April 28, 2024
On this final Sunday in April, we continue our celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection with the Fifth Sunday of Easter. We move into the final part of the Easter season and turn our attention upon Jesus’ parting gift of the Holy Spirit. Last Thursday in the weekday cycle of Scripture readings, we began reading from the Farewell Discourse of John’s Gospel (John 13:16-17:26). This discourse covers five chapters in John’s Gospel and is situated at the Last Supper. It gives us a glimpse into the heart and mind of the Lord on the night before he died. In some respects, it can be viewed as Jesus’ Last Will and Testament – his departing wish for the community of his disciples, the church. From now until the end of the Easter Season on Pentecost Sunday, we will be reading from the Farewell Discourse.
“God’s forgiveness is felt strongly within us as long as we forgive others. And this isn’t easy because grudges make a nest in our heart and there is always that bitterness.”
Pope Francis
As the Lord promises to remain with us by sending the gift of the Spirit, we have the opportunity to reflect upon the third of the three Sacraments of Initiation we celebrated at the Easter Vigil – the Sacrament of Confirmation. During our recent celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, I had the chance to reflect with the Confirmandi our call to be disciples of the Lord Jesus. As we explored what being a “disciple” really means – taking what was important to the Lord and making it important to us – we quickly realized that being a disciple in our day is not an easy path. But the Lord also knew that he promised to send us “another advocate” to be our helper and our guide. That advocate was none other than the Holy Spirit – sent to the early disciples and to us to be our strength. One of the ways that the Lord continues to be with us is through the gift of the Spirit, which we have all received, beginning at our Baptism and deepening at our Confirmation. Becoming aware of the Spirit’s presence among us is a wonderful way for us to conclude our celebration of the Easter season. Let’s listen carefully during the next three weeks and appreciate the gift of the Spirit that has been given to us.
Since Easter is the primary season of initiation into the church community, we intentionally schedule our special celebrations of First Communion during the Easter Season. Our celebrations of First Communion began yesterday and will conclude next Saturday. What a blessing for our young people to celebrate their First Communion during this second year of the National Eucharistic Revival called for by our Bishops. This Revival began with the Solemnity of the Body of Blood of the Lord on June 9, 2022, and will extend through 2025. At the opening of this revival, Bishop Ron Hicks wrote: “Hopefully, this Eucharistic Revival will serve as a spark for Catholics across the United States to help reignite their faith by being healed, converted, formed and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist and to be sent out in mission ‘for the life of the world.’” We congratulate our 2024 First Communicants and their families and promise them the additional support of our prayers.
Next Sunday we will celebrate our parish May Crowning at the beginning of the 10:00 am Mass. While our primary focus during the month of May is the Easter Season, it has also been dedicated to honoring Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Our parish May Crowning will be led by representatives of our St. Isidore Catholic School 8th grade class and representatives of our Council of Catholic Women. Our CCW Woman of the Year will also assist.
We spent 40 days fasting in preparation for the feast of Easter. Now we are called to spend 50 days feasting in celebration. We need to hold on to our Easter belief that God always leads us from death to new life. God will lead us through whatever we have to face to totally new life. May God continue to bless us with everything that we need, and more.
– Father Jim Murphy