We enter into the holiest, most significant week of our Church year. Lent is over as of Holy Thursday evening, so if you’ve set aside money from sacrifices you’ve made, make the check out that day and send your donation. There are several challenges in the liturgies of this week. A very basic challenge is to remind ourselves that we aren’t just remembering everything that happened to Jesus so many years ago. The rituals of the liturgy make present the reality of Christ’s presence today. Just as the Jewish community’s remembrance of the Passover made it present for them, so our celebrations make present today what Jesus did then.

On Holy Thursday, we don’t remember the Last Supper, we actually celebrate it here and now in our very church. The washing of feet was so important to St. John’s community that they include that radical action in place of the words of institution of the Eucharist; the Eucharist meant being a servant for that early community. We celebrate the Eucharist because he said “Do this in remembrance of me” and we continue to serve the world because of his directive, “As I have done for you, you should also do.”

On Good Friday, we don’t just remember Jesus’ passion and death, we enter into it, reflecting on how we carry our own crosses, slight though they may be in comparison to his. The veneration of the cross expresses our giving of ourselves into the hands of God as Jesus did. I remember as a young person thinking that if I’d been there, I would have helped Jesus. And, of course, today there are many people – members of his Body - carrying heavy crosses like his; am I willing to help them?

On Holy Saturday, we light the new fire and bless the new water, primitive symbols from the time of our cave-dwelling ancestors, but for us symbolizing Christ, the Light of the World, and used in the baptism by which we are plunged into the mystery of his dying and rising. The paschal (Easter) candle lights our way into the darkened church as Christ enlightens our path in this confusing and seductive world. Two catechumens will be baptized, five Christians of other traditions will make a profession of faith; they all will be confirmed and come to the table of the Lord for the first time. We will renew our own baptismal commitment to “turn from sin and be faithful to the gospel,” as we were asked to do on Ash Wednesday.

Monday-April 10th
Readings: Is 42:1-7 - Jn 12:1-11

Tuesday-April 11th
Readings: Is 49:1-6 - Jn 13:21-33,36-38

Wednesday-April 12th
Readings: Is 50:4-9a - Mt 26:14-25

Thursday-April 13th
Readings: Ex 12:1-8,11-14 - 1 Cor 11:23-26 - Jn 13:1-15

Friday-April 14th
Readings: Is 52:13—53:12 - Heb 4:14-16;5:7-9 - Jn 18:1—19:42

Saturday-April 15th
Readings: Gen 1.1-2.2 - Ex 19.15-15.1 - Is 55.1-11

We continue to ask each week that parishioners pray for the chronically ill of our parish. If you have a friend or loved one in need of our parish prayers please call the Rectory at 589-2800.

HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE

Chrism Mass (April 11th)
5:30 p.m.Tuesday, at St. Mary's Cathedral, S.F.

Holy Thursday (April 13th)
No morning Mass
Mass of the Lord's Supper, 7:30 p.m.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until 10 p.m.

Good Friday (April 14th)
No morning Mass
Silent Prayer Walk, 6:30 a.m.
(weather permitting, meet in the lot off Crystal Springs Rd.)
Stations of the Cross, 12 Noon
Celebration of the Lord's Passion, 1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Children's Liturgy, 1:15 - 3 p.m., in the Hall
Youth Passion Play, 7:30 p.m.
Followed by Communion Service

Holy Saturday (April 15th)
No morning Mass
Easter Vigil, 8 p.m.
No 4:30 p.m. Mass

The Children’s Liturgy team will again be having Good Friday activities for children ages 4 and up. Hall doors will open at 1:15 p.m. on Good Friday, and it is requested that children are pre-registered. Last minute registration will be accepted at the door. Children will need to be picked up as soon as church services are over.

Easter flowers will decorate the Church during the Easter Season. If you would like to make a donation of $10 toward their purchase in memory of a loved one, please fill out the form below and return it to the Parish Office by April 10th. A memorial list will be published in the bulletin.

Baptism: Death to Life
This week we join with the whole Church, with Christians of every faith tradition throughout the world to celebrate the passion and death of Jesus, his resurrection and our own. Since you are here, entering into the story that we know so well, I invite you to continue throughout the Three Days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Most of us had the meaning of Good Friday impressed upon us as children. Holy Thursday wasn’t quite as important, though the Eucharist we partake of each Sunday was first celebrated then. Most of us have no recollection of our baptisms; we only have photos which may have been taken and a baptismal certificate. The Second Vatican Council stressed the importance of baptism as the beginning of our Christian life, of our being incorporated into Christ - in corporis meaning “in the same body” – and into his Body, the Church. Even for the Pope, the most important day in his life as a Christian was his baptism. On Holy Saturday night, we have the privilege of welcoming seven adults into that same Body through baptism and the profession of faith. You’re invited! Contrary to popular belief, the liturgy doesn’t take three hours, probably an hour and a half or so. And don’t we spend at least that long at a concert or a movie?

If you come to Holy Thursday and/or Holy Saturday, please bring bells - any kind of bell – a dinner bell, Cost Plus bells from India, whatever you may have! We sing the Gloria those two evenings and it is customary to ring bells as a sign of celebration during that hymn which we haven’t sung throughout these forty days of Lent. The celebrant will be wearing white since these days are joyful, though Holy Thursday’s liturgy ends with our remembrance of the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus’ betrayal. If you’re out of town for these days, you might still bring bells to whatever parish you attend, since many parishes will honor this custom.

If you’d like to help decorate the church for the glory of Holy Saturday, please come any time after 9 am; if the afternoon works better for you, there will still be work to do.

Thank you to those who offered to serve our community as Eucharistic ministers, lectors and singers last weekend. We are still hoping that more of you who are prayerfully considering whether you’re called to one of these ministries will say “Yes!” We need you.

A LENTEN REFLECTION

Someone once said that to recognize the signs of God, pay attention to your stirrings. Look closely when you feel the swell of joy within, or the tightness as your throat closes up in sorrow.

MERCY CENTER
2300 Adeline Drive, Burlingame, CA 94010
Tel: 650.340.7474, Fax: 650.340.1299
mc@mercyburl.org

April 2006
13-16 Centering Prayer: Triduum Retreat
20-23 David Keller: Nature Retreat

May 2006
28 Ruben Habito: Walking the Zen Christian Path

June 2006
1-4 David Keller: Men’s Spirituality
12-18 Jesus: The Compassionate Face of God
16-18 Sr. Ishpriya: Finding a Spirituality in Chaotic Times
18-Sr. Ishpriya: Spirituality for a Borderless Planet

SAM DAMIANO RETREAT
P.O. Box 767, Danville, Ca 94526
Tel: (925) 837-9141
Web site: www.sandamiano.org

May 2006
12-14 Weekend For Mothers: A Mothers Heart

June 2006
2-4 Dream Work as Spiritual Discipline
23-25 The Longings of Our Hearts

WORLDWIDE MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER
“Whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God”.