So much comes to us - and at us - once the Easter Triduum starts (on Holy Thursday with the evening Mass) that I'm looking ahead and asking you to consider the needs that are placed before us on those days and respond to them in a generous way.  Firstly, the "OPERATION RICE BOWL" Lenten program ends with the start of the Triduum.  If you are coming to the Holy Thursday Mass, I ask you to remember to bring your rice bowls with what you have saved up during the Lenten Season and put them in the specially-marked box in the narthex before Mass begins.  If you don't make it to Mass that evening, you can bring them to church and put them in that big box anytime in the first couple of weeks of Easter.  Remember, we are giving to some of the neediest in the world as three-fourths of what is collected goes to Catholic Relief Services and the rest to Catholic Charities of Arkansas to help the needy in our area.  The Holy Thursday Mass will also include the annual diocesan collection to support the education and formation of the seminarians in Arkansas.  The need in this area has been great because THANKS BE TO GOD, we have had so many seminarians in the last ten years which has resulted in many new (and often young) priests for our diocese.  Please continue to be generous to our seminarians (which now includes our own parishioner Jonathan Semmler) as you have been in this and other ways our parish has supported our future priests.  Finally, there is always a special collection on Good Friday to support the ongoing efforts of the Church (through the Franciscans who are ministering there all the time) to care for the Catholics and the holy sites in the Holy Land where our Lord lived, died and rose from the dead.  I realize this is a lot in a short time, and then there's our normal weekend collection to support our parish and its ministries at the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Masses.

I'm certainly not about to rank all of these in terms of priority, so you can decide which of these to give to and which to leave out.  I pray you will join me (and I hope many parishioners) in supporting all of theses in some way.  It may mean stretching our resources, and I hope this Lenten season is indeed preparing and motivating us to be more generous now, and in the future.  The Lord will always bless those who share their blessings with others in ways we can't even imagine.  Thanks in advance for your support of these worthy causes (and needs)!