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3/26/2021

Ironies in Jesus’ Life

March 26, 2021

Dear Friends on the Journey,

Great were the ironies that surrounded Jesus’ life. St. Gregory of Nazianzus (325-389 CE) reflected on some of them:

He who fed thousands with a few loaves fasted and knew hunger; he who promised to remove all weariness fell asleep in Peter’s boat; he who had often restored speech to the dumb allowed himself to be led silent as a lamb to the slaughter; he who had put the demons to flight with a word handed himself over without protest to the powers of darkness; he who had healed the man born blind with his spittle allowed his eyes to be covered and spat upon; the healer of lepers became, according to the words of Isaiah, a leper, as one from whom men and women hide their face; his face which shone like the sun on Mount Tabor was marred, despised, and rejected; the Master who changed water into wine accepted vinegar to quench his thirst. The Lord who raised Lazarus from the dead and restored his son to the widow of Nain went solitary into death and left his mother alone to bear the burden of her grief.

The ironies in our life do not match the stark contrasts of Jesus’ life, yet the payment that we will find in our commitment to working for, and loving, our neighbor may be equally disap-pointing effect. And the discouragement which must have marked Jesus’ life may find an echo in our own…

Please prayerfully commit to joining this, your Paulist Center Community, in our Three-Day Celebration of Jesus glorious triumph of life over death, of the promise of abundant life forever. This is less a “reenactment,” but more a celebration of what Jesus has done for us. An added attraction: Let’s gather by Zoom (how else?) after two of the Holy Week Services: within ten minues of the Easter Vigil ending (probably about 8:30pm) and within ten minutes of the Easter Sunday Mass ending (probably about 11am). The latter allows room for the Families who have their own ”coffee klatch” after their service. The links for both are just below the respective liturgical service. All are welcome.

Holy Week at the Paulist Center:

There are no places available for either Palm Sunday weekend or Easter Sunday Mass. So from today, only livestream services are available for Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. (This schedule and links, as needed, will be included in next week’s Missive as well.) Here are the Links:

Sunday, March 28th, Palm Sunday, 10am: YouTube link (available as a recording after 11:15am); here is the Order of Worship.

Wednesday, March 31st, 7pm Prayer Service, led by our LGBTQ Ministry. See the email missive for the Zoom link.

Thursday, April 1st, Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, 7pm. The YouTube link; here is the Order of Worship.

Friday, April 2nd, 12:05pm, Good Friday Ecumenical Seven Last Words Service. Here is the Zoom link and here is the Poster/program.

Friday, April 2nd, 3pm, Good Friday Celebration of the Lord’s Passion. The YouTube link; here is the Order of Worship.

Friday, April 2nd, 7pm. Social Justice Stations of the Cross led by our Young Adult Ministry. The Zoom link.

Saturday, April 3rd, 7pm, Easter Vigil Celebration. The YouTube link. Here is the Order of Worship. For after the service, here is the Zoom link. We’ll “gather” for about a half hour.

Sunday, April 4th, 10am Easter Sunday Mass. Zoom Link & Order of Worship available next Friday. About a half hour of Easter Greetings from/to all!

In discerning how to celebrate this most holy of weeks, we, as we have for the last year, been driven primarily by safety concerns in an era of Covid. This is not the time to let our guard down. While we have invested in better filters for our air circulation system, length of time in an enclosed space is one of the many factors affecting our decision. That is, the services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are longer than an hour. Currently, we try to keep our in-person worship to 45-50 minutes (sometimes this windy preacher does go on!). But by their structure, the Liturgies of Holy Week always go more than an hour. So we are doing all these virtually (in addition to our Ecumenical Seven Last Words and Stations of the Cross led by our Young Adult Ministry).


Improving Our Livestream Worship…

In order to improve our camera angles during our celebrations we are going to provide an order of worship with the music selections (rather than posting them on the screen). Here is the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. (This link will also be available on the YouTube broadcast and our website. You will also be able to scan a QR Code from your screen.) We continue to ask for your feedback as to how this is working for you. Here is the link for the Survey. Thank you for your participation.

Here is how you open two or more windows or appli-cations on your computer: Place your mouse on an empty area at the top of one of the windows, hold down the left mouse button, and drag the window to the left side of the screen. Now move it all the way over, as far as you can go, until your mouse won’t move anymore. This will allow you to view the Order of Worship and livestream without toggling back and forth!


From our Care for Our Common Home Ministry: “We Catholics share a strong tradition of embracing Lent with prayer, repentance, self-denial, and generous action. This year our Common Home ministry encourages us to use the Laudate Si “lens” the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’ for our Lenten practice. Here is one practical suggestion for action.

“Our Lenten practice this week is to learn more about responding to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. Consider educating yourself on Green legislation at the national, Commonwealth, or local level.”


If you can assist as a Minister of Hospitality with welcoming, seating, and directing people into and out of the Chapel, we would love to hear from you! If you are not in a vulnerable group with regard to COVID-19 and are willing and able to assist in this very important ministry, please contact Peter Ghiloni at peter@paulistcenter.org.


1) For the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, March 28th, Live-Streamed Liturgy/Mass from the Chapel, at 10am (available as recording at same link after 11:15am):
To use the Order of Worship, you may wish to
1.   Print it out to have in hand as you tune in; or
2.   Use a second “tab” in your browser for the Order, to alternate with viewing the Mass; or
3.   Bring it up on a second device (e.g., smart phone, iPad) while following the Liturgy on the Desktop.

2) Paulist Center Families’ Liturgy of the Word, 10am, Sunday:
See Fr. Mike’s Email Missive for the link details.

3) Paulist Center Rosary Circle. 7:30pm every Monday.
Here’s the Zoom Link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/487503158
pwd=aVFZb3BWNFBiQzZMSXdhbmo3NUozUT09
Meeting ID: 487 503 158; Passcode: 021078

4) All are welcome to a half-hour prayer gathering with/from the Paulist Center’s  LGBTQ+ led prayer next Wednesday, 7pm. See Fr. Michael’s email missive for the link.

Ways of Giving:

Our “Community Gift” is the Paulist Center’s tradition of giving away 5% of our weekend offerings, averaged out over the whole year, to a group outside of ourselves. This week we lift up Freedom Ministries, Inc. who provide rides for families to visit their children in prison  Thank you so much for your generosity!

We are so very grateful for your support during this time of uncertainly and financial peril. Here are two ways to give:

  1. To make a one-time or recurring donation using your bank account or credit card, click on the following link: https://tinyurl.com/DonatePaulistCenter
    Giving by text: Text 844-899-7511 with the amount you would like to donate (whole dollars only). Donations collected this way will be designated as part of the “Weekend Offering.”
  2. Giving by text: Text a whole dollar donation amount to 844-899-7511; this will be designated as your “Weekend Offering.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I conclude now with the Prophet Micah 6:8:

Our Faithful God has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God?

And let us pray for/with one another.
Michael
Michael McGarry, C.S.P.
Director, the Paulist Center

Along with Patty, Chuck, Susan, Peter, Dorothy, John, Barbara, Rob, Alvaro, and Sal. Please feel free to call upon your Pastoral Ministers if you wish.

I will be sending out something every Thursday or Friday as the COVID-19 restrictions continue.