A word from Pope Francis ~ “The Spirit, the living memory of the church, reminds us that we are born from a gift and that we grow by giving, not by holding on, but by giving of ourselves.”
Last Sunday’s 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 in leading us in prayer all through the Easter season and finished on a truly high note last Sunday. They will be with us again for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation on Saturday, June 18. But other than that, they will be taking a summer break now, returning in full force in the fall. We are very grateful for their service to our parish community. Cantors and small ensembles will lead us in prayer throughout the summer.
Last weekend at the 10:00 am Mass, we were able to celebrate the Baptism and Confirmation of Emma Biddle. She has been part of our RCIA group since last fall, but she was unable to be with us for the Easter Vigil celebrations for the other members of our group. She was the last member of our 2021-22 RCIA group to enter the church. Thank you to both the English and Spanish RCIA teams for their service in sharing their faith and leading our catechumens and candidates to full membership within our community.
Now that we have completed the Lent & Easter cycle of our church year, we have a few additional weekend feasts of the Lord before we return to the steady cycle of Sundays in Ordinary Time. On this middle Sunday in June, 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). The first mention of a feast of the Trinity appeared in 1030 and was celebrated on the Sunday after 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. On this day, we celebrate our belief in one God with three distinct persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Next Sunday, we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This gives us the opportunity to appreciate the presence of the Lord Jesus among us in the sacrament of the Eucharist at a time separated from the dark themes of Holy Thursday night. The first Mass celebrated in our original church was on March 27, 1921. This means that we have had 101 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 continually through the Eucharist.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked that a National Eucharistic Revival be observed in every diocese beginning next Sunday – on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – and extend through 2025, with the last year being a year of Mission. The goal of the Eucharistic Revival is to foster growth in a deeper love for God and the Eucharist. I will write more about this next week.
We look forward to welcoming Bishop Ron Hicks to our parish on Saturday, June 18. He will preside at Masses at 10:00 am and 12:30 pm for the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation with our young people. We continue to keep our Confirmation candidates in our prayers as they take this next step in their lives as disciples of the Lord Jesus.
May God continue to bless us with all that we need, and more.
Father Jim Murphy