Dear Friends,

Greetings of Peace and Love of the Risen Lord!

I hope that you were able to join our Bishop in the celebration of the Mass in honor of St. Joseph, the Worker, that he offered for all the employed, the unemployed, those seeking for job and all the retired. He asked everyone to go and pray to St. Joseph, our Universal Patron, for his intercession to end this coronavirus; to keep safe all workers and those who lost their jobs due to this pandemic; and, to beg him to approach Mary's Son whom he guarded, protected and provided for as He grew in order to answer our prayers. You can go to the diocesan youtube to watch and pray if you missed it. Click on this link ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALAgd2asvGk)

And I do hope also that you were able to join him especially at the reconsecration service that he offered to our Blessed Mother, renewing the consecration of our nation, the USA, and the nation of Canada to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church. We turn once again to Mary to come to our aid especially in this pandemic.

Thus, this morning, the first Saturday of the month of May, on behalf of our faith community of St. Ann, I crowned the image of our Blessed Mother whom we acclaim as Queen and as Mother of the Church. Let us in this whole month of May pray that through her intercession , we may achieve holiness of life, and a deepened faith, hope, and love, as we seek to do the will of God in all things. As Pope Francis has asks all Catholics to devote this month of May to her honor, he encourages us to indeed pray the holy rosary every day for the end of Covid-19. While we have all the ooportunites of being gathered together at home, we can even pray the rosary not only once but even twice during the day. Reliving the words of Fr. Patrick Peyton, "The family that prays together stays together." would just be a gracious fruit of our coming together in prayer.

From a personal point of view, listening and looking at the recent reports/updates of our State Governor, Phil Murphy, there seems to have high hopes of reopening businesses and hopefully our churches due to improvements in the number of Covid cases - still very alarming though...nothing is definitely certain. But the fact that there's improvement means a lot...the Lord listens to our prayers. Let us all the more pray...and this month, with Mary's intercession.

Queen and Mother Mary, pray for us.

On another note, the St. Ann’s Knights of Columbus Council 7000 is looking forward to our reopening. Because of the obvious need and constant appeal on TV, they would like to push through with the Blood Drive that is scheduled for Thursday June 11, 2020. When situation allows, we will have it from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM at the Pope John Paul II Community Room. We ask that you please sign up using the Red Cross website since there cannot be any sign-up sheets in church. Please visit ( https://RedCrossBlood.org)  or ( https://RedCross.org) and look for June 11 date. You may need to fill up the zip code 08648. You can also call 1-800-Red-Cross.
Thank you so much for your kind heart. Remember, with your donation of 1 unit of blood, you save 3 lives. Isn't that great? God bless you.

Note: If situation doesn't allow us to use St Ann’s facility due to State's order, we will contact you of other locations for June 11th or other available sites for a different date so you can donate.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge those who have been so kind and generous to respond to our (pastor and finance council's) letter of appeal. Your continued support does help us survive this trying times. Thank you also to those who sent us their Easter flower gifts, Rice Bowl donations and gift cards/cash relief aids for the poor. You help us help others in need. May the Good Shepherd carry you all in His compassionate heart.

God loves you.