Message from the Pastor Msgr. Schwanger
My Dear Family of Our Lady of Lourdes,
Happy Easter!
Remember we in the Church celebrate the whole Octave of Easter as one glorious day. With that we can say that the
Lord gave Pope Francis the opportunity to visit with his flock on Easter Sunday one last time and then called him home
while the Church was still celebrating Easter Sunday. Let us continue to keep him in our prayers. Let us also pray for the Church as we await the election of a new Pope.
As we close out the Octave of Easter, the other half of our Elect will receive their Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion. They too are in our prayers, as are all our newly baptized brothers and sisters, the Neophytes.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. Pope John Paul II had a great devotion to the Divine Mercy. It was he who celebrated the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska in 2000 her relics are in our altar stone and it was he who dedicated the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. What a consolation for us to remember the great mercy of God so that we, too, may respond Jesus, I trust in you. To be able to do that with all one’s heart changes everything.
Finally, I want to congratulate and thank everyone who helped to make our Easter celebrations so special. We saw on Holy Thursday just how many people that is! The Church is beautiful, and the Crucifix is breathtaking. All throughout Holy Week and Easter the choir was exceptional. As I told the altar servers after the Easter Vigil, there are a lot of moving parts in these liturgies and that everyone served so gracefully and well was a beautiful gift. Thank you, we are grateful for the blessing.
Congratulations and Happy Easter!
Msgr. Schwanger
Pastor