Denver Catholic

12 APRIL 11-17, 2015 | DENVER CATHOLIC He is Risen! Kudos to Father James Spahn of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Northglenn for encouraging his congregation on Easter Sunday to begin using the traditional Paschal greeting of Eastern rite Churches. The custom is to replace one's usual greeting (i.e., Hey, how's it going?) with "Christ is Risen!" The response is "Truly, He is Risen," or "Indeed, He is Risen." The greeting is used through the Ascension, which is May 14. We think this is a beautiful way to keep the Easter season fully alive in our faith communities. He is Risen! PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKICOMMONS Kids today We asked Jesuit Brother Guy Con- solmagno, the Vatican's astronomer and speaker at an event for the campus ministry of the Colorado School of Mines April 7 at St. Joseph Church in Golden, if he finds anything encouraging in this day and age. "Well," he said, "I find the nature of the questions we get at the observatory have changed a lot in the last 30 years." He explained that "most young people, whether they are believers or not, whether they are church goers or not, are much more open to people of other faiths." It wasn't that way a few gener- ations back, Brother said, adding that younger scientists today understand that "we need to hear from all voices, we need to be listening." Brother, that's definitely encouraging! Watch Brother Guy's video at DenverCatholic.org/brotherguy PHOTO BY ANDREW WRIGHT Easter Is… How would you explain to someone who didn't celebrate Easter what the fuss is all about? St. John Vianney Theolog- ical Seminary handed 12 seminarians a chalkboard and a piece of chalk and asked them to±finish the sentence "Easter is…" You can see the results at sjvdenver. edu. We liked all the answers, but we particularly liked Deacon Matt Magee's response: "Time to say Alleluia (finally)." But, we'd be remiss if we didn't also give a few points for honesty to Oliver Santin, who wrote: "As many Cadbury Crème eggs as I can possibly fit in my mouth!!" Yeah, it's a little bit about that, too. PHOTO PROVIDED Divine Mercy Is anyone else a little prayed-out after Holy Week? Well, it's no time to slouch now! Father Joe Hartmann, pastor of Our Lady of the Mountains in Estes Park, reminded us of the importance of the Sunday following Easter, which is Divine Mercy Sunday. Quot- ing Saint John Paul II, he wrote in his parish bulletin that the feast of Divine Mercy is "a day when the divine floodgates, through which graces flow, are opened for us and are opened upon us. God's Mercy is His Easter Gift, which the Church receives from the Risen Christ, and now extends to all humanity.'" Fortunately, Father Joe gave us a very simple, short prayer to say: "Our conversion prayer can be very, very simple: 'Jesus, I Trust in You.' Try praying it slowly, thoughtfully, and from the heart, three times." Thank you, Father, I think we can handle that. PHOTO OF EUGENIUSZ KAZIMIROWSKI'S PAINTING COURTESTY OF WIKICOMMONS A blast from the past More than 300 Denver-area senior citizens had a roaring good time at a prom meant as a chance to help them relive their high school years. Mullen High School students helped put on a 20s-themed prom at the school March 28. Smiles were seen all around, espe- cially as the prom's king and queen, Vicki Turner of St. Thomas More Parish and John Switzer of Sacred Heart of Mary Parish, were crowned. Thanks to the 100 students for making the prom a fun event for these honored guests. PHOTO PROVIDED Great light Way to go, Kelly Seeman, for catching this beautiful light hitting the twin spires of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. Kelly is Operations Coordinator for Denver Catholic, but it looks like she might have a future in pictures. PHOTO BY KELLY SEEMAN Shout Outs N O B E L D C C C S T E P A P A C E I O T A Y E A R K I N K S O N A N N A S A E N D I O N S F O R T Y D E S P O T E B B E D E N T C O L E S L A W T H A W S P R I E D I N E S O N S W E A L D U L N A A M O F I A T S F L Y E R R E N O U N C E S E E C R E E D I D E A L S G I F T S L I N E N E E A S I A E P I C R E G A L S L A V L I F E E L E V E P E T E F E E S R I L E S m o c . s c i l o h t a c r o f s e m a g d r o w . w w w AIRING ON COLORADO PUBLIC TELEVISION, CPT12 SUNDAY, APRIL 12 7:00 a.m. English, Fr. James Fox 7:30 a.m. Spanish, Msgr. Jorge De los Santos SUNDAY, APRIL 19 7:00 a.m. English, Fr. Larry Christensen 7:30 a.m. Spanish, Fr. Francisco Ramirez SUNDAY, APRIL 26 7:00 a.m. English, Fr. Samuel Morehead 7:30 a.m. Spanish, Fr. Alvaro Panqueva TV MASS FOR THE HOMEBOUND Family-friendly prayer We want to send a very special shout out to all the families, particularly those with little kids, who we saw all around the archdiocese participating in the often-lengthy Triduum services during Holy Week. We loved in particular this picture we found on the Facebook page of Father Michael O'Loughlin, pastor at Holy Protection of the Mother of God (Byzantine). He explained that the families are praying together "Jerusalem Matins." On Great and Holy (Good)±Friday, Byzantine Catholics±"entomb" a±shroud with an icon of the dead Christ±on it, which the faithful approach on their knees to venerate the five wounds. After an all-night vigil during which all 150 psalms are prayed, the congregation gathers Saturday morning at the tomb to pray a±combina- tion of funeral hymns±and the Matins. "We symbolize the faithful women who keep±vigil at the tomb," Father explained. "This service is two hours long, and the±solemn mood and mournful±music tends to be like a lullaby for the kids." What we think is really cool is that, according to Father Michael, when the shroud is removed during Easter vigil, indicating that Christ has risen, "the kids that±spent so much time in front of it get±quite emotional when they see it all-of-a-sudden empty."

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