Since we are unable to gather together in church, we want to celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. To that effect, on Easter Sunday morning, April12 at 9 am, the float of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church of Hoisington will have it's own parade! It will travel from Hwy 4 and Main St. south to Broadway, then north on Center St., then east on Hwy 4 to Cedar St. then onto 1st St. We'll go north on Main St. to Hwy 4, then west to Center St., then to Broadway, and then east to Cedar St. We will do this twice, all contingent on the weather, of course! Please join us from your porch or window and wave to celebrate Easter!

Greetings to you my dear brothers and sisters of St John the Evangelist Hoisington and St Ann Olmitz. Yesterday April 2nd was Chrism Mass for the Dodge City diocese, the Bishop did the Mass with 2 priests at the cathedral and the oils were blessed. Later through a video conference Bishop John led the priests of the diocese through the traditional renewal of priestly vows. That was a first of its kind for me and I believe for all the other priests. This has become the new normal for all of us in this period of the corona virus pandemic. But I believe that this will not last, God will restore all things. 

This weekend we enter into the Holy week beginning with Palm Sunday Masses in Hoisington on Saturday at 5pm and in Olmitz on Sunday at 10.30am. Both Masses will be live streamed through the Facebook pages of both parishes and I invite you to spiritually join me at these celebrations as we bless the palms and mark the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. 

All these celebrations will be streamed live through the Facebook pages of both churches. The Easter Triduum will be as follows:
Holy Thursday in Hoisington at 7PM; 

Good Friday in Olmitz at 6PM 

Easter vigil in Hoisington at 8PM 

Easter Sunday in Olmitz at 10.30AM. 

I encourage you all to join us to keep this Holy week spiritual and memorable. 

Please be reminded that I am available for confession through the week, but you have to call to make an appointment to avoid many people coming together in the church at the same time in the spirit of the social distancing in force right now. 

I want you all to know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. If there is anything you think the church could help you with please do not hesitate to call 620-653-2963.

God bless you and keep you safe. 

Your pastor, Fr Anselm Eke, MSP

PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

 Today the universal Church celebrates Palm Sunday which commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Unfortunately, because of the menace of the corona virus, most of us are not able to hold up our palm branches to acknowledge Christ entering his city, but we can still open our hearts and let him enter the city of our hearts. Let us make him feel welcome into our lives today and always. Today is also referred to as Passion Sunday which marks the beginning of the Holy week liturgies leading up to the celebration of Easter. Is it not so ironic that the two celebrations will come together? In the first part of the celebration we will hear the tumultuous crowd welcoming Jesus into the city of Jerusalem, yet there were some in the crowd who asked; “who is this man”? This was a question that a lot of individuals and groups had asked earlier about Jesus. We will recall that after most of the miracles Jesus performed in the Bible or his authoritative teachings, people filled with astonishment would always ask the same question, ‘who is this man’ or ‘where did he get all this power from’? There were some in the crowd on that day that Jesus entered Jerusalem who had an idea of who the man was: “He is Jesus the Prophet from Nazareth in Galilee”. So far so good, but is that all to know about the Man Jesus?

The passion is set to help us to have a deeper understanding of the Man Jesus. It is also meant to help us understand humanity as we see how so many characters involved in the Passion narrative conducted themselves. During the passion of Christ, the prophecy of Simeon at the presentation of Christ (Luke 2:34) became clearer to the world. The secret intentions of many were laid bare. The jealousy of the Jewish religious leaders had come to a crescendo, the greed of Judas was exposed and the animosity of Herod and Pilate towards Jesus could no longer be hidden. Even the disciples fled and Peter denied him. The ignorance and gullibility of the crowd who had benefited from his miracles and had welcomed Jesus enthusiastically a few days earlier was also exposed. In the Passion we realize that Jesus suffered because of our various defects and the sins of the world. The sins of rejection, greed, unfaithfulness, pride, jealousy, envy, etc.

When we consider what most of the characters did during the arrest, trial, condemnation and crucifixion of Jesus, we could self-righteously insist that we would have done better if we were there on that day. I may not know how each of us might have behaved if we were there on that day, but I do know that there would have been times in our present age when we would have had opportunities to behave differently from that crowd in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago and yet we failed to seize the opportunity. There have been times when we have betrayed our friends and people who trusted us just as Judas did. May be you did not collect 30 silver coins, but maybe you divulged their little secrets kept with you over a glass of drink or during light hearted conversation with another person over the phone. There would have been times when we bore false witness against others or failed to speak out for those falsely accused. What about the times we told lies or participated in the miscarriage of justice out of fear or because of favors promised us? There would have been times when greed have gotten the better part of you; when you had thought only about yourself and your needs alone and cared less about your neighbors. What about the times you have taken advantage of others in order to move up the ladder? Have you allowed jealousy, envy or hatred dominate your life and colored your relationship with others? At such times we have revealed what we would have done if we were at the trial of Jesus.

As we participate in the liturgies of the Holy week, albeit mostly virtually, let us allow ourselves to feel the suffering, pain, and abandonment that Jesus experienced and be resolved not to participate in any form of cruelty towards another individual, because so long as you did it to one of his brothers and sisters, you did it to Jesus. His passion and death brought us salvation, so let us draw closer to him in order to enjoy the salvation he has won for us. I encourage each and every one to make this week truly ‘Holy’ by our participation in the liturgical celebrations of the Sacred Triduum culminating in the Glorious celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday.

Prayer intentions may be called to Nancy Kirmer at 620-653-2466.

Please note that ALL MASSES, including Sat. & Sun., and all parish events are CANCELLED until further notice, by order of the Bishop, due to that dang virus!

Click on the FaceBook emblem in the header of the webpage (above) to watch our parish Mass!

PALMS! Please note that there will be blessed palms in the back of both churches for you to take to your homes after Father blesses them on Sunday morning, April 5th.

Please call the parish office to schedule an individual appointment with Father for the sacrament of reconciliation (confession).

FORMED:  During this difficult time, it is a great opportunity to use the FORMED subscription that we have with through our parish.  
1.   Go to www.formed.org
2.  Click on the “Sign Up” button
3.  Click on “I belong to a Parish or Organization"
4.  Click the blue “Next” button                                
5.  Type in your name & email address & click  “Sign Up”
After the initial signup, you will login using your email address.  The first time you login, they’ll send you an email to confirm.  You’ll need to open the email & press the button to confirm/login.  After this, the website will recognize the device you have logged into and the content will be immediately available to you.  This confirmation will happen again if you login from a different devise (computer, phone, tablet, etc.)  Remember besides being able to view this online via a web browser, they also have an app for phones and tables.  Some smart TVs also have apps available.

Prayer to your Guardian Angel
when you cannot attend Mass

"If we only knew how God regards this Sacrifice,

we would risk our lives to be present at a single Mass."

~ Saint Padre Pio