My Dear Ones in Christ,
There’s a lot to cover today, so I’ll get right to it. First of all, a message from our Bishop:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
There has been a substantial spike in Covid-19 cases. Please remember that the Sunday Mass obligation is temporarily suspended for everyone. While I am permitting our parishes to have Masses this weekend, I nevertheless encourage everyone to consider remaining at home and joining with the Church in prayer through technology. For those who wish to attend a Mass in person, face masks are mandatory. I especially urge those who are classified in the CDC Guidelines as vulnerable to remain at home and let the Church come to you. Hopefully our fast from full Church participation will soon come to a close. The Church loves you and only wants you to be safe and well.
Also, if your personal financial situation has not been harmed, then please keep up your generous support of your parish. Keeping utilities paid and providing for our employees and ministers is crucial.
Your devotion to Christ and His Church moves me deeply. Know that the people of the Diocese are daily in my prayers.
+Edward J. Weisenburger
Bishop of Tucson
For those of you who have children of Faith Formation age, our Director of Faith Formation, Tomas Baca, has placed all the information concerning the entire Faith Formation Program on our website at www.cabrinitucson.org. While the parish and its programs remain closed due to the pandemic, the information contained on the website will prepare you for what to expect when we are once again are free to return to “normal operations.” Tom is also preparing a flier which will also be used to spread the word about our Faith Formation Program.
May I strongly urge all of you to stay indoors as much as possible due not only to the Covid-19 situation, but due to the heavy smoke in the area caused by the fires in the Santa Catalinas? It has been doing a real number on me to the point where I had to spend time out of the city this past week just to get away from the smoke’s effects. It could have a similar effect on you too so, please, try to remain indoors. It’s not good out there, kids!
Does all of this seem like an awful cross that you’re having to carry these days? How fortuitous, then, that our Gospel reading for this weekend contains these familiar but often misunderstood words of Jesus, “… and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” In our humanity, don’t we find it difficult to look beyond the terrible burden and suffering of the cross? If we look beyond those things, we can ask ourselves the “why” of the cross. Why did Jesus embrace His cross and its suffering? It was because that above all things He loved His Father with a love beyond all telling. His cross was and is a message to us still that what we embrace, even the most difficult and painful things, if it is done for and with our love for God, then there will be a rich, rich reward. I was reminded recently that Golgotha was only for a few hours; Easter is forever! We hear every day and in every way that these are difficult times, and they are. Could we perhaps look upon them not as terrible and painful times but rather as times in which we allow our love for God to grow and deepen? Let’s take up the cross of these times with renewed love for Him.
I’m missing you, and I’m loving you all more and more all the time!
Fr. Jay