A blessed Palm Sunday and Holy Week to you. It’s good to reach out to you again. As we continue to hold you in special prayer this year, we are all invited to be “with” each other in different ways during this Holy Week. It is certainly not the same as blessing palms and taking them home as we would like, or gathering in church for the beauty of Holy Thursday, the pathos of Good Friday, the majesty of the Easter Vigil and the joy of Easter Sunday Mass, but the truth of the mysteries strengthen us still!
We are doing our best to be able to bring you Holy Week services live streamed from the church. Technicians have been laying cables to strengthen our Wi-Fi, and Fr. Patrick and his crew are prepping as fast as they can. However, at this writing, we are still weighing the concerns about folks (musicians, camera man, server, etc…) leaving their homes to venture out to Cambridge. It will certainly be a skeleton crew at best. Fr. George and Fr. Patrick and I will be here and praying for you. You can find the services on our YouTube channel at “St. Paul’s Harvard Square” (and again, please hit the “Subscribe” button so that we can get the best assistance available.)
Palm Sunday 11:00 Holy Thursday 7:00pm Good Friday 3:00 Stations of the Cross 7:00pm Easter Vigil 8:00pm Easter Sunday 11:00
I’m happy to report that people have really enjoyed our daily Mass from the parish and the other prayer services and videos that we have produced. We hope to continue this outreach not only during the coronavirus crisis, but even afterwards. I also popped on to some of the Choir boys’ class sessions online and was quite pleased by what I heard and saw. The school community gathers to pray the Rosary each evening for all of us, for which I am grateful.
The Food Pantry continues to serve those in need each Saturday morning, and in fact, we have been asked by the City of Cambridge if we could welcome even more customers, as some other groups have had to suspend their services. We were happy to say “yes.”
On Monday or Tuesday of next week, you’ll receive a letter and video from me regarding the financial situation here at St. Paul’s. You’ll not be surprised that I will be asking you for some support, so please take a look at my message.
I would ask your prayers for parishioners who have lost loved ones to Covid-19. There is so much sadness, but their expressions of faith are inspiring.
Be sure of my continued prayers and we are grateful for yours.
God bless, Fr. Kelly
P.S. As I mentioned last week, I was talking with the proprietor of our good and long-time neighbor, Café Pamplona. It is open for take-out from noon to 5:00 PM each day. If you are in the area for a walk or visiting the church, consider dropping by there. We want to support as many locals as we can. Peace!