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 … [Read more...]

Mass of the Lord’s Supper At the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday (7:00 PM) sufficient hosts are consecrated for that Mass and for the next day. These consecrated Hosts remain in a ciborium on the corporal in the center of the altar until the end of Mass, after which they are carried in Solemn Procession to the Altar of Repose, with the priest vested in a Cope and Humeral Veil, and covered with a canopy. The Blessed Sacrament remains in the temporary tabernacle at the Altar of Repose, and the Holy Thursday service concludes with the stripping of all altars except the Altar of Repose. Holy Thursday is a day of exceptional devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and the repository is the center of the love, prayers and aspirations of the faithful.  After the Good Friday service, … [Read more...]

There will be Stations of the Cross and Confessions on Fridays of Lent at the Basilica of St. Stephen with Confession at 5:30pm and the Stations at 6:00pm.  Remember that Msgr. Nalty is also in the Confessional from 3:00-3:45 pm on Saturdays and 9:00-10:15 am on Sundays. … [Read more...]

The Knights of Columbus will host a Friday Lenten Fish Fry at the rear of the Rectory beginning Friday, February 27 at 5:00pm. The meal will consist of fried fish, French fries, coleslaw, and corn for $12.00. There will be no fish fry on March 13 or Good Friday. Proceeds will benefit both Good Shepherd Parish and Knights of Columbus. … [Read more...]

THE LENTEN SEASON A distinction is to be made between Lent and the Easter Triduum. Strictly speaking, Lent ends with the beginning of the Triduum on Holy Thursday. The Ordo notes: “Lent runs from Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper exclusive on Holy Thursday.” FASTING AND ABSTINENCE Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholics who are 18 years of age but not yet 59. Those who are bound to fast may take only one full meal. Two smaller meals are permitted if necessary to maintain strength according to each one’s needs, but eating solid foods between meals is not permitted. Abstinence from meat is to be observed by all Catholics 14 years or older on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and on all Fridays of Lent. The determination of certain days as … [Read more...]

Mardi Gras Day Mass at St. Henry at 8 am. There will not be Adoration or Mass on Tuesday evening. Ash Wednesday Masses and the distribution of ashes will take place at 6:30am at St. Henry Church and 6:00pm at the Basilica of St. Stephen. The usual Tuesday Mass and Holy Hour is moved from Tuesday to Ash Wednesday. … [Read more...]

Tuesday, February 3 is the Feast of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr. St Blaise was the bishop of Sebaste in Armenia who was martyred in the year 316 AD. The oldest accounts tell us that Blaise was a physician at Sebaste before he was made bishop. In the 4th century persecution of Licinius, St. Blaise was taken prisoner. After suffering various forms of torture he was beheaded. The most popular story attributed to St. Blaise occurred while he was in prison, when he cured a young a boy who was in danger of choking to death because of a fishbone in his throat. That story, and the fact that St. Blaise was a doctor, made the saint very popular for intercessory prayer for throat ailments. At an early date, the veneration of this Eastern saint was brought into Europe, and Blaise became one of … [Read more...]

Each year the blessed palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday are burned to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday. We will burn them on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. Since the palms are blessed, burning is the suitable way to dispose of them. Please remember to bring them to Mass over the next two weeks and place them in the brass urns in the back of the church. … [Read more...]

January 18 -25 The theme for the 2026 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was approved by the Catholic Church’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, in collaboration with a council of the churches of Armenia. The chosen passage for reflection is Ephesians 4:4, where the Apostle Paul reminds the early Christians in Ephesus of the unifying power of the Holy Spirit: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called.” This verse calls believers to remember that, despite differences, all are part of the one Body of Christ and share a common hope through the Spirit. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began as an eight-day period of prayer called the Church Unity Octave at … [Read more...]

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the United States in its companion decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. Since that time, millions of children have lost their lives, and millions of women and families have been wounded by abortion. On June 24, 2022, the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade, and we praise God for the great opportunity state and federal legislators now have to protect pre-born children. While God, in His mercy, ended the nearly fifty-year nationwide regime of abortion on demand, right now state and federal laws, in many instances, are still hostile to pre-born children. So, great prayer and advocacy is very needed. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), no. 373, designates … [Read more...]