday. Priests are reminded to be servants; to serve and not to be served. Then, we are all reminded we are baptized into the priesthood of Jesus Christ and this understanding of serving not to be served is for all of us, not just the ordained priest. However, it is the ordained priest who stands in the person of Jesus the head, who washes the feet of the 12 to remind us that by our baptism and the priest, again at his ordination, are to be of service to others. In stewardship, service is the way to show our gratitude for all God has done for us. We consecrate enough hosts for the mass tonight and for the service tomorrow at Good Friday. To better comprehend what Jesus has done for us this night (giving us himself in the Eucharist and calling others to the priesthood) we sit or kneel in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament after mass until 10pm in our Chapel of Repose. Please plan to spend some time in St Patrick basement for some quality prayer time.

At 10pm the chapel is closed, the Blessed Sacrament is put away and we prepare for Good Friday, a day of silence and stillness; a quieter meditative reflective day. It is a day of abstinence and fasting. From 9-11am at Sacred Heart Chapel we offer confessions. At 3pm starting at Sacred Heart we pray Live Stations of the Cross processing over the Saint Patrick as we make our way with Jesus on his journey at Calvary. Come to this and experience a taste of what Jesus did for us to show his love and mercy how He took our sins upon himself. Fasting, abstinence, confession and praying the Stations of the Cross prepares us to enter into the Good Friday Service starting at 7pm at St. Patrick. The priest prostrates himself face down on the floor in humility for who he is called to be as a priest; the deacons and servers kneel with the whole congregation also in humility for who they are called to be as disciples of Jesus. We listen to the Passion of Jesus from the Gospel of John. Then, we pray in solidarity with the whole church in our ten Great Intercessions. Next, we have the solemn veneration of the cross, for us, the same cross that was used (and now cleaned) by the one who played Jesus during the Live Stations of the Cross. Take these moments slowly and take it into the depths of your being as you venerate and pray with others who also venerate. Communion comes next, the only day of the year the Roman Catholic Church does not celebrate a Mass, so the hosts were consecrated at the Holy Thursday Mass. We leave in silence preparing our hearts for the Vigils of all Vigils, The Easter Vigil!

Sixteen new Catholics baptized and fully initiated into Church and 6 more who have been baptized are becoming new members of our Holy Catholic Church; 21 new members on Holy Saturday night! We light the Easter Fire and from there light the Easter candle and from there we are all reminded we share in the light of Christ, so we all light candles as we make our way into church. We listen to the chanted story of the fire and the candle in the Exsultet. We listen to God himself share his favorite stories as we listen to the extended Liturgy of the Word. Then, the initiation sacraments are given and received while we Catholics renew our own baptismal promises. We thank our priests and deacons who are enjoying retirement by assisting them in our second collection, infirmed and retired priests and religious sisters collection. We once again consecrate the bread and wine as 21 receive first communion for the first time, this time with us! We go out and continue to be the servants we were reminded we were on Holy Thursday during the foot washing, hopefully bringing more to OCIA and more back to church who have not been in a while. And, the following Day, Sunday, Easter Sunday! Jesus has Risen! He has truly Risen!!