Yesterday the Archbishop issued a statement on the celebration of the liturgies on Palm Sunday, the Sacred Paschal Triduum and Easter Sunday during this time of social distancing required by the COVID19 pandemic. There is to be no public celebration of Mass on Palm Sunday, during the Sacred Triduum nor on Easter Sunday.
We will continue to Live-Stream the Mass on Sunday morning. We are currently formulating plans on how to best share the Sacred Triduum via technology. As soon as the dates and times are set for the liturgies I will be in contact through this email and posting the information on the our parish website.
Diamond’s Daily Devotions
In my never-ending efforts to evangelize, educate and entertain I have launched a new way that I am offering as a means to stay connected as a parish community, even in this period of social distance. Visit our web site,
www.saintcornelius.org for Diamond’s Daily Devotions. It is a brief reflection either on the Liturgy of the Word from Mass that day, or a saint or some historical or even literary figure.
Walking with Purpose Expanded
A parishioner sent me this link to a program of scriptural reflections. I attach it here and introduce you to a program that has been very successful in our parish.
Every aspect of our life has been unexpectedly changed in ways that we could never have anticipated. The isolation, the social distancing and the anxiety that has descended upon us has, as you can understand, also affected the main source of parish income, the weekly Sunday Collection. I have been pastor at St. Cornelius for almost three years and I have come to know the enormity of the generosity of our parishioners. Our efforts at rebuilding our parish have been so very successful. To the greatest extent you are able, I ask you to continue to support the parish as we meet our bills and our obligations, so that one we emerge from this maelstrom, we can continue to engage in the many ministries and programs we have in place. Thank you to those who continue to send checks to the office or have established regular online giving via our website. Your faithfulness to our parish sustains us.
Keep on Keepin’ On
Not unlike Alice in Lewis Carroll’s story we’ve been through the looking glass. Alice landed in Wonderland where she met all kinds of characters like the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty and those famous failures at dieting Tweedledee and Tweedledum. We are not in Wonderland, but we are certainly on an adventure and it is more than a wee bit precarious.
When I was teaching education courses, I would address a phenomenon that is a necessary part of the learning experience. The phenomenon is cognitive dissonance. An idea is introduced to the student. He or she is unfamiliar with the subject or the idea whatever the topic may be. Because of that unfamiliarity the student is sort of intellectually off balance and must work to regain their balance. This is accomplished by mastering the material, re-establishing balance.
We are experiencing dissonance on so many levels of our being: physical, intellectual, emotional, psychological and spiritual. We will need to regain our balance and that requires patience, effort, docility and openness to something new. Rely on our good God to provide what we need in this trial and when we do come out on the other side of this experience, we will be better - better people, better families, a better parish and a better disciple.