Weekend Wisdom, Passion Sunday 2025
Hello Parishioners,
As some of you may or may not know, my Pastoral Year at St. Mary Catholic Church will be coming to an end soon. The year seems to have gone so quickly, and I am still getting used to the fact that it is almost over. However, as blessed of a time as it has been, I am looking forward to yet another blessing. I have been selected to spend part of my summer assignment on a particularly wonderful opportunity called the Rome Experience. This is a month and a half long program of intellectual and spiritual study abroad in Italy, mainly situated in Rome. I have a great deal of anticipation for all the sights and experiences that await me in my time there.
At the suggestion of Dcn. Mark, this will also be a fantastic opportunity for me to take the prayers of the St. Mary and St. Francis Xavier communities along with me to the Eternal City during a Jubilee Year. The doors of St. Peter's Basilica, San Giovanni in Laterano, Santa Maria Maggiore, and Saint Paul's Outside the Walls are open as a part of the Jubilee Year pilgrimages. There is a particular grace that is bestowed on the prayers of those who are on pilgrimage, and I would be privileged to take everyone’s prayer intentions to some, if not all, of these locations and present them in prayer.
Submitting your prayer/special intention is easy:
At St. Mary:
1.“Prayers For Rome” intention cards are on the table near the votive candles outside the Marian Chapel.
2. Please complete a card with the person(s) you wish to pray for and/or the special intention you wish to pray for
3. Drop the card in the locked wooden box on the table near the votive candles.
At St. Francis Xavier:
1.“Prayers For Rome” intention cards are on the Lenten table.
2. Please complete a card with the person(s) you wish to pray for and/or the special intention you wish to pray for
3. Drop the card in the small locked wooden box next to the cards.
Cards will be collected on an ongoing basis and given to me to take to Rome. The deadline to submit the prayer card is May 4th.
Yours in Christ,
John Sparks
