Dear Parishioners, I hope you remembered to change your clocks this weekend! Otherwise, you might have been an hour late for Mass! It’s already the 4th Sunday of Lent, the halfway point to Easter, or Laetare Sunday. Yes, it’s only one of two times during the year that the Rose-colored vestments come out, especially to remind us that Easter Sunday is just three weeks away! As we celebrate this Laetare Sunday, please keep our catechumens and candidates in your prayers as they prepare to celebrate the Sacraments at Easter. As I promised in my column last weekend, each of these weeks before Easter, I plan to give a little more explanation and background of why Catholics kneel during the Mass. My simple explanation last week was that it is done to honor the Lord in the Eucharist, where simple bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. We believe that Christ is truly present in the Mass when this happens. There are several examples, especially in the Old Testament, of times that Old Testament figures knelt down in the presence of God or one of His messengers. The one that immediately comes to my mind is the time that Moses encountered God in the burning bush. Moses is reminded that he is on holy ground and in the presence of God and kneels down as he speaks to the Lord. It is recorded where Solomon knelt down in prayer before the Lord. Psalm 95 tells us to kneel before the Lord who made us. Finally, we have the example of Jesus himself kneeling down in prayer before His Father. Especially when Jesus was in the Garden with His disciples while in prayer to the Father the night before He died. These are just several quick examples of how kneeling became a gesture that we do in the presence of God. In this year where our Bishops of the United States are calling on us to renew and strengthen our belief in the Eucharist, and as we prepare to once again commemorate the First Eucharist on Holy Thursday, let us never take the Eucharist for granted and how our Lord reminds us of how we will always find Him in the Eucharist. Thanks for reading! Fr. Mark