Dear Friends of our Pastorate of the Visitation,
This weekend begins our journey through the holiest week of the year with the celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Palm Sunday. Holy Week offers us many opportunities to experience Jesus’ journey from the Last Supper, to his Cross, and to his Resurrection. I encourage you to take some time this week to enter into these solemn days of prayer and fasting with a sense of reverence and reflection upon what our Savior Jesus Christ accomplished for us by his Passion. I invite you and encourage you to join us as we celebrate these liturgies together as one Pastorate Community. They are very powerful experiences of the Lord’s overwhelming love for us… a love that led him to freely take up His Cross.
Here are the Holy Week and Triduum schedules for the Pastorate:
- Tenebrae (@SJF), Tuesday, March 31st at 8:00pm – a sensory commemoration of Christ’s suffering
- Holy Thursday (@ SJF), April 2nd – 7:00pm Mass followed by Adoration until 9:00pm
- Good Friday, April 3rd –
- Stations of the Cross – 12:00pm at SJF; 3:00pm at OLC (youth led)
(Communion is NOT distributed at these services.) - Passion of the Lord – 3:00pm at SJF
- Passion of the Lord – 7:00pm at OLC
(Communion will be distributed at these services.)
- Stations of the Cross – 12:00pm at SJF; 3:00pm at OLC (youth led)
- Blessing of the Easter Foods, Holy Saturday, April 4th – 9:00am at SJF, 12:00pm at OLC
- Pastorate Easter Vigil (@ OLC), April 4th –
8:00pm at Our Lady of the Chesapeake
(There will be no Confessions and no 4:00pm nor 5:00pm Masses on April 4th) - Easter Sunday, April 5th –
SJF: 8:00am, 10am, 12:00pm (Note time change).
OLC: 8:00am, 9:30am, 11am (Note time changes).
Fr. Steve and Fr. John will be at the Triduum liturgies as well as the Easter Vigil. Fr. Steve will celebrate Masses on Easter Sunday at OLC. Fr. John will be celebrating Easter Sunday Masses at St. Jane Frances. The 10:00am Mass at SJF and the 11:00am Mass at OLC will offer homilies geared toward the children of the pastorate.
In addition to the events listed above, the Archdiocesan Chrism Mass will take place on Monday, March 30th at 7:00pm at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. At this Mass, the Archbishop will bless the holy oils to be used for anointing of the sick and the catechumens, as well as consecrate the Sacred Chrism that will be used for Baptisms, Confirmations, and Holy Orders during the coming year. The priests of the Archdiocese will also renew the promises we made at our ordinations. This celebration is open to the public and all are invited to attend. As a priest, I know I am always thankful to see current (and former) parishioners in attendance. Please consider joining us.
The final opportunities for the Sacrament of Reconciliation before Easter will be offered by Fr. Steve on Tuesday, March 31st from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at St. Jane Frances and on Wednesday, April 1st from 5:30pm to 6:30pm at Our Lady of the Chesapeake.
Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of the Visitation—St. Jane Frances de Chantal and Our Lady of the Chesapeake—in your daily prayers!
God Bless,
Fr. Steve
