News - June 2019 RSS Feed

Dear friends in Christ,
We return to the familiar green vestments of Ordinary Time this Sunday after a couple post-Easter celebrations in white for Trinity Sunday and Corpus Christi Sunday. You’ll be seeing a lot of green for the next five months as we make our way through the liturgical year. Our readings this weekend for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time could not be more appropriate as they are all about callings, departures and following the Lord. That is the case for Elisha in the First Reading from 1 Kings, and for the Apostles in the Gospel from St. Luke, and finally it’s the case for us at CtR.

Dear friends in Christ,
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, or as we more commonly call it, Corpus Christi Sunday. The Eucharist is the life of the Church and today we call to mind the great gift of Christ’s own body. When Christ surrendered His spirit on the cross, water and blood flowed from His side and the great outpouring of the Body and Blood was made complete. We celebrate that gift every time we gather at the table of the Lord.

Dear friends in Christ,
Buongiorno! I greet you today from Italy where our 2019 Parish Pilgrimage to the Shrines of Southern Italy is visiting Monte Cassino, about 80 miles south of Rome. It is here that St. Benedict founded the Benedictine Order in the 6th century, and as you are celebrating at CtR, our group of 48 will offer Mass at the Abbey of Monte Cassino. We are one with you in spirit, and though we’re having a beautiful and spiritually-fulfilling trip, we look forward to being back home next weekend. In the meantime there are many more churches to visit and much more gelato to eat!

Dear friends in Christ,
On the Feast of Pentecost this weekend, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus and what has come to be known as the “birthday of the Church.” Gathered together in Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus, who were comprised of every race and tongue, soon discovered themselves to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” It was a microcosm of what the Church would become: faithful believers in the saving work of Jesus Christ who are empowered by the Spirit to go and spread the Good News. That work continues today. We, too, come from different backgrounds and ways of life but yet we are united by the Spirit of God to build up the Body of Christ in all we say and do.