Bread from Heaven

 

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings and a blessed Third Sunday of Lent from a sunny Cleveland Ohio! The past days have been quite beautiful here: often blue skies and sun, with crisp cool air hovering around freezing. I have been able to get out and do a little walking in the neighborhood, which has been a real blessing. 

My back has better days and worse days. Yesterday was a better day and I was able to go for a longer walk, to work most of the day at my studies, and to even make a Holy Hour in the evening--the first time I have been able to do that in a month! However, last night my back was not particularly happy and is slowly coming back today. So today is being spent largely reclining to rest my back, and reading.

The above photo--please excuse the fact it is sideways, I can't figure out how to rotate a photo--is the book I have been reading today. It is quite good. Brant Pitre, the author, draws from various accounts of Jewish customs at the time of Our Lords that shed light on how his gestures and words would have been understood in his day, with regard to the Eucharist. I am only half-way through the book but have found it quite interesting so far. Hopefully I will get through the rest of it today.

I also have some good news regarding Holy Week. For the first time in 20 years I will have the privilege of living this Holy Week as a personal retreat. While leading a flock through the Holy Week liturgies has very particular joys, so does spending that week in silence and prayer at a monastery. This year, I will have that blessing at the guesthouse of the Benedictines of Mary in Gower, Missouri https://benedictinesofmary.org  . They are known for the beauty of their chanting and for having a good retreat house for priests, so I am very much looking forward to it.

As we begin this third week of Lent, you all will continue to be in my prayers. Please keep me in yours.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari