Entries for April 2023

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FIRST HOLY COMMUNICANTS

As a parish we rejoice with our girls and boys who made their First Holy Communion on Saturday morning, April 29th:

• August V. (Gussie) Hager
• Travis (Trent) Nardini
• Evelyn (Evie) Holton
• Jameson Pienkos
• Ryann Jouris
• Katherine (Kate) Roberts
• Caitlin Luby
• Quinn Stemmermann
• Harper Luby
• Raymon Stokes
• Evelyn (Evie) Mandel
• Liam Wilson
• Mary Mueller

I am very grateful to Mr. Richard McIntosh, our Second Grade P.S.R. Teacher, and to all our Parents, for the outstanding preparation of our children to receive the Risen Christ for the first time in the great Sacrament of the Eucharist!

RISEN BODY AND BLOOD OF OUR LORD

St. Francis of Assisi encouraged his brother priests to celebrate Mass reverently everyday! St. Francis encouraged the faithful to confess all our sins to a priest and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ as often as possible, but most especially, on the Lord’s Day! Jesus came from the royal throne: behold Emmanuel, God-with-us in the incarnation! St. Francis teaches us that the Body and Blood of our Lord is the Sacrament of humility, intimate nearness, and self-emptying sacrificial love. A relationship with Jesus Christ, in His Church, is still the answer to every question and longing in the human heart. God is still desiring to work powerfully in this world, through His Church. But only if we are willing to become open to that work.

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FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Next Saturday, April 29th, our Second Grade Girls and Boys in Annunziata Parish School of Religion will receive the Real Presence of the Risen Christ for the first time. The annual occasion of First Holy Communion is an opportunity for all of us to take part in the Eucharistic Revival now in process. This Eucharistic Revival is not a marketing campaign, a program, or a strategic plan. It is a prophetic invitation issued by God, through our Bishops, to every Catholic in our country to come to a deeper understanding and commitment to Jesus truly present in Holy Communion. For Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven…anyone who eats this bread will live forever.

EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL

Many of us have been in situations where the subject of faith comes up in conversation and you start out trying to evangelize but end up trying to win an argument. Let's use the example of the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion —

1. Don’t assume you know what someone is thinking just because they are not actively living their Catholic Faith. Making judgments escalates arguments and diminishes true understanding. Ask good questions — ask them why they believe what they believe. Keep asking “why” to get to the root cause. We want to open a door rather than push them through a door.
2. My attitude can set the tone on how the conversation will go. We all have baggage, no one is perfect. We all need some level of healing. Don’t focus on people’s mistakes. Try to establish a tone of mercy and compassion, regardless of how hard someone may be trying to argue. This is not a game that we are trying to win. Rather, like all of us, this is the soul of a person in need of transformation.
3. Today, many people say, “the truth for me is….” They see truth as a concept that is adaptable to justify their current lifestyle. Introduce to them the idea that the Truth is really a person — Jesus (“I am the way and the truth and the life”). Truth is not relative, it is absolute — it is true for all of us, over all of time. People are influenced by the culture. People may not know that God is an option. Truth leads people to Jesus!

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DO YOU KNOW DIVINE MERCY?

Divine Mercy Sunday is celebrated on the final day of the Easter-Octave — that is the Sunday after Easter. Catholics remember the tremendous love and mercy that Jesus Christ has for us, despite our sinfulness.

The message of Divine Mercy was brought to attention by Saint Faustina, a poor, uneducated Polish nun, who received many messages of Our Lord’s Divine Mercy and recorded them in her diary.

St. John Paul II proclaimed that, “those who sincerely say, “Jesus, I trust in You” will find comfort in all their anxieties and fears…There is nothing more human beings need than Divine Mercy—that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises human beings above their weakness to the infinite heights to the holiness of God.”

Pope Francis declares, “Mercy is what makes God perfect and all powerful! If God limited Himself to only justice, God would cease to be God, and instead be like human beings who ask merely to be respected.”

HOW TO OBTAIN COMPLETE REMISSION OF ALL SIN ON DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY

• Go to Confession (20 days before, on, or after Divine Mercy Sunday.)
• Receive Holy Communion (20 days before, on, or after Divine Mercy Sunday.)
• Pray for the Pope
• In any Church or Chapel, pray the Our Father, Creed, and a prayer to the merciful Jesus in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, or, Participate in services honoring the Divine Mercy devotions.

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Dear Members of Church of the Annunziata, Family, and Friends,

Blessed Easter and Peace to You!

Annunziata welcomes you and is delighted that we can celebrate Christ’s Resurrection together! I offer Mass for you and your intentions, praying you experience Christ’s Peace, Joy, and Unconditional Love.

Heartfelt gratitude to our incredible parish staff! Dodie Nelke and Linda Chartrand who manage our parish office, and do so many things behind the scenes to make everything go smoothly.

Margie Meyers who manages the rectory, and takes such beautiful care of all our flowers and plants inside and outside the Church and rectory.

Matt Gremminger, our maintenance man, who cares for all our parish buildings, and is blest with the ability to repair just about anything.

Laura Gyawali, our Parish School of Religion Principal and Teacher, whose leadership and hard work sets the stage for all our teachers and parents to work together for the education and formation of our children in the Catholic Faith.

EASTER HOPE IN TIMES OF WAR, DIVISION, AND SICKNESS

St. John Paul II taught that the evil present in our world could only be defeater by imitating Jesus’s love and sacrifice on the cross. Anything else will inevitably fall short.

Darkness can only be scattered by light, and hatred can only be conquered by love. Ours is the gigantic task of overcoming all evil with good, always trying amidst the problems of life to place our trust in God, knowing that God’s Grace supplies strength to human weakness. By God’s Grace, each of us must oppose every form of hatred with the invincible power of Christ’s love!

BE NOT AFRAID!

JESUS CHRIST HAS RISEN!!

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