​Hello Everyone,

Updates:

1. ​We have some important news! The bishop has allowed up to 5 people at every Mass. So, what I'm thinking is that we'll try to allow as even a spread of people to come as possible. So, to that end, you can 1) call 234-9916 to ask about a slot, 2) email me at [email protected], or 3) fill out this google sheet: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-bKcQr7kx8KBN0Z3TtGYWeUG5dkX6amKRNV7BunBSrc/edit?usp=sharing

​​2. Things to consider for Mass sign ups: first, note that you'll have to use your name, not just write reserved. Second, please sign up for only one Mass for this coming Sunday / week. Don't grab multiple spots. Third, consider your own risk factor, especially if you work with others at risk. Fourth, consider how to minimize risk. I'll use hand sanitizer before communion; perhaps participants could bring Clorox wipes to wipe down their place in the pew after Mass?

​The schedule is as follows (it's in the google doc as well)

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3​. ​​​​Confessions​. Usual drill on the porch and at OLA. Here is the sign up sheet​. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-bKcQr7kx8KBN0Z3TtGYWeUG5dkX6amKRNV7BunBSrc/edit?usp=sharing

4. Mass today was offered for all of you, the parishioners, and for Ronald Emma (by Carolyn Kelly).


Reflection
(http://cms.usccb.org/bible/readings/042920.cfm)

Today is the feast day of St. Catherine of Siena. She is a virgin and doctor of the Church. Instead of focusing so much on the readings from the Mass, I wanted to reflect on a line from the closing prayer for her feast day: ​"​May the heavenly table at which we have been fed, O Lord, confer eternal life upon us, as even in this world it nourished the life of St. Catherine." Very striking is the juxtaposition of contrasting elements of the nourishment at the heavenly table in this world. The combination is present in the Gospel, as well, when Jesus says, ​​For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day. Jesus references those who see him, in this world, will have eternal life in heaven. He also says that it is for that reason that​​ I came down from heaven. He leaves heaven to bring the heavenly things into this world.

The contrast between heaven and earth, time and eternity is a strong reminder of the unsubstantial and passing character of this world. Everything in this world is passing away, in the sense of being on its way towards nothingness. C. S. Lewis at one point describes the earth in the last days as fading away like a dream. Everything about this world that seemed so real and solid will just melt away. Well, almost everything. All of the heavenly bits of reality scattered in our world will remain. The substantial reality of the Eucharist, for example, will not pass away; which means that the center of the Church will not pass away. Our acts of charitable, divine love will not pass away. The praise of God will not pass away. If we imagine it, then, the picture changes quite a bit. I can almost imagine the whole world melting away into nothingness -- the parks, grass, sidewalks, roads, restaurants, libraries -- evaporating like a disappearing mist, but the churches remaining solid, seeming to grow more real by contrast. But they don't remain fixed and secure because they have a sturdier roots in the earth, but rather because they were they are suspended from above, as by so many nets reaching down from heaven to secure the divine things among us as the rest of world sinks away.

The saints always kept this perspective in mind and lived from this perspective. The only things of with lasting value were God and the things of God. They knew everything else would fade, and so they always invested themselves in God. All their ventures were on the unseen things, because they knew the things they saw would soon be nothing. They took seriously the promise of our Lord when he said, ​​I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. And they knew that no one else could make that promise.

​This is the heavenly table mentioned in the prayer for St. Catherine today. It is a heavenly table, and so never passes​ away. It is a heavenly table, because it bears a heavenly feast. It is a heavenly table, because it holds the bread of life. This table is the table that nourishes us for eternal life.

May we lay to heart our knowledge of the passing character of this world, and so rejoice in the great gift of a bread that sustains us unto eternal life!

God bless you all,
​Fr. Rensch​