All Fridays of Lent are Days of Abstinence:   Abstinence means not eating any meat from any warm-bloodied animal.     It obliges all who are 14 years of age and over.   However, persons whose health would be seriously effected by not eating meat are dispensed; but they should do some other form of penance.    Personal dispensations can be obtained from the Pastor or from your Confessor for a good reason, but anyone doing this must do some other form of penance.

Fr. Pat was ordained in 1975.   He frequently conducts Recovery Retreats and Parish Missions.    Currently Fr. Pat is superior of the Vincentian Community at De Paul Center in Montebello, CA.   
   
Frs. Pat and Jeff will divide the conferences during our Parish Mission, and both will be available for confessions after conferences.     

Besides preaching at all weekend Masses, Frs. Pat and Jeff will preach after the 8:00 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. Masses Monday through Thursday, April 10^th - 13^th.  They will also hear confessions after those Masses.  Mass Monday through Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Frs. Pat and Jeff will celebrate Mass, preach and then hear confessions after that Mass.     Thursday evening, April 13^th, they will preside at our Lenten/Easter Communal Penance Service at 7:30 p.m.     During that evening visiting priests from neighboring parishes and St. John's Seminary will also be here to help with confessions.

Prayerfully consider participating in our Parish Mission.   Also, ask the Lord for guidance as to whom to invite to bring with you to the Parish Mission.

During this Great Season of Lent we are encouraged to meditate on the Paschal Mysteries:  the Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Glorification at the Father's right hand.     One very good way to do this, is by making the Way (Stations) of the Cross.     Any manner of prayer may be said while walking the Stations.     Some read passages from the Gospels while walking the Stations.     Others use a manual of prayers.   Others just pause and reflect on the mystery of that Station.

We pray the Stations every Friday Evening at 7:30 p.m. during Lent.

Lenten Year "B" Readings:   Once again the First Reading focuses on a "Covenant" made by God.     Last week it was a Covenant made with Noah.    This time the Covenant is made with Moses and the Jewish people gathered at Mount Sinai.   The terms of this Covenant are clear:  "The Lord will be our God, if we will be His people."    The Lord will guide and protect us, and we will follow His Commandments.    These Commandments call us to love God and our neighbor.    As St. Paul points out in the Second Reading however, commitment to God's ways often seems foolish to the world.     For to love without limits, without  conditions, seems weak and irrational, just as Jesus' actions in the temple must have seemed irrational to those present.    But Jesus reminds us in the Gospel that we must answer to new, eternal standards.

Lenten Year "A" Readings:   For those attending a First Scrutiny Mass, the Readings come from Year "A".   These Readings today focus on the symbol of water, and on our thirst for the presence of the Lord.   In a world that often seems arid and barren, only God can quench our thirst by pouring His Spirit into our hearts.    This Spirit that God gives us, allows us to live in hope and faith through the love of God which is poured forth into us through the Spirit (Romans 5:5 ff.).    The Gospel Reading also beautifully captures two important Jubilee themes:  our need to repent, and the Call of God to evangelize.    The woman at the well observed that Jesus told her everything she had ever done.    We too must examine our lives with honesty, repent our sins, and seek to change our behaviors.    We must also follow the example of the woman at the well and become evangelizers, speaking the Good News of Jesus to all whom we meet and telling them what God has done for us.

For those attending a First Scrutiny Mass today, this Scrutiny focuses on the need for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those not yet baptized.

Landen Hamilton  Corey Hill
Hunter Hill    Kaylan Hill
Blake Windrum

Two of Father Walt's conferees --- Father Pat Mullin, C.M. and Father Jeff Harvey, C.M. --- will preach our Parish Mission beginning the weekend of April 8^th and 9^th.   

Fr. Jeff was ordained in 1993.    He is currently in great demand as a homilist and a preacher.    His current work includes serving as an Assistant in the Archdiocesan Office of African-American Catholics, and Vocation Director for the Vincentian Fathers and Brothers.