This Lent, let's not focus on what we give up.  Let's focus on who God wants us to become.  We hope these reflections encourage you on your own personal journey throughout this Lenten season.

Join the Daughters of Saint Paul in the video below as they pray a Memento Mori Rosary outside the crypt at their Motherhouse in Boston.

Memento mori means "remember your death" in Latin, and refers to the ancient practice of meditating on death and the afterlife.  The Memento Mori Rosary is composed of 5 mysteries that help us meditate on, and enter into, Jesus’ death.  When we pray these mysteries, we can ask for the grace to live our lives in preparation for our death, and we can thank God for the gift of salvation that allows us to hope in eternal life and the final resurrection of the body.

The Mysteries of the Memento Mori Rosary:

1. The Birth of Jesus at Bethlehem
2. Jesus Institutes the Eucharist
3. Jesus Carries the Cross to Calvary
4. Jesus Is Crucified
5. Jesus Rises from the Dead

Reflecting on death is not a morbid affair, it is a healthy and often healing practice that helps us accept the inevitable with hope.  The eternal life promised in Jesus Christ is our ultimate, hoped-for end.  Embracing the reality of death helps us live a better life now.

Lent is a time when we remember the death of Christ and the sacrifice he made to give us eternal life.  This rosary can help us to meditate on our own mortality and the incredible gift of salvation in preparation for Easter.
 

“Lord, let me know my end,
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is!"

– Psalm 39:4

We hope you’ll follow this new weekly update that Bishop Mike wishes to share with the Faithful of the Diocese, priests, lay leaders, educators and all, reflecting his insights and activities related to the shared work of creating a new, more promising era for Catholic faith and ministry across Western New York.

Update date March 1, 2021 (for Second Sunday of Lent).

• All weekend and weekday masses have resumed with a 100-person limit.  Due to the recent Supreme Court ruling, we are no longer restricted to Governor Cuomo's 25 in-person maximum for churches that was imposed with the Orange Zone.

• Our Mass schedule is:

• Sat:  4:30pm
• Sun:  7:30am, 10am, 12pm, 7pm
• Mon-Fri:  10am

• The Diocese reminds the faithful that there is still a dispensation in effect regarding the Sunday and Holy Day Mass obligation.  Therefore, according to guidance from the Diocese, there is still no obligation to attend in-person Mass during the current time.

"The celebration of Holy Mass
has the same value as
the Death of Jesus on the Cross.”

– St. Thomas Aquinas

In an effort to continue the practice of our faith in these trying times, we invite you to join us online for Holy Mass each day of the week using the streaming button below if not attending in-person Masses.

Streaming Mass Schedule:

• Monday - Saturday:  9:30am, and Monday - Friday:  12:30pm, 7pm, 11:30pm  (Chapel of the Holy Cross in Boston).
• Saturday:  7pm, 11:30pm  (Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC).
• Sunday:  10am  (Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame).
• Sunday:  12:30pm, 7pm, 11:30pm  (Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston).

Begin your day with this prayer to Our Lady of Czestochowa.  The "Black Madonna" of Poland can help you remain faithful to God through any storm.

For people of Polish descent around the world, Our Lady of Czestochowa remains a constant inspiration.  She has been a strong rock that has helped countless people stay rooted in Jesus Christ in the midst of some of the most violent storms.

This particular image of the Virgin Mary reveals a mother who has been scarred but still faithful in her duties.  She never forgets her spiritual children and gazes at them with a look of compassion.  A cheek bears the scars of saber slashes purportedly inflicted by robbers - Hussites by some accounts - who desecrated the monastery of Jasna Gora in 1430 where the portrait was housed.  The image gets its nickname “Black Madonna” from the soot residue which discolors the painting as a result of centuries of votive lights and candles burned in front of it.

Our Lady of Czestochowa is a strong woman, and encourages us to keep the faith, no matter what might happen to us throughout the day.  Here is a morning offering prayer to her, consecrating the entire day to the “Black Madonna,” who has helped so many people during their darkest of trials.

In the video below, join live 24/7 streaming from the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration of the World Center of Prayer for Peace in the Niepokalanów Monastery in Teresin, Poland (25 miles from Warsaw).  The chapel is housed in the Basilica of Saint Mary Immaculate in the Franciscan monastery founded by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1927.  This is currently the world’s most-watched adoration, reaching over a million online visits.

Livestream adoration can be a channel through which the faithful can gain a plenary indulgence for their sins during the pandemic, as confession was suspended along with Masses.  Eucharistic adoration is mentioned among the different ways to obtain special indulgences in the March 20th decree issued by the Holy See's Apostolic Penitentiary, along with other practices like the recitation of the Holy Rosary or the reading of Holy Scripture.

Father Wiesław Pyzio, Minister Provincial of the Warsaw Province of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, says that "concern for the salvation of human souls was at the heart of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s apostolate.  He was an apostle of the desire of salvation for all and this is why he wanted to go around the world so much — to gain new souls for salvation, through the Virgin Mary.”

“St. Maximilian Kolbe, who spent months in the Auschwitz concentration camp, knew better than anyone that we can travel through the spirit, that our heart can travel to infinity,” Fr. Pyzio adds.  "At a time when it is impossible to physically participate in the Eucharist, one can unite to the Lord from home, and it is even better if it is before a virtual image of the Blessed Sacrament.  It is the desire to be before God that matters the most.”

We wholeheartedly invite you to make this online pilgrimage to Niepokalanów, to gaze at the face of Our Lady, Mediatrix of all Graces, and to meet Her Son Jesus in adoration.
 

As I cannot now receive Thee, my Jesus,
in Holy Communion,
come spiritually into my heart
and make it Thine own forever.

Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament,
have mercy on us!

Join the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the video below in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet and asking God to shower his mercy upon us.  We encourage all to pray that God's mercy helps to console the suffering, give peace to the anxious, and renew all people in their trust in the Lord.

This visual Chaplet helps us to experience the beauty and breadth of the world and the Catholic Church, with whom and for whom we are praying.

Included in the video are the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in New York (Bronx) and Honduras, the Sisters of Life at Times Square, the Brothers of Saint John in the Philippines, the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, and the Order of Friars Minor (OFM) of the Franciscans in the Holy Land.

Jesus, I trust in you.

Join the Sisters of Life in praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary in the video below.

The Sisters of Life are a contemplative/active Roman Catholic community of women religious who profess the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and a fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.  They were founded by Cardinal John O’Connor in New York in 1991.  The Sisters of Life currently serve in the [Arch]dioceses of New York, Bridgeport, Philadelphia, Denver, Washington, D.C., and Toronto, Canada.  Their missions include serving women who are vulnerable to abortion, giving them the support and resources to be able to choose life for themselves and their children (hosting weekend retreats, evangelization, outreach to college students), and helping women who have suffered after abortion to encounter the mercy and healing of Jesus Christ.

The Most Holy Rosary is considered a perfect prayer because within it is the story of our salvation as we meditate on the mysteries of joy, light, sorrow, and glory of Jesus and Mary.  It’s a simple prayer, humble, so much like Mary.  It’s a prayer we can all say together with her, the Mother of God.  With the Hail Mary, we invite her to pray for us.  She joins her prayer to ours.

 

“Go to the Madonna.  Love her.
Always say the Rosary.
Say it well.
Say it as often as you can.

Be souls of prayer.
Never tire of praying,
it is what is essential.
Prayer shakes the Heart of God,
it obtains necessary graces.”

- St. Padre Pio