5/29/22 Pentecost, Confirmation, Ordination, and First Masses

Pentecost, Confirmation, Ordination, and First Masses

5/29/22

Dear Parish Family,
 
Next Sunday the Church celebrates the great Feast of Pentecost, when our Lord sent upon the Church gathered in prayer the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. The Church, the Bride of Christ, brought to life out of His side as He hung upon the cross, is now given strength to fulfill the Great Commission which Jesus entrusted to His Church before He ascended to His Father: "Go, make disciples of all the nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach them all that I have commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the ages."

The Holy Spirit comes down upon the Church to strengthen Her for Her work, that She might truly become the Sacrament of Salvation for the world. It is the design of the Savior that the apostles carry His saving gospel into every nation so that one day, through their work and that of their successors, the Church would take unto Herself peoples of every nation; that there would be no place left that had not been permeated by the sweet fragrance of Christ, no child left who hadn't been washed in His life-giving waters. Christ, the one and only Mediator, Judge, and Lord, desires the whole world to be saved and come to knowledge of His Truth in His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

God the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, by His power gave us an image of all the nations coming to the Church when each could hear the Church speak and each could understand. May the Holy Spirit, who is always at work in the Church, still fill us with His power! May He continue to infuse the successors of the Apostles with His fire of Truth, that the Church would be made ever more radiant and splendid as the Bride adorned for Her Husband, Christ the Lord. In honor of this feast, many have the tradition of wearing red as a symbolic reminder of the Holy Spirit, Who from baptism was given to each of us; and through Confirmation, strengthened us with His Gifts.

Also next Sunday, we welcome Bishop Waltersheid who on Sunday afternoon will confer Confirmation on our young men and women who have been preparing for this sacrament. Let us remember them all in our prayers this week.

Father Barnabas will return to our parish for his two remaining Masses of Thanksgiving on:

• SFC — Sunday, June 5, 2022 at 10:30AM
• ST — Sunday, June 19, 2022 at 10:00AM

There will be a reception after each Mass where Father Barnabas will impart to you his first Priestly Blessing.

Our Deacon David will be ordained to the Priesthood on Saturday, June 25th at 10:00AM at Saint Paul Cathedral. Deacon David would like to extend an invitation to all our parishioners to attend his ordination as well as the Mass at his home parish, St. Conrad in Butler, PA on Sunday, June 26th at 2:00PM.  Father David will return to our parish for Masses of Thanksgiving in our four churches:

• ST — Saturday, July 2, 2022 at 8:30AM
• OLF — Saturday, July 2, 2022 at 4:00PM
• SFC — Sunday, July 3, 2022 at 8:30AM
• SJB — Sunday, July 3, 2022 at 11:30AM

In the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Fr. Jean-Luc