Messages from Lucy Marcil

April 6th, 2020

These weeks have been hard for me, I cannot lie. I am a social person.
I crave the conversation and interaction of others.
At a time when we cannot come together and need it the most, it is not here for us. What I would not give to go to the park and swing the grandbabies on the swing or visit with a friend over dinner in a restaurant. These were all ordi- nary things that have become extraordinary in the last three weeks. Facebook reminds me daily of the times past and I am so jealous of myself back then. The world was good and I was happy in the chaos of ordinary days.

Then this happened and what a time for it to happen: during Lent. Others may not see the irony as deprivation for 40 days, but Jesus cer- tainly does. For lack of a better analogy, we are all in our own desert and we are walking alone: wandering and wondering what the end may be. Uncertainty is our constant companion as my daily walks have turned into people switching sides of the streets as I pass them and looking down from me. They were my neighbors three weeks ago, but now they are confined to them- selves, worried about their own preservation.

I am reminded of Palm Sunday and all those who joyously welcomed Jesus only to call out his name a few days later to be crucified. It will not be that dramatic but there is an underlying feeling that if I coughed on my walks or in a store, those around me would turn against me. I feel more isolated than I already am.

So what can we do?  We do as Jesus did, and look to our Father.  Only our Father can end all of this and it will only be in our Father’s time that it is ended.  That is a truth we find hard to understand.  Holy Week will come and go like no other Holy Week in history.  We have never stopped Easter Sunday masses, not even during war- time.  We are living in unprecedented times. But we have, as children of God and heirs to heaven, been charged with taking up our armor and fighting for our world to come back. Our weapon is hope and the chant in battle is prayer.

Over insurmountable obstacles we must pray for an end to this.  We must pray with everything that is in us.  We must never lose hope in God that he will be triumphant over this. We are in the desert right now, but we will come out of it.

We will be stronger and more prepared for the world that emerges along with us. We may not ever have the world that we had before but it will be better. It will be consecrated from God and through our prayers. We will be triumphant in this and when we are, we must celebrate our Easter, the joyous resurrection of life anew again.

Lucy Marcil
Director of Religious Education

March 21st, 2020 

Hello Everyone,

Many of you, as day 2 begins, are in the honeymoon phase of all being home.  I am a teacher, as you know, and part of me says "they are missing so much" and then there is the stay at home mom that I used to be saying "time to hunker down and enjoy one another."   As important as it is to do school work and keep up the school skills, it is equally important to pray.  When you put on the amour of God nothing can penetrate it.  There are vast numbers of Angels, Saints and loved ones who are right there with you in your worry, panic and stress.  What we need to do is not panic, worry or stress, but rather see what is the big picture out of this.    

A young girl in Italy wrote that she never really thought about the fact that she could lose her mom and dad- when you are young like that no one does.  However, being home with them has shown her that she does not want to live without them- ever.  She is hearing the old stories of their lives and the times that they were tested.  The joy of their triumphs and the deep sorrow of failures.   Life is cruel and as you know, can change in seconds.  We have each other now, but will that always be the case.  As you are making your schedules for your kids to get their school work done, make sure you take the time to schedule your prayers, as a family.  There are strength in numbers as you know.  A team of one cannot defeat a team of six OR can they.  I believe that if we have God on our side, we can conquer anything- even this virus.  
So please avail yourself of our parish website.   Look at the videos together and practice your prayers:
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be and the Sign of the Cross.  

I miss seeing you all at church and religious education.  I pray for you always and I hope that you are shielded from this- you and your family.  This will be a memory too, someday, but we will not be the same.  We are part of history for one.  And for another, your children can say that they made it through the pandemic through the power of prayer.  

Take Care and God Bless you all.
See you as soon as we are allowed.

Always in my prayers and heart,
Lucy M 

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Lucia Marcil
lmarcil419@gmail.com