Please gather at the Calvary scene statues in St. Elizabeth Cemetery at 9:30 AM when Fr. Harlow will bless graves. Blessings will take place at Mt. Calvary Cemetery at 10:30 AM.

The Easter season comprises Easter Sunday, the Easter Octave, and the weeks following through Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter), ending at Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter. During the Easter season, we hear at Mass stories of the Resurrection from the Acts of the Apostles: Mary Magdalene and the apostles at the tomb, the Lord’s appearance on the road to Emmaus, His meeting with the apostles on the shore of Lake Tiberias, and other familiar accounts. If you usually pray the Angelus, you will replace it during the Easter season with the Regina Caeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer. The Easter season offers plenty of time to celebrate the holiday, with Easter egg hunts, flowers, springtime animals such as lambs, rabbits, and baby chicks in toys and baked goods, and special treats from the Easter basket, a homemade lamb cake or Easter bread. The Easter season also is the time for making one’s Easter duty, the Church’s requirement that we receive Holy Communion during this season.

As we end this Easter season, our Mass today recounts Our Lord bidding farewell to his apostles at the Last Supper, with a moving avowal of his love for them and his firm resolve to glorify his Father in Heaven through his own suffering and death. Our readings describe the apostles returning from the Mount of Olives after the Ascension to gather in the Upper Room, marshalling their strength to receive the Holy Spirit and go forth to spread the Gospel and meet persecution and martyrdom. Next Sunday is the great Solemnity of Pentecost.

Here is the Mass schedule for Ascension Thursday: 8:30 AM at St. John; 12:00 Noon at Queen of Peace; 7:00 PM at St. Elizabeth. There is no parish vigil Mass on Wednesday.

Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 14, 2023 The Advocate Is Coming We mark important points in the Easter season with today’s sixth Sunday, the celebration this week of the Ascension of Our Lord, and the approach of Pentecost. Today, we hear another episode from the Acts of the Apostles when Philip, Peter, and John travel to proclaim Christ to the Gentiles and to perform miraculous cures. Peter’s Letter advises a Christian to gently persuade the unbeliever. The Gospel of John sees Jesus with his disciples promising them another great event, the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

In our Fifth Week of Easter, Sunday’s readings and Gospel bring reassurance that Jesus will take care of us. We hear in our first reading how the early Church grew and strengthened, with its members overcoming discord and deciding how to organize their communities, as well as ordaining new leaders. Our Psalm affirms our trust in the Lord’s mercy and goodness. Another reading from St. Peter’s First Letter bids us come to God, as his chosen people. Last, the Gospel from John finds Jesus consoling his anxious disciples, telling them that He is preparing a place for them, as he asserts His identity as one with the Father.

The class will pray the rosary at St. John this Sunday, May 7 at 11:00 AM. Please join our candidates as they prayerfully prepare for their reception of the Sacrament.

Sunday, May 7 will be a great day for our First Communion class as ten students receive Our Lord for the first time. St. Elizabeth communicants will make their First Communion at the 9:35 AM Mass. St. John's children will receive at the 11:30 AM Mass.

The Confirmation Mass begins at 11:00 AM at St. John. Please pray for our young people receiving this sacrament: Collin Classen, Samuel Giroux, Michael Hawkins, Callum McGregor, Vincent Mello, Brennan Mulligan, Griffin Pierce, Aoife Warner, and Rowan Warner.