Dear Parish Family,

How quickly the  season of  Epiphany came and  is already gone! With Lent  being early this year, it doesn't seem so  long ago that we were celebrating Christmas, with our children, center-stage, delighting us with their nativity pageant. In true All Saints tradition another stage production put a  happy and dramatic exclamation point on the end of  Epiphany with the annual  All Saints play, "Moses  Versus Mother Goose"!

Anyone who participated in or attended the play was treated to a  wonderful experience, combining learning with laughter. What a  particularly fun way to learn some of the great Bible  stories and to revisit  Mother Goose  stories, each interpreted  with a  unique All Saints  flair!

Young people in the  cast delivered their  lines and played  their roles with impressive  stage presence and contagious  enthusiasm. Adults and kids  blended together into a  cohesive  cast, very comfortable with and enjoying one  another; a  wonderful inter-generational  experience!  And costumes for each story were remarkable! What  talented  seamstresses we  have!

Thanks to  Stephanie  Miraglia (playwright and director), Josh Cheney (assistant  director  and  man of  many roles), Joyce Dattilio (pianist), all the other  actors of all ages, stage hands, property, prop and lighting managers, costume designers, and all who made this such a wonderful event for our parish community and the community-at-large! Take another  bow!

This year's play was a  blessed  and  refreshing prelude to Lent. Using the  energy of  joy and laughter to visit and support someone who is struggling, lonely or needing companionship during this time would be a wonderful was to continue the spirit of the play. A"solemn observance of  Lent" does not mean that we  lose sight of the joy of the Good News of the coming Easter, but rather we  take seriously ths time as an opportunity for spiritual growth and service. Making our Lenten discipline not only a  time of personal inner reflection,  but also of  community outreach and service to others, continues  another tradition for  which All Saints is  widely known.

Blessings,

David +