Dear Parishioners and Friends.
 
Following our Bishop's decision Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Worcester will be closed for public services beginning Tuesday, March 17 until further notice.
 
Priests will celebrate the Mass every day privately and offer the intentions received from parishioners and scheduled to be said in the days to come. If you would like to reschedule your Mass please let us know. 
 
On Sunday, March 22, we have begun live streaming from our church on you-tube and record the Mass at our church and upload it to our website for you to watch and pray with us. The Masses will be broadcast live: 9:30 in English and 11:00 in Polish. and then uploaded on the internet for you to watch and pray at a time convenient for you. Please check our website at www.olcworcester.com for the updates and links.
 
If you are using Charter Cable you can also watch the Mass from St. Paul’s Cathedral on Sundays at 10:00 on channel 193 celebrated by Bishop McManus.

The parish office will also be closed for the public. Please contact us with any issues by phone: 508-755-5959 or email: [email protected].
 
We also encourage you to join our Flocknote messaging system by registering through our website to receive the latest updates from your parish on your phone or email. 
 
If you or someone you know would like to receive the weekly bulletin by mail, please call the rectory and we will put you (them) on our mailing list.  Bulletins will also be available at the front door of the rectory.
 
Thank you all for your understanding and for staying in touch with your parish family through the internet. Together, united in prayer and solidarity, with God’s help and the protection of our Holy Mother, Our Lady of Czestochowa, let us remember that we are in the God’s hands.
 
Thank you also for using our online giving system for your weekly donations to our parish or for mailing them to us. This way we can pay our bills and financially survive this difficult time.
May God Bless you All!  Fr. Richard,  Fr. Tomasz, Fr. Edward

How about confessions? With the suspension of person-to-person contact, the Sacrament of Penance will not be available, except to the most seriously ill from the Designated Priest Ministers of the Sick.
 
What do I do if I can’t go to Confession? Each of us should regularly examine our consciences. When we are conscious of sin, we should go to Confession and seek absolution from the priest. When this is not possible, the Church recommends that we make as perfect an Act of Contrition as possible.
 
Contrition is “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that when such contrition “arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity).
 
Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.”
 
 There are many forms of the Act of Contrition. Here are two of them.
 
My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You Whom I should love above all things, I firmly intend, with Your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us. In His name, my God, have mercy. Amen.
 
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell, But most of all because they have offended Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen
 
What do we do when we can’t go to Mass and receive Holy Communion?  Many of the Saints have recommended that we should make a “Spiritual Communion,” a prayer professing faith in Jesus’ presence in the Euchairst and inviting him to come to come live in our heart.
Our beloved Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI reminds us that even when we cannot go to Mass and cannot receive Holy Communion “it is beneficial to cultivate a desire for full union with Christ through the practice of spiritual communion, praised by Pope John Paul II and recommended by saints who were masters of the spiritual life.” (Sacramentum caritatis, no. 55)
This practice is also recommended by many of the Saints, including Saint Thomas Aquinas, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Jean Vianney.
 
How to make a Spiritual Communion? Begin by examining your conscience and making a good Act of Contrition. Then pray one of the prayers recommended by the Saints for inviting Christ into your heart. Here is one by Saint Alphonsus Liguori:
 
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there, and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen. A Spiritual Communion can never fully take the place of receiving Holy Communion at Mass, but in these extraordinary times it can help us to stay close to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood.
 






Worcester Diocese Prepares to Comply with Governor’s March 15 Order
Churches will suspend Public Masses beginning Tuesday

MARCH 16, 2020, WORCESTER, MA -- In cooperation with Governor Baker's announcements yesterday, the Diocese of Worcester has issued the following statement by Bishop Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester:

"After carefully reviewing the sound advice of medical professionals and the recent order by Governor Baker to limit gatherings to 25 participants, I have decided to suspend all public celebrations of Mass until further notice in the hope of slowing and, God willing, halting the spread of this disease. The obligation to take part in the Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation is thereby lifted."

The Bishop also announced that, by tomorrow, the Office for Divine Worship of the Diocese of Worcester will announce further details on how parishes will celebrate Funerals, Weddings, Baptisms, Confessions and other sacraments in order to help fight this pandemic while continuing to meet the Church's obligation to care for the spiritual well-being of believers, especially at this time of crisis.

In the meantime, the Bishop is encouraging all Catholics to continue to pray with the local Catholic community by virtual attendance at the Sunday Mass and Daily Mass which is carried on Spectrum (Charter) Channel 193 each weekday morning at 9 am and Sundays at 6 pm, and also streaming on  worcesterdiocese.org and on many parish websites. Additional prayer resources will be produced weekly and distributed via parishes by email and their websites to continue to pray for healing and hope during this pandemic. A diocesan-wide “Prayer in Time of Pandemic” in English and in Spanish is also being distributed to parishioners and on the diocesan website. Other languages will be made available in the next few days.