May 26, 2024
Last Sunday’s celebration of the Feast of Pentecost was a wonderful, spirit-filled celebration. And it brought our 50-day celebration of the Easter season to a great conclusion. The choir did an awesome job leading us in prayer all through the Easter season and finished on a truly high note last Sunday. They also were present for our special sacramental celebrations of First Eucharist and Confirmation. As a group, they will be taking a summer break now and return in force in the fall. Cantors and small ensembles will lead us in prayer throughout the summer. We are very grateful to Pat Mooney for his leadership and to all of our singers and musicians for their service to our community.
“The fact is, God loves us even more than we love ourselves. He believes in us even more than we believe in ourselves. He is always ‘cheering us on’; he is our biggest fan.”
Pope Francis
Our OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) group has been meeting on Sundays since the Easter Vigil when we celebrated the Sacraments of Initiation. They have been reflecting on the ways they experienced the Risen Lord in the Sacraments and on the ways they will continue their faith in the community of the church. They concluded their meetings on Pentecost Sunday with a look back on the marvelous ways they have experienced the presence of the Lord throughout the past year. It has been a marvelous year with many moments of growth in faith and individual responses to the Lord’s invitation to “follow me.” I want to offer my thanks to the members of our OCIA teams (both English and Spanish) for their faithful service week after week in being witnesses to the Lord’s presence among us and for sharing their faith and their stories, as they led our catechumens and candidates to full membership with our community.
Now that we have completed the Lent/Easter cycle of our church year, we have a few additional weekend feasts to celebrate before we return to the steady cycle of Sundays in Ordinary Time. On this Memorial Day weekend – the Sunday following the Feast of Pentecost – we celebrate the first of those feasts, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
Jesus often spoke in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles about his relationship with the Father and the Spirit. In Matthew’s Gospel, he gave us the command to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). But the first mention of a feast of the Trinity appeared in 1030 and was celebrated on the Sunday following Pentecost. Pope John XXII made it a feast of the universal church in 1334, and chose the first Sunday after Pentecost (today) for the celebration of the new feast. Today we celebrate our belief in one God with three distinct persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Next Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Apart from the dark themes of Holy Thursday night, this gives us the opportunity to appreciate the presence of the Lord Jesus among us in the sacrament of the Eucharist. As the first Mass celebrated in our original church was on March 27, 1921, we have been blessed with 103 years of continued Eucharistic presence of the Lord on our parish campus. From the time of that first Mass celebrated in our original church, the presence of the Lord has remained on our campus through the Eucharist. Immediately following the 1:00 pm Mass, we will have a special Eucharistic procession throughout our campus. This year’s celebration falls within the second year of the three-year Eucharistic Revival proclaimed by our bishops. Everyone is welcome, and our Spanish and the Filipino communities have joined together to lead us in this prayer beginning next Sunday at 2:00 pm. If you attend an earlier Mass next Sunday, you are welcome to return to participate in this special Eucharistic procession on our campus.
Welcome home to our college students who have made their way back following their Spring Semester Exams. It is good to have you back home. Congratulations to those who have graduated over the past few weeks, especially our SICS Class of 2024. This is a great time in your life. Celebrate it well.
Memorial Day Mass will be celebrated in the Church at 9:00 am on Monday. We normally celebrate one Mass on civil holidays at 9:00 am. This is a perfect way for us to observe the holiday. Parish Offices will be closed on Monday for the holiday.
Have a blessed and safe holiday weekend. Enjoy the beauty of the spring season. May God continue to bless us with all that we need, and more.
– Father Jim Murphy