March 29, 2026

Dear Parishioners,

A question I am frequently asked this time of year is, “Father, is your bracket busted?” Yes, yes, my bracket is busted. Every year. And in more ways than one.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s a reference to the NCAA college basketball tournament. “March Madness” seems to have become an American pastime, people filling out brackets with their picks for who will win the games and ultimately the championship. More often than not peoples’ picks are wrong. For instance, if you had Wisconsin and UNC going to the Final Four, then your bracket might be considered busted, as both teams were upset and lost in the first round. No one has ever predicted a perfect bracket. I was reading that the odds of predicting a perfect bracket (picking correctly all 63 games) are 1 in 120.2 billion. The odds of winning the lottery or picking one specific grain of sand out of all the sand on the earth are better.

On this Palm Sunday I’m thinking about the idea of a “busted bracket.” In the economy of salvation, God did not do the expected. He chose the Israelites as his nation and not a more powerful people, like the Greeks or Romans. He came into this world as a baby and not some impressive, angelic-like creature. His entourage were not the rich, popular, and religious, but the poor and simple fishermen. He didn’t create a Church that was a perfect institution filled with leaders and entertaining features, but a weak and flawed community. And, finally, in his final moments during the Passion, it was the unknowns who rose to the occasion—Simon of Cyrene, Veronica, Longinus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the women and children of Jerusalem.

Yes, Jesus is in the habit of busting brackets. His story is one giant Cinderella story.

Now, I opened with sort of a dark comment about how my bracket is busted in more ways than one. I mean about my life. But this is a good thing. If I could have predicted how my life was going to go—down to my priesthood—was going to—I wouldn’t have been able to. Thank you, God, for busting my bracket. You’ve given me wonderful experiences as a priest that have helped me grow and have allowed me to see your beauty in profound ways, more than anything I could have read in a textbook. You’ve received them with my prayer: More significantly, Lord, you’ve put very special people in my life who have touched my heart and allowed me to be the priest I am.

I’m sure you’ve all had your fair share of busted brackets: an illness that changed the course of your life, losing your job, a failed marriage and painful divorce, an estranged child. It’s not how you thought your life would go; not how you wanted it to go. Some of those unexpected events in your life have been painful, and it’s okay to acknowledge that pain. It doesn’t make you less of a believer. Jesus doesn’t want us to suppress our pain. He’s realistic. He suffered too. And while my words won’t lessen the hurt of your “busted bracket,” make no mistake that this wasn’t just an unfortunate occurrence in your life. No. God was involved and your “tournament” is not over. He still has something beautiful for you, better than what you could have ever planned for yourself. Your Easter—your one shining moment—will come.

+

We are excited to be offering a very special Shroud of Turin display this week in the Holy Family Chapel. The Shroud was the burial cloth that Jesus was wrapped in when he was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. It was the cloth that we hear was folded and left in the tomb following the resurrection, which Saint John saw when he looked inside the tomb. The actual cloth is in Turin, Italy, but we have a full replica of it here at St. Paul of the Cross, along with a display. Please stop by the HFC at some point to view it. It is a moving presentation. You’ll see the hours of the display on the flyer in the bulletin. A special thank you to Mike Einarsen and the Parish E-Team for hosting this event.

Today, Sunday, March 29 is the annual parish Blood Drive in the gym. Thank you to the women’s guild for hosting this event and for all of you who are able to donate blood.

A blessed Holy Week to you all. Please be sure to double-check the Holy Week liturgy schedule. Recall, there are no daily Masses on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Instead, Thursday evening at 7pm we will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. On Friday at 3pm we will celebrate the Veneration of the Cross service (there will also be confessions at 12pm and a regular Stations of the Cross in church at 12pm; there will be a special Family Stations of the Cross in the HFC at 5:30pm). Saturday, April 4th we will have the Easter Basket Blessing at 11am and the Easter Vigil Mass at 7pm.

The Easter Mass schedule on Sunday, April 5 will be the following: 7:30am (UC), 9am (UC), 9am (GYM), 10:30am (UC), 10:30am (GYM), and 12pm (UC).

Congratulations to all of the OCIA candidates and catechumens who will be entering the Church at the Easter Vigil next Saturday: Gabrielle Anne Rosas, Kirk Behrens, Julian Andres Robles, Joshua Campos, Howard Robert, Lucia, Anthony Kuzmenko, Joseph O’Brien, Heidi O’Brien, Nicholas Mariella, Eva Remien, Roso Kosatka, and James Walsh. Thank you to our OCIA team who have been working with this great group since September. Please pray for these individuals and be sure to welcome them into our Church once you see them.

One final note, Easter week, Monday, April 6th through Friday, April 10th, there will be no 6:25am Mass. There will instead be communion services at 6:25am. We will still have the 8:30am Mass those days. There will be no daily confessions.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James Wallace