Young Disciples Are Called Forth

Holy Thursday -the remembrance of the Lord's Last Supper when he washed the feet of His 12 Apostles and telling them to do likewise-be a servant leader.

Fr. Ariel Lustan, Pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains Parish, did the same at the Holy Thursday Services. Fr. Ariel chose 12 boys to have their feet washed. They were from 4th-8th grade; six were from All Saints Catholic School and six were from the Religious Ed. Program of the Parish.

Fr. Ariel told the parishioners before Mass started that he chose to wash the feet of the youngest disciples  of our Parish in hopes that they will go out and serve others and also that some of them might be a priest some day to serve the church.

The disciples processed into church and took their places in front-six on each side.



Father A was assisted at Mass by Deacon Jose, who as a Deacon is ordained to serve the church.

 

Father Ariel's Homily talked about the "Four Bones in the Parish"

1. Wishbone-wish the parish would do this, wish the parish would have this but does nothing to make the wishes come true.

2. Jawbone-They talk a lot about people behind their backs, cutting them down, not building them up.

3. Knucklebone-They knock people down when ever they can by criticizing what others do.

4. BACKBONE-Responsible for making the body stand erect. These people in the parish help the parish accomplish ideas and helps the parish to grow.

THE WASHING OF THE FEET



Washing the feet with soap

 

Mother Teresa told us not to be afraid to touch the feet of anyone. It is a service to wash the feet of others. When Mother Teresa washed the feet of someone whose feet were very scarred, the person said-"You couldn't pay me a million dollars to wash the feet of others like this." And Mother Teresa replied, "You couldn't pay me either."

Repeating what Jesus did to the 12 Apostles the night before He died.

After the Washing of the Feet, the oils were brought forth that were blessed by Bishop Kicanas on Monday at St. Augustine's Cathedral in Tucson at The Chrism Mass.

Oil of Catechumens, Oil of the Sick, Sacred Chrism

 

At the consecration of the Mass, Fr. Ariel, changed the unleaven bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ (transubstantiation) just like Christ did at the Last Supper.

 

 

The Body of Christ was then broken and all ate of it.

 

At the close of Mass all processed out of church behind the Blessed Sacrament.

Processing outside to the Parish Hall where Adoration will take place till midnight. We, too, like the Apostles, are asked to stay awake and pray with Our Lord as He did that night in the Garden of Olives; asking His Father in heaven for the strength to do the Father's will. May we too ask God what His will is for us and may we have the strength to accept it and do it-may we be a "backbone".

 

Come and pray with me a little while.

Holy Week Preparations

It is hard to believe just one more week of Lent. I can taste the ice cream and meat!

Holy Week is the holiest of all weeks and I feel the busiest of weeks also.

Saturday was our RCIA Retreat. I am the sponsor for one of our school parents coming in to the church. I was also asked to give a one hour talk for the RCIA retreat held Saturday at La Purisema Retreat Center in Hereford.

 

 

The theme given to me to speak on was -"Make Jesus Your #1 Priority". I used an email message someone sent me about "The Empty Pickle Jar". I put golf balls in the jar as the things that are our #1 priority-your faith and family.

 Next, I poured some pebbles in representing the next priorities in our life like our job and friends. Finally, I poured sand to fill in the spaces-these are the other things that matter in life.

If we started with the sand first in the jar, there would be no space for our priorities like Jesus.  I then poured some chocolate milk into the quart jar and everyone went "Oh no, Sister!" because the jar looked quite beautiful with the yellow golf balls, glass pebbles and the white sand. So I poured a little chocolate milk in and stopped. I then said, "In one's life there is always room for Chocolate" Everyone laughed and cheered and I passed out chocolate to all and then continued my talk.


Fr. Ariel, my pastor, was next and his theme was " Finding A New Identity"- Lose Yourself to find Yourself" . There were two other talks in the afternoon.

 Father "A"  told us the story of the serpent tempting Adam and Eve. He said, too bad Adam and Eve weren't Filipino as they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple!  A Filipino lady in the group agreed with him.

Palm Sunday was next and we started outside for our 7:30am Mass. As you can see the sun is shining brightly.

These were our decorations for Palm Sunday.

This truly tells you it is "PALM SUNDAY"!

In Father Ariel's homily he gave us suggestions what to do for Holy Week which he gleaned from another priest. Each idea began with one letter from HOLY WEEK! Here are a few of the suggestions: H-Halt in what you are busy with and give time to God, O-turn off the TV or IPad and spend some time in prayer, L-Listen in silence for God comes to us in the quietness, Y-Yield to God's call to us; E-erase sin and guilt by going to confession before Easter, K-Kneel in humility ( my favorite part of the suggestions).

Since I didn't have RCIA class Sunday evening I had time to bake the matzo for the school's Seder Meal on Tuesday. There will be 76 of us so I made 10 matzo bread. I have the recipe memorized after this: 1/3 cup wheat flour, 2/3 cup white flour, 1/2 cup of tonic water. Bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees, turned over and bake 3 more minutes.

Earlier in the week I made 8 lamb cakes. Instead of buying them at the store I decided it was time to buy the lamb mold and try to bake it myself. I was so pleased that they turned out. I didn't lose a single lamb's ear.

 Tomorrow I have help in frosting them. After this it is off to Tucson to attend the Chrism Mass.