Just a reminder to school parents that our morning masses are streamed live on webcam. The school will notify the parents in each class when their child is scheduled to attend mass and we invite you to tune in to pray along, but also listen to the homily which might serve as a topic of conversation later in the day.
Tonight we had music in the chapel for the first time and it was great! Our trusty Clavinova doesn't take up too much physical space and sounds perfect without extra amplification.
What better way to inaugurate sacred music in the chapel than on a feast of Mary.
We also blessed some boxwood basil, rosemary and marigolds in honor of the Virgin Mary. There is also a tradition of blessing the sea and collecting some of its water for blessing the home or swimming in the blessed waters.
Tomorrow's mass is at 9 AM in the chapel. The solemnity is a holy day of obligation.
Please join in prayer with a visit before the Blessed Sacrament sometime tomorrow during the day or evening hours. Sign up sheets are in the vestibule of the chapel. If you cannot commit for an hour, stop by and pray for as long as you like. Knock on the chapel door for entry during the late evening hours.
Our Adoration coincides with the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, a special patron of our parish building project, at the beginning of the Marian month of May, with Mary, Queen of Grace watching over us from atop the carriage house for many years.
There are so many reasons to offer prayer: for the safety of our nation and its people, for peace in the world, for a return to life-giving values by elected officials, for recovery of the local community, for reparation for our sins, for a re-invigorated personal faith, for guidance in making difficult decisions, for solace in mourning and loss, for spiritual and bodily strength in illness, for a loved one or family member...
We ask Jesus through the intercession of Mary and Joseph to guide to completion the project we undertake: to build something beautiful for God that will be a spiritual home for the Holy Family and for our parish families striving to become more holy.
Gradual improvements to Holy Cross Chapel continue with the addition of the shorter church pews along with their kneelers.
Franciso has also fashioned a means of fastening the altar relic from the church altar under the new altar in the chapel. We have not been successful in discovering the identity of the saint whose relic is contained in the stone as no records in the Diocese have been found.
The pews, the tabernacle, the altar stone and, of course, the people of God at Holy Cross provide the continuity between the church and the chapel.
Today, the tabernacle from Holy Cross church was moved from the church to the chapel. The orginal tabernacle was built in to the old altar which was replaced decades ago, so the present tabernacle is not nearly as old as the church, although it has surely been with us for a very long time.
A new shelf was fabricated to hold the heavy, heavy tabernacle and it was safely installed with great care in its new temporary home. Obviously, the Blessed Sacrament was not in the tabernacle during the move! It will be good to be comforted by the Lord's presence in our old friend.
The Sedes Sapientia, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom was given a place of honor in our sanctuary.
Today we will also move the baptismal font to the chapel and eventually several of the church pews. We need to determine whether it is worthwhile to outfit the chapel with pews from the church, depending on which pews fit.
After the really, really heavy lifting was done, Father was given the honor of driving the tabernacle to its home in the chapel.