Welcome to the Holy Week which began on Palm Sunday. We all missed the Holy Week last year as a result of the Pandemic. I know most of us are excited to hear that our Governor has relaxed a number of the COVID-19 restrictions. However, given the usual high number of Mass attendance at this time, I appeal for your patience and suggest we continue to wear facemasks and keep physical distance through the Holy Week until we determine how to implement the changes safely in our parish community. I am looking forward to welcoming everyone back to Mass soon.

Welcome to the Holy Week, which begins this weekend with the celebration of Palm Sunday. This week is the peak of the Churches’ Liturgical Calendar and the most important week for us Catholics. I am glad the Pandemic is declining consistently, making it possible for us to celebrate Holy Week and Easter this year. However, you will notice that there will be a few exceptions to the Easter Liturgies this year. First of all, I thank those who have already received their vaccines. We encourage everyone to observe our parish safety protocols during the Easter Liturgies this year, especially to wear a facemask, maintain physical distance and use hand sanitizers, even if you have already received your two shots of the vaccine.

I thank everyone for your prayers, support and understanding during the announcement of our new Church building plan last weekend. Moving from the original building plan to the current one is a major decision born out of prayers, reflection and a careful evaluation of our current situation as a parish community. You noticed that I was not able to present the plan with enthusiasm because I know we all needed time to mourn the loss of the initial plan and to move in the new direction.

Today is the last weekend before Palm Sunday which begins Holy Week. Most of the Gospel readings during this time highlight the events that lead to the passion and death of Jesus on Good Friday. It is not obvious in the Gospel today to see the literal connection between why the Greek visitors in Jerusalem were seeking to meet with Jesus and why Jesus responded using the analogy of death and rising. Scripture scholars suggest that it appears a rumor was going around Jerusalem that Jesus would be arrested during the Passover week. This explains why the Greeks were seeking to alert Jesus and probably invite him to flee with them to their country for safety. The response that Jesus gives is a clue that their request has something to do with his impending death and thus his resolve to stay and face it. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.... And what should I say -- ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour” (John 12:23, 27).

As you might have noticed, we suspended giving updates and announcements regarding the progress of our "Living Our Faith, Building Our Home" Church Building Campaign for over a year as a result of the pandemic. This was to be sensitive to the plight of many of our parish families who were directly affected by the pandemic. Within this time period, we were continuing to evaluate the progress of the Campaign redemption, while the Building Committee kept working hard behind the scenes to monitor the rising cost of building materials.

Today is Laetare Sunday. One question many people ask this weekend is, “Why are we rejoicing during the season of Lent?” We rejoice because we are now midway through our Lenten journey... At this point, we have been purified by our Lenten disciplines and we now look forward with hope to the joy of Easter.

In today’s first reading, we hear that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments; then in the Gospel we hear how the people violated the Commandments causing Jesus to become angry and drive them out of the Temple area. So, which of the Commandments did the people violate? Jesus explained clearly that the summary of the Ten Commandment is “Love,” that is, love of God and love of neighbor (Matt 22:37-39). We know the first three Commandments are about our relationship with God (love of God) and the other seven are about love of neighbor. Obviously, the people selling and buying in the Temple area violated the first three Commandments.