Dear Friends,
You will obviously note that beginning today the statues in the church are covered or shrouded by purple cloths. This is an ancient tradition in the Catholic Church. It started in Germany in the ninth century with the extending of a large cloth before the altar from the beginning of Lent. This cloth hid the altar entirely from the parishioners during Lent and was not removed until during the reading of the Passion on Holy Wednesday at the words ‘the veil of the temple was torn in two.’ Later on in the Middle Ages, the images of crosses and saints were also covered from the start of Lent. The rule of limiting this veiling to Passiontide (from this Sunday until the Easter Vigil) came later in the 17th century. So why do we do it?
There are a number of spiritual answers. The first is that we are increasing our fasting these last weeks of Lent. Now, we also fast visually from images of glory and victory, so that we can focus our attention on the Lenten journey. The second answer is that it focuses all attention on the cross which will be adored on Good Friday. The third is a spiritual answer, in this time in which we mystically enter into the historical realities of Jesus’ final days; it is not fitting to have an image presented. Just like we do not celebrate Mass on Good Friday, so we enter into a time of emptiness to contemplate all that Jesus did for us in his suffering and death.
It is also a reminder to us that Lent is coming to an end. So, if you have not grown in your relationship with God to this point in Lent, you need to make some choices to do so now. There is one last chance to join us for our Lenten Thursday series. This week, Fr. Tom Greisen will be with us. He is the Servant Minister for the Archdiocese working with all the diocesan priests and helping us grow holiness. He is a wise and holy man who will give an excellent presentation. Join us Thursday evening at 7:00.
Our new website went live this week. The purpose of the website is to invite visitors to Omaha to join us, new neighbors to join us, and to provide a calendar for parishioners of parish events. Go and visit the new site at www.stcabriniomaha.org.
Our campaign to have the bells ring again is going very well and we are nearing the $10,000 match amount. That should take care of getting the bells to ring, but one other item that has to be done at the same time is the tuck pointing of the bell tower to make sure that no stones fall off the tower once we start ringing the bells again. We have just begun the process of getting bids for that project. So, if you have not donated yet, please consider doing so. Then we can get the tuck pointing done as well.
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was exploring a pilgrimage to Sicily and Rome this fall as part of the Jubilee Year. I now have a clear price from the tour company. For a thirteen day trip to Sicily and Rome with a departure date of October 17, the cost would be $4,175. They claim that is the best price they can come up with given airfare and hotel costs. If you would still be interested in going given that cost, please let me know and I will have the company proceed with booking and the printing of brochures. They would like a decision before Easter. So, let me know soon.
Since we have been having confessions every Thursday during Lent from 5:30 to 7:00 in addition to our Saturday times, we will not be doing a Reconciliation Service before Easter. If you want to go to confession before Easter, please take the opportunity to use these extra times.
As part of our planning for the repair of the Christ Child center, it would be helpful to know how many meeting rooms to have available for parish and community meetings. If you are a part of a group that meets regularly and you think they would want to meet in this building, please let us know at the parish office so we can add those meetings to our planning process. Thanks for your help with this and we will keep you updated on the planning process.
Peace,
Fr. Damian