Easter Sunday

This week we enter into the center of the entire year. We begin Holy Week and follow Our Lord as He offers His life for us. I encourage you to attend the Holy Week Liturgies on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. On these three days, Morning Prayer will be prayed at St. John at 8:00am and confessions will be heard immediately following Morning Prayer. The rest of the schedule is included in the bulletin on page 4.

You might have noticed that the Easter schedule is a little different than previous years or normal Sundays. Here is the Easter schedule on April 3rd and 4th:

There are numerous reasons for the adjusted schedule. Normally for Easter we have one less Mass because there is only one vigil Mass instead of two. With COVID restrictions, it doesn’t seem wise to have fewer Masses than a normal Sunday. Secondly a 6:00pm Sunday Evening Mass doesn’t seem wise. Many people will want to be with their families (including the priests).

You may be looking at the schedule and wondering how two priests will be able to celebrate three Masses starting at 8:00am or 8:30am. Fr. Eric Wood from the seminary has generously offered to celebrate both of the Easter Masses at Immaculate Conception. These are the ideal Masses for him to celebrate because he’ll be driving up Easter morning and the 8:30am Mass is the latest start time. Also Immaculate Conception is the easiest location when coming from the south.

Finally there is one little note about the Easter Vigil. In the biblical readings for the Easter Vigil, there are seven Old Testament readings, one reading from St. Paul, and the Gospel. In years past, we have done the minimum three Old Testament readings. This year we decided to utilize all seven Old Testament readings!!! Parishioners who come to the Easter Vigil aren’t looking for a short Mass. We’ll give the congregation a full account of salvation history and glory in the Lord’s goodness.

Just a heads up. In the month of April, our normal rotation for Sunday Masses will be thrown off. Fr. Jedidiah and I normally switch back and forth every weekend. We’ll be out of sync due to the Easter Mass schedule and both of us being gone for a weekend. Mass will be celebrated, you might just be surprised by which priest is present.

Have a blessed Holy Week.

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson