By Fr. Paul Shovelain
It was a year ago today, that we celebrated our last public Mass for 10 weeks due to the government shut down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We are grateful to be able to celebrate Mass publicly. Thank you for your continued patience and flexibility as we serve you here. We are continuing to discuss where we can adjust to more effectively serve you spiritually yet protect you physically. We’ve added more chairs by the ceremonial doors so that we can fit more people in the church. With the decreasing Covid-19 cases in MN, we are hopeful that we can return to a sense of normalcy at Mass. We are considering how we can resume lines for Holy Communion in the near future as well as opening up more seating to maximize our capacity at Mass. However, for this weekend we will still distribute Holy Communion in the pew and continue to have people sit every other pew.
Tomorrow we honor St. Joseph as the husband of Mary. He supported and cared for Mary and Jesus with great tenderness and love. We ask him to intercede for us that we would express God the Father’s love as he did. Since tomorrow is a solemnity, (aka a day to celebrate: ) you do not need to fast or do any forms of Lenten penance. It is a day to celebrate St. Joseph’s yes to God’s plan and his willingness to live out of a generous spirit as he provided for the Holy Family! I have given two presentations on St. Joseph to our Catholic Watchmen this past few months, and invite you to watch them to gain an understanding of St. Joseph. Here are the links: St. Joseph and the Holy Spirit and St. Joseph, model of simplicity and humility
This weekend you have the opportunity to live out of a generous spirit once again with our SVDP food drive. Please take a bag as you leave the church and bring it back with donations the following weekend. Thank you for your support! You can make a monetary donation instead by using the envelope on the bag and dropping it in the collection basket at Mass or the parish office. The money collected goes to support our Pastoral Outreach Initiatives to help those in need in our area. I encourage you as well to consider joining St. Vincent DePaul Society as it will provide you the opportunity to live out of a generous spirit. Check out the information below to learn more about their vital ministry!