As we prepare to celebrate the Easter Triduum and reflect on what all this means during the 50-day Easter Season, I'm thinking about the apostles and what happened to them from the time of the Last Supper through the Crucifixion, Resurrection and after The Holy Spirit came to them at Pentecost.  its' easy for me to believe that they could have echoed the words of Elvis Presley in one of his famous songs: "I'm All Shook Up."  Once they were "shook up," they never were the same.  Sometimes it is good for all of us to be "shook up" by the Lord, or others, and be challenged to embrace something new.

In the hope of getting more of our parishioners to experience the Lord more intimately and more often in the Eucharistic Celebration (The Mass), I have decided to change the daily Mass DURING THE EASTER SEASON to 8:00 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and 11:00 a.m. on Wednesdays.  I realize this "shakes up" the routine of our regular daily Mass participants AND ME, but I want to see if it might lead more of you to come to daily Mass for the experience of encountering Jesus and His many graces through His Word and His Body and Blood.  I will evaluate (with the help of the daily Mass participants) whether to leave the daily Mass schedule this new way - or change it back to 9:00 a.m. once Easter Season is over.

I am confident that those who already appreciate the value of coming to Mass more often than the weekend (some every day) will make this sacrifice and will pray with me that more of their fellow parishioners will take advantage of something that is not offered, or not offered as much, in other parishes, "Daily Mass."  It will mean a conscious "shaking up" of our routine at least once a week, and I'm hoping our Lenten journey has inspired us to draw ever close to the Lord and His Kingdom.  The Mass in one tremendous way to do this!

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This is my last chance, in writing, to encourage your participation in the Easter Triduum, both in Church and at home.  Starting on Thursday evening (with Mass of the Lord's Supper) through the celebration of the Easter Vigil, give this time to the Lord and try to refrain from normal secular activities.  Remember the mandatory fast for those ages 18-59 on Good Friday and abstinence from meat on Good Friday for those 14 years of age and older.  Opportunities abound for personal and public prayer and reflection at church.  Know that any time spent with and for the Lord in meditation on the great gift of hs Passion, Death and Resurrection will be rewarded with many blessings for you and your family and those whose lives you touch and that touch you in the future.  Also, it would be great to have good participation in the Easter Vigil as we welcome Nathan Rust into the Church through the sacraments of initiation (and have a reception with cake, punch and coffee for Nathan after the Easter Vigil Mass).

So much comes to us - and at us - once the Easter Triduum starts (on Holy Thursday with the evening Mass) that I'm looking ahead and asking you to consider the needs that are placed before us on those days and respond to them in a generous way.  Firstly, the "OPERATION RICE BOWL" Lenten program ends with the start of the Triduum.  If you are coming to the Holy Thursday Mass, I ask you to remember to bring your rice bowls with what you have saved up during the Lenten Season and put them in the specially-marked box in the narthex before Mass begins.  If you don't make it to Mass that evening, you can bring them to church and put them in that big box anytime in the first couple of weeks of Easter.  Remember, we are giving to some of the neediest in the world as three-fourths of what is collected goes to Catholic Relief Services and the rest to Catholic Charities of Arkansas to help the needy in our area.  The Holy Thursday Mass will also include the annual diocesan collection to support the education and formation of the seminarians in Arkansas.  The need in this area has been great because THANKS BE TO GOD, we have had so many seminarians in the last ten years which has resulted in many new (and often young) priests for our diocese.  Please continue to be generous to our seminarians (which now includes our own parishioner Jonathan Semmler) as you have been in this and other ways our parish has supported our future priests.  Finally, there is always a special collection on Good Friday to support the ongoing efforts of the Church (through the Franciscans who are ministering there all the time) to care for the Catholics and the holy sites in the Holy Land where our Lord lived, died and rose from the dead.  I realize this is a lot in a short time, and then there's our normal weekend collection to support our parish and its ministries at the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Masses.

I'm certainly not about to rank all of these in terms of priority, so you can decide which of these to give to and which to leave out.  I pray you will join me (and I hope many parishioners) in supporting all of theses in some way.  It may mean stretching our resources, and I hope this Lenten season is indeed preparing and motivating us to be more generous now, and in the future.  The Lord will always bless those who share their blessings with others in ways we can't even imagine.  Thanks in advance for your support of these worthy causes (and needs)!

In my homily, last weekend, I ended with a quote from St. Padre Pio, a Capuchin monk from Italy who died in 1968 (50 years ago) and was canonized by then Pope John Paul II on June 16, 2002.  I would challenge you to find out more about this modern day saint who so longed to be united with Christ, that he was miraculously given the "stigmata" (the woulds of Christ in his hands, feet and side) and suffered the effects of those wounds for fifty years until they disappeared close to the time of his death.  He was a powerful intercessor before the throne of God in his life and after his death as well.

I want to quote from a book, Padre Pio's Spiritual Direction For Everyday" by Gianluigi Pasquale which gives a different quote from the writings of Padre Pio for every day of the year.  The March 6 quote that was written to his spiritual director says this:  "I am experiencing a very strong desire - without ever attaining it most of the time - to live every moment of my life loving the Lord.  But I say, with a heavy heart, with consternation in my soul, and with shame on my face, my desires do not in fact correspond to the reality.  It takes only the least little thing for me to get agitated."   This humble statement, written in 1917, shows us that this future saint, who was close to Christ, still, at times, gave in to the temptations of the devil.  Though he was renowned as a great "Confessor," it is clear that he also went to Confession throughout his life in humble and confident surrender to God's mercy.  I hope you do the same and will come to the mercy of God and receive his powerful grace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation in Lent and/or in the Easter season, especially leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday, April 8.

Our parish Lenten Reconciliation Service is coming up on Tuesday, March 20, at 6:00 p.m.  We will hopefully have at least eight priests on hand to reconcile us individually with God and His Church.  Mark your calendar and plan to join us.  Padre Pio knew how much he needed to encounter God's mercy, and I pray all of us do as well.  Look on the front of the bulletin for other times for Reconciliation and know that I will offer more times, especially on Good Friday morning.