Mass Times: Saturdays at 5:00 pm;
Sundays at 8:00 am and 10:30 am.
Mon, Tues, Wed* (*Communion service),
and Fri at 8:15 am;
Thurs at 6:00 pm.
St. Rita Roman Catholic Church
1008 Maple Dr., Webster, NY 14580
585-671-1100
 

The Parish Office is open from 9 am to noon, Monday through Friday.  Stop by or give us a call at 671-1100.

Holy Week Mass Schedule: Holy Thursday (7 pm); Good Friday (3 pm); Easter Vigil (8 pm); Easter Sunday (7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am)

Pastoral Messages

Lenten Reflections


Read more

Scripture

An Introduction to the Sunday Scripture Readings - March 17, 2024

“Unless A Grain Of Wheat Falls To The Ground And Dies . . .”

This is our last full week of Lent before we relive Christ’s Passion on Palm Sunday and then Holy Week. Our readings this week focus on the New Covenant, prophesied by Jeremiah and coming to fulfillment in Jesus. “The hour has come . . . .”

In our first reading (Jeremiah 31:31-34), we hear the beautiful and tender call of God to a new order, a new and personal covenant, written on our hearts. Unlike the old covenant, which was physical and temporal, this covenant is spiritual and everlasting. It is based on a love relationship with the Father and accomplished through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In our Epistle reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 5:7-9), the author more fully describes Jesus' very human fear and agony, presumably in the garden of Gethsemane, as “prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears". And yet his obedience to the will of the Father was what made him "perfect". In this sense, the word perfect can be seen to refer to the sacrificial offering of himself as high priest, for the sins of humanity.

In our Gospel reading (John 12:20-33), we hear Jesus’ reaction to the quest of some Greeks (non-Jews). This happened just after the greetings and hosannas on Palm Sunday, shortly before his passion and death. Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Just as the grain of wheat must die and be resurrected, so Jesus’ death must come before his resurrection. The grain of wheat ultimately becomes the Eucharist. This is the institution of the “New Covenant” of which Jeremiah spoke in our first reading. Jesus' "hour has come."

Just as Jesus was transformed through his supreme act of love on the cross into eternal glory with the Father, so too are we transformed in his Eucharist. In every Mass, we participate in the relived experience of that terrifying night and Jesus' tortuous death on the cross and then glorified resurrection and triumph over the evil one of this world. When we receive his Body and drink his "Blood of the New Covenant", we take into our being the law which is written on our hearts. "I will be their God and they shall be my people." How could we ever miss such an opportunity.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031724.cfm


Read more

Upcoming Events

Latest News

What's Happening This Week

Facebook

Faith at Home

Help