THE SHEPHERD

STEEL DRUMMER

MOTHER AND CHILD

SEE THE ART GALLERY

EASTER SUNDAY

THIS IS WHO MADE US CHRISTIANS !!!

Remember He was conceived a Jew, born a Jew, lived as a Jew, died as a Jewish criminal, and rose as a Jew. It was not until some 25/30 yrs later that His followers named his way Christian

It comes at the end of 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving through spiritual struggle and self-denial. We have prepared ourselves to die spiritually with Christ on Good Friday, the day of His Crucifixion, so that we can rise again with him in a new life on Easter.

Easter would not exist if the resurrection had not taken place…

St. Paul wrote that, (1 Corinthians 15:17).

Easter is actually the new year for Christians..

Easter is the greatest feast in the Christian calendar.

Easter is a day of celebration because it represents the fulfillment of our faith as Christians.

For Easter Sunday we get new clothes, the girls new dress and the boys new pants, to show that we are a new person. We are. We have been to confession and got clean inside so why not be on the outside.

Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Easter Sunday should be called New-Years day.

Easter is a day of celebration because it represents the fulfillment of our faith as Christians.

Through his death, Christ saved mankind from slavery to sin, and He destroyed the hold that death has on all of us; but it is His resurrection that gives us the promise of new life, both in this world and the next.

That new life began on Easter Sunday. In the Our Father, we pray that "Thy Kingdom come, on earth as in Heaven." And Christ told his disciples that some of them would not die until they saw the Kingdom of God "coming in power" (Mark 9:1). The early Christian Fathers saw Easter as the fulfillment of that promise.

The resurrection of Christ established, God's Kingdom on earth, in the form of the Church.

It is in this Church where each and every time there is Mass we are able to receive His Body and Blood which He gave us as His gift the night before He died in the form of bread & wine, the Eucharist, without the Resurrection would not be.

THE PIETA

The Pietà Italian for pity, is a subject in Christian art depicting the sorrowful Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Her Son Jesus as He is taken down from the Cross and before He is placed in the tomb..

This little sculpture created by this artist is his prayer for the millions of mothers who voluntarely and involuntarely have buried a child.

GOOD FRIDAY

THE DAY JESUS CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED

The Friday before Easter Sunday is known as Good Friday or Black Friday in the Catholic Church. It is the day on which we commemorate the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, the act that brought salvation to all who believe.

It comes at the end of 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving through spiritual struggle and self-denial. We have prepared ourselves to die spiritually with Christ on Good Friday, the day of His Crucifixion, so that we can rise again with him in a new life on Easter.

It is the culmination of Holy Week, which started on Palm Sunday and takes place two days before Easter Sunday, the day He Rose from the dead to make everything HE promised possible, the EUCHARIST, THE FOUNDATION and STRUCTURE of the CATHOLIC CHURCH.

THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS

HOLY THURSDAY

HOLY THURSDAY is the most complex and profound of all religious observances, except perhaps the EASTER VIGIL.

It celebrates both the institution by Christ himself of the Eucharist, the Priesthood, and His last meal with His disciples, a celebration of Passover, He the self-offered Passover Victim, that every ordained priest repeats at every mass they say, by His authority and command.

On Holy Thursday there is also a special Mass in the Cathedrals of the world, attended by as many priests of the diocese as can attend. The priests renew their ordination commitments and the holy oils are blessed and consecrated, it is called, The Chrism Mass.

It takes its name from the most used of the three holy oils in the church which the Bishop of the Diocese commissions for the local church's use during the following year. They are, the Oil of the Sick, used for the anointing of the sick, and the Oil of the Catechumens, which is imposed on those preparing for baptism (babies included), they are simply "blessed".

The third oil “The Oil of Chrism” is used at the ordination of priests and bishops, baptisms, confirmations, the consecration of altars and the blessing of churches, where the walls are smeared with it in the shape of the cross. This oil is "consecrated" and all the priests present participate in the consecration by extending their hands toward the vessel containing it as the bishop says the prayer of consecration. It includes balsam which is poured into the oil, it gives it a sweet smell intended to remind those who are consecrated with it the "odor of sanctity".
The Chrism Mass also provides an opportunity for the faithful of the diocese to show support for their priests.

On this day celebration of private Mass is forbidden. The evening Mass of the Lord's Supper, inaugurates the period of three days, known as the Easter Triduum, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.

PALM (PASSION) SUNDAY

Dear Friends;

Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday is the beginning of the most holy

week of the Christian year. There is no doubt the event of Jesus riding into Jerusalem took place and can be verified by researching the history of the Christian World as written by non-Christians and by Christians.

There is factual info written by men who lived at the time. They are Flavius Josephus a Jew who wrote and published Antiquities of the Jews covering the history of the Jewish people from creation to the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, a Roman historian, Gaius Tranquillus also a Roman historian—and others.

Book 18 ,chapter 3 of Antiquities confirms the existence of JESUS : “Now there was about this time JESUS, a wise man if it be lawful to call Him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works---a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure.….He drew over to him both Jews and Gentiles---He was the Christ.”

The gospel writers, the Evangelist Luke who wrote the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel according to Luke, Mark, Mathew and John who also wrote their own gospels all testify to the truth of our Christian heritage and teaching. It is all stored in the archives of the Vatican Library.

And so---

Holy Week begins on "Passion (or Palm) Sunday” which speaks of Christ's regal entrance and triumph into Jerusalem, the proclamation of the Passion, Death, Resurrection and the beginning of the Church confirmed by the Resurrection on Easter Sunday which made the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist real.

THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD

FAMILY PORTRAIT

PRAYING MONK