In the seasons of Lent and Easter in particular, we celebrate the Paschal mystery in a special way: the passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. Recently, I had someone ask me about the Paschal mystery, if I could explain it to him in terms that an ordinary person can understand. As we just celebrated Palm Sunday with the Gospel reading of Christ’s passion, as we Catholics commonly pray the stations of the cross on Fridays during Lent, as we are getting ready to have our new members enter the Church at the Easter Vigil Mass and the youth receive the sacrament of confirmation the first week of Easter, the Paschal mystery is present in our liturgies and in our prayers in different ways.
The Paschal mystery is present in the reality of our lives in different ways as well. I think of this time of the year, when the coldness and darkness of winter gives way to our springtime gardens and warmer weather. The Paschal mystery is present in a special way in the ways we reach out to people who are broken or in need. The youth of Holy Savior and Immaculate Conception are going going out to Shower Power in Jackson this Holy Week, a place that reaches out to the homeless and the poor where they can clean up and get a meal and be loved. I was just reading the letters that I had the seven men write who are entering the Church at the prison this Easter weekend. Many of these men were gang members or who suffered from lives entrenched in addiction and violence. At our Catholic ministry at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, the inmates find a loving community that welcomes them and loves them and accompanies them on the ups and downs of their journey of faith. In our daily ministry of our parish, we have very joyful moments, such as meeting with parents who are preparing for the baptism of their child and planning for the sacrament of matrimony for couples who are getting married. However, we also anoint the sick and commemorate our dearly departed loved ones through our funeral liturgies, meeting people in times of struggle and suffering as well. These are all examples of how the Paschal mystery is present in the reality of the Church and in the reality of our daily lives.
I want to personally invite all of you to our Holy Week Liturgies. We had a wonderful engagement at our Palm Sunday liturgies this weekend. We are hoping to have a good showing at our liturgies this week for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, and Easter Sunday. Join us in accompanying our Lord Jesus Christ during Holy Week.
Tuesday, March 26
Diocese of Jackson Chrism Mass, 10:30 am in the Cathedral of St Peter the Apostle, Jackson.
Holy Thursday, March 28
11:00 am Mass at Immaculate Conception, Raymond.
6:00 pm Mass at Holy Savior, Clinton.
Good Friday, March 2911:00 am liturgy at Immaculate Conception
1:00 pm stations of the cross at Holy Savior
6:00 pm liturgy at Holy Savior
Easter Saturday Vigil
7:00 pm Mass at Holy Savior
Easter Sunday
8:00 am Mass at Immaculate Conception 10:30 am Mass at Holy Savior
Also, keep our prison ministry in your prayers during Holy Week. We will be celebrating Good Friday at the state prison in Pearl that afternoon and Easter Mass at noon on Saturday. Thank you for the love and support so many of you have shown our prison ministry.
Blessings to all of you during Holy Week. Father Lincoln.
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