Fr. Hien's Weekly Letter 03/28/21

My Dear Parishioners,
     Are you ready for Easter?  Yes, this holy day is very near.  Let us prepare ourselves for our risen Jesus with hearts full of love for Him.  Let us put all our trust in Jesus so that we too may rise from our death to eternal life.  He is our resurrection and life.
     As you enter Holy Masses this weekend, Palm Sunday, please be sure to take a palm with you, one per person please.  The palms will be blessed at Holy Masses for you to take them home and hang them.  Also, on Palm Sunday from 3pm-4pm, we will have guest priests available for your personal confession.  Please come and go as you please.  The names of our confessors are Fathers Garett Burns, Michael Brungardt, and Matt Siegman.  Their names will be posted by the confessionals, too.  You are to stand behind a black screen to confess.  Please allow privacy for each person.  When you are waiting in line, please keep six feet away from the person in front of you, unless you are one family.  Of course, wear a mask too.  You are to do your own act of contrition before your confession and your penance after your confession in church.  Again, please always begin your confession with the sign of the cross, then tell when your last confession was, and then your sins.  Please confess only your sins and no one else’s, whether that person is your spouse, children, siblings, parents, coworker, etc.  Be mindful too that there are many people waiting in line for their confession and it is not very comfortable to stand in line for a long time. 
     I am looking forward to celebrating Holy Week with you for we did not have one last year due to the virus.  There will be Holy Thursday Mass at 6:30pm, Good Friday Service at 6:30pm, Holy Saturday Easter Vigil Mass at 8:30pm and Easter Sunday Mass at 9am and 12noon in English, 10:30am in Vietnamese.  We are blessed to have Father Curtis Hecker celebrate the Easter Sunday noon Mass for us because I will have two baptisms at that time in our chapel.  Please pray for me and all priests, especially pastors, for we will have a lot to prepare for the Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  If you are planning to attend our Good Friday service, please do me a favor and bring your favorite rosary with a cross, or your necklace with a cross or crucifix from your home to church.  Due to Covid, no one in church will be kissing/venerating the one common crucifix like we used too. 
     Finally, if you are interested in signing up for adoration, please do so.  We need to know how many people are ready to attend perpetual adoration at this time.  If we do not have enough that are interested (75% of the spots are filled) by March 31, then we will wait for another time down the road to reopen our chapel.  Jesus loves you & I love you too, Fr. Hien