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Parish Mission
Lenten Retreat
Sunday, April 3rd
through
Thursday, April 7th
Mission Theme
Jesus; the Way, the Truth, the Life
Each Retreat Night begins at 7:00 pm with the Praying of the Rosary,
followed by fifteen minutes of contemplative music to
create a time for your personal reflection and prayer.
Our Nightly Mission Themes
(starting promptly at 7:30 pm each evening)
Sunday: Jesus is the Word of God, and the Love of God is revealed in Jesus
Monday: Jesus, the Forgiver (Sacrament of Reconciliation)
Tuesday: Jesus, the Man of Prayer
Wednesday: Jesus, the Lord of Life
Thursday: Jesus, Son of Mary; Former of Community (Celebration of the Eucharist)
Our Parish Lenten Mission will be conducted by Redemptorist Preachers
Rev. John McGowan, C.Ss.R. and Rev. Patrick Woods, C.Ss.R.

You are the Best Missionary
for the Mission!
Invite others to come, especially family members or those who have been away from their faith. Perhaps you could even share a meal with them before the Mission or a cup of coffee afterwards. A special postcard was included in the parish mailing to help you invite someone to join you at the Mission. Please take a few minutes of your time to fill it out, invest 28¢ in a postcard postage stamp, and drop it in the mail. More cards are available on the Church window ledges. You may be the person who brings someone back to God!

There’s lots more information about the Mission on the back of this page.

Our Parish Lenten Mission will be conducted by Redemptorist Preachers
Rev. John McGowan, C.Ss.R. and Rev. Patrick Woods, C.Ss.R.

Parish Missions: A Time of Great Grace
A mission is an opportunity for a parish to experience in a heightened and intense way spiritual services, sermons, and sacraments focusing on the major themes of our faith.
Redemptorists love to talk about redemption, about what Christ has done to set us free from the evils of sin and so has made it possible for us to be fully human and alive in Him, about a God who loves to forgive, and goes so far as to be willing to die to forgive!
“The goal of a Redemptorist mission is to provide a positive experience of God, leading to personal and ongoing conversion in a community setting. Essential elements of the Redemptorist mission are preaching, reconciliation, fellowship, prayer, sacred and sacramental ritual, Scripture, and healing of relationships.”
A unique preaching
Redemptorists, having inherited the rich legacy of preaching redemption from their spiritual father, St. Alphonsus, see a mission as an opportunity for healing, renewal and reconciliation. While some missions concentrate on adult catechesis, Scripture study and a variety of devotions, Redemptorists preach a Gospel of unconditional love in order to move hearts and change lives. Preaching continual conversion means that the mission is not merely a nice "shot in the arm," but rather the beginning of a renewed relationship with the Holy Redeemer. The emphasis is on love and mercy coupled with the availability for reconciliation and down-to-earth preaching.
A faith-filled experience made available to all
The most common form of the mission takes place in a parish context. It typically starts on Sunday and concludes with Mass on the following Thursday night. The weeknight services may include preaching, benediction, meditation, the rosary, a Marian service, Bible service, and a healing service. One night is dedicated to a Reconciliation service.
A Redemptorist mission always stresses Reconciliation — historically Redemptorists have been known as confessors — and the priests and brothers try to make it nonthreatening, loving, sensible, and meaningful. They provide a series of talks, homilies, and instructions with liturgies, services, and many opportunities to experience the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Each participant receives a pocket-size prayer book to guide them through confession, and prayers during and following the services, including prayers to Mary, to help during an examination of conscience, for healing, bereavement, thanksgiving, and for loved ones to return to the Church.
Coming home
Redemptorists hold a special place in their hearts for un-churched Catholics, and especially welcome people who have been away from the Church. A special postcard was enclosed in the parish mailing to help you invite someone who you hope will return to the Church. There are more postcards on the window ledges in the Church. All are invited and welcomed no matter how long they may have been away. At every mission, people return to the practice of their faith because a friend of theirs manages to get them to come and just try it for one evening. What they find amazes them. They say they cannot believe the laughing, crying, and joyful clapping of hands that they experience during the time of the mission.
Where Redemptorists mission
Redemptorist missionaries of the Baltimore Province preach throughout the eastern United States and in the English-speaking Caribbean.
A Redemptorist mission is a time of great grace, an experience of the Word made flesh among us, an occasion of healing, conversion, and reconciliation.
Please take full advantage of this extraordinary opportunity for spiritual enrichment.

Since 1865, the Redemptorists have spread devotion to Our Lady under the icon and title of Mother of Perpetual Help. According to tradition, the ancient Byzantine icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help was stolen from a church in Crete where many miracles had occurred. The image remained in the private possession of a Roman merchant and his family until 1499 when it was publicly displayed in the Church of St. Matthew in Rome between the Basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran.
When St. Matthew's was destroyed in 1789, the icon was rescued and hung in an obscure monastery chapel until the Redemptorists learned that the site of their new headquarters in Rome had once been the site of St. Matthew's, the one-time home of a miraculous icon of Our Lady. A Redemptorist priest who, as a young man, had frequented the monastery chapel that displayed the icon informed his brothers where to find the image.
The Redemptorists asked Pope Pius IX for permission to move the icon to their new church, San Alfonso, which was built on the location of the icon's earlier home. The pope granted his permission, and told the Redemptorists to "make her known throughout the world."

Mother of Perpetual Help