St Gabriel Parish Community

God always leads us to where we need to be, not where we want to be.

      Workers in War Zones: For Doctors abd their humanitarian collaborators in war zones, who risk their lives to save the lives of others.

Good Friday or Easter Sunday?   Which of the two would be more important for Christians, the day the Lord suffered and died or the day He triumphantly rose from the dead? It’s a trick question: they are equally important. The suffering and death of the Lord loses a lot of its impact if you lose sight of the Resurrection and the Resurrection loses its connec-tion to us if we forget about our Lord’s suffering. The real question is: why do we attach so much im-portance to Easter Sunday and so little to Good Fri-day? Even people who rarely attend Mass always show up at Easter. But you won’t see them on Good Friday. In fact, I don’t know anyone who would come to Good Friday’s Passion Service and not come for Easter. So it is pretty obvious that the Lord’s suffering and sacrifice are not as appreciated as they should
be. Most people don’t take it personally, they don’t feel Jesus suffered for their sins. That’s because we don’t think we sin. We have faults, we make mistakes, we cross the line at times, but it is never malicious or intentional so it can’t be a sin, at least not a serious sin. We’ve become so clever at rationalizing our con-duct that we believe we can save ourselves. We just have to lead a decent life. But if we don’t need for-giveness, we should wonder why Jesus suffered so much to obtain it for us. Good Friday would seem to be a wasted effort. And Easter becomes nothing more than an assurance that there is a life after this one. If you want to know how important Good Friday is to you, ask yourself: When’s the last time I went to confession? Why don’t I go more often?
FROM FR RAY'S THOUGHT FOR HOLY WEEK (4/14/2019)
 

IN 1884, POPE LEO XIII REQUESTED THAT CATHOLICS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD RECITE THE FOLLOWING PRAYER AFTER EACH MASS TO SEEK ST. MICHAEL'S PROTECTION FOR THE CHURCH, WHICH WAS UNDER ATTACK BY SATAN.  POPE FRANCIS HAS ASKED US TO RESUME THIS PRACTICE.  

PRAYER TO ST. MICHAEL
St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our safeguard against the wickedness and the snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.  Amen.

Our trip for 2019 is a 5 day/ 4 night trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto - June 24 through June 28, 2019.  We have resolved an issue with the lodging and we have had a few cancellations.  If you are interested in the trip, let us know.  Don't miss out on this great adventure!

Saturday:        3:15 PM     Franklin
                         5:15 PM     Tilton

St Gabriel is a Roman Catholic Community, located in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.  It is part of the Diocese of Manchester.   Our mission is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ  with our neighbors and visitors as we do our best to incorporate our Master’s teachings in our own daily life.