The Blessing of the Food 

Thank you to the parishioners who joined us on Holy Saturday for the Blessing of the Food!

Ephphatha
Diocese of Phoenix Catholic Charismatic Conference
Friday, May 1st- Saturday, May 2nd 

- Encounter the Spirit - Receive the Fire - 

- Be sent on Mission -

When: 

Friday, May 1st, 7-9pm 

Saturday, May 2nd, 9am-9pm

Youth Track - Saturday, May 2nd, 9am-9pm

 

 Where: 

St. John Vianney Catholic School Campus

539 E. La Pasada Blvd., Goodyear, AZ 85338

Advice & Aid Pregnancy Center’s 

Annual Benefit Tea 

Join us for a celebration with music by local gifted musicians, tea, and desserts with a family of supporters, friends, and guests. We offer complimentary photographs, silent auctions, and raffles to benefit the work of the Advice and Aid Pregnancy Center, a non-profit center.

Location: Journey Church, 3782 N Bank Street
Time: 1:30-4:00pm
Date: Saturday, May 9th, 2026

Adult Invitation  $15.00 (15 years and older)
Free from 14 years and younger.
If you’d like to reserve a table, do so in April.

“Let all that you do be done in Love” - 1 Corinthians 16:14

Catholic Charities Family Preservation Programs

support parents as they address issues that affect their ability to properly care for their children. Catholic Charities has multiple Family Preservation programs located throughout Arizona.

Help support Catholic Charities Family Preservation Programs by donating these items:

Arizona Families F.I.R.S.T. and In-Home (Northern Arizona):

• Gifts for Christmas/birthdays (ex: family board games, parent-child books, puppets, etc.)
• Prepaid phones
• Phone cards
• Gas cards
• Grocery store gift cards for food

In-Home (Central Arizona):

• Diapers (all sizes) and unscented wipes (low-quantity packages)
• Visa gift cards ($30-$50) for counseling intake
• Daily bus passes (regular and reduced)
• Hygiene products (Body wash, shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, toilet paper, paper towels, etc.)
• Sun safety items
• Items for outdoor activities

Questions? For AFF, call Amy Gregorich at (928) 499-0028.
For In-Home, call Virginia Shelton at (928) 216-6799.

To donate or learn more, visit us at CatholicCharitiesAZ.org.
More questions? Call Sabrina Walton at (602) 689-0370.

Worthy - A Blessed is She retreat, April 10-11th, 2026 in Phoenix, AZ

Upcoming Retrouvaille Weekend to help for hurting married couples

We are a group of married Catholic’s who have or are still struggling with our marriages. We help one another with a way to open the lines of communication in order to honor the vows we made with God and each other.

April 17-19, 2026
Confidential Inquiries: 602–254-6723
Email 4001@helpourmarriage.org

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACK'S CATHOLIC NIGHT AT CHASE FIELD
DIAMONDBACKS -VS- TEXAS RANGERS

DATE: SEPTEMBER 11, 2026  
TIME: 6:40p.m.
WHERE: CHASE FIELD
ESTIMATED COST: $50+/- PER PERSON, INCLUDES TRAVEL EXPENSE AND ADMISSION TO GAME

SIGN UP IF INTERESTED IN ATTENDING
Sign up sheet will be on the table near the vestibule of the church.
Please contact any member of the Knights of Columbus if you have any questions.

Thank you to all scheduled adoration adorers, for your dedication in committing to an hour of Eucharistic Adoration each Thursday in St. Mary's Chapel.

If not a scheduled adorer, please consider becoming one.

This means committing to spending a scheduled hour each Thursday in prayer and Adoration between the hours of 9am and 5pm.  We especially need people to commit to the 11am and 2pm hours.

Also, we need substitutes for those who cannot adore during their scheduled time.
Join us in prayer during Thursday Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, even if not scheduled.

To sign up or get more info:  Call or text Sharon Rhizor at 702-466-3069

April 12th is the Sunday of Divine Mercy

The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us – all of us. And, He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy.

The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC:

A - Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world. B - Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.

C - Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that all the graces of His mercy can only be received by our trust. The more we open the door of our hearts and lives to Him with trust, the more we can receive.
 This message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of Saint Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God's mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.

It was St. Pope John Paul II who told the Marian Fathers: “Be apostles of Divine Mercy under the maternal and loving guidance of Mary.” We've been faithfully following his instructions ever since.

Both in his teaching and personal life, St. Pope John Paul II strove to live and teach the message of Divine Mercy. As the great Mercy Pope, he wrote an encyclical on Divine Mercy:
"The Message of Divine Mercy has always been near and dear to me… which I took with me to the See of Peter and which it in a sense forms the image of this Pontificate."

In his writings and homilies, he has described Divine Mercy as the answer to the world’s problems and the message of the third millennium. He beatified and canonized Sr. Maria Faustina Kowalska, the nun associated with the message, and he did it in Rome and not in Poland to underscore that Divine Mercy is for the whole world.

When St. Pope John Paul canonized Sr. Faustina (making her St. Faustina), he also, on the same day, surprised the entire world by establishing Divine Mercy Sunday (the feast day associated with the message) as a feast day for the entire Church. The feast day falls on the Second Sunday of the Easter season. On that day, John Paul II declared, "This is the happiest day of my life."

Here is how to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet

1. Make the Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2. Optional Opening Prayers
St. Faustina’s Prayer for Sinners
O Jesus, eternal Truth, our Life, I call upon You and I beg Your mercy for poor sinners. O sweetest Heart of my Lord, full of pity and unfathomable mercy, I plead with You for poor sinners. O Most Sacred Heart, Fount of Mercy from which gush forth rays of inconceivable graces upon the entire human race, I beg of You light for poor sinners. O Jesus, be mindful of Your own bitter Passion and do not permit the loss of souls redeemed at so dear a price of Your most precious Blood. O Jesus, when I consider the great price of Your Blood, I rejoice at its immensity, for one drop alone would have been enough for the salvation of all sinners. Although sin is an abyss of wickedness and ingratitude, the price paid for us can never be equalled. Therefore, let every soul trust in the Passion of the Lord, and place its hope in His mercy. God will not deny His mercy to anyone. Heaven and earth may change, but God's mercy will never be exhausted. Oh, what immense joy burns in my heart when I contemplate Your incomprehensible goodness, O Jesus! I desire to bring all sinners to Your feet that they may glorify Your mercy throughout endless ages (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, 72).

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.

(Repeat three times)
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You!

3. Our Father
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, Amen.

4. Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

5. The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; on the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

6. The Eternal Father
Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.

7. On the 10 Small Beads of Each Decade
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

8. Repeat for the remaining decades
Saying the "Eternal Father" (6) on the "Our Father" bead and then 10 "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion" (7) on the following "Hail Mary" beads.

9. Conclude with Holy God (Repeat three times)
Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

10. Optional Closing Prayers
Eternal God, in Whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion — inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.

O Greatly Merciful God, Infinite Goodness, today all mankind calls out from the abyss of its misery to Your mercy — to Your compassion, O God; and it is with its mighty voice of misery that it cries out. Gracious God, do not reject the prayer of this earth's exiles! O Lord, Goodness beyond our understanding, Who are acquainted with our misery through and through, and know that by our own power we cannot ascend to You, we implore You: anticipate us with Your grace and keep on increasing Your mercy in us, that we may faithfully do Your holy will all through our life and at death's hour. Let the omnipotence of Your mercy shield us from the darts of our salvation’s enemies, that we may with confidence, as Your children, await Your [Son’s] final coming — that day known to You alone. And we expect to obtain everything promised us by Jesus in spite of all our wretchedness. For Jesus is our Hope: through His merciful Heart, as through an open gate, we pass through to Heaven (Diary, 1570).

Pope Leo calls for a Vigil of Peace, April 11th

“Pope Leo has invited everyone to join him in a prayer vigil for peace on Saturday, April 11. I make a special plea to my brother bishops, the priests, the laity, and all people yearning for true peace to join the Holy Father’s Vigil for Peace, whether virtually, or in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts to join with our Holy Father as we pray for peace in our world.
“Let us entrust to the Lord ‘all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give. Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5).’”
 - Archbishop Coakley, April 7, 2026

Prayer Vigil for Peace to use light from Lamp of Peace from Assisi
“Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts! For this reason, I invite everyone to join me in a prayer vigil for peace, which we will celebrate here in St. Peter’s Basilica next Saturday, April 11.”

 “I urge that this period of delicate diplomatic work be accompanied by prayer."

 On Easter Sunday, during his Urbi et Orbi message and again at the close of his Wednesday General Audience on April 8, Pope Leo XIV extended these invitations to everyone around the world to join him in a Prayer Vigil for Peace that is set to be held in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday at 6:00 PM Rome time.

On Easter Sunday, the Pope stressed the peace that Jesus gives us is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us. Action must be joined by prayer.

For that reason, the Prayer Vigil on Saturday will be led by the themes of peace and hope as people around the world join the Holy Father in praying the Glorious mysteries of the Rosary with meditations from various Church Fathers, including St. Augustine of Hippo, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Ambrose of Milan.

During the Rosary, faithful from different continents—Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania—will light candles with the flame from the Lamp of Peace in Assisi, which burns perpetually at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi.

To close the vigil, Pope Leo will offer a reflection and prayer before offering a final blessing asking for the grace of peace upon the entire world.

 - By Kielce Gussie, Vatican News, April 10, 2026

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-04/popes-prayer-vigil-peace-accompanied-by-light-from-lamp-assisi.htmlhttps://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-04/popes-prayer-vigil-peace-accompanied-by-light-from-lamp-assisi.html