Greetings St. Gerard's in Lima, Ohio!
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May 4, 2022This is Fr. Mike Sergi coming to you from the Western Frontier. I hope all of you had a repentful Lent and a joy-filled Easter Sunday. We did our best to walk with the Lord during this Holy Season.
The community began Lent with a day of retreat. We told the people of the parish we were going on retreat and would be unavailable all day. We had our morning prayer and then all of us celebrated the 8:30 a.m. Mass together. The rest of the morning was for private prayer until our meeting.
After lunch, it was time for private prayer or a little rest. We began our Holy Hour at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. It was followed by evening prayer and benediction. We ended our day of retreat at Applebee’s. It was a good day for us.
A few years ago, we started having Stations of the Cross with guest speakers. We continued that custom this year. We use a different type of Stations of the Cross each Friday. We always begin by using St. Alphonsus’ Stations. On the other Fridays, we use the Shepherd’s Way of the Cross, The Family’s Way of the Cross, Everyone’s Way of the Cross, John Paul ll’s Way of the Cross, and finally our youth group acts out the Way of the Cross.
After we pray the Way of the Cross, someone gives a reflection. Our speakers were Br. Dan Hall, C.Ss.R., Chaplain Lydia (chaplain at St. Rita’s Hospital who was born in Bethlehem), Sr. Yvonne (a Franciscan Sister who works at the neighboring parish), Pastor Wanda Werling (Pastor of the South Side Christian Church), Fr. Dave Ross (Pastor of St. Rose here in Lima), and finally yours truly. Our parishioners really enjoy the preaching, especially by our guest speakers. We also celebrated Confirmation. We brought three people into the Church at the Easter Vigil.
The last big event that is upcoming is the famous St. Gerard’s Festival on June 3- 5. We have not had it since Covid came into our lives. If you are around Lima, come see us and enjoy the food, especially our famous chicken wings!
Signing off from the Western Frontier and Happy Easter!