Holy Week 2021 Schedule

Holy Week 2021 Schedule

Saturday March 27

Confessions at 8am-9am and 2:30pm-4:30pm

Vigil Masses for Palm Sunday at 5pm and 7pm at St Mary

Palm Sunday March 28

Mass at 7am, 8:30am (LIVESTREAMED), 10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm (Spanish)(LIVESTREAMED), 5pm, and 7pm at St Mary

Mass at Holy Cross (This is our High Risk Parishioner Mass, all attendees required to wear masks and receive Communion in the hand) 8:30am and 10:30am

Monday March 29

6:30am, 9am (LIVESTREAMED), 12pm Mass at St Mary

Confessions 11:30am-12pm in the PLC, Confessions 6:30pm-7:30pm in the PLC

Tuesday March 30

6:30am and 9am (LIVESTREAMED) Mass at St Mary

Confessions 11:30am-12pm in the PLC, Confessions 6:30pm-7:30pm in the PLC

Wednesday March 31

6:30am, 9am (LIVESTREAMED), 12pm Mass at St Mary

Confessions 11:30am-12pm in the PLC, Confessions 6:30pm-8:30pm in the PLC

Holy Thursday April 1

9am Office of Reading and Morning Prayer Live Streamed Only at 9am (LIVESTREAMED)

7:30pm Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Fredericksburg Expo Center, followed by Adoration until Midnight in the Church (LIVESTREAMED)

Good Friday April 2

9am Office of Reading and Morning Prayer Live Streamed Only (LIVESTREAMED)

12pm-2:30pm The Tre Ore (The Seven Last Words of Christ) at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

12pm-2pm: Confessions at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LAST CONFESSIONS BEFORE EASTER)

3pm: The Passion and Veneration of the Holy Cross at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

7pm Stations of the Cross at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

8pm: Spanish Stations of the Cross at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

Holy Saturday April 3

9am Office of Reading and Morning Prayer Live Streamed Only (LIVESTREAMED)

11am Blessing of Easter Food at the Fredericksburg Expo Center

8:30pm: The Easter Vigil at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

Easter Sunday April 4

8am Mass at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

10:15am Mass at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

12:30pm Mass at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

2:30pm Special Confirmation Mass at 2:30pm all at the Fredericksburg Expo Center (LIVESTREAMED)

Please note that as guests of the Fredericksburg Expo Center, all attendees are required to wear masks while inside the building and to follow the directions of the parish and Expo center employees and volunteers.

 

From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Dear Folks,

What a year it has been. We have passed the one year anniversary of the shutdown, and many folks are beginning to feel more comfortable returning to Mass. For that I am grateful. I have received several emails from folks wondering just how the accommodations for COVID precautions will affect their experience of praying the Mass. Or alternatively, emails from folks who recently returned and are grateful for those accommodations. We are going to begin including altar servers once again at our Masses and recently sent an email to reconnect with the team. If you did not receive an email or are interested in altar serving please email stmaryfxbg@gmail.com. A quick word of thanks to Vicky Kopcak who has faithfully directed this ministry for many years, may God reward you, and a welcome to Lara Traylor who is taking the reins moving forward.

I must also thank the many staff members and volunteers who have displayed great generosity in serving during this pandemic. It has required a degree of flexibility and understanding in the face of ever-changing parameters and requirements from the Commonwealth. I honestly don’t think that most parishioners understands how difficult it has been this year to keep this parish running. I will leave you with these words of Pope Benedict in an address to Volunteers from 2008:

“Volunteers want to be asked, they want to be told: “I need you” – “You can do it!” How good it feels to hear words like these! In their human simplicity, they unwittingly point us to the God who has called each of us into being and given us a personal task, the God who needs us and awaits our response. Jesus called men and women, and gave them the courage needed to embark on a great undertaking, one to which, by themselves, they would never have dared to aspire. To allow oneself to be called, to make a decision and then to set out on a path – without the usual questions about whether it is useful or profitable – this attitude will naturally bring healing in its wake. The saints have shown us this path by their lives. It is a fascinating and thrilling path, a path of generosity and, nowadays, one which is much needed. To say “yes” to volunteering to help others is a decision which is liberating; it opens our hearts to the needs of others, to the requirements of justice, to the defense of life and the protection of creation. Volunteer work is really about the heart of the Christian image of God and man: love of God and love of neighbor.”

Brothers and Sisters, you are wanted, needed, appreciated and loved! Welcome back to all of our parish members, and all who work so hard to make St. Mary’s a family!

pax,

Father John Mosimann

March 21, 2021
V Sunday of Lent
From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Dear Folks,

St. Ignatius has a principle of the spiritual life called the ‘particular examen.’ It means that once a day, (maybe with night prayers, or lunch, or in the car ride home), we stop what we are doing and examine that very day with regards to one particular sin or fault. Do this for a year, relentlessly and honestly looking, and you can root out a lot of sin. And if you don’t know what sin to relentlessly examen, then ask your spouse or parents.

Maybe I am harsh and judgmental, and want to ask the Lord for the grace to be more merciful. What if you made this your particular examen, “Where did I miss today an opportunity for mercy?” Anyone who asks this honestly will find several ways that he or she can improve.

Mercy is the enduring constant love of God. I know I have repeated this to you before, but one of our RCIA folks defined mercy and grace thus: “Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve.” “Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve.”

I need Mercy. You need Mercy. We all need Mercy. Let’s help to give it to one another. Forgive someone who is not asking for forgiveness. Forgive someone who refuses to repent from their error. Forgive the one who has hurt you most keenly.

Oh yeah…. and confessions: the more you do the difficult work of extending mercy to others, the more you will experience and treasure the Lord’s gift of mercy to you.

Whatever you decide needs to be the focus of your own personal particular examen, it is a great tool for making progress in the spiritual life.

A Blessed Lent to each member of our parish family.

pax,

Father John Mosimann

March 14, 2021
IV Sunday of Lent