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.

Isn't it a little early to publish the Easter Triduum schedule of ligurgies?  Some people may ask themselves (or me) that when they see the schedule in the bulletin this week.  The answer is a resounding NO!  Everything we do in this Lenten season points to the Triduum.  Our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and giving alms to the poor, and of conversion that leads hopefully, among other things to the humbling, healing experience of Reconciliation, prepares us to renew our Baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil AND, this year, to supporting Nathan Rust, our Elect who will be fully initiated into the Church on this, the holiest night of the Church.

Some of you may have already noticed that the Easter Vigil will start at 8:30 p.m.  That is because the Church insists that the Easter Vigil should begin at nightfall as we gather outside around the Easter Fire from which is lit the Paschal Candle.  Last week end's readings in some ways, pointed us to the Easter Triduum liturgies and the Offertory Prayer, spoke of us being prepared for the "upcoming paschal festivities."  Just as the whole of the NCAA basketball season points toward "March Madness," the tournament that crowns the national champion, so the whole of Lent is pointing Catholics to the Triduum and FULL PARTICIPATION IN IT, if at all possible.  While the number of people watching basketball during March Madness is up greatly, compared to the viewership during the regular season, SADLY, in most places participation in the Triduum, goes down compared to that of the rest of the church year, including Lent.  I pray you (at least most of you who physically can do so) will make the Triduum a prioity on your calendar of "must do's" and will afterward give witness to the blessings that come from it in your life and in the lives of those you touch!