6/5/2022

You may have noticed that our offertory collection has fallen over $57,000 behind our budget. I would ask us to pray about what this means for us individually and as a parish. Let us examine our commitment to the work of this community, our ability to pull together and make an impact on our children, on those who are joining the Catholic Church, on our elderly, and all the others who are blessed with our ministries. Please consider giving any amount as your sacrifice for the parish. Everything helps! God has blessed us with many generous donors; I invite you to become part of that generous group.
There are two men who are to be ordained deacons from the parish on June 18th, at 10 AM in St. James Catholic Church in Liberty, MO. They have been preparing two weekends per month for the last 4-5 years for this moment. We excited to have Randy Holtman and Mike Casteel ordained, and invite you to congratulate them as well as to follow the ceremony as it is streamed by the Diocese. We will carry a link to the event on our website, so that you may see the ceremony if you so desire. Deacons are able to preach at Mass, Baptize, witness marriages, bury the dead, and in general are ordained to serve the parish according to their skills and the time they have to give. These two men are truly generous in their commitment to the parish. Please pray for them as they prepare for their ordinations.
Pentecost describes a day of transition in history – it is the anniversary of the birthday of the Church because the soul of the Church, the Holy Spirit, was sent to give life to the Body of Christ which remained on earth in the persons of Christ’s disciples after the Ascension. We are today His disciples because we are Temples of the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and transform us. We are united and given life by the Holy Spirit. There are many gifts associated with the Holy Spirit – wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (from Isaiah 11) – as well as the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty, purity, and chastity. These gifts and fruits were manifested historically by Christ during his time on earth, but now are manifested in Christ’s disciples, in us who are members of His Body.
Besides these things, the Holy Spirit ushers in the age in which Christ is present in mystery instead of in history. That means that Christ is present, but in sacramental signs like oil, bread, wine, blessings, water, and people. The presence is represented by signs, but felt interiorly, working invisibly like yeast that makes bread rise. It is a time when the old creation and the new coexist, and allows for our transition into the new age by the choices we make to follow Christ through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, until Christ comes in glory upon the clouds at the end of time.
A blessed Pentecost to all of you!

Father Albert, O.S.B.