Pentecost Sunday
Congratulations to those who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on the Vigil of Pentecost
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In your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of:
+ Maria Duff +
(Click card to enlarge)
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Restoration Radio: “Marriage Equality,” Rights and God’s Law
You may have seen the ads on TV or on the internet for the new “marriage equality” movement. What does this movement stand for? Has marriage been “unequal” in our society up to this point? What about the language of rights? Is marriage a “civil right”? What does that mean? How are these issues related to contraception?
His Excellency, Bishop Donald Sanborn, of Most Holy Trinity Seminary, and Fr. Anthony Cekada of St. Gertrude the Great Catholic Church tackle these thorny issues.
Listen here.
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:
May 10, 2013: St. Antoninus by Bp. Dolan
May 13, 2013: St. John the Silent by Fr. Lehtoranta
May 15, 2013: St. John Baptist de la Salle by Bp. Dolan
May 16, 2013: Confirmands’ Day of Recollection by Bp. Dolan
May 17, 2013: St. Pascal Baylon by Bp. Dolan
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Liturgically, Easter’s sunrise has given way to Pentecost’s high noon, and we are meant to bask today in the full sun of the Holy Ghost. The rays of God’s love warm us and cheer us, making our little souls to sprout and grow and produce fruit in God’s good time by the indwelling of His own Spirit in our souls.
This Pentecost Week is the start of the soul’s summer. But that does not mean “kick back and take it easy.” It means growth and progress, the gardener’s hard work, the farmer’s long hours in the field, all in view of an abundant harvest.
Thus we have fasting days again this week, the Summer Ember Days. Soon Corpus Christi calls us to adoration and procession and the innocent joy of First Communion. The fire of God’s love comes again to enkindle our souls for the Sacred Heart and the month of June, which will end in the bonfire of St. John’s night, and the blazing red of Saints Peter and Paul. This is how a Christian lives, a true child of Holy Mother Church, fueled always by the fire of the Holy Ghost.
Mothers Day weekend took us back to Winter, didn’t it? Saturday was wet and cold, a sad overcast day for the dying of a dear child, Maria Duff. But after her soul passed to God, the sun peeked out tentatively, and all was well.
Our church was full for Maria’s funeral on Tuesday, a perfect Spring day. Fr. Thielen, her faithful confessor, celebrated the Mass, and her father and sister sang a part of it, alternating between themselves a very moving Dies Irae. The school children sang the rest of the Requiem, and Maria’s favorite hymn, “Bring Flowers of the Fairest.” A most memorable funeral.
We had hoped to do our May Crowning at our newest shrine in honor of Our Lady of Fatima. We dedicated it on All Saints Day in memory of Ernie Nellenbach, and it stands out beautifully in the field. However, the grass was still too wet to walk over. Eldon explained to me that there is only a little soil to drain the water, and then there is rock. We’ll try to build up the soil a little bit each year in the fall.
Our Lady of Lourdes received the honors instead, at a beautiful and colorful shrine set up in our new cloister garden. Everyone could be near enough to see the touching moment of the crowning. All day long it continued cool, but we were cheered by the sun, even though the winds came up by late morning.
I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day. We had a nice visit over the weekend with the Sisters of Our Lady of Reparation, who drove over from south central Illinois. What a grand and necessary work is reparation. We try to do a little, what with our Immaculate Heart of Mary and Sacred Heart devotions, and the monthly Adoration, but how wonderful to dedicate one’s life to this so needed cause of repairing: repairing the damage done to God’s glory and man’s good, by sin.
One of our cherished ways of offering reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and thus of obtaining peace for our weary world (Our Lady Herself makes the connection) is the Fatima Rosary Procession for Peace. Our first procession slowly wound its way along Union Centre Blvd., past the traffic and the geese and their droppings, and the fast food restaurants, praying earnestly for peace. Fr. Lehtoranta led the Rosary, and many of you attended, some coming right from Maria Duff ’s wake. God reward you!
Fr. Lehtoranta will be visiting the Sisters today, after he offers morning Mass in Milwaukee. Fr. McKenna is with us after his missionary travels last weekend, doubtless now resuming his wild animal watch. Maybe he’ll spot a cougar or a panther from his porch. He also plays with the children at recess, and they really miss him when he is gone. Bishop Sanborn and Fr. Cekada did another Restoration Radio show last Tuesday. Tune in. You’ll learn something. Fr. Cekada came back early from Florida for a special Pentecost choir practice. Such beautiful music!
Last Thursday the Confirmation children spent the day with me, preparing for this sacrament, and for the Blessed Sacrament. Now these little tots (and some late recruits) are full-fledged Soldiers of Christ, ready for the attacks their innocence will soon undergo, well armed with the Spirit.
How blessed we are to have Confirmation solemnly administered each year, and always available. How sad for those Catholics who never have it or must make their own arrangements to receive it, traveling to another state or even very far away. Some simply never receive Confirmation. It’s like dropping one of the seven sacraments. How much we and our children need the Holy Ghost! May He truly renew the face of our earth by His coming, making us grateful, and others thoughtful, considering how they might easily procure these same benefits for themselves and their children.
The family aspect of this past week at St. Gertrude the Great was very touching. How many of you went out of your way to help “bury the dead,” a corporal work of mercy, for little Maria Duff. The same was true yesterday, when so many came, as at Holy Week itself, to serve and sing and provide a meal for the great Pentecost Vigil, and the Confirmation of our dear children. It is as if they are your own. This spirit of persevering and forgiving charity, the family spirit, is poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost, the very Love of God.
May He bless you, and make you burn with love of God and family and neighbor.
–Bishop Dolan