Fr. Sean's Weekly Column

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.

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 a handful of the dioceses in the U.S., but several years ago nearly every other diocese, including the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, transferred the celebration to Sunday to highlight its prominence and give more people an opportunity to celebrate.

Dear friends in Christ,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Such a powerful and altogether soothing assurance from Jesus in today’s Gospel on this 6th Sunday of Easter. It seems like something we should commit to memory, and most certainly it is something we should commit to in our hearts. The reason we should not fear is because the Lord has promised that He will not leave us abandoned or alone. The gift of the Holy Spirit, which we’ll celebrate in a few weeks at Pentecost, is all we need to give us the peace of God’s everlasting love. Remember those words throughout this week any time your heart is worried. The Lord is near to us. That is the promise of Easter!