From the Desk of Father Nathan

A Message from Father Nathan

My dearest people who are all close to my heart!

Lots of love, blessings, and prayers to you all.

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Holy Week — a very sacred time of year.

Holy Week is most definitely a very sacred time of year, for it is when we will commemorate and remember the last week of Jesus’ life on this earth. These are the days leading up to the great Easter Feast.

The Lenten season of sacrifice and self-denial is about to come to an end, but the coming week is extremely important to all of us. The greatest focus of the week is the Passion (suffering) and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the events that led up to it. Especially important for Catholics is the Easter Triduum. These are the three days just before Easter.

Easter Tridium —Holy Week Celebrations

Those days are:

Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) The Last Supper & Washing of the Feet

where we reenact the Lord’s Last Supper, which He shared with His apostles on the night He was betrayed and arrested. This is one of the most beautiful liturgies of the entire liturgical year. At the Mass, the priest will wash the feet of twelve individuals, just as Jesus did for His apostles. Also, on this night, priests all over the world will renew their sacred vows: but, due to practical issues and difficulties, we will have it in our church/diocese on Tuesday. This is because, at the Last Supper, Jesus not only instituted the Mass (Eucharist) but also the ministerial priesthood.

Good Friday

On Good Friday, the day of the crucifixion and death of our Lord, we have the veneration of the Cross. A service is held. We go forward and kiss the Cross in order to show honor and respect for Christ’s sacrifice for our sake. There is no consecration of the Eucharist on this day, and the Communion we do receive will be from the night before, which has been reserved in the tabernacle.

Then on the third day – Holy Saturday there is a Vigil. We keep watch for the rising of our Savior. By paying the price for our sins on the Cross, He gained our eternal salvation, and heaven was opened once more. Also on this night, persons who have spent months of preparation will be received through Baptism and Confirmation into the Catholic Church for the first time. We are fortunate to have one of our people going to do this. It is a joyous occasion.

Please on these days, rather than waiting for the last moment, please make a good confession and prepare yourselves to enter this mystery of Christ.

Let Us pray for Peace among nations

Let us, on these days of Holy Lent pray for peace among nations. I don’t want to go into the politics of what’s going on now.

But, the life of ordinary people who have the right and want to live a peaceful life, their life is disturbed, bothered and hence they are in tension. Let us pray for the end of war and for peace in our world of worlds! Let us pray that the leaders understand their role and responsibility and allow people to live in harmony.

As we pray for the end of war, let us also pray for ourselves that our hearts will be freed from envy, grudges, jealousy, and hatred, and may it be replaced with peace and happiness.

God bless you all.

With lots of love and blessing.

Ever at your service.

—Fr. Sahayanathan Nathan