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Mass Intentions for the Week Saturday, April 11 Easter Vigil For the People of St. Bernadette Parish Sunday, April 12 Easter Sunday For the People of St. Bernadette Parish Monday, April 13 For all healthcare workers Tuesday, April 14 † Mary LeSage, By Pat Lesage † Sheila Ellsworth, By Pat LeSage Wednesday, April 15 † Arthur Vigeant, By Joseph & Claudette Moineau † Richard Lizotte, 6th Anniversary By Dottie Lizotte Thursday, April 16 † For all who have died from Covid19 Friday, April 17 For an end to the Pandemic Saturday, April 18 The Glynn Family, By the Family Sunday, April 19 9:00 AM Patricia Lefevre, By the Family Gerard Joubert, By Jim Joubert 11:00 AM Francis Kroll, By Ruth Coady Joan Boudreau, By the Rino Family

A Message from the Pastor:

My Friends in the Lord Jesus, Easter Sunday and fifty days of joy of the Easter season! However, this year we are all experiencing feelings of fear, anxiety, and isolation. It seems that in the place of new life there is instead, uncertainty, illness and death. The bright joy of this Easter seems to have been dimmed and dulled by the reality of Covid-19, the Coronavirus, which we all face. But what we celebrate and proclaim today is not dulled or dimmed. The resurrection of the Lord, and the hope it instills, is our strength and encouragement. We hear again the first words spoken by Jesus upon the resurrection “Be not afraid.” We are not just any people. We are people of God, people of faith, who even in the midst of adversity, place our hope and trust in the risen Lord. Throughout Lent we have prayed, fasted and reached out to those in need. We have prepared our hearts to hear and to receive again the glorious words of the Easter proclamation of St. Mary Magdalene, “I have seen the Lord!” It is this good news of salvation that we recall today as we celebrate Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, risen triumphant. Easter is the day of the very foundation of our faith, of the reason for our hope and trust in God - Jesus Christ risen triumphant. Pope Francis, in a special blessing, Urbi et Orbi “To the City (Rome - Urbi) and to the World (Orbi),” preached and prayed: Lord, You are calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing. It is not the time of your judgement, but of our judgement: a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others. We can look to so many exemplary companions for the journey, who, even though fearful, have reacted by giving their lives. This is the force of the Spirit poured out and fashioned in courageous and generous self-denial. It is the life in the Spirit that can redeem, value and demonstrate how our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people – often forgotten people – who do not appear in newspaper and magazine headlines nor on the grand catwalks of the latest show, but who without any doubt are in these very days writing the decisive events of our time: doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, caregivers, providers of transport, law and order forces, volunteers, priests, religious men and women and so very many others who have understood that no one reaches salvation by themselves.

Continued...

Masses, Feasts & Gospels

SUNDAY Luke 24:13-35 Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

MONDAY Matthew 28:8-15 Monday within the Octave of Easter

TUESDAY John 20:11-18 Tuesday within the Octave of Easter

WEDNESDAY Luke 24:13-35 Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

THURSDAY Luke 24:35-48 Thursday within the Octave of Easter

FRIDAY John 21:1-14 Friday within the Octave of Easter

SATURDAY Mark 15:9-15 Saturday within the Octave of Easter

Father Falco will remember all of the Mass Intentions scheduled, as well as all of our parish community, in his daily private Mass.

For pastoral considerations and for the health of our staff, the parish office is closed until further notice. If you need

To contact a staff member, please call the office at 508-393-2838 or send an email to office@stb-parish.net.

Thank you.

Offertory Collection

Week of March 22 - 29

Offertory: $ 6,920.80

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY !

Text BERNADETTE to 84576 from your cell phone ~or~

Visit the parish website: www.stb-parish.org Complete the Flocknote sign-up on the home page

Remember Online Giving

We are so grateful to continue receiving weekly offering gifts. Please remember that envelopes may be sent by mail to the parish office, or you may easily give online at: stb-parish.org/stewardship. You can set up an automatic recurring gift and specify when and how often you’d like to donate online. Please consider using these beneficial options during this trying time while Masses are suspended, as it will greatly help continue the mission and work of the parish.

Easter 2020 My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, It has been called the “unseen enemy.” The coronavirus has brought illness and death to the afflicted; fear, isolation and disruption to us all. On Easter Sunday, Jesus’ first followers saw the remedy for their fears. Days before, beginning with the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane and His Crucifixion on Calvary, they had experi-enced fear and seen death. Indeed, the threat of death caused not only fear but isolation and disruption as they ran from Jesus in the garden and nearly all abandoned Him at the Cross. But on Easter Sunday He was there again, in their midst, back from the dead, bringing them together and reassuring them with His words, "peace be with you." Today he says the same to us. He is present to us. We do not see Him with our eyes.  But with faith we know Him to be among us, risen and trium-phant. He is the unseen ally, always present, always able to help us against all enemies, seen and unseen. The presence of the coronavirus has and will shape our lives for a time. Even more so, may the presence of the Risen Christ at all times shape our lives, our outlook and our confidence. Scientists work to develop a vaccine to prevent further infec-tions of our bodies from viruses around us. We pray for those scientists and heed their sound advice. Jesus Christ is the com-plementary antidote for our souls to strengthen us spiritually against all the inevitable things in life that we face and fear - sickness, isolation, sin, uncertainty and even death. While this is a very different Easter, in its essence it is the same. How we celebrate differs but what we celebrate and its meaning for us remain the same. May the Triumph of the Risen Christ give you and your loved one’s peace, hope and confi-dence. I pray that God will protect you and your loved ones along with all who strive to maintain public health, order, and the necessities of life. May it be God’s will that before this Easter Season is over, we will be through the worst of this pandemic so that we can gather again, stronger in faith, united in Christ, to give joyful thanks to God around the altar in the Eucharist. With every prayerful best wish for a joyous Easter, I remain Sincerely yours in Christ, Most Reverend Robert J. McManus Bishop of Worcester

Pastoral Office Phone 508-393-2838 Fax 508-393-2718

Rectory 508-393-2223

Email Parish Office: office@stb-parish.net

Pastor: FrRonFalco@gmail.com

Parish Website www.stb-parish.org

In the face of so much suffering, where the authentic devel-opment of our peoples is assessed, we experience the priestly prayer of Jesus: “That they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). How many people every day are exercis-ing patience and offering hope, taking care to sow not panic but a shared responsibility. How many fathers, moth-ers, grandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small everyday gestures, how to face up to and navigate a crisis by adjusting their routines, lifting their gaze and fostering prayer. How many are praying, offering and interceding for the good of all. Prayer and quiet service: these are our victorious weapons…

Dear brothers and sisters, from this place that tells of Peter’s rock-solid faith, I would like this evening to entrust all of you to the Lord, through the intercession of Mary, Health of the People and Star of the stormy Sea. From this colon-nade that embraces Rome and the whole world, may God’s blessing come down upon you as a consoling embrace. Lord, may you bless the world, give health to our bodies and comfort our hearts. You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak and we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at the mercy of the storm. Tell us again: “Do not be afraid” (Mt 28:5). And we, together with Peter, “cast all our anxieties onto you, for you care about us” (cf. 1 Pet 5:7).

May the joy and peace of Easter fill our homes and hearts, increase our faith, strengthen our hope, and ennoble our acts of love.

Happy and blessed Easter, Fr. Ron