April 5, 2009

Dear friends in life and in ministry . . .

I'm a few days late in getting this weekly greeting to you. This appears tobe among the busiest times of the year in Church circles. Palm Sundayafternoon, Pat and I drove to Rochester where we met with other deacons and spouses for a special prayer service. On May 30, six men will be ordained as permanent deacons for the Diocese of Rochester. One of these men is Bob Colomaio a parishioner of mine at St. Mary's in Bath. Since Friday, the diaconal candidates and spouses (including Bob and his wife Pam) have been on the "canonical" retreat required of those who are about to be ordained.
In a very touching ceremony, the ordained deacons and their wives laid hand on each deacon candidate and wife praying that the Holy Spirit would guideand strengthen them in these days leading up to ordination. A beautiful experience.

On Easter Sunday, I'll have the privilege of baptizing my grandson Jackson Gabriel at the 9:00 a.m. Mass. Fr. Jim will baptize Lucas Baroody at the same Mass. God is so good!

May your Holy Week be full of great blessings.
Deacon Ray

Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum

This weekend we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion - the beginning of Holy Week. Today we hear two passages from Mark’s Gospel and they stand in stark contrast to each other. We begin with a procession with palms, hearing the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Waving palms of our own, we bring to life the adulation of an admiring crowd shouting "Hosanna."

As if on a roller coaster of emotion, we again take the part of that crowd in Jerusalem as the story of Christ's passion and death is read. Now we must shout, "Crucify him!" We find the fickleness of that crowd to be stunning - how could they change so much in less than a week?

We have to admit such changes in emotion and devotion are very real responses that we ourselves have made to Christ as we meet him in the people around us. We have praised Jesus with great fervor and shown great faith and dedication. We also have contributed to his suffering, have added to his pain. As we watch each step he took to save us, we can see that like the characters in the stories today, we don't deserve what he did for us. We can only stay watching with him in silent awe and gratitude.

Holy Week

With Palm Sunday, we begin the holiest week of the year. It is also liturgically my favorite week of the year. I hope that you will join us for prayer frequently this week, especially for the celebration of the Sacred Triduum, literally the “three days”. The liturgy that begins with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper Holy Thursday evening simply continues on Friday as we observe the Lord’s Passion, and culminates in the celebration of the Easter Vigil after dark on Holy Saturday night. The Church looks at the Triduum as one liturgy in three separate movements. If you have never celebrated the Triduum in its entirety, you have cheated yourself of an awesome experience of the Paschal Mystery: Christ has died,
Christ is risen, Christ will come again! This is the basis of our faith.

The symbols of Holy Week are large and lush:

Palm Sunday . . .

Ö a procession with palms,

Holy Thursday

Ö fragrant oils consecrated at the Chrism Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral Tuesday night are presented on Holy Thursday to ours and church communities throughout the diocese.

Ö a bowl, a towel, and a pitcher brought forth for washing feet

Ö bread and wine transformed in a ritual meal recalling the very first such Eucharist.

Ö a solemn procession with the Eucharist and clouds of incense

Ö adoration before the Blessed Sacrament well into the night

Good Friday . . .

Ö ministers lying prostrate on the sanctuary floor

Ö a large wooden cross carried into the church so we may each venerate it, recalling Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on our behalf

Holy Saturday . . .

Ö deafening silences, empty tabernacles, dry holy water fonts and extinguished sanctuary lamps

Easter Vigil . . .

Ö utter darkness…a bonfire…the a new paschal candle initiating a sea of vigil lights

Ö The singing of the Exaultat

Ö glorias and alleluias resurrected…new water blessed…baptismal promises renewed.

These times of prayer are longer than our usual Sunday liturgy – which is why I guess so many stay away from church on these days. But they are also so rich as these ritual actions are generally only done once a year. In that sense, they are both beautifully new and comfortingly familiar. It is the telling of our story as we recall all that our God has done for and
with us.

Moving prayerfully through this holy week is a gift we give our souls. The invitation of the passion story is always to be there. When we enter fully into the story we begin to see every choice, chance and circumstance of our lives as God wooing us, seducing us, alluring us, calling us to return to him with all our hearts. When we do, our hearts are filled with peace and joy, and who among us cannot use an extra dose of peace and joy?

Easter Vigil Moves to St. Gabriel’s
This year we will again join with the parishioners of St. Gabriel’s in Hammondsport to celebrate the Sacred Triduum.

Holy Thursday Mass will be celebrated here at St. Mary’s at 7:00 p.m. Good Friday’s Service of the Lord’s Passion (6:00 p.m.) and Holy Saturday night’s Easter Vigil (8:00 p.m.) will be at St. Gabriel’s.

Ecumenical Prayer Opportunities
Two ecumenical prayer opportunities will be sponsored by the Bath Ministers Association during Holy Week. These are: Taize Prayer Service - Monday night at 7:00 p.m. at St. Thomas Church Good Friday Stations of the Cross Friday at noon in Pulteney Park. In the event of cold, snow or rain, the Stations will move to St. Mary’s Church.

Deacon Candidates Meet for Canonical Retreat
Beginning last Friday night and continuing through Tuesday afternoon, six diaconal candidates and spouses including Bob and Pam Colomaio are on what is called their “Canonical Retreat” at the Mercy Prayer Center in Rochester. This retreat is so named because canon law requires that all candidates for ordination spend time in personal prayer and reflection in
preparation for ordination. Bishop Matthew Clark will ordain Bob as a permanent deacon on May 30th at Sacred Heart Cathedral. As you can imagine, this is a very significant step for Bob, Pam, Mary Catherine and Theresa and I ask you to join me in praying for them daily during this very special time.

Have a truly blessed Holy Week. Serve one another well!
.Deacon Ray

Lands of the Bible Cruise

On November 11, 2009, you are invited to join Deacon Ray and Pat Defendorf and pastoral leaders from throughout the Diocese on a twelve-day Cruise to the “Lands of the Bible”.

Our itinerary includes an over-night flight to Athens where we will visit the Acropolis and the biblical city of Corinth before boarding the mv Cristal, a new 471 passenger cruise ship. We’ll dock at Port Said for a visit to Cairo (the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids at Giza) then on to the port of Ashod in Israel. For two days we’ll visit sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem returning to the ship each evening for dinner and overnight.

Our next port is Haifa where we’ll disembark to tour the Galilee with stops at the Mount of the Beatitudes, Tabgha (the site of the miracle of the loaves and fish), a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and renew our baptismal vows at the Jordan River.

After a day at sea we’ll visit the Isle of Patmos where John wrote Revelations and then to Ephesus, Turkey where St. Paul established a Christian community on his first missionary journey. After a visit to Piraeus we’ll return to Athens for our return trip home.

The price of this journey of a lifetime(including roundtrip airfare, chartered cruise ship, guided shore excursions, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner while aboard ship, study guide, entrance fees and deluxe motorcoaches), starts at $2398 plus taxes, tips and fees.

Follow this link to download our itinerary:
http://www.deaconray.com/travel.htm

This cruise is expected to sell out so early reservations are very important. For more information and a brochure, please contact me by email or phone (607-426-1100).

Serve one another well!

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Bulletin: April 12,2009