…”Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To You, Lord, I return it. Everything is Yours, do with it what You will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.”
As we celebrate Palm Sunday, I bring us back to the prayer we have been using throughout the Season of Lent. It’s called the Suscipe Prayer by St. Ignatius of Loyola. The word suscipe means ‘receive.’ It’s a radical prayer of giving our lives, our hopes and fears, our worries and concerns, our entire will – and placing it in the hands of the Lord. No better example for us than Jesus. In a radical way he places His life and will into the hands of His Heavenly Father. In so doing, He found a fuller life and opened for us the way to Heaven. Take time this Holy Week to regularly pray this prayer. As we reflect on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus, may we continue to give our lives to the Lord.
…This Holy Week is filled with many opportunities to enter into prayer and remember the saving deeds of Jesus Christ. Make a radical commitment this week to make this week holy, prayerful and a time of deep reflection for you and your family. I so vividly recall the practice in my family home on Good Friday that the hours from 12:00 to 3:00 pm had to be quiet time….reflection time….time for each of us to reflect on the Lord. I also remember all my family putting together our Easter Foods and coming to Church to have our Easter Basket blessed. Very powerful and formative experiences. How can you use this week to center your life on the Lord and deeply reflect on the depth of God’s love for you? How can we use this week to remind one another of our deepest desire to find our way to heaven?
…Speaking of Easter Basket Blessing, please bring the kids and grandkids on Holy Saturday at 1:00 pm with some of your Easter foods. It’s a great way to ‘teach’ the very profound lesson that everything we have and all the food we enjoy is a gift from God. We thank God for the blessings as we ask God again and again to bless and sustain us. After the Basket Blessing in the Church, all the kids will be invited to join in the Easter Egg Hunt. God bless our Busy Bees who have been stuffing Easter Eggs this past week!!! Join us next Saturday.
…Our Music Ministry will be presenting Passiontide on Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 7:00 pm. It’s a powerful celebration in Word and Song to remember the saving deeds of Christ. It’s a perfect way to find the meaning and focus of this Holy Week. Tom Bonezzi and Helen Lanzarotta, and our Music Ministry, have been working hard to prepare for Passiontide and a prayerful celebration of Holy Week and Easter.
…Speaking of Easter….invite your family and friends to join you on Easter Sunday for Mass at Saint Ambrose. It’s a great way to encourage others to reconnect with the Lord and our parish. We will give them a wonderful experience of the good spirit and warm welcome that is Saint Ambrose. All of our Liturgical Ministers have been working hard to make sure everything is ready. Let’s pray for one another as we – together – serve the Lord and spread God’s Good News.
…On Saturday evening we will welcome 12 adults into the Church at the Easter Vigil. Please keep our candidates and elect in your prayers as they come to the Table of the Lord. It’s a powerful experience to witness them giving their lives to the Lord. Join us on Saturday for the Vigil at 9:00 pm.
…One of our neighbors asked me to share with all of you a very neighborly request. When driving out Ambrose Drive (by the playground) and through the neighborhood, please be mindful of the speed limit. With the warm weather and all the kids out playing in the neighborhood, we want to make sure everyone is safe.
…Another member asked me to remind our community that when you have a cold, a warm smile is a perfect way to offer a sign of peace during Mass. There are a thousand ways to communicate the love and peace of Christ. We should try to use all of them – all the time.
…The Suscipe is a radical prayer. Jesus on the cross calls us to a radical commitment in living out our life of faith. One way to do this during Holy Week is to come and spend some time in prayer on Holy Thursday evening (from 10:00 pm throughout the night until 8:00 am). As the early disciples were in the Garden with Jesus in prayer, we come to spend some time with the Lord. We will be in the Mother Teresa Room throughout this time. We always can use some extra people to ‘stay awake’ with the Lord at 3:00 am…and 4:00 am… Enter into these holy days. Please visit www.StAmbrose.us/Adore to sign up.
…Our Parish Finance Council had a great meeting this past Tuesday. They do great work for our parish community. As you read in last week’s bulletin, given the reality that Christmas landed on a Sunday, our collections are about $25,000 down over last year. We are asking all our members to consider a very generous gift this Easter. If we all do simply what we can, we can make sure our parish has the funds it needs to continue to support the work we do for the Lord and our community.
…Congratulations to Saint Ambrose School student Jenna Fiorrito for placing in the Medina County Soil and Water Conservation Poster Contest! Way to go, Jenna.
…By the way, did you realize that with its recent STEM designation by the State of Ohio, Saint Ambrose School is one of less than one percent of ALL the schools in the State to have this important designation? It says that our school is working tirelessly to make sure our students receive Everything they need …. Every Day. In 2017-2018 SAS will also be working with students on the Jon Peterson Scholarship. It’s a great way to respond to the needs of every student. While Kindergarten is completely full for next year, there is still room in some of the other grades. Call Mrs. Cinadr for more information (330.460.7350) or Mrs. Mitchell for LAPS (330.460.7361).
…Some GREAT news…..On Wednesday Deacon Matt Jordan formally received his letter from Bishop Thomas calling him to Priesthood Ordination on Friday, May 19 at 7:00 pm at Saint John Cathedral. Let’s fill a bus and head down to the Cathedral to share in this great day for Matt and our local church.
…His ordination is one more example of a radical ‘yes’ that each of us are called to give to the Lord each and every day. Pray the Suscipe Prayer daily this week. Look to the Cross of Christ for our example. How can we more fully give ourselves back to the Lord, trusting that God’s grace and love will always be sufficient for us in all our need? Let’s make this week truly HOLY as we center on the Lord.
