Easter Week Mission

April 12 – 14, 2026, 6:00pm

Sunday, April 12
“In Memoriam: The Wolf And the Lamb Will Lie Down Together (Is. 11:6)”
This reflection highlights the historical and spiritual progression through time and into the deeper holiness that culminates in our reception of the Holy Eucharist at Mass. Joy is essential for holiness. Various true-life stories are given in this talk to highlight the fact that not only is God alone able to give us the spiritual Gift of Joy , He desires to do so far more than we could ever ask or imagine!!

Monday, April 13
“Agnus Dei: Like A Gentle Lamb Led To The Slaughter (Jer. 11:19)”
The world is suffering immensely today –yes, physically, but far more so psychologically. This reflection is a study on psychological afflictions of our world today. It highlights the reality of our fallen nature as we remain in essential need of the One Perfect Love Who is Jesus Christ Whom we receive in each Holy Communion. The talk is interjected with powerful stories of inspiration taken from contemporary Eucharistic holiness.

Tuesday, April 14
Mary, Mother of the Eucharist – “I Watched As The Lamb Opened The First of Seven Seals… ‘Come!’ (Rev. 6:1)”
In his own admission, the irrepressible 20th century apologist, poet, and philosopher, G.K. Chesterton, once said: “When I think of the power of woman, my knees knock under me.” If this sentiment is understood of women in general because of their unswerving, maternal dedication to those they love, how much more so should we venerate the mother of God whose love brought Divinity to share in our humanity! She is Christ’s mother and, as of Good Friday, 33A.D., she is our mother too!

Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, OP, is one of four foundresses of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, MI. As the Community’s vocations director for 28 years, she travels extensively giving talks, writes for various Catholic publications, and leads retreats for students, parishes, priests and seminarians. She has appeared in media including EWTN, Oprah, NPR, CBS, and Fox & Friends. Sister has written and compiled two volumes of “And Mary’s ‘Yes’ Continues,” concerning Religious Life today. Over 28 years, the Community has grown to over 130 members, with women coming from throughout the USA and internationally. The average age of the Sisters is 37 years old. These past 3 years, Sister is the Community’s “Eucharistic and Marian Revival Preacher,” an obedience that both humbles and excites her immensely!

Congratulations to Nell Carmichael and Barry & Kati Almon

The Order of St. Louis IX award was established more than 40 years ago to honor those members of the laity who have contributed their time and talents to the church. Our parishioners, Nell Carmichael and Barry & Katie Almon will be among those honored.

Even if you don’t know Nell, Barry and Katie, you surely know of their work! Nell is a tireless rectory volunteer who also cooks and serves the poor at the Rebuild Center. Most of our younger parishioners know Barry and Katie, who direct our RCIA program for Confirmation. “Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.” (Mt 25:40).

Nine Church Walk

Thanks to our volunteers who greeted pilgrims taking part in the Nine Church Walk on Good Friday. The pilgrims started arriving almost at the completion of our Holy Thursday vigil at 6:00am, and they continued even into the afternoon and evening. We had our handy clicker to count numbers, so we know that at least 1,800 came to visit St. Stephen’s on Friday. Father Doug and I sat in the confessional from 8:00am – 11:00am, and we were rarely alone. I heard nothing but good reports from the crowds at St. Henry Church and Our Lady of Good Counsel. I wish I had been able to make it to St. Henry’s and Our Lady of Good Counsel, but between the Holy Thursday vigil, confessions, the 3:00pm Good Friday service, I didn’t have much time to venture out! Thanks to everyone who came to pray, and those who greeted them!

Alleluia!

Easter Sunday is the day of the “Alleluia!” After forty days of Lenten sacrifice and fasting, we finally arrive at the most important day of our liturgical year, and the only word we have to express our inner joy is “Alleluia!!”

In the old Greek version of the Book of Tobias, in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Hebrew psalter, and in the original Greek of the Apocalypse we hear about this most holy word. It is part of the earliest Christian liturgies of which we have record.

It is a word composed of the divinely acclaiming verbal form Allelu and the divine pronoun term Ya (for YHWH or Yahweh). So, preserving its radical sense and sound, and even the mystical suggestiveness of its construction, it may be literally rendered, “All hail to Him Who is!”–taking “All Hail” as equivalent to “Glory in the Highest,” and taking “He Who is” in the sense in which God said to Moses: “Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel; WHO IS hath sent me to you.” The ancient Jewish and Christian tradition all point to the conclusion that the “Alleluia” belonged to the Hebrew liturgy from the beginning as a divinely authorized doxology. As to when it was first formed, much evidence points to it being one of man’s most ancient formulas of monotheistic faith–the true believer’s primitive Credo, primitive doxology, primitive acclamation. That in part would explain remarkable fondness for its liturgical use. As a rule the Church uses it wherever joy is to be emphatically expressed, especially as to triumph or thanksgiving.

The “Alleluia” is a great characteristic of Easter, as it has an important place in all of the liturgies, constantly appearing at the beginning and end, and even in the middle, of psalms, as an instinctive exclamation of ecstatic joy.

The very sound of the words should be held to signify a kind of acclamation and a form of ovation which mere grammarians cannot satisfactorily explain; this is the reason why the translators of the Old Testament have left it untranslated, and the Church has taken it into the formulas of her Liturgy or of the people who use it at any time or place where joy need be expressed for God’s greatness and love! Alleluia! Praise God!