I would like to thank the reopening committee for their hard work in creating a safe and convenient environment for us to celebrate Mass on Wednesdays at 12:10 PM. This is a great gift to the Parish, and we thank them for it.

We really do not know what full reopening will mean. No one knows, this is uncharted territory. We need the technical and managerial skills of parishioners to make anything work and I am pleased that St. Charles Borromeo has them in abundance. Yet we also need the help of higher authorities.I ask us to remember that we are Catholics and we have conscious recourse to the intercession of the Saints. The first week we were open for Mass on Wednesday we prayed for the help of St. Joseph, the Patron of the Universal Church. Last week was the feast of St. Bonaventure. He was not only a Doctor of the Church but the second founder of the Franciscan Order. He brought a recognition of the primacy of love to his organizational work. We will need the same.

This week we will celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalene. She is the apostle of the apostles. Pope Francis elevated her commemoration to a full feast day and ordered special prayers be created for the celebration. She is another perfect choice for us. We will all need to be apostles–people sent into the world–to bring the good news and to make it real by forming community around it.

I would ask those who can to make a special effort to attend Mass this Wednesday. If you cannot please say the prayer below that day. Although, the Pope asked for new prayers four years ago we are still waiting for the translation of the Preface to be officially translated into English. The version below is unofficial but beautiful, accurate and for us pertinent.

May Mary Magdalene be our apostle.

I remain
In Christ,
Fr. Bill

Preface of the Apostle of the Apostles
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
whose mercy is no less than His power,
to preach the Gospel to everyone, through Christ, our Lord.
In the garden He appeared to Mary Magdalene,
who loved him in life, who witnessed his death on the cross
who sought him as he lay in the tomb
who was the first to adore him when he rose from the dead,
and whose apostolic duty was honored by the apostles
that the good news of life might reach the ends of the earth.