Greetings in Christ, children of God! I’m so excited and blessed to pray with you and be a part of this Parish Community. I was touched and blown away by our Holy Week celebrations. Someone sent me a link to a Facebook Page where people in the Grand Blanc community were sharing about coming to Holy Family on Easter. They praised our choir and many, many people commented on how friendly and welcoming we all were. I honor you with all my heart for all the things you did to welcome folks last week. Thank you! If you are here now reading this and do not usually come, please know you are always welcome. Know that we are blessed to pray with you and it’s never too late to start again. Bless you.
A reminder that Sunday, April 7th, is the Feast of the Divine Mercy. Now, if you are like me, this is a new one for us. Here’s a little history on it:
In the early 1900s, a young Polish nun began receiving private revelations. Jesus appeared to her during her times of prayer, speaking a message of mercy and love for the world. She received a set of prayers — the Divine Mercy Chaplet — and the request to have a feast day established to remind the Church of the mercy of God. St. Faustina died in 1938, on the cusp of war and in the midst of one of the most violent centuries in the history of the world. Her story and her diaries began circulating in Poland and beyond. It quickly became apparent that this was a holy young woman, and the cause for her canonization opened. In the year 2000, she was canonized by the first-ever Polish pope, St. John Paul II. On her canonization day, he established the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday, “a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind with experience in the years to come.”
I have a business item for you all… Our School auction is coming up! We will gather in the Fr. Bush Parish Center on Friday, April 12th, from 6 pm – 9 pm. This is a big event for us and a major means of funding our school. When we charge tuition, we are not charging the cost to educate, instead, we work together as a parish to fill the gap between what we charge and what it costs. The auction is one way we make up that gap. Beyond the practical of it all, it’s a really fun event with food, bidding opportunities and all sorts of fun. Please consider coming and having a great time. If you want to be a part of the auction, but cannot attend, no problem at all. Just go to: http://bidpal.net/hfs2024 and register. It’s easy and fun.
I pray that Jesus bless us all during this Easter Season – I pray that He fills us with joy and a deep, unshakable hope in the resurrection. I thank Jesus for the blessing of being your priest.
Fjk