Archives for June 2009

From the Pastor – June 28, 2009

This coming July 3 is the tenth anniversary of my Ordination to the Priesthood. It is a blessing to me that only two weeks beforehand, on June 19, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI inaugurated the period from June 19 until June 11, 2010 as a “Year for Priests.”Â  The year coincides with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Marie Vianney, whom Pope Pius XI declared in 1929 to be the patron saint of parish priests. This year, Pope Benedict will also name him patron saint of all priests. The inauguration on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart was particularly appropriate because St. John Vianney once famously said that the priesthood is “the love of the heart of Jesus.” The Year of the Priesthood arrives at an important time. Over the last few years, … [Read more...]

From the Pastor – June 20, 2009

“Fatherhood” is something to which we're introduced to at a very young age. While not as “immediate” as motherhood (we're in our mother's womb for 9 months!), our father is one of the first people to whom we're “introduced.” But fatherhood can't be reduced to simply begetting a child. Fatherhood is one of the most important relationships in our entire earthly society; fatherhood points to our relationship with God. One of the most important models of fatherhood is St. Joseph, the “foster father” of Jesus. Although very little is said about St. Joseph in Sacred Scripture, there's something very profound about the relationship between Jesus and St. Joseph. As a young boy, Jesus would have addressed St. Joseph as “abba,” a name still used by most Semitic children for their father. It … [Read more...]

From the Pastor – June 14, 2009

In terms of a feast in the Catholic Church, today's Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ  (“Corpus Christi” in Latin) is a fairly recent one.  We all know that the Body and Blood of Christ are present at each Mass, but the addition of this special feast to the Church calendar was primarily due to the petitions of a Belgium nun named Juliana of Liège who lived in the 13th century. From a young age, Juliana had a great love for the Blessed Sacrament and longed for a special feast in its honor.  Her desire was increased by a vision she had of the Church under the appearance of the full moon having one dark spot.  The spot signified the absence of a day specifically honoring the Blessed Sacrament.  In 1208 Juliana also had a vision of Christ in which He instructed her to institute … [Read more...]

From the Pastor – June 7, 2009

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. In the early days of the Church there was no special day to honor the Holy Trinity, but that changed in the 3rd century when the Church was confronted with one of the first great heresies: Arianism. Although this heresy would seem strange to us today, it basically stated that God the Father was always existing but that He was separate from the lesser Jesus Christ, who was created by Him. Then, the Father, working through the Son, created the Holy Spirit, who was subservient to the Son as the Son was to the Father. This belief was definitively declared to be false by the Nicene Council in 325 A.D. Without going into too much theological depth about the controversy, we can simply affirm the Nicene Creed which we recite each … [Read more...]