I pray you have a blessed beginning to your Lenten journey! Know that the Lord has good things in store for you as you make space in your heart for Him through fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These Lenten disciplines make us experience a certain poverty, vulnerability, and dependency on God. These are good realities to experience when we consider that God always gives us grace in our emptiness to fall more deeply in love with Him.

Lenten Mission Invite: Come to our Lenten Mission in the church this week! Jon Leonetti will speak on Monday, March 7 and Tuesday, March 8, both nights beginning at 6:30 p.m.. The theme is "Surge of the Heart" and promises to be an uplifting and invigorating kickstart to our Lenten journey.

Updated COVID Guidance: Data indicates that the rates of infection of the COVID-19 virus are rapidly dropping in our area and will continue to drop. As a result, local health care systems are lessening operational restrictions. Consequently, after consultation with local medical experts and a review of the latest information from public health officials, the Diocese of Cleveland offers some revised COVID guidelines.

• Signs for masking will no longer be posted in the church. We will continue to provide a station with masks and hand sanitizer at the church entrance for the next two weekends to help people get acclimated to the new reality. Please follow your doctor’s advice regarding wearing a mask in public places.
• Ministers of Holy Communion are no longer required to wear masks during the distribution of Holy Communion. Since we have visiting priests in and out until Fr. Spisak returns, we will keep the alcohol solution between the presider and deacon for the next two weekends to help people get acclimated to the new reality.
• Distribution of the Precious Blood to the congregation remains prohibited until further notice.
• The Mass obligation remains in place, except for those of us who are ill, have significant health risk factors or care for someone who is immune-compromised or ill, as well as those who have significant fear or anxiety about contracting the coronavirus in a large group of persons.
  Thank you for your attention to the above guidelines. I pray that we can continue to come out of the pandemic healthy and holy as the Church.

Listening Sessions Second Theme – Worship: I am eager to continue sharing with you the fruits of our November Listening Sessions. This week we reflect on the second main theme that was highlighted, Worship, with its sub-themes of prayerful environment, music, and traditions. The number in parentheses corresponds to the number of times that particular sub-theme was mentioned in parishioner comments.

• Prayerful Environment: Believing that Jesus Christ is present among us in a unique way in the Eucharist and wanting to acknowledge that presence with reverence and respect, there is a desire to deepen the prayerful environment in the church of St. Mary. (11)
• Music: Liturgical music is recognized as a meaningful and essential way to encourage participation and to offer praise and worship to our loving God. (11)
• Traditions: Various devotions as well as signs and symbols of praise and adoration are a cherished part of our Catholic heritage and expression of faith. (30) 

The Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy is held in highest esteem in the Catholic way of life, so all its characteristics and elements are also treasured at heart and treated with reverence. Through the liturgy, we come to know who we really are because it is there where we meet Jesus and know him to be the fullness of humanity. In a recent document, written by the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States, we are reminded:

We have been reborn in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist so that we may live in communion with God and one another, not only today but also in the fullness of the heavenly Kingdom. To worship God on Sundays, then, is not the mere observance of a rule but the fulfillment of our identity, of who we are as members of the Body of Christ. Participation in the Mass is an act of love (The Mystery of the Eucharist In the Life of the Church, USCCB, 2021).

It is out of that very love that those who attended the November Listening Sessions expressed their perspective for the best possible celebration of this august sacrament. As noted above, attention to a prayerful environment, the importance of liturgical music, and interest in various traditions and devotional activities were raised as areas of consideration for future parish planning.

I encourage you pray with these themes, and visit https://stmarychardon.org/worship-1 to read through the individual comments expressed at the listening session.