Second Sunday of Easter or Sunday of Divine Mercy
From The Font
“The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common.”
Too often, this verse is used to make the argument that early Christians were some type of predecessor to the hippy communes of the 1970s or even to the ideas of Karl Marx. While we can’t know what inspired Marx or the Hippies, we do know that early Christianity was anything but some kind of utopian commune. On the contrary, the authority structure was absolute with the apostles making unappealable decisions and members of the local Churches understanding that membership might very well mean torture and death from the constant persecutions of the government. Everyone was of one mind and heart because choosing to follow Jesus in those cultures admitted no lukewarmness of any sort. In fact, choosing Christianity in the cities that we think of as “the Early Church” - places like Corinth, Jerusalem, Thessaloniki, and Rome - required a martyr’s Faith.
The modern reading of so much of Scripture tends to be filtered through our own experience where “suffering for my Faith” means, at worst, getting some blowback from friends and co-workers. And while we don’t want to dismiss how jarring it can be to be Catholic in a predominantly “hard-shell” Protestant part of the country, we don’t want to put on blinders about the reality of the Early Church either. Real Faith always costs… Jesus was clear that following Him would always demand taking up a cross.
The Early Church was certainly a place of spiritual support and profound spiritual power, but it was anything but easy. What it was certainly NOT was a proto-hippy commune where everyone got along and embraced the same personal and even political ideals and aspirations. It wasn’t a place where everyone shared a Netflix account and used each other’s iPads. Further, the modern reimagining of the early Church to justify sketchy politics like pacifism, open-borders immigration policy, so-called social justice or other policies based on a naively optimistic view of human nature is, at best, foolish and, at worst, consciously deceptive.
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
Wow! Holy Week and Easter were such a huge success here at St. Edward! We had great turnout and our servers, decorators, musicians, and readers outdid themselves. My sincere thanks to everyone who helped out and attended the Holy Week Liturgies!
This Sunday has four names, one old, one new, one official, and one that sounds especially fancy. The official name is the “Second Sunday of Easter.” The fancy one is the “Octave Day of Easter” - meaning it’s the eighth day of the week-long ongoing celebration of Easter Sunday. The old nickname is “Low Sunday” which was used because this Sunday was considered a day of rest from all the celebrating.
The new name is, of course, Divine Mercy Sunday. At the end of his life, Pope St. John Paul II declared that the Sunday after Easter would be the Feast day of the Polish devotion to our Lord’s Divine Mercy.
The Devotion itself has a rocky past and one that’s too complicated to get into in a short article. The gist of it, though, is quite simple. Our Lord died on the Cross in part to fulfill our Lord’s Divine Justice and so His Death and Resurrection give us a certain assurance of God’s Divine Mercy. The qualification that’s so important for us in the US is that the assurance of God’s Divine Mercy is not absolute! God’s Mercy is freely available to us if, and only if, we repent of all of our personal sins from our hearts.
In the US today, we are constantly being told that everyone goes to Heaven. We hear it from our Catholic clergy; we hear it from Protestants; we even hear it from the news and entertainment media. This doctrine of “universal” salvation is thoroughly wrong and dangerous! While it may make us feel a little better for the moment to say that someone is “in a better place” or “with Jesus now,” if those words cause us not to pray for our beloved dead with our whole hearts, we are doing both ourselves and our loved a grave disservice.
So with that caveat noted, the devotion to Our Lord’s Divine Mercy is a real gift to us because it provides us a firm reminder not only of our need to ask God for forgiveness but of His genuine assurance of forgiving us if we ask. Think about that for a moment! ANYthing I have done, God can and will forgive IF I am sorry for it and I’m willing to ask Him for that forgiveness. Unlike our contemporary “cancel culture” which is willing to excommunicate someone from the public square for mistakes made years ago, the Lord knows the real damage that sin does to ourselves and to others and yet He is willing to assure us of forgiveness. That’s a radical reality that we can and should spend some time considering and celebrating.
Devotion to the Divine Mercy is most typically celebrated by way of the so-called “Chaplet” of Divine Mercy which is prayed on the beads of the Rosary and which is simple to memorize, quick and easy to pray and readily available online to get you started. I certainly recommend that if you don’t know about the Devotions to the Divine Mercy to do an online search and look into this excellent and worthy devotion!
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Pat Bullard/family
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon No Mass
- Tue 9:00a In memory of Paul Voran, Jr/Fr Ryan
- Wed 9:00a In memory of Gus Gremshell
- Thu 9:00a In memory of May DiTommaso
- Fri 5:30p In memory of Jack Ellerbee and in honor of John Ellerbee/family
- Sat 9:00a Private Intentions of Father Ryan (Traditional Latin Mass)
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Thomas Trichell/Tommy
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of Cathy VanderVieren
Assistants at Holy Mass
| Date | Servers | Lector(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 4/10 8:00p | None Scheduled | A Keene |
| 4/11 9:00a | Preston, Marsh, Evelyn | B Sullivan |
| 4/17 5:30p | None Scheduled | C VanderVieren |
| 4/18 9:00a | Caroline, Henry, Kathleen | Youth |
| 4/24 5:30p | None Scheduled | L Bullard |
| 4/25 9:00a | Walker, Marsh, Cooper | D Ellerbee |
Upcoming Events
- Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass at 5:30p
- Sunday Morning Catechism in the Hall after the 9:00a Mass unless otherwise indicated
- Pastoral Council meeting monthly on the third Tuesday at 6p unless otherwise indicated
- April 20 Pastoral Council Meeting – Parish Hall – 6 p.m.
For Your Information:
ROSARY GROUP… a group of parishioners is meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to pray the Rosary. Everyone is invited to join with the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403.
EASTER FLOWERS… Generous donors provided $675 towards Easter lilies and other flowers and decorations used during Holy Week. For this generosity, the Ladies Altar Society of St. Edward the Confessor is very grateful.
| DONOR | IN MEMORY/HONOR OF |
|---|---|
| Booth, Charlotte & John | Deceased Family |
| Bullard, Libby | Pat & All Other Deceased Fmly. |
| Copes, Connie | Odo & Vivian Cagnolatti |
| Corulla, Margo | Deceased Family |
| Ernst, Norman & Marie | Arlice Morris/Norman S, Ernst |
| Gilfoil, Mary Ann | Deceased Family & Friends |
| Gilfoil, Pat & Margaret | Deceased Family |
| Keene, Ann | Deceased Family & Friends |
| Lancaster, Michael | Deceased Family & Friends |
| Magoun, Louise | Dale & Other Beloved Family |
| Marsh, Ginny | Deceased Family & Friends |
| Regan, Sug | Carroll Regan |
| Rome, Mike & Sue | Carl/Mary Larpenter, Lucille Mcwhorter, Irvin Rome, Leo Ogg, Nona Dirkmeyer And John & Margaret Sullivan |
| Scurria, Phil & Peggy | Philip & Nettie Scurria |
| Smith, Kenneth & Betty | Adams Family |
| Trichell, Delia | Thomas Trichell & All Other Deceased Family |
| Wilks, Skeeter & Blanche | Deceased Family |
SAINTS ALIVE...ANGELS AT WORK...Our Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday was a grand success with wonderful cooperation by the weather so that all the youngsters who participated (and the parents, grandparents, etc) enjoyed the sunshine. There was an abundance of eggs … we were still finding them on Thursday of this week! Our thanks to everyone who contributed eggs, refreshments, and time to providing this “good time”!
Holy Week was a beautiful experience with wonderful turnout for every service. The church was beautiful with all the handsome decorations and a huge “thank you” to all who helped make the week such a positive experience!!!
Stewardship The Christian Community described in Acts understood and practiced total stewardship. St. Paul reports that the believers did not claim anything as their own, but held everything in common, and distributed to each whatever was needed.
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2020-21 | $ 2,111 |
| March Budget | $ 8,444 |
| March Income | $10,436 |
| April Budget | $ 8,444 |
| April 3/4 collection | $ 3,545 |
| April income to Date | $ 3,545 |
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Michael Lancaster (April 13), Skeeter Wilks (April 17)
In Our Daily Prayers…
Please let us know of anyone who is ill or hospitalized and would like to receive a visit from Father. Also, help us keep our prayer list up to date by advising us of those who should be added or removed.
Our Holy Father Pope Francis and Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI; Bishop Robert Marshall, and our Diocesan leaders, our President, Governor, Mayor and national, state and local elected representatives
Our parishioners who are sick, shut-in, or otherwise in need of our prayers: Harper Bedgood, Connie and Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Mary Ernst, Monique Florence, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, Susan and Johnny Gilfoil, C.W. and Alyce Keene, Bill Kennedy, Charlotte Marsh and Lance and Stephenie, Ed Mills, Kathleen Mills, Sue & Mike Rome, Delia Trichell, and Don Wood
Those under full-time care: Frances Kennedy, Carol Dunning, Sharon Hansen of Gonzales, Consuelo Marsh of Lake Providence
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Jenna Faye Allen (Florence), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), James Arceneaux (Book), Todd Beene, Marie Farlow Bellard, Molly Corulla, Hattie Brown (Lancaster), Jerry Bullard, Sara Cannon (Gilfoil), Truman and Diane Collins, Jami Cook (Wilks), Carol Dipert (Rome), Tommy Dunning, Joe Farlow, Mike Farlow, Thom Gilfoil, Charlotte Green, Kathy Garley Hanlon (Gilfoil), Rita Hargrave, Justin Rittenhouse and Arielle Lewis (Keene), LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Wayne Pitre (Gilfoil), Frances Robinson, Lee and Tiffney Rome, Dianne W. Roper (Murphy), Linda Sanchez (Wilks), Theresa and Albert Thom (Rome), Meg Keene Thomas, Elaine and James Trimble (Rome), Teresa Vidrine (Wilks), Joe Yerger
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Anna Ginn, Josh Hall, Chris Hall (USMC), Matt Hall (USArmy), Nick Hall, Emmy Lu Marsh, Bailey Rome, Brice Wood
Those Catholics residing at Christian Acres, Louisiana Transitional Center for Women, and our local Detention Centers and for their families and loved ones.