Saint Isidore the Farmer Catholic Church

Dear Parishioners, my brothers and sisters in Christ,

Please know, firstly, you are all in my heart and in my prayers during this trying time. As you know, everyday I am offering our scheduled masses privately. In these hours of prayer, I am profoundly aware that you are not, and cannot, be present. All I can say is, mindful of your absence, I am all the more careful to pray that God will poor out His graces upon you; somehow, I feel you are all there with me as I offer the Holy Sacrifice. I have heard many priests share these sentiments. Oddly enough, by your absence, I have gained a heightened awareness of my role as priest, to intercede, to sanctify, to nourish all of you whom God has committed to my care. It reminds me of Jesus’ words to St. Peter, “Do you love me? . . . then feed my sheep!” To put it in a more down-to-earth way, the good shepherd roaming the fields with rod and staff, looks pretty silly without any sheep to tend! Such are our times.

Moving forward, I hope you are all staying well and faithfully conforming to the call to practice “social distancing” along with all the other rules of conduct our government and our Church are asking of us. Of course, we, as God’s children, pray our heavenly Father will be merciful to us and to the whole world. We also pray for all who have strayed from the faith, for those who do not know the beauty of the Catholic faith, and for those who do not know or follow our Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world.

I pray, with all my heart, the good Lord will bless you all, and precisely in this time of trial, strengthen you in faith, hope and love. I pray God will inspire you to pray and trust in God all the more as we travel through the midst of the storm. I very much look forward to the day we will, for the first time in a long while, gather again in Church for Mass, imagine that . . . wont that be awesome!

Please see below our generous schedule for opportunities to pray in the presence of our Lord in Adoration, in private prayer before the tabernacle, or in morning prayer during Holy Week. We also have a plethora of opportunities for confession.

May the good Lord bless you with His peace!

Fr. Terry Staples 

Easter Schedule

Fr. Terry Staples

Dear Parishioners,

As you know (I hope!), we have many hours of confession available during Holy Week. I hope everyone gets a chance to take advantage of this wonderful Sacrament. In order to be as safe as possible, I will be hearing confessions outside in the cemetery beside the Pieta statue. I will have a 10’x10’ tent/shelter set up on the side of the road by the statue and penitents can drive their vehicles to the tent and confess directly from their vehicle. Yes, that’s right, drive-through confession! I will be at least 6’ from the vehicle. If you have more than one person for confession, I will have a chair a safe distance away where I can hear individual confessions. We would ask that you approach from the cemetery road closest to the Church and come around the loop clockwise so that the driver would be on the same side of the road as the statue. I hope this makes sense.

You know you’re in my daily prayers and you’re in my heart whenever I celebrate the Holy Sacrifice.

May the good Lord watch over you and bless you during this sacred time. Stay safe and stay near to our dear Lord.

Fr. Terry Staples

You can watch our Bishop’s announcement here: https://www.arlingtondiocese.org/press-releases/2020/updated-diocese-of-arlington-response-to-concerns-of-the-coronavirus/

All public celebrations of Mass are canceled throughout the Diocese until further notice. There are several places where we can view the Mass online, such as:

• Basilica of the Immaculate Conception Sundays 10:30am
  • https://arlingtondiocese.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2788247d7e5e155fb66f1807b&id=8574e961b8&e=2d75118160
• EWTN Daily Mass 8am/ Sunday Mass 8am and 12pm
  • https://www.ewtn.com/tv/watch-live https://www.ewtn.com/tv/schedule

All priests will be celebrating Mass privately for the intentions already designated and for relief and assistance to all affected in any way by coronavirus. Homilies will be posted on parish websites.

We are encouraged to devote extra time to communal prayer in our homes along with extra private prayers and devotions while we are deprived of being present at the Holy Mass and of receiving Holy Communion.

You can virtually attend Eucharistic Adoration online. Perpetual Adoration can be observed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMBusENP19M

We, at St. Isidore, will be leaving the Church open from 8AM to 9PM every day so people can come and pray in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord. When visiting the Church, we are advised to keep a safe distance apart and we are forbidden to have more than 10 people in the Church at the same time.

We would recommend a prayer of Spiritual Communion such as:

“My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment 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.”

Of course, the Rosary is always a powerful prayer and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy seems particularly fitting to voice our cry to God for grace, mercy, healing and conversion of hearts during this time of trial. We will also have booklets for the Stations of the Cross at the Church for your use.

Other pertinent changes include:

• Weddings and Funerals should continue only if absolutely necessary, with attendance limited to immediate family members.
• Pastoral care of the sick should be limited to those who are dying and those with Coronavirus who request the Sacraments.
• Communion should not be brought to any other parishioner who is home-bound or who cannot attend Mass.
  • Priests are asked to find other ways of comforting and praying with the home-bound, such as praying together over the phone.
  • “Acts of Spiritual Communion” should be available on the parish website.
• Deacons and lay volunteers should not be visiting the sick in any official capacity.

We hope this information is helpful. Please call if you have any questions.