Wounds: After showing His wounds to His apostles, Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” Jesus desires us to receive His mercy. We celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday this weekend. Jesus appeared to St. Faustina in 1931 with the message of mercy. Mercy is what the world needs today against the evil in the world. St. Faustina copied the words of Jesus in her diary. Some pertinent quotes include: “Mankind will not have peace until it turns with trust to My Mercy.” (300); “Let all mankind recognize my unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. (848); “He who refuses to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice…” (1146)
The message of mercy is that God loves us — all of us — no matter how great our sins. He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. It is a message we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC.
A — Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.
B — Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.
C — Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.
There will be a Divine Mercy Celebration beginning at 1:30 p.m. in our Church. The afternoon includes the Divine Mercy Chaplet and confessions.
Spirit-filled: Our brothers and sisters who joined the Church at the Easter Vigil will be participating in a Life in the Spirit six-week course beginning this Sunday. They will be accompanied by the RCIA group from the Catholic community in Flint. It brought me a lot of joy to see 17 new members in the Church. Do you know of someone who is interested in joining the Church? Please contact Maddie White at mwhite@hfgb.org.
Annunciation: This Monday, April 9, the Church is celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation. This feast is usually on March 25, but since it fell on Palm Sunday, it was moved.
WELCOME: Next weekend, April 14 -15, men of our parish will be participating in the WELCOME weekend, formerly called CRHP. There are still slots open. Please take advantage of this opportunity if you haven’t already done so. Please pray for them.
Powers: Please don’t forget to stop by the Powers Cheers to Chargers next Saturday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m. at Fenton Winery & Brewery.
Heads-up: We will announce the Diocesan Services Appeal (DSA) next weekend. Grateful for your participation in this endeavor.
Book Club: Our second go round of Holy Family Book Club begins on April 12. The book is titled The Other Side of Chaos. Please see page 7 for more details.
Prep: Fifteen couples from around the region will be at our parish for marriage prep next Saturday. I am grateful to our parishioners and others who lead this day for the engaged.
St. Mark’s: Had my first meeting with the parish council at St. Mark’s in Goodrich. Really nice group. We talked about Mass times between the two parishes in the future. Please pray for wisdom in making these decisions.
Building: I have a big meeting at the diocese this Friday, April 13, regarding our request to renovate our Church. Please pray for this endeavor.
A few days: I’m taking a few days off this week (Tuesday – Thursday) to take care of some things at my mom’s house—and get my taxes done too!
May God bless you with Easter love and peace,
Msgr. Jerry
“All grace flows from mercy, and the last hour abounds with mercy for us. Let no one doubt concerning the goodness of God; even if a person’s sins were as dark as night, God’s mercy is stronger than our misery. One thing alone is necessary; that the sinner set ajar the door of his heart, be it ever so little, to let in a ray of God’s merciful grace, and then God will do the rest.” (No. 1507) St. Faustina from her Diary