The hope of this Easter season was realized through the extraordinary services of Holy Week and Easter.  There are many thanks to go around, especially to Fr. Stuart for pitching in during his time of bereavement.  Thanks to our Assisting Priest, Fr. Sprague, whose calm demeanor and steady hand has been just the right tone for this time of transition to our return to wholeness and strength.  I thank Deacon Johnson for his indefatigable efforts and serene character for making sure our Prayer services continue and with aiding his fellow clergy at Masses.

 

I thank John Thornbury for his tireless efforts on the Altar Guild to see that all the details behind the scenes of the Masses were taken care of.  I Thank the MC's, Shireen Baker, Clark Dilly, Efrain Cisneros and Reece Thomson for taking on the complexities of the Holy Week and Easter Masses. 

 

I thank Ruth Dunham and John Boughner for the soup suppers and Easter Breakfast, a huge task that was successfully pulled off. 

 

Tremendous thanks to Jim Keltner, the choir and John West for their musical contributions to our services, not just during this Holy Week, but throughout the year.

 

Finally, a special thanks to Joseph Warren in the office for successfully taking on the unending tasks that have been thrown at him from all sides.  And for those who I have not named, I know who you are and thank you deeply for all you have done.

 

St. Thomas Sunday is so called because the Gospel reading always relates the story of "Doubting Thomas," in which Thomas the Apostle comes to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus only after being told by the resurrected Christ to place his finger in the nail marks and his hand in His side. In the Gospel accounts, this event takes place on the eighth day after the Resurrection, hence their significance for this Sunday (John 20:19-29).
Divine Mercy Sunday is the culmination of the novena to the Divine Mercy of Jesus, a devotion given to St. Faustina (Mary Faustina Kowalska) and is based upon an entry in her diary stating that anyone who participates in the Mass and receives the sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist on this day is assured by Jesus of full remission of their sins. The devotion was actively promoted by Pope John Paul II, who officially set its commemoration on this Sunday in 2000.
Prior to the 1970 this day was called Low Sunday. It was sometimes said that the name derives from its relative unimportance compared to the solemnities of Easter Day, but it is more likely that "low" is a corruption of the Latin word Laudes, the first word of the Sequence of the day: "Laudes Salvatori voce modulemur supplici" (Let us sing praises to the Savior with humble voice). Laudes means "praises".
Traditionally, the newly-baptised would receive baptismal gowns that would be worn until this day, and the official Latin name is Dominica in Albis [Depositis], "Sunday in [Setting Aside the] White Garments". Hence "White" and "Alb" Sunday-which is also the etymology of Whitsunday (Pentecost).
The name Quasimodo came from the Latin text of the traditional Introit for this day, which begins "Quasi modo geniti infantes..." ("As newborn babes...", from the First Epistle of Peter (I_Peter 2:2). Literally, quasi modo means "as recently [sc. born babes]".

MASSES & DAILY OFFICES
Sundays
7:30 AM  -  Morning Prayer
8:00 AM  -  Low Mass
10:30AM -  High Mass with Choir - Childcare Available
4:30 PM  -  Evening Prayer
 
Monday - Friday
7:30 AM -  Morning Prayer
8:00 AM -  Low Mass
6:30 PM -  Evening Prayer
7:00 PM -  Low Mass (Tuesday only)
 
Saturday
10:00AM -  Low Mass
5:00 PM  -  Vigil Mass with Gregorian Chant
6:30 PM  -  Compline
 
ROSARY
Sunday 9:45 AM  -  Preceding High Mass
  
RECONCILIATION - CONFESSIONS
Tuesday 6:00 PM  -  Preceding Mass 

 

Total Bounty YTD:

$94,052.71

 

Ministries Funded YTD:

$105,199.50

 

 

Interesting facts about

St. Thomas the Apostle

 

The font in our church comes from Nova Scotia in Canada. It was brought by Fr. Wurtle, the second rector of St. Thomas the Apostle. It was the font he was baptised in. The font dates to late 18th/early 19h century.