Message from Fr. Jean-Luc

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

To all of you in each of our parishes, greetings in Christ the Lord! It is a blessing to be here in your midst with Father Joachim and Father Canice and now Brother Cassian.  The faith of the parishioners here is inspiring and, in a age when our religious observance as Catholics is unfashionable and even mocked, to see the faith lived out here so vibrantly is beautiful.

This coming Saturday is August 15, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The following is from the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, where the pope defined as dogma the Assumption of our Lady: "The great Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity by the same decree of predestination, immaculately conceived, an intact virgin throughout her divine motherhood, a noble associate of our Redeemer as He defeated sin and its consequences, received, as it were, the final crowning privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the grave and, following Her Son in His victory over death, was brought, body and soul, to the highest glory of heaven, to shine as Queen at the right hand of that same Son, the immortal King of the Ages."

May our meditation on this great solemnity of the Glorious and Immaculate Virgin Mary stir our hearts and minds to join her to magnify the Lord and rejoice in spirit before God our Savior who has done great things for us.

In the Sacred & Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Father Jean-Luc, OSB