Easter 2018
Gloria in Excelsis Deo!
________________________________________
Daily Sermons
March 20 – Fr. McKenna – Babylonian Musings
March 21 – Fr. McKenna – Actions Speak Louder than Words
March 22 – Fr. McKenna – St. Isidore and the First Fruits
March 29 – Bp. Dolan – Why the Foot Washing?
March 29 – Bp. Dolan – At the Maundy
________________________________________
✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Happy Easter! Spring snuck up on us, coming at last disguised in the overcast and rain, teasing the overdue flowers out of the ground and into bloom. But wasn’t Palm Sunday grand? Cold and bright, if you caught a sunbeam you didn’t mind standing outside. Meek little Eddie the donkey proudly led our “demonstration” for Christ the King, escorted by a choir of children. The choir of angels sang out loudly in Our Lord’s praises, and the straw subdeacon struck the door thrice with due deliberation. The Ingrediente was sublime this year, the men’s voices adding weight and balance as we triumphantly entered Jerusalem, Heaven, all warm and bright. Excellent attendance all day long, with many visitors and guests. The Low Masses were mostly long and quiet, the celebrant’s cadences rising and falling as he told the story of the Passion in its sonorous Latin. Plenty of time for reflection and prayer as we stood holding palms at the gateway of Holy Week.
And now it is Easter, and all is done, fittingly and beautifully so. It is done for God’s glory and for the passing on of the Faith, the reclaiming of what “they” tried to steal from us so long ago. More and more even conservative Novus Ordo Catholics are realizing and rejecting the destruction wrought by that Modernist and Mason, Bugnini, already back in the 1950’s, the “great architect” of the New Mass. May all eyes be opened to the unbearable scandal he represents.
But on this “day of days” I wish to acknowledge and thank those who are helping us build as we have for so long, on a truly Catholic foundation, especially for Holy Week. God reward your many contributions, your work and assistance. Your name is a proud part of a long list. I know that you give as you do out of love, love and a strong Faith. May Our Lord reward you by ever increasing your charity.
Fr. Lehtoranta is conducting Holy Week at our St. Hugh Chapel in Milwaukee. On Easter he goes to visit his family in Finland, “Green Card” firmly in hand. He’s waited a long time for this visit. We are grateful to Father for all of his efforts, and wish him a wonderful trip. He returns home on Low Sunday. His April looks to be a busy one indeed.
Fr. McKenna has already departed for North Dakota, where his faithful are delighted to be blessed with their first Easter Morning Mass. He will be covering Milwaukee for First Friday, and then returning here next weekend. We have been edified and happy to have our French seminarian, Mr. Henry Chappot de la Chanonie with us again for Holy Week as he was for Christmas. Late tomorrow night the rest of the gang arrive for Easter vacation, Thomas Simpson, Anthony Brueggemann and Tobias Bayer. They’ve worked very hard this semester and we wish them a pleasant vacation. Oh, and what would we have done without Andy, our Michigan friend, who has been such a help in the sacristy these days. Some of hardworking Fr. McGuire’s faithful are with us this morning from Effingham, Illinois, for a Baptism. We welcome them and salute his growing Holy Face Mission.
We miss, today, of course, Katie Bischak and Sharon Patton, so much a part of our lives here for so long. But they are in good hands, we know, and they know we are as well. They have gone on before, victory in hand.
I’m writing this on a wet Spy Wednesday, confident that a glorious Easter awaits us all, who have watched and prayed and waited with Christ in the Holy Mass since St. Valentine’s Day, the day of ashes. We’ve done a fair amount of eating, as we do each Lent, but also much fasting and preaching and praying, and most of all many Holy Masses. Deo Gratias!
Happy, blessed Easter to you all! The Mass continues.
– Bishop Dolan