Bulletin – 4th Weekend in Lent – During the Covid 19 Pandemic

/ kredig

NO MASS THIS WEEKEND–SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020

Dear Friends,

We are in a very fluid time as our country is under a pandemic with the coronavirus which causes Covid 19.  Our board and I agreed that we suspend Sunday, and/or Saturday services for two weeks and assess after that.  In other words, after March 29, 2020 we will reassess.

So far, we have no positive cases of  Covid 19 in Winona County, but it could just be that it hasn’t arrived here yet, as there are 60 positive cases in Minnesota.

So, my dear friends, please practice social-distancing  and very good hand-washing techniques.

I am including the weekend readings (this would have been our Saturday Mass for the month) and I will include the homily when it is finished–all for your reflection.  We could have a dialog over email if anyone wishes to do that!

Blessings on all–stay safe and well and please let me know if you have need of anything that I can pick up for you or drop off.

Peace and love,

Pastor Kathy

Readings: 

  • 1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-7, 10-13
  • Ephesians 5: 8-14
  • John 9: 1-41

Friends, I would like to end today with something to uplift us and assist us in continuing to hope and to care–it came to me from another group that I am affiliated with:

“Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM