Saint Mary of the Assumption
Rev. Fr. Craig R. Eilerman
Dear Parishioners,
This will be the sixth Sunday the prohibition of celebrating public Mass has been in effect. I long for us to be able to come together and celebrate the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of our lives. Monday through Saturday I am the only one in the church, the equipment needed to live-stream the Mass is automated. On Sunday besides myself, there are typically only five other people present: Deacon Sullivan, who serves as the deacon of the Mass and as altar server; Brian McCauley who proclaims the readings; Sharon Silleck who plays the organ and cantors; and Bob Competti and Jason Roush who monitor and run the cameras. I am incredibly grateful for their commitment, which enables Sunday Mass to be celebrated in a dignified way and be made available to all of you. With that being said, I miss you and look forward to the day when the pews of St. Mary will be filled again.
There is some hope that we may soon return to a sort of normalcy, but what that will look like is still an unknown. With schools remaining closed for the rest of the academic year, with most of the summer activities being cancelled, and without a clear way of knowing when the contagion of the coronavirus will end, the future in many ways is still a blank slate.
This Sunday the Gospel is taken from Luke. It is the episode of two disciples walking that first Easter afternoon from Jerusalem to Emmaus. I referenced this reading in my Easter letter to you and believe it is good for us to look at it again. These two disciples represent all of us now more than ever, for their future was also a blank slate. They were filled with many questions and it was the stranger, who they did not recognize as Christ, that step by step led them not only to new answers, but to himself. As Pope Saint John Paul II put it “Jesus is the answer to every human question. He is the fulfillment of every human longing”
Bishop Brennan has been coordinating with the priests of the diocese to find a way that the Sacrament of Penance could be celebrated in a safe as well as a private way. Please continue to visit the parish website for more information, which should be coming out this week. There are still bottles of Holy Water available on the front porch of the rectory. In your prayers please remember Brian McCauley and his wife Gina, they are expecting their first child to be born this week.
All of you are very much in my prayers as I ask that you keep me in yours. It is Christ who is leading us, and we have nothing to fear.
In Christ,
Fr. Eilerman
Pastor