DUE TO RESTRICTONS REGARDING THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK, ALL PUBLIC MASSES AND CONFESSIONS HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.  

LIVE STREAMING MASS IS AVAILABLE ON FACEBOOK ON SUNDAY MORNINGS AT 10:00 A.M.
Streaming Mass links.
https://www.facebook.com/
ABVMWayneNJ/
And on the Music Ministry page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/
I.R.MusicMinistry/

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   Memorial Day, we begin our summer, and we usually begin our modified summer Mass schedule.  In the past, we have discontinued the 11:45 Sunday Mass, as attendance decreases due to travel and vacation absences.  This year COVID-19 has changed the way we do everything.  For me, and I know for many of you, absence from the weekly Eucharistic celebration has been a heavy part of our practice of social distancing.
 
   Therefore, FOR THIS SUMMER ONLY, the 11:45am Sunday Mass will be held throughout the pastoral year.  I want to make it easy for everyone to attend Mass after this long deprivation we have suffered.  It will give us the opportunity to return home as sisters and brothers more conveniently.
 
   During the Summer Season, beginning the weekend of ???, Masses will be held at the following times:  
 
Saturday (Sunday Vespers):   
5:30pm
Sunday:  8:00am   10:00am   11:45am                    
 
Daily Mass will adhere to the old summer schedule.  There will be only one daily Mass at 7:30am.  The 12:05pm daily Mass is canceled for the summer season.
 

My dear parishioners,
   We are all exhausted from being locked up at home and we are all looking forward to the end of this pandemic.  Children, youth and even adults use our facilities (ample parking, basketball court) to walk and exercise themselves, walk their pets, socialize with friends and neighbors… etc., etc.  Others come to stand for a while and pray before the Blessed Mother in our Rosary Walk.  It also seems that some have confused our facilities.  I recently found two girls sunbathing in our parking lot as if they were at the Jersey Shore.  Beachwear, sunscreen, beach glasses…etc., etc.  Unbelievable but literally true.
   Now the situation looks different. Two subjects not familiar to us climbed onto the roof of the church building by the air conditioning units.  We don’t know why.  We only know that it was around 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 17^th.  We all know how risky it is for them and for our liability.
   Please, I ask that if you see some suspicious activity, report it to me or to the local law enforcement.  Our police are constantly doing their jobs efficiently, but we can also help them.
   Remember:  Who did you see?  What did you see?  When did you see it?  Where it occurred.  Why it’s suspicious.
   The Church of Annunciation appreciates that.  These are difficult times for all, but we must be united as a Christian and neighborhood community.

Rev. Ricardo Ortega, Jr.
Pastor

Ordination Date Letter

First Holy Communion, originally scheduled for Sunday, May 3, is postponed until further notice.  A new date will be provided as soon as the circumstances allow.  Our students continue to prepare from home.  Please keep them in your prayers.

   One of the great gifts of the liturgical renewal following the Second Vatican Council was the increased participation of the faithful in the liturgy and in taking the liturgical roles that are proper to them. Some may recall the days when the priest stood at the altar and offered Holy Mass only accompanied by the server who made all of the responses and carried out all of the liturgical roles that the priest did not fulfill. It is a gift and a privilege to be able to distribute the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist and to proclaim God’s word in the scriptures at Mass.
   We are in need of more members of our community to fulfill these important responsibilities. The lectors and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist that serve now are wonderful – but they need a little bit of help. When there are just a few lectors and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, they are called upon to serve time and time again. Our ushers are also very faithful and serve week after week – they need a break now and then too! Please consider serving as an usher; their service is an important part of enhancing our liturgy each week. If you feel that you are able to serve as a lector or an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist, please contact Father Ricardo at the parish offices or through the parish e-mail. Thank you for considering this request to serve.

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.   

   Again, and again, the really great heroes in human experience have been known for who and what they were through the when and how of their deaths.  We remember Pheidippides because he ran 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens after fighting a two-day battle.  When he arrived, he said one word:  Niki (Victory). 

   Then he died, but the Athenians joyfully stopped evacuating their city.  We know that a secretary to the English King attended the execution of Joan of Arc and sent an official report to the king saying: We are lost, we have burned a saint.  Again, and again, a martyr’s majesty appears in his death.

   On this Seventh Sunday of the Easter Season, our gospel reading takes us back to the Cross.  It takes us back to The Hour that had to come. The climax of Salvation History is that hour when the “when and how” of His death illuminated the “who and what” Jesus is.  In that crucial time, Jesus revealed and made certain that we know that God LOVES us.  

   In that crucial time, Jesus took all of reality way back, way back to the glory of God, the glory that was before the world began.  The glory that God wishes to share with all creation.

   How did the Cross glorify God?  The only way to glorify God is to obey Him.  Jesus, in perfect obedience showed us how to perfectly love the God who loves us.  Without Jesus, we would never have known