Pastor's Desk Archive (May 2008)

Holy Spirit Come Into Our Lives, Make Us Good Stewards Of Time And Talent (5/4/2008)
A New Pentecost? (5/11/2008)
The Feast Of The Body And Blood Of Christ (5/18/2008)
Real Presence (5/25/2008)

Holy Spirit Come Into Our Lives, Make Us Good Stewards Of Time And Talent (5/4/2008)

The Holy Spirit is The Gift sent by the Father and the Son. He is our Advocate, always appealing before God on our behalf. The Holy Spirit is the “spirit of truth” who leads us to the knowledge of all truth. He is The Lord & Giver of Life who is worshipped and glorified along with the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is the one who has spoken through the Prophets.

The theologians tell us that through the anointing of the Holy Spirit which follows our baptism we are united with the Father and the Son and sealed against the Day of Judgment. They also tell us that when we celebrate the sacrament of confirmation, the Life of the Spirit is stirred up within us to make us ready to receive spiritual gifts.

These spiritual gifts are many and varied. We find the famous “sevenfold” gifts in the Book of Isaiah the Prophet: Knowledge, Counsel, Understanding, Wisdom, Piety, Courage, and Fear of the Lord. These might be called “character” gifts and are offered to us in Confirmation.

Here are some more that are found in Corinthians, Romans, and Ephesians: Ministry (office) gifts: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher. Motivational (practical) gifts: Service, Exhortation, Giving, Leadership, Mercy, Helps and Administration. Charismatic (spiritual) gifts: Wisdom, Knowledge, Discernment, Prophecy, Tongues, Interpretation, Faith, Healing and Miracles. Not everyone receives all or any of these gifts. They need to be sought our carefully. Some of these spiritual gifts require considerable maturity and balance. But each member of the Church receives one or more of these for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ on earth.

Finally, we find these wonderful “fruits” of the Holy Spirit in the letter to the Galatians: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control or Chastity. All of these gifts are available for those who seek to live by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Next Sunday is Pentecost, a fitting day to ask the Holy Spirit to stir up His gifts within us. It is also a most fitting day to provide all our parishioners with an opportunity to offer the gift of some of their time and talent in service to our parish community. The time & talent cards will be in the pews next Sunday, and we will take a little time following the homily to fill them out. A copy of the card is included in this bulletin. Please look it over carefully so that you will be ready to complete it in a short time.

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A New Pentecost? (5/11/2008)

During his homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC, Pope Benedict XVI said,

“As we give thanks for past blessings, and look to the challenges of the future, let us implore from God the grace of a new Pentecost for the Church in America. May tongues of fire, combining burning love of God and neighbor with zeal for the spread of Christ’s Kingdom, descend on all present!”

What a wonderful expression of hope for America’s nearly 70 million Catholics! It was obvious from his every word and gesture that the Pope holds the Church in the United States in great esteem. He was elated with the great demonstrations of zeal and enthusiasm from the throngs of people that crowded every venue to express their love for Christ and His Vicar on earth. Unlike the sorry state of the church in so many parts of Europe, the American Church is still full of vitality.

Yet those of us who live here all the time know that we could all benefit greatly from a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Many Catholics across the country are disheartened by the closing and consolidation of so many parishes. Just this week, our own Archbishop will notify the people of four rural parishes—through the Sooner Catholic—that their churches will not only be closed but be scheduled for destruction (in an effort to avoid a situation in which a church closed many years ago was sold and converted into a night club). A diocese in New Jersey announced a few weeks ago that it would reduce its number of parishes from about 125 to 66.

Perhaps a New Pentecost would bring with it an outpouring of a new “gift of prophetic tongues” upon bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laity. Maybe it’s time for the rank and file members of the Church to speak bold truths to its leaders: “Ordain enough priests so that our parishes can flourish and multiply rather than shrink and disappear. If you can’t find enough men willing to serve us as celibate priests, then give us dedicated married priests. Show yourselves to us as loving shepherds.”

One of the “problems” with a New Pentecost is that the Spirit will blow when and where it wills. That makes His moving among us not only mysterious but unpredictable.

He will no doubt ask all of us to let go of some things so that God can equip us for holiness. With the emphasis in our culture on “fun” and “entertainment” and “comfort”, this could be scary. Are you ready to pray: Come, Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!

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The Feast Of The Body And Blood Of Christ (5/18/2008)

The Church has been celebrating this feast since the 13th century as a way of underscoring the central Catholic belief that Jesus Christ is really present—Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity—in the Holy Eucharist. The feast gave rise to impressive processions in which the Blessed Sacrament was carried through the streets of villages, towns, and neighborhoods as a public witness to the Church’s faith. The practice of Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament dates back to the time in which this feast was begun.

These days there are some Catholics who have an inadequate understanding of the significance of what is aptly called the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Thus, the Feast is as important as ever. Here are some facts about the Church’s Eucharistic teachings that every Catholic should know and be able to explain to others:

The word Eucharist is a verb before it is a noun. As a verb it refers to the act of Giving Thanks which lies at the heart of Catholic worship. As a noun it refers to the sacrament of Christ’s Body & Blood which we receive in Holy Communion.

In the midst of the Eucharistic Prayer, the people’s gifts of bread and wine become for us the true Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of our Risen Lord. This Mystery of Faith occurs through the power of the Holy Spirit and the words which Jesus spoke at the Last Supper. While our senses continue to perceive what looks, tastes, and feels like bread and wine, our faith brings to mind that Jesus said, “My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink…unless you eat My flesh and drink My blood you don’t have Life in you.”

One of our most important actions during Mass is our Adoration of Christ present in the Holy Eucharist. We express this adoration both interiorly and exteriorly. We kneel humbly in adoration during the Eucharistic Prayer and at the conclusion of the Lamb of God, and we bow in adoration before actually receiving the Body & Blood of Christ.

After the distribution of Holy Communion, the priest or deacon gathers up what is left over and reverently carries the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacle where it is reserved in order that the sick and homebound may be nourished by it.

The Tabernacle holding the Blessed Sacrament is a special focal point for prayer before and after Mass. The practice of coming to the church or chapel to adore and pray in the presence of Christ is among the most important of Catholic devotions.

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Real Presence (5/25/2008)

The Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist is true, authentic, actual, and sacramental. When Jesus took the bread and broke it and said, “take and eat, this is My body broken for you”, he was making a connection between His sacrificial death and a sacrificial meal. He was providing His disciples and all who would believe in Him a way of taking part in and benefiting from His sacrifice. Thus it is not sufficient to only make an act of faith, it requires the additional action of eating and drinking. This is the foundation for the teaching of St. Paul to the Corinthians: “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim (the effects of) Christ’s death until He comes in glory.” As we seek to understand this, the more important question may not be how does Christ become present in the Eucharist or even when does Christ become present, but why is Christ present and what happens to us when we eat His body and drink His blood?

First, a few more comments about the Mass. The Mass is the memorial of our redemption because it re-presents sacramentally the sacrifice that Christ offered on the cross at Calvary. It cannot be repeated for in the words of the Letter to the Hebrews, “He offered Himself once and for all.” But the fact that what happened at the first Passover in Egypt could not be repeated did not prevent faithful Jews from celebrating the Passover Supper as a perpetual memorial of God’s deliverance of His people. The apostles began to realize early on that by gathering in each other’s homes for the breaking of the bread, the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice was continuing to take place in their midst. The Christ in whom they placed their faith was not someone who used to be alive but now was dead, but someone who had died and who had come to life and was still truly present in their midst.

So, the Risen Christ is really present because He has to be—it’s His sacrifice that the Church is remembering, offering, and celebrating. He is present in the body of believers whom He has gathered for worship. He is present in the proclamation of the Word. He is present in the person of the bishop or priest who presides at worship. And, finally, and most importantly He is present in the consecrated bread and wine so that by eating and drinking of the one bread and one cup, we can become One Body, One Spirit in Christ.

Whoever fails to recognize Christ, then, in the sacrament of his Body and Blood “eats and drinks to their own condemnation.” This is why not just anyone in the church building can be welcomed to the Table, but only those who have first carefully examined their consciences so as to partake worthily.

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