As we imitate Jesus' 40-day fast and prepare to renew our baptismal promises on Easter Sunday, the Lord calls us to intensify our reading of His word. In this Lent, I invite you to ask for and accept the grace to read through all the prophets of the Old Testament except Isaiah. (We encourage you to read the prophet, Isaiah, during Advent). The following arrangement will help you. As you read the Lord's prophetic word, you will repent deeply and have the springtime of your life in the Spirit.

St. Joseph is the Universal Patron of the Church. He protected Jesus and Mary while on earth. From his place in heaven he still intercedes and protects Christ’s Body, The Church.

During the month of October Pope Francis will convene the first of two gatherings of bishops throughout the world and selected others to participate in the Synod on Synodality. Hopefully good and holy things will come from this two year process. We all need to pray and pray hard for the outcome of this gathering.

Litany of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows

by Pope Pius VII

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.

One of the best-loved Advent hymns we sing is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". The verses of that stirring song are comprised of what the Church calls the Advent "O antiphons".

The O antiphons were composed in the 7th or 8th century by an anonymous monk. These seven, short poetic verses, in today's liturgy, are intoned or recited as the Alleluia verse before the Gospel at Mass, and as the antiphon for the Magnificat at vespers. Each Advent, the Church begins singing the O antiphons on December 17—seven days before Christmas.

June is the Month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this month we will again have the Sacred Heart of Jesus Altar up front with votive candles. These candles with the $10.00 offering can be lit asking the Sacred Heart of Jesus to protect you and loved ones. The votive candle represents our special intentions we bring to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

During this month gather your family around the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in your home and renew your Family Consecration to the Sacred Heart. The following Consecration Prayer can be used:

To help stop the anti-life push around the world, the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen encouraged the spiritual adoption of an unborn child. This is done by praying that the one particular but unknown child’s life be spared abortion and be allowed to continue to live.

We encourage you to be part of this 9-month family prayer program to pray for an unborn child in danger of an abortion.

Stations of the Cross and Holy Communion at Church on Fridays

Will be prayed in church on Friday evenings at 6:00 pm.

Stations of the Cross on Parish Website: For those who are still not comfortable coming to church during the pandemic a video version of our stations at St. John’s has be produced with the meditations coming from the Stations of the Cross through the eyes of the Blessed Mother and St. John the Evangelist. You can pray these at home any day of the week during Lent.