A short while ago, President Trump made an unexpected announcement in which he called religious services to be essential. He also indicated that churches should be open this weekend for worship. While the President’s sentiments are welcome to many people of faith, the reality is that it is Friday. Implementing parish safety plans by tomorrow is unrealistic.
Bishop Daly asks that we maintain the status quo for the next few days and hopes to have further direction by Tuesday. He will continue consulting with local health experts and the bishops of Washington State as the final adjustments are made to the plan which will allow us to worship in a responsible manner.
*We are encouraged to pray for an end to the COVID-19 threat:
On Fridays, we are invited to join Bishop Daly in fasting.
We are invited to join Pope Francis in praying the Rosary daily during the month of May, asking our Blessed Mother intercede before God for us.
Daily Prayer to the Sacred Heart- daily until June 19, the Feast of the Sacred Heart (see below)
*Mass for the Feast of the Ascension from STM will air Sunday at 8:30 am, via the parish website
**Thanks for your on-going financial donations to the parish!
*The church will be open for your visits next week for prayer from Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. (closed for Memorial Day), and Saturday from 9-9:30 a.m. If you are out on an “essential task” or for a walk, you’re welcome to stop by. Copies of “The Word Among Us” are available in the Narthex. Those are also times to sign the R-90 petition, located on a table in the Narthex, if you have not yet done so. The petition will be available for signing for another week; after that, all signed petitions will be sent to the group compiling them from around the state to turn in to the legislature.
*Saturdays, while the church is open from 9-9:30 am, the Sacrament of Confession will be available in the PAC. If you come, please maintain physical distance from others who may be there, and enter/exit through the doors that are held open to the Narthex and the PAC. Please wear a mask, and do not enter the PAC for Confession until the person in front of you has exited.
*If you saw the bishop’s video update on Wednesday, you noticed that there is some positive movement toward reopening churches for the public worship of God. As we go through “phases,” this would initially be on a very limited basis; the bishops, also collaborating with other religious leaders in the state, have made a proposal to the state government that would expand those limitations. Let us continue praying that the day of being able to gather and celebrate the Sacraments publicly will come soon! The bishop sent out a link for contacting our state government:
https://www.governor.wa.gov/contact/contact/send-gov-inslee-e-message
Or write:
Governor Jay Inslee
Office of the Governor
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002
Express the importance of the public practice of our faith to our elected leaders, as they continue to strive to respond to COVID-19 in the safest, most prudent way. Please consider this, exercising your faithful citizenship by letting your voice be heard in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
*Check out the video of Vincent DeFelice giving a tour of his studio, where he is creating our beautiful new Stations of the Cross. Go to the parish website if you didn’t receive it in a Flocknote.
Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!
Prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
In new and painful ways, the pandemic has challenged each of us individually, and all of us together as a diocesan family, to maintain and deepen our faith, hope, and love for the Lord and the Church. In many ways, this time of testing has broken our hearts. Bishop Daly has asked us to pray together that we reopen our hearts. We are asked to allow the grace of Christ to enter us through our wounded hearts just as it poured out into the world through the wounded Sacred Heart of Christ.
To that end, he proposes that we pray the attached prayer to the Sacred Heart beginning today until the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart on June 19.
Our Father…Hail Mary…Glory be to the Father…Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you.
O Sacred Heart of Jesus, for whom it is impossible not to have compassion on the afflicted, have pity on us miserable sinners and grant us the grace which we ask of you, through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, your tender mother and ours. Hail, Holy Queen… Saint Joseph, foster father of Jesus, pray for us. Amen
See the information on the parish/school website and in your Flocknote about a way to participate in “May Crowning” on this coming Monday!
We are encouraged to pray for an end to the COVID-19 threat:
Mass from STM will air Sunday at 8:30 am, via the parish website
**Thanks for your on-going financial donations to the parish!
The church is open for your visits for prayer from Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. If you are out on an “essential task” or for a walk, you’re welcome to stop by.
The church will be open Saturdays, from 9-10 am, if you are out on an “essential task” and would like to stop by and sign the R-90 petition, located on a table in the Narthex of the church.
Saturdays, while the church is open from 9-10 am, the Sacrament of Confession will be available in the PAC. As of May 5th, this Sacrament qualifies as an “essential spiritual service” and thus you may leave home to come to the church for it. If you come, please maintain physical distance from others who may be there, and enter/exit through the doors that are held open to the narthex and the PAC. Please wear a mask, and do not enter the PAC for Confession until the person in front of you has exited
The bishop sent out a link last week for contacting our state government (see the Flocknote from May 6) to express the importance of the practice of our faith to our elected leaders, as they continue to strive to respond to COVID-19 in the safest, most prudent way. Please consider this, exercising your faithful citizenship by letting your voice be heard in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Check out the video of Vincent DeFelice giving a tour of his studio, where he is creating our beautiful Stations of the Cross. Go to the parish website if you didn’t receive it in a Flocknote.
Reminders:
We are encouraged to pray for an end to the COVID-19 threat:
Mass from STM will air Sunday at 8:30 am, via the parish website
**Thanks for your on-going financial donations to the parish!
The church will be open tomorrow, Saturday, from 9-10 am, if you are out on an “essential task” and would like to stop by and sign the R-90 petition, located on a table in the Narthex of the church.
We are now in Phase 1 of the state’s “re-opening” approach. In this phase, “Drive in spiritual services” are allowed. There is still discernment of what this might mean for Mass celebrated in a dignified way (there may be a “phased in” approach to this in the coming weeks- it seems that there is no permissible way to offer Communion in such services at this point). What is significant in this is that “Spiritual Services” are now deemed “essential,” so that people may leave their homes for them. Another provision for this is that people not leave their cars; this envisions that there are a number of groups of people in cars, and there would be a danger of “bottle necking” or tight grouping if people left their cars for, for instance, a Communion rite. In light of this, our bishop has interpreted that it might be possible for the public offering of the Sacrament of Reconciliation without violating the spirit of this law. The pope has allowed “General Absolution” in these extraordinary times, with people remaining in their cars in a parking lot. We are awaiting more direction on this. The “drive by” individual Confession, while possible, is not optimal given the difficulty of assuring confidentiality and the uncertainty of weather. But given the likelihood that there would not be a large gathering of cars/groups if Confessions were available, perhaps they could be held in a room in the church, in which individuals could leave their car to enter for the Sacrament, maintaining social distancing and observing hygiene rules.
In light of this, we will try this:
TOMORROW, SATURDAY MAY 9, WHILE THE CHURCH IS OPEN FROM 9-10 AM, THE SACRAMENT OF CONFESSION WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE PAC. IF YOU CHOOSE TO COME, PLEASE REMAIN DISTANT FROM OTHERS WHO MAY COME FOR THE SACRAMENT (WAITING IN LINE). GO THROUGH THE DOORS THAT ARE HELD OPEN TO THE NARTHEX AND TO THE PAC. WAIT OUTSIDE THE PAC, AT LEAST 6 FEET APART FROM OTHERS. PLEASE WEAR A MASK. DO NOT ENTER THE PAC UNTIL THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU HAS LEFT.
We will see how this goes this Saturday, and modify as necessary for the future. It is one way of trying to provide the Sacrament while doing all possible to keep each other safe and healthy.
The bishop sent out a link for contacting our state government (see the Flocknote from May 6) to express the importance of the practice of our faith to our elected leaders, as they continue to strive to respond to COVID-19 in the safest, most prudent way. Please consider this, exercising your faithful citizenship by letting your voice be heard in light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We’re headed for another month of state-ordered “slow down” directives, with their restrictions on leaving home, physical contact outside the family, and social gatherings. This, of course, impacts us as church, as we are not able to do “church as usual,” with public meetings, prayer, catechetics, etc. Necessary meetings and gatherings, including our school ministry, have taken their place in the virtual world. Before March 17, I’d never heard of Zoom; now I fall asleep at night with Zoom on my mind! As we get further into this time of public inactivity in church, let’s not get lackadaisical in utilizing the other ancient practices of our faith that are available to us to praise God, experience His grace, and grow as a community of faith. Prayer- this month the pope invites us to pray the Rosary daily, for the intention of praying for our Blessed Mother’s intercession before God that the end of the COVID-19 pandemic might come soon. While the normal celebration of the Sacraments (except in danger of death) are not available, let us utilize the Spiritual Communion and Perfect Act of Contrition: These are time-honored, venerable parts of our Tradition that, in the absence of the Sacraments, are efficacious- they WORK- in opening us up to God’s forgiving and strengthening grace.
Every time you “view” Mass on TV or the computer screen, at the time of Communion say:
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You.
Amen.
On a regular basis, take some time in prayer for:
A Perfect Act of Contrition
Act of Contrition
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong, and failing to do good, I have sinned against you, whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy.
Let us also keep up our community-building within families, and growing in our knowledge of the faith, like through Formed.org.
Let us continue our charitable giving as we are able; for instance:
Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington
THE VIRTUAL GALA IS MAY 14th AT NOON. Join us for the Courage and Commitment Challenge LIVE event via Zoom! It will be a fun filled, upbeat, 35 minute whirlwind tour around Eastern Washington to pop in on our work to serve those in need! Visit our website at www.cceasternwa.org/CC-LIVE to join the event or visit Zoom.com and use the meeting code: 960-3463-3801 MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW! It will be ONLY a THIRTY FIVE MINUTE EXPERIENCE so as to attract as many as possible to zoom in and we have invited all 3,000+ Catholic School Students in the Diocese to ZOOM In with us!. PLEASE FORWARD THE ATTACHED INVITATION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!!!!
Donations to the parish: thomasmorespokane.org/give
If you are out of the house anyway on an “essential task,” know that the church is open Monday-Friday, 9 am-1 pm for prayer. The R-90 petition, designed to have the new K-12 Sex Ed curriculum in public schools placed on the November ballot for public vote with hopes of it being repealed, is available for signing at those hours in the Narthex of the church.
Let us remember that God is with us. He is blessing us in ways we never could have imagined through this crisis! When we gather again as church, we will together thank Him deeply for his love and mercy.