Dear Saint Mark Community,

As the old venerable hymn proclaims, "Jesus Christ is Risen today, Alleluia. Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia." Yes, our holy day has arrived, our day of salvation is at hand.

Lent will finally come to an end. For forty days we will have renewed and prepared ourselves for Easter. We will have been to the desert and like Jesus we will have been tempted, we will have questioned ourselves and when necessary we will have tried to make changes. During Lent we will have also fasted, abstained and will have made sacrifices. May God's grace help us to be steadfast with all those personal improvements.

The longer I am at St. Marks the more impressed and edified I am with our community. I have asked from time to time for volunteers and parishioners joyfully come forward. I have asked occasionally for your assistance with our different outreaches and you have responded positively. I have invited you to pray for special needs and our prayers have been answered. All of these are signs of a strong faith filled community.

Easter should be seen by all of us as the most important day in our Catholic faith. It is actually more important than Christmas. Christmas certainly seems to get more attention. It is about trusting in God, our Creator, and his love of his Son and in turn for all men and women. What ultimately happened to Jesus, namely, his Life, Death and Resurrection, has never been duplicated. After 2000 years we still remember. After 2000 years it is still relevant.

I hope that you will be able to gather with family and friends on Easter Sunday to celebrate the great day of our salvation. Your day will hopefully begin with you joining us for one of our Easter Celebrations. If you are going to be away visiting family or friends in some other city, please make it a point to familiarize yourselves with the local Catholic Church. You can find information and Mass times for whatever city you might be visiting on the internet at: www.masstimes.org.

Similar to Christmas, our Easter collection is the second most important of our yearly collections. Your support at this time of the year helps us meet our special financial needs. If you will be away from St. Marks at Easter, please do not forget your parish community.

May the many blessings of this Easter be given to you and your loved ones in abundance. May the entire Season of Easter be a time of special miracles and a sharing of the risen Jesus' love.

With every good wish and hope,

Father Michael Rocha

Pastor

Monday, March 10, 2008 - 7:00pm - Parish Penance Service

Saturday, March 15, 2008, 4:00pm - 5:15pm

Friday, March 21, 2008 (Good Friday) 5:00pm - 6:00pm

There will be NO confessions on Holy Saturday

Holy Thursday , March 20, 2008

Good Friday, March 21, 2008

Holy Saturday, March 22, 2008

Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008