St. Stanislaus Catholic Church

Rossville, Kansas

Finish Strong

As we enter into Holy Week, I want to encourage you to finish strong this Lent and to offer a few suggestions for how to do this. 

1. Attend the Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies.
2. Eliminate all “extra” activities that you can from your schedule this week.
3. Plan on spending 30 minutes or 1 hour in prayer sometime after the Holy Thursday Mass. Immaculate Conception church will be left open and the Blessed Sacrament will be at a special altar of repose. Keep watch and pray with Our Lord anytime from 8:30pm-midnight.
4.  Watch “The Passion of the Christ” movie on Good Friday. We will be showing it in the Centennial Building at 12:30pm and it will conclude in time for the 3pm Good Friday service. 

May God bless you with a prayerful, fruitful, and impactful Holy Week! 

Please enjoy the following edited account of the meaning of Palm Sunday by D.D. EMMONS:

“As we read in the Gospels, Jesus went to Jerusalem to join with throngs of other Jews to celebrate the Passover feast as had been prescribed in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. 

Those arriving with and greeting Jesus were large in number as explained by John’s Gospel: “When the great crowd … heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him, and cried out: ‘Hosanna! / Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, [even] the king of Israel’” (12:12-13).

St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) offered a homily about Christ’s entry into Jerusalem: “How different the cries, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him,’ and then, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna, in the highest!’ How different the cries are that now are calling him ‘King of Israel’ and then in a few days’ time will be saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ What a contrast between the green branches and the cross, between the flowers and the thorns! Before they were offering their own clothes for him to walk upon, and so soon afterwards they are stripping him of his, and casting lots upon them.”

Palms were symbols of life among the nomadic tribes, who, when crossing the desert, rejoiced at seeing the palm tree as it indicated an oasis with life-giving water was near. Palms have long been a sign of victory, success and glory. 

On Palm Sunday, we still go out to meet Him, carry the blessed palms, joyfully sing out our hosanna and join in His triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. But soon our joy turns to somberness as, clutching our palm, we hear the narrative of Christ’s passion. We realize, once again, that His triumph, His true victory, will come through the cross. 

The palms we take home and put in a special place serve to remind us that Palm Sunday is not lost to the ages but that by Christ’s victory we, too, can achieve everlasting life. “For us too, they [palms] must be symbols of triumph, indicative of the victory to be won in our battle against the evil in ourselves and against the evil which roams about us. As we receive the blessed palm, let us renew our pledge to conquer with Jesus, but let us not forget that it was on the cross that He conquered” (“Divine Intimacy,” Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., Tan Books, 1997, pp. 392-393).”

Fr. Justin 

Religious Education starts September 25/ Jr High & High School Starts September 14th. Register your student now by clicking below.

Religious Ed/JR High Confirmation/HS Youth Group Registration Click Here
 

Friday, March 31st:  6:30pm Confessions
                                    7:30pm Stations of the Cross

Friday, April 7th:  7pm Good Friday Service

Sunday, April 9th:  9am Easter Sunday Mass

Please consider participating in this free podcast with Fr. Mike Schmitz.  "If you ever wanted to understand what it means to be Catholic and allow those truths to shape your life - this podcast is for you!"

Check it out by clicking on this link:  The Catechism in a Year

 

First Fruits - Archbishop's Call to Share

St. Stanislaus Church will remain open on Wednesdays after 8am daily Mass until 7pm.  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday the church is open from 3pm to 7pm.

On the 3rd Tuesday of each month, St. Stanislaus will offer a Parish Family Holy Hour which will begin at 7pm with Adoration & conclude with Benediction.  

An additional early morning adoration time: weekdays from 5am to 6am.