We Celebrate First Holy Communion

Here at St. Mary's, we have so many wonderful reasons to be joyful as we celebrate the reception of First Holy Communion with 61 of our young people. As a parish family, we get to share in the celebration of these boys and girls coming to the table of the Lord's Supper for the first time to receive Jesus' Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  

We have all heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.”   When we consume the Body and Blood of Christ, we become more like Jesus! If we truly became what we received each Sunday at Mass then the love of Jesus, the peace of Christ, the joy of the Risen Lord, would radiate out of us the same way the cherry blossoms radiate with beauty and color when they bloom.

Let us pray for our young people who will gather at the Table of the Lord’s Supper for the first time. Let us pray that the joy they experience today maybe the same joy that they find in their relationship with Jesus each day of their lives!

Our celebration of First Communion began on May 4^th & 5^th, when 33 of our children received the Eucharist for the first time. Our celebrations will continue on May 19^th at the 10:30am and 12 Noon Mass as we welcome and celebrate with our young people and their families. 

Holy Week & Easter Schedule

Lenten Penance Service at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (Nutley)

Tuesday, April 16^th at 7:00pm

Prepare for the joy of Easter through the Sacrament of Penance

 

Holy Thursday

Thursday, April 18^th at 7:30pm

Mass of the Lord’s Supper

We celebrate the Institution of the Eucharist and the Priesthood as we pray and remember Jesus’ sacrificial offering of His Most Precious Body and Blood. Through the washing of the feet, we are reminded of Christ's call to humble service.

The Church will remain open until 11pm for Adoration and Prayer.

Good Friday

Friday, April 19^th

Living Stations of the Cross at 2:15pm in the Church

Join us for a moving presentation that will help bring us closer to Christ as we meditate on the great love He showed for us in His most sorrowful Passion.

Led by members of our High School Peer Leadership Group and the St. Mary’s Youth & Treble Choir.

Passion of Our Lord at 7:30pm

During this solemn service, we listen to the Gospel of Jesus’s Passion, we pray for a conversion of hearts, and we venerate the Cross of Christ.

Holy Saturday

Saturday, April 20^th at 7:30pm

Easter Vigil Mass

The Easter Vigil is the highlight of the ecclesiastical year. The lighting of the Easter candle in a dark church symbolizes Jesus, our only Light. That light is passed from one person to the next, as the candles of all the faithful are lit and the entire church is illuminated by candlelight.

We read from scripture about the relationship between God and his people. Two adults will be baptized and received into the Church and all the faithful will renew their baptismal vows. The Eucharist is then celebrated with a great sense of joy because of everything that Jesus has given us.

Easter Sunday
Sunday, April 21^st
Mass Times: 7:30am, 9:00am, 10:30am (with Children’s Liturgy), 12 Noon

Final Classes - Tuesday, April 2 and Sunday, April 7

We have reached the end of our Faith Formation year! During the past 25 classes, we hope that your child has had the opportunity to learn more about God's great gift to us, Jesus! We hope that by learning more about Jesus, they have been able to develop a relationship with him. Through a relationship with Jesus, we hope that our students discover who God has truly created them to be, how they are called to live, and how they are called to share their gifts and talents. We hope that in all that we do, we prepare them to be "disciples", those who are sent out to share the Good News of Jesus and the hope, peace, love and joy that he offers each of us.

I am especially grateful at this time of year (No...not because we have our last class) I am grateful to all of our parents and students for making faith a priority in their families. I am grateful to our volunteer staff of catechists, who pass on our faith. And lastly, I am grateful that we have our faith to sustain us in times of difficulty and to celebrate in times of joy.

Although classes are coming to an end, we encourage you to continue being active here at St. Mary's. 

• The Children's Liturgy at the 10:30am Mass will continue
  throughout the spring and summer (with just a few weeks hiatus in May for 1st Communions).  
• Our Living Stations of the Cross on Good Friday at 2:15pm led by our high school youth group members is a great way to focus on Jesus' passion, death and resurrection.
  
• In June, we will have our St. Anthony's Kid's Fest to celebrate another wonderful year at St. Mary's

You can like and follow us on Facebook or check out our redesigned Parish Website to see all that we are doing.

Our Online Registration for 2019/2020 will begin in June, emails will be sent out with instructions on how to register. 

Lent Has Begun, Here is Another Way to Help Others: Operation Rice Bowl

During Lent, we are called to pray, fast and give alms, so that we may prepare our hearts to receive full the joy of Easter.  Operation Rice Bowl is a great way to work on all three of those parts of Lent!  
If you or your family decide that a good thing to fast from would be those stops at McDonald's and those quick dinners before everyone scatters to their own corners of the house, you could use that to benefit others too.  The fasting (or refraining from) that McD's run will save you some money and that money could be put into the Operation Rice Bowl box. Now of course you still need to eat, but maybe instead of a quick meal, everyone helps to make dinner.  When you sit down to eat, you could pray together to thank God and to pray for those who are in need. If you did that once a week for the 6 weeks of Lent, just think of how much different your Lent will be! You will grow closer as a family, pray together, and help others ($20 per meal for a family x 6 weeks = $120).  The money raised through Operation Rice Bowl will go to feed the hungry in the US and around the world.  Now that is a life changing Lent!

Operation Rice Bowl boxes are due back oat our final classes on Tuesday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 7th.

Lent comes every year. It’s meant to be a time when we invite God to help us become the-best-version-of-ourselves. But for many of us, Lent isn’t a transformative experience. It’s just a time when we give up chocolate or something else we enjoy, then go back to it at Easter.

This year, you can change that with BEST LENT EVER. Each day of Lent, you’ll receive a short inspirational video that will help you find areas for growth, build better habits, and spark lasting change in your life. 

All you have to do is sign up at BestLentEver.com