All of these things will be in place until April 6th.

1. We won’t have any masses or activities at the church including any masses or prayer services (reconciliation, stations of the cross, etc.) So this means we won’t have choir practices as well.

I know that this includes Palm Sunday, and that this means that will not be practicing right before Holy Week.  The good news is- God is merciful, and will understand if we are not at our very best for Holy Week this year.  I plan to have the Holy Week schedule ready in the next week, and will make it available to you so that can familiarize yourself with the songs.  If there are relevant resources like rehearsal tracks or youtube links, I will also make those available to you so you can practice on your own.  We’ll see what the future holds and if we be allowed to even have mass after April 6th.  It will likely depend on how things are going, and how many are infected with Covid-19.  For now, the plan is to have mass for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday.  If I hear any changes, I will communicate them to you as soon as I can.  Unfortunately, this also means that the Requiem is cancelled at St. Paul’s as well because it’s just not feasible to bring everyone together without rehearsal, and there won’t be time to do it.  St Paul’s has decided to also close for several weeks, so they are not rehearsing the Requiem either.  Hopefully, it can be rescheduled— and if St. Paul’s can’t reschedule, we’ll perform it at St. Mary’s eventually.  I’m disappointed for sure, but everything will be fine.  We’ll figure out all of this as time goes by.

2. The church office is open for whatever business you may have, and the church will keep some regular business hours if you’d like to come in and pray before the Blessed Sacrament.

3.  Let’s remember friends that music is not cancelled, God is not cancelled, and neither is love and friendship cancelled.  We can be sure that God is still is being praised, and the church continues her prayer without ceasing.  We can join in solidarity with those people who only have the privilege of celebrating mass once or twice per year in remote parts of the world—people who are deprived of the Eucharist and Mass for months on end.   This is a minor inconvenience, and a time for us to turn to God in prayer, and to reflect this Lent on our own actions and relationships to really see if we are walking the path of Jesus.

Be well, and stay healthy, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and to one another if you have any needs.  We are a family and we are here to help each other.

For your reflection this weekend, I encourage you read the scriptures that we would have heard at this link: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/031520.cfm

Since we hear the story of the Woman the Well and her encounter with Jesus this week, I offer for your reflection a well-known favorite of many of us: The River Is Here.

I’ll be in touch with updates as the days go by.

Best,

Dan