On behalf of myself and the parish and school staff, I wish you and your family a Happy Easter. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops reminds us that “Jesus asked us to carry our cross with Him during this long Lent. This has been a time when we confront the reality that our life is fragile. This has been a time for us to reflect on what really matters and what makes life truly worth living. As we stand in the joyful light of Easter, we know that our world is still darkened by loss and despair. Jesus rises to tell us that His love is stronger than Death! And let us stay close to Mary, our Blessed Mother. May she help us always to carry our cross with her Son, that we may be raised up with Him and share in His Resurrection.”
Christian Women need your help!
We need your help on the following days:
- Saturday, March 30, at 9:00 am, to bring marked rummage from the shed to the gym.
- Please join us on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, April 1, 2, and 3, at 9:00 am to help unpack and place items on the correct tables.
- Join us on Saturday, April 6, at 1:00 pm to help pack leftover rummage. The Xaverian Fathers will take our treasures for their sale in June.
Any help you are able to give will be appreciated.
“The splendor of Christ risen from the dead has shone on the people redeemed by His blood, alleluia.”
- Ant. I, Lauds, Easter Sunday
After many weeks of “holy fasting” and the “battle against spiritual evils,” our campaign of “Christian service” now rejoices in the “renewal brought by [God’s] Spirit” along “the path to eternity” that is this “solemnity of the Lord’s Resurrection.” Indeed, our cause for rejoicing is great since “never again will they hunger and thirst, never again know scorching heat,” for “Christ has risen from the dead and will never die again, alleluia.” As Director of Lifelong Faith Formation, I would like to wish everyone a very blessed Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord! Happy Easter Sunday!
As we enter the joyful season of Easter, I would like to share a few suggestions for spiritual reading. First, I propose a title by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap, Preacher of the Papal Household under Popes St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis. In 1994, Cardinal Cantalamessa published a short book (only 128 pages) entitled The Mystery of Easter, in which he presented a deeply prayerful and theologically stirring examination of the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection. Published by the Liturgical Press, The Mystery of Easter offers readers an opportunity to “gain the insight to articulate this mystery within the liturgy and within life so that it will imbue with hope and awe all those who come to celebrate it.” You can purchase the book from the publisher at litpress.org or wherever books are sold online, including both Amazon.com and BN.com.
Secondly, I suggest Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s first novel, The Light Invisible (published in 1903). Cluny Media republished the novel in 2018, remarking that the novel offers an “exploration of miracles and mysticism in the natural world.” The story comprises “a series of connected anecdotes” that are recounted by an elderly priest in the light of the miracle and grace of Easter. The novel displays what Benson called 'a faculty common to all who possess a coherent spiritual life,’ one that permits the believer to “discern divine truths in each distinct element of the manifold variety of creation, guided at all times by the ultimate wisdom of Revelation.” This 200-page novel is available from the publisher at clunymedia.com or wherever books are sold online.
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Our K4 through 4th-grade students have been working on music and movement during music classes. After weeks of practice, the students performed their choreographed dances for their classmates.
Our 5th graders also showed their expertise on their recorders.
There were plenty of smiles and laughs as the students performed. It was an outstanding performance.
Remember, Jesus is the bread of life.
March 31 | Easter Sunday
Friends, our Easter Gospel contains St. John’s magnificent account of the Resurrection.
There are three key lessons that follow from the disquieting fact of the Resurrection. First, this world is not all there is. The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead shows as definitively as possible that God is up to something greater than we had imagined. We don’t have to live as though death were our master and as though nihilism was the only coherent point of view. We can, in fact, begin to see this world as a place of gestation toward something higher, more permanent, more splendid.
Second, the tyrants know that their time is up. Remember that the cross was Rome’s way of asserting its authority. But when Jesus was raised from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit, the first Christians knew that Caesar’s days were, in point of fact, numbered. The faculty lounge interpretation of the Resurrection as a subjective event or a mere symbol is exactly what the tyrants of the world want, for it poses no real threat to them.
Third, the path of salvation has been opened to everyone. Jesus went all the way down, journeying into pain, despair, alienation, even godforsakenness. He went as far as you can go away from the Father. Why? In order to reach all those who had wandered from God. In light of the Resurrection, the first Christians came to know that even as we run as fast as we can away from the Father, we are running into the arms of the Son.
Let us not domesticate these still-stunning lessons of the Resurrection. Rather, let us allow them to unnerve us, change us, and set us on fire.
-Bishop Robert Barron
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St. John’s is fortunate to have 24-hour Perpetual Adoration. Please take advantage of this beautiful opportunity to stay close to God.
There is currently one hour available:
Wednesdays from Noon to 1:00 pm
We also need a second Adorer on:
Wednesdays from 11:00 pm to Midnight
Sundays from 11:00 pm to Midnight
Other hours are available for a second Adorer as well.
Call or text Mary-Eileen Swart at 414-687-3512 if you are interested.
Live-streaming: Mass and Adoration
We are live-streaming daily and Sunday Masses as well as Adoration for those who are unable to attend:
Daily Masses:
Monday thru Saturday 8:00 am
Weekend Masses:
Saturday at 4:30 pm
Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 am
If you miss the Livestream, you can watch the upload of each Mass on our YouTube channel.
Scrip is available at all weekend Masses or during regular business hours at the parish office.
Download the RaiseRight app to reload cards, purchase ecards, or purchase physical cards. Contact the Parish Office or School Office for the enrollment code.
Learn more about the National Eucharistic Congress from Father Rocky in this short 2-minute video. All your questions are answered here – give it a watch now!