Fr. Sean's Weekly Column

Dear friends in Christ,
On this 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we hear a timely message from Jesus in the Gospel from St. Matthew: “What I say to you in darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.”

Dear friends in Christ,
Happy Father’s Day to all our dads this weekend. I pray that your family will celebrate your presence in their life by giving you the greatest gift a dad could ever want – complete control of the TV remote for one day! Seriously, we honor all fathers, both the living and deceased, today and thank them for the gift of life they provide. Let us call upon the patron saint of all husbands and fathers, St. Joseph, to watch over and intercede on behalf of all of them. And let us not forget the wonderful gift of life that grandfathers, adopted fathers, step-fathers, foster fathers and Godfathers offer their children. May God bless them all!

Dear friends in Christ,
Having culminated the great season of Easter with the Feast of Pentecost last Sunday, the Church now turns her attention to Ordinary Time, weeks so named not because of their “ordinariness” but because they are numbered. Today is the beginning of the 10th week of Ordinary Time, and we’ll continue in Ordinary Time all the way to the end of November and the beginning of Advent. The first two Sundays following Pentecost are given special recognition with today being the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or Trinity Sunday. Next week is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, or Corpus Christi Sunday.

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.

Dear friends in Christ,
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. We remember Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of the Father where he sits in glory until he comes again, a belief we profess every Sunday in our Creed. This feast is celebrated 40 days after the Easter resurrection which by tradition would have put it on the calendar for last Thursday. Some of you may remember “Ascension Thursday” holy days from your youth. It is still celebrated on that Thursday in some of the dioceses, but several years ago nearly every other diocese, including the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, chose to move the celebration to Sunday to highlight its prominence and give more people an opportunity to celebrate. So to be clear – you did not miss a holy day of obligation! It just moved a few days down the calendar so that we might celebrate it in all its glory today.