EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL – PARISH PHASE
Next week, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we will join with all parishes throughout our country in the introduction of the parish phase of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has initiated to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. In preparation for this National Eucharistic Revival, the USCCB published “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church,” a compelling document [...]
PENTECOST SUNDAY (Year A)
On Pentecost Sunday, you will see that different readings are prescribed for the Vigil Mass than for the Mass on Sunday. I will reflect on the readings for the Sunday Masses, so don’t be surprised if you attend the Vigil Mass and hear different readings. John 20:19-23 If this reading sounds familiar to you, it is because you heard it just a few weeks ago. On the Second Sunday of Easter, the Gospel reading is the same in all three years of the Liturgical Cycle – John 20:19 - [...]
PENTECOST SUNDAY
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. (Acts 2:1-4) With this dramatic description from today’s first [...]
MANNA BAGS
Throughout the year, you are invited and encouraged to participate in a variety of food drives, both here in our parish and - I’m sure - from a number of charitable agencies in our area and around the world. In the name of all of those you feed with the support you provide, I thank you for responding to our Lord’s call to feed the hungry. The summer is a particularly challenging time for these agencies and I would like to invite you to participate in a food drive that [...]
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 14:15 - 21 This Sunday, we hear a continuation from last week of Jesus’ address to the apostles at the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel. As you will remember from your footnotes, most scholars consider the section of 13:31 – 17:26 to be Johannine compositions, modeled on farewell discourses found in Greek and Hebrew literature of that time. As we quickly approach Pentecost – it’s only two weeks away – we hear Jesus speak of the coming of the Holy Spirit. I invite you to put [...]
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 14:1 - 12 This Sunday, we hear a portion of Jesus’ address to the apostles during the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel. In this Gospel, it is presented as our Lord’s farewell discourse to his disciples in anticipation of his death. Most scripture scholars consider this section (chapters 14 – 18) to be a Johannine composition, modeled on farewell discourses found in contemporary Greek and Hebrew literature. You will notice that the only action in John’s account of the Last Supper is the washing of the feet [...]