Order of Christian Initiation

Dear Parishioners,

Those of you who are regulars at the 10:30 and 12:15 Masses are well aware of those people who are part of the Order of Christian Initiation in our parish.

You have witnessed some of the rites by which various stages of their process unfold. Those of you who normally worship at other Masses have not had the opportunity to know of these people seeking to join our church or who, already baptized, are seeking to complete their Sacraments of Initiation. In these final weeks before Easter, those who have never been baptized joined more than a thousand others from around the Archdiocese with our Archbishop on March 9 for the Rite of Election. They are now known as the Elect and they will be baptized, confirmed ,and receive their first holy Communion at the Easter Vigil. Those who had previously been baptized also joined with the Archbishop in a special rite and are now known as Candidates for Full Initiation. I invite you to keep these young people and adults in your prayer. We are blessed to have them as members of our faith community!

At the 10:30 and 12:15 Masses this weekend and the next two weeks, the Elect will participate in three rites known as the scrutinies, which are prayers for purification and healing. At these Masses we will hear the readings from the A cycle of the Lectionary. For those of us at other Masses, we will hear the readings from the C-cycle.

In both cycles, the First Readings speak of Moses, who we also saw conversing with Jesus on the Mount of the Transfiguration in last Sunday’s gospel. He is one of the most fascinating figures in the Scriptures. Moses is the one through whom God worked to rescue the people from slavery and lead them toward the Promised Land. Moses is the one who was privileged to experience the presence of God in particularly powerful ways beginning at the burning bush and then seeing God “face to face” on Mount Sinai. Yet Moses was far from perfect. In fact, Moses committed murder and had to flee from punishment. During the course of the Exodus, there were occasions when Moses doubted. At times he was so frustrated and bent out of shape by the intransigence, grumbling and hard-heartedness of his people that he almost despaired. Yet Moses persevered in his mission, a mission he never wanted and tried to evade. You and I live lives that differ vastly from Moses. You and I have blessings far beyond those of Moses, who enjoyed manna from heaven but we enjoy the Bread of Eternal Life, the Body and Blood of Christ. Yet Moses has much to teach us in our own journeys of faith. We too encounter obstacles large and small. We too may sometimes feel we are wandering aimlessly. We too may be frightened, overwhelmed. We too can be mystified and not always perceive how God’s will is playing out. But hopefully, like Moses, we will always listen to the Lord and respond to God’s call. Hopefully like Moses, we will face our problems and persevere in our journey.

Let me also give a reminder that at the end of this week the three Santa Clarita parishes are observing 24 Hours for the Lord, a full day of Lenten renewal during which the Sacrament of Penance will be available to us. Please see details in the separate item in the bulletin. Also on this coming Saturday, we welcome Bishop Jerry Wilkerson for our annual cel ebrations of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Please pray for those to be confirmed. Also, please remember that because of the Confirmation ceremonies we will not have our usual Saturday confessions.

Jesus, Savior, help purify not only our Elect, but each of us. Holy Mary, Mother of Perpetual Help, pray that we may persevere in our discipleship.

Father Craig