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 We are also participating in ProjectYM live, a Catholic online event featuring guest speakers such as Fr. Mike Schmitz.. Each broadcast is an hour long and includes games, music, and teaching from one of the top Catholic youth ministry speakers in the country. Teens/families will be able to watch the live stream from any device – and be part of the BIGGEST Catholic youth night ever! This is held on Sunday nights from 7-8pm. The link to watch is https:// live.projectym.com/
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 St. John’s Book Exchange: Looking for a way to while away this “stay at home” time The church is open during the day for you to make a visit with Jesus. There is also a shelf of books near the Bride’s Room with books to help you grow spiritually during these days. So come and spend a bit of time in prayer and help yourself to a book at the same time! When you finish with the book you may pass it on to someone you know would be interested in it, otherwise, please return it to the shelf for others to read.  FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK As we continue striving to find new ways to live our faith during these trying conditions, Following are various points of view to help us keep this in perspective, until we can return to a more normal sense of being. Let us pray that the time will be short. God bless. MOTHER THERESA ON GOD’S THIRST FOR YOU: Mother Teresa wrote a letter to her “spiritual family” dated March 25, 1993, asking the question, “Why does Jesus say ‘I Thirst’? What does it mean? Something so hard to explain in words.” Mother Teresa went on to write, “He thirsts for you. He loves you always, even when you don’t feel worthy. When not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes--He is the one who always accepts you.” Mother Teresa continues, “The devil may try to use the hurts of life, and sometimes our own mistakes--to make you feel it is impossible that Jesus really loves you, is really cleaving to you. This is a danger for all of us. And so sad, because it is completely opposite of what Jesus is really wanting, waiting to tell you. Not only that He loves you, but even more—He longs for you. He misses you when you don’t come close.” ANGER At this time in our world, anger is an emotion that has been coming to the forefront more and more often. What are we to do with his emotion? How do we respond? First, we need to remember the emotion itself is not a bad thing. Thomas Aquinas himself went so far as to say that not responding to something with anger can be a vice because sometimes reason demands anger at injustice and sin. Keeping this in mind, he also gives a warning:anger can become a mortal sin if “through the fierceness” of the anger a person “falls away from the love of God and his neighbor.” Our culture today makes it so easy to go off on social media, it is necessary to take great care to discern what we allow into our eyes, minds, and hearts. Here are some ways you can leave unhealthy anger behind: Don’t bathe in other people’s rage. Someone recently said in passing, “Life is too short to bathe in other people’s rage.” In today’s world, we might have to ‘unfriend’ certain people, even those we might admire and agree with if how they express themselves causes anger in my heart. Constant attacks against others do not lead one to sanctity. Allow your anger to bring conversion: Let your anger at the events in the world be a motivation for you to control what you can control with God’s grace, your own behavior. Find the people in your life and online who have the humility to say, “Mea culpa” instead of pointing fingers. Does social media cause anger within me? Social media and online activity in general can be a good thing, and help keep us in contact in today’s world. However, we need to be careful, as it can stir us up as well, with little to hold us accountable. At times it might be best to simply unplug. Do not respond right away. According to the Book of Proverbs, “Fools immediately show their anger” (12:16). If you come across something you believe needs to be addressed, hit the pause button. According to Ephrem the Syrian, “Virtues are formed by prayer” and “prayer suppresses anger.” In other words, prayer helps us become more patient and work through our anger before it becomes sinful. Allow prayer help you understand why this or that made you angry. When we lose our peace over an issue, asking Jesus to enter into this void can help us understand our wounds and allow His wounds to heal our hearts. God bless Fr Jim  Easter Flower Envelopes: Many sent in their Easter Flower envelopes with the names of loved ones to be remembered during Easter. At this time, we hope to decorate our altars with beautiful flowers when we are able to worship again in church not only to honor our loved ones but also the Blessed Mother.  Parishioner E-mail addresses: The office is trying to update e-mail addresses in our family files. There are times that an important message might need to get out quickly and the easiest way to do this is through e-mail. Please send us your e-mail address to mjgouin@frontier.com so that we can add it to your family information. In our parish of over 1000 families, we currently only have just over 300. Thank you!  DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
Divine Mercy Chaplet and Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday after Easter, are devotions that were very close to the heart of our late Holy Father, Saint Pope John Paul II. John Paul believed that this devotion is one of the most pressing for his time, and it seems all the more necessary today. John Paul’s life was deeply impacted by the realities of Communism and Fascism in Europe pre- WWII, especially as these affected his homeland of Poland. As he wrote in his 2003 apostolic letter, “The Church in Europe,” Christianity’s historic heartland (and, by extension, the entire western world) was beset by guilt over what it had done in two world wars and the Cold War, at Auschwitz and in the Gulag, through the Ukrainian hunger famine and the communist persecution of the Church. But having abandoned the God of the Bible, it had nowhere to turn to confess this guilt, seek absolution, and find forgiveness. John Paul believed that the Father has turned His face toward the world at this time, and in response John Paul named the 2nd Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy Sunday and made the Divine Mercy chaplet known. The source of this devotion is in his homeland of Poland, but its need is throughout the world. Jesus made known his desire for devotion to Divine Mercy. Speaking with St Faustina, he told her: I desire that this image be venerated, throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish I promise victory over (its) enemies already here on earth, and especially at the hour of death, I Myself will defend it as My own glory. The image he speaks about is the Divine Mercy image, from which he promises great graces will flow wherever it is exposed and venerated. This Image is a fountain of mercy that we can continue to come to, and replenish our strength and belief, with the graces that flow from it. This is the time of His mercy: Our world is experiencing a pandemic on top of all the other spiritual and physical ailments we face from failing to listen to God. Devotion to the Divine Mercy image and praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are powerful spiritual weapons for our battle over all these ailments, spiritual and physical, including a spiritual battle against the Corona Virus. To make reparations to His Divine Heart, Jesus has given us a message revealed through Saint Faustina, with extraordinary promises attached, to help attract modern society back to the faith. In her vision, St Faustina received a new image, and of this image, in a vision Jesus spoke to Saint Faustina: ‘I desire that this image be venerated, throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I promise victory over (its) enemies already here on earth, and especially at the hour of death, I Myself will defend it as My own glory’. Jesus promises great graces will flow wherever this image is exposed and venerated. This image is to be a fountain of mercy, which we can continue to come to, and replenish our strength and belief, with the graces that flow from it. When we approach the Image with trust, we can fill the vessel, which is our soul, with spiritual renewal that will instill in us a new strength of purpose in life, as we renew our trust in Jesus. Jesus, I trust in You God bless Fr. Jim  David Alcott - Coordinator of Evangelization Ministries I am now hosting youth ministry meetings weekly online through Zoom, Wednesdays at 3:30pm. All teens are welcome to join us. Please contact me to sign up for the weekly reminders and instructions on how to join the Zoom call. You can also join with any landline phone. Adventure Camp is still planned for June 21st-26th, 2020. The $100 deposit is now due. Please contact me if you are interested in attending. If the week is cancelled, there will be full refunds. Thanks! Some of the small groups are still meeting online. If your small group is currently not meeting, I would encourage you to continue striving for 15 minutes a day of personal prayer. We can always be united in prayer.  Office Visits: During these uncertain times, the parish office will be closed to visitors. Please call the parish office at 715-384-3252 and we will assist you as best we can! Updated Open Church Hours: St. John’s Church will be open Mon., Wed., Thurs., Sat. & Sun. from 8:00am - 3:00pm Tues., and Thurs. from 8am - 7pm.  FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK HAPPY EASTER TO ALL ALLELUJAH! He Is Risen! ALLELUJAH! May the joy of the risen Christ reign in your hearts. We have just completed 40 days of penance, prayer and almsgiving. Although this ended up being a Lent beyond our wildest imagination, hopefully it was spiritually enriching for you and your loved ones. As we now embark on a 50-day journey with the resurrected Christ, cumulating with the Feast of Pentecost, our Easter journey will begin like a dreary, fog filled start rather than the bright sunshine breaking at dawn. For the initial period at least, we will still experience some darkness, but there seems to be light coming as well, and hopefully the fog is beginning to lift. The Church feasts and liturgical seasons we celebrate are a reflection of our lives, which are in constant motion, the good and not so good, all mixed together. There are events that remind us of Lent; divorce, break-up’s, illnesses, deaths of loved ones and addictions. This year we have COVID-19 as well, an experience of Lent that is continuing into the Easter season, extending the darkness in the landscape of our lives. However, this is just a part of the landscape, as there continues to be joyous moments that remind us of Easter morning: marriages, births and baptisms, graduations, new careers, First Communions. So as we enter into this Easter season, reflect on this question: does the fact of my Lord’s resurrection make a difference in my life? Do I really BELIEVE in the empty tomb of Easter Morning? Will I allow this to impact my life? I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all that might pick up our bulletin or view this message on our website. It has been my practice, at Christmas and Easter, to welcome those that may be away from a regular practice of their faith, and to offer a welcome home. Yes, this year it is a bit different, as we all are facing empty churches in our communities. However, it is my prayer that when this pandemic is over, or at least on the down-swing, we will once again join with each other at weekly Mass. May the Lord use our community to reach out to all with a message of love and deep presence, and ignite a desire for Him in your heart, and may the presence of the Risen Lord lead you to a more faithful worship of our God. May the darkness of this past Lent open our hearts and allow the risen Christ to bloom ever more brightly in our hearts. As we move back into a more regular practice of our faith lives, this is an opportunity to see if there are some things we (I) can do to make our worship more fruitful. Do I welcome strangers, or do I get upset that someone is in my pew? Allow Christ to use you as his instrument, to reach out to those who may be hurting, to those searching for Him; to be his voice, his hands. Wherever we are right now, know that Christ is knocking on our heart. Yes, he loves us, and he will not reject anyone. But because he loves us, he will not allow us to remain where we are. He is calling you to himself, always to the next level. On this Easter day, enter into the empty tomb, see the cloths lying there and seek him who is already seeking you. May you and your loved ones have a blessed Easter season. God bless. Fr Jim  HOW TO WATCH LIVE STREAMING OF HOLY WEEK LITURGIES
1. Go to olpmarshfield.com when the liturgy you want to watch is scheduled. 2. Click on LIVE Holy Week Liturgies and follow the directions at the top of the page. 1. Go to sacredheartmarshfield.com when the liturgy you want to watch is scheduled. 2. Scroll down to Televised Masses and follow the directions there. |
MASS SCHEDULE
Monday - Friday: 7:00 AM Saturday: 8:00 AM Saturday: 4:30 PM Sunday: 7:00, 9:00 & 11:00 AM CONFESSION SCHEDULE
Tuesday–Friday: 6:30 - 6:50 AM 1st and 3rd Fridays: Confessions begin at 6:00* Saturday: 3:30 - 4:15 PM *Friday confessions begin at 6:00, but vary in duration ADORATION
PERPETUAL ADORATION: The Marshfield Deanery has the John Paul II Adoration Chapel located in the basement of St. John the Baptist Parish, at 201 W. Blodgett St. The chapel is accessible from the rear parking lot. For more information or to sign up: contact Jean Kaiser 715-503-0118. Click on the image below for more information. 
Stay Connected with Our ParishWelcome From Our Pastor
Welcome to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church! Ever since 1877 this parish has been assisting souls in their quest for deeper union with God. Pope John Paul II called the parish a “school of prayer” and St. John’s is committed to promoting growth in holiness in every state in life. Each of us is called... Read More
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