​THOSE UNABLE TO ATTEND MASS MAY MAKE AN ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
An Act of Spiritual Communion - It has long been a Catholic understanding that when circumstances prevent one from receiving Holy Communion, it is possible to make an Act of Spiritual Communion which is a source of grace. Spiritual Communion means uniting ourselves in prayer with Christ’s sacrifice and worshiping Him in the consecrated bread and wine which are His Body and Blood. Always remember that the consecrated bread is the Body and Blood of Christ and the consecrated wine is the Body and Blood of Christ, even if you receive the Eucharist only under one species.  The most common reason for making an Act of Spiritual Communion is when a person cannot attend Mass. An act of Spiritual Communion invites Jesus to come anew spiritually into us, increases our desire to receive sacramental Communion and helps us avoid the sins that would make us unable to receive Holy Communion worthily.  
A Prayer for Spiritual Communion-My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.  I love You above all things and I desire to receive You in my body, my soul, and my whole being.  Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, Come at least spiritually into my heart.  I embrace You as if you were already there And unite myself wholly to You.  Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

 
Readings for:
Monday of Holy Week can be found here:  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032524.cfm


Tuesday of Holy Week can be found here:  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032624.cfm



Wednesday of Holy Week can be found here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032724.cfm
+JMJ+
SUNDAY BIBLICAL MASS READINGS AND QUESTIONS
for Self-Reflection, Couples or Family Discussion
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – Sunday, March 24, 2024

At the Procession with Palms – Gospel  Mark 11:1-10
When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat.  Untie it and bring it here.  If anyone should say to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ reply, ‘The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.’”  So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it.  Some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it.  So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it.  And he sat on it.  Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.  Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: “Hosanna!          Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!          Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!     Hosanna in the highest!”
The First Reading - Isaiah 50:4-7          
The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.  Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back.  I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.  The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Reflection
The First Reading, is part of one of the several enigmatic “servant songs” characteristic of the second part of Isaiah (Isaiah 40-66). The subject of these “songs” or poems is a mysterious “servant” of the Lord, who is described variously in the first, second and third person. We can take the words of Isaiah 50 as the words of Jesus himself.  Although he submits to torture and death (“I gave my back to those who beat me …”) he knows that he will be vindicated (“knowing that I shall not be put to shame”).  This confidence in the midst of suffering is important for interpreting the Gospel for this Sunday.
Adults - Do you offer your daily trials to the Lord in prayer?
Teens - Unite the trials in your days to the suffering of the Lord for the redemption of souls.
Kids - Say a special prayer this week, asking the Lord to bless our world.

Responsorial- Psalm 22: 8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
All who see me scoff at me;
they mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads: “He relied on the LORD; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, if he loves him.”
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Indeed, many dogs surround me,
a pack of evildoers closes in upon me;
They have pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones.
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
They divide my garments among them,
and for my vesture they cast lots. But you, O LORD, be not far from me; O my help, hasten to aid me.
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:
“You who fear the LORD, praise him; all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him;
revere him, all you descendants of Israel!”
R. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Reflection
-Meditate on Psalm 22 (which Jesus quoted from the cross) this week, paying special attention to its triumphant ending.

The Second Reading- Philippians 2:6-11
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus  every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that   Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Reflection
This famous passage—often thought to be an early Christian hymn or creed that St. Paul is quoting—gives an outline of the whole Gospel.  Jesus did not see “equality with God as something to be seized,” using the Greek word harpagmon, from a root harpazo, “to snatch or seize, often quickly or violently.” Jesus empties himself of the glory of his divinity in order to descend to the status of creature, of “slave.”  Crucifixion was the form of execution mandated for slaves; citizens could not be crucified.  Having taken on human nature, he submits to the death of slaves: “even death on a cross.”  But paradoxically, this great act of self-giving love shows the glory of Jesus and the glory of God.  Truly, a God who would so empty himself out of love is greater, more lovable, more worthy of worship, than a God who will not give of himself.  The cross is the glory of our God.  So God the Father bestows on Jesus “the Name which is above every name”, so that at the Name of Jesus, “every knee should bend.”
-Repeat the Holy Name of Jesus as a prayer.

The Holy Gospel according to Mark 14:1-15:47 (Mark 15:1-39)
As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.” The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of.” Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed. Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison  along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. Pilate answered,  “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate again said to them in reply, “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?”
They shouted again, “Crucify him.” Pilate said to them, “Why?  What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium,  and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him. They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. They brought him to the place of Golgotha —which is translated Place of the Skull — They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on  his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha!  You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him. At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.” Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. (Here all kneel and pause for a short time.) The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
Reflection
Our Gospel Reading is one of the longest of the year: the whole Passion account according to Mark 14-15. So we behold Jesus at the point of his greatest suffering.  At the same time, even at this point of his agony, Jesus knew that the triumph prophesied at the end of Psalm 22 would be fulfilled.  That is why our Catholic faith is not a faith of pessimism and despair but of hope and joy, even in the midst of what seem to be impossible and even lethal circumstances.
Adults - Meditate on the one of the Gospel writers account of the Passion of Christ this week.
Teens  - Meditate on one of the Gospel writers account of the Passion of Christ this week.
Kids - Thank Jesus for how much He loves you every day this week.

LIVING THE WORD OF GOD THIS WEEK! – Keep hearing the Word of God during Sacred Triduum.

Hallow is a prayer app that offers guided meditation sessions to help us grow in our faith & spiritual lives and find peace in God. 
“I grew up Catholic, but fell away from my faith and became fascinated with secular meditation. Something, though, was always missing. It felt like I was being pulled towards something spiritual, something more. So I started asking everyone if there was any sort of intersection between meditation and faith, and what I found changed my life.” -Alex Jones, Founder of Hallow 


The Hallow app offers many ways to deepen your prayer life, such as:  
-Pray with the reading from the daily Gospel each morning in just 5, 10, or 15 minutes (you choose the length) 
-Fall asleep with Bible sleep stories from Fr. Mike Schmitz, Jonathan Roumie, or various Scripture readings by guest readers.  
-Meditate with the daily Rosary or many other prayers on your way to work, with your morning coffee, or as you go about your day 
-Try praying with music, hearing the Bible in a Year podcast, and much, much more!  


Some features include: 
-Listen on the way to work, on a plane, in the morning, or at night with downloadable offline sessions and customized lengths anywhere from 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minute options! 
-Personalize your prayer experience. Choose your guide, length, background music like Gregorian chant, set your favorites, journal, and create your own personal prayer plan.  


Try Hallow Premium free for three months! 


Go to this link to set up an account on the Hallow website or use the codes below: 
https://hallow.com/share/AR6RCL 


After you have setup your account, download the app by searching for “Hallow Catholic” in the App Store or Google Play, sign in using the account you just created, and start praying!  
​

 
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
      Sometimes in life we have long projects or difficult journeys to complete.  Some view the season of Lent this way.  So the Church helps us and encourages us at such times.
 
        One way the Church does this is by marking the middle of a journey or when it is over half-way completed, and this is the case with Lent.  Generally, Lent is a subdued time with focus and work on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Music is less during the Masses of Lent, and the organ is recommended not to be used at all.  Longer readings of Sacred Scripture and silence tends to play a big part in the Mass.  Flowers are not used to adorn the altar.  But all this is lessened with Laetare Sunday.
 
            The Thursday before Laetare Sunday (read more below) is actually the middle day of Lent, and it was at one time observed as such, but afterwards the special signs of joy permitted on this day, intended to encourage the faithful in their course through the season of Lent, were transferred to the Sunday following this Thursday. These special signs of joy consist (like those of Gaudete Sunday in Advent [3rd Sunday of Advent]) in the use of flowers on the altar, and of the organ at Mass; rose-colored vestments (NOT pink :o) ) are allowed instead of purple. The contrast between Laetare and the other Sundays of Lent is thus emphasized, and is characteristic of the joys of this life, restrained rejoicing mingled with a certain amount of sadness.  
 
Peace and prayers in Jesus through Mary, loved by Saint Joseph,

Father Robert
 
P.S.  This Sunday is Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent.  The readings can be found at: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031024-YearB.cfm
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