Mar 30, 2023

Greetings,

When you bring your fresh palms home from this weekend’s Palm Sunday Mass, what is to be done with the old palms? Most notably palms should be burned or buried in the ground. This is true in general of all items that have been blessed and dedicated to holy purposes. They should not be merely thrown in the trash but, in a sense, returned to God in this manner.

IN OTHER NEWS:

HOLY WEEK: With this weekend we are entering into Holy Week, the holiest week in our liturgical calendar. The week we enter into all that Christ endured for our salvation through His suffering, death and resurrection. Please be aware of the changes in our liturgical schedule during this week.

Here are some highlights to keep in mind:

April

• 1st Saturday,  9:30am  Last confessions before Easter
• 4th Tuesday, 7:00pm No confessions due to the Chrism Mass
• 6th Maundy, Thursday 7:00pm Beginning of the Tritium (NO 8am Mass) Mass of the Lord’s Supper
• 7th Good Friday, 12:00pm Family Stations of the Cross 3:00pm The Passion of Our Lord
• 8th Holy Saturday, 1:00pm Blessing of the Foods  and 9:00pm Easter Vigil
• 9th Easter Sunday, 9:00am Easter Mass, 11:00am Easter Mass, 1:00pm Easter Mass (Extraordinary Form - Latin)
• 11th Tuesday, 7:00pm Confession schedule resumes

YOU ARE INVITED: On Tuesday, our diocese celebrates the Chrism Mass at our Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. At this Mass, the Bishop directly speaks to all of the priests of his diocese after which they reaffirm their priestly promises and resolves. Also at this Mass, all of the holy oils that are used at our parish and throughout the entire diocese are blessed for such things as the anointing of the sick, confirmation, ordination, baptism and so forth. At St. Sebastian, the old oils are burned (as with the palms,) the stocks (the vessels that hold the holy oils) are meticulously cleaned and then brought to the Cathedral on this night to be filled with fresh and newly blessed oils.

You are invited to this Mass (which will last about two hours). It begins at 7pm. Our Cathedral is located at the corner of East 9th Street and Superior Avenue.

NO CONFESSIONS: There will be no confessions this Tuesday evening because your priests will be with Bishop at the Chrism Mass.

PARISH OFFICES CLOSED FOR EASTER: The parish offices will be closed for Easter beginning Friday, April 7 through Easter Tuesday, April 11 at 8:30am.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck