Trinity Sunday
Our roses in full-bloom.
Congratulations to those who received the Sacrament of Confirmation on the Vigil of Pentecost
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This school year we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:
May 20, 2013: Devotion to the Holy Ghost by Fr. McKenna
May 21, 2013: Pentecost Tuesday by Fr. McKenna
May 22, 2013: Ember Wednesday in Pentecost Week by Fr. Lehtoranta
May 23, 2013: Pentecost Thursday by Fr. McKenna
May 24, 2013: Ember Friday in Pentecost Week by Fr. Lehtoranta
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
Eastertide has come to an end, and with it today the time for fulfilling the Easter Duty. The school year will soon come to an end. Summer has been ushered in with our Pentecost Ember Days. Its great feast days begin with Thursday’s weeklong celebration of Corpus Christi. Next Sunday’s solemnity will bring to an end the “c” sacraments for our little ones, with their First Holy Communion, prepared for by the Holy Ghost Himself in First Confession, and last weekend’s grand celebration of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Ghost, the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Fitting then, isn’t it, that this season of beginnings and endings should begin with the feast day of the adorable Trinity, God in Three Divine Persons, who has no beginning and no end. This catechism or theological feast is also a devotional one, reminding us to practice our faith in prayer, honoring the three Divine Persons dwelling in us by Grace, not only this Sunday, but every Sunday – God Himself, in whose image and likeness we are made, and with whom we are meant to live forever.
The French call Corpus Christi the La Fête Dieu, the Feast of God, for Thursday’s feast worships God with us “all days” sacramentally, in the Holy Eucharist. God Himself! Come and worship our Sacramental God with us as we adore the Blessed Sacrament Exposed all day on Thursday, and part of each day during the Octave. A Solemn Mass and a little Procession, the chanting of the Divine Office also mark this feast of feasts for us. So that all may participate, next Sunday’s Solemnity again offers the adoration, High Mass and Procession as the First Communicants receive the Bread of Life for the first time.
The Pentecost Vigil this year shone out with fiery glory, everything from flowers to music to a generous and beautifully themed reception afterwards. Deo Gratias!
The weather has been oppressive for as long as we can remember, it seems. Still, all is green, and that is good. We are grateful for the sun and bits of blue sky from time to time, (I am writing this on Thursday’s beautiful May morning) and hope our trees and bushes are getting a good drink. We lost a number of trees with last Summer’s drought.
All eyes were on Cincinnati last week, with the IRS scandal. The problem is really one of bloated big government. Congress is as much to blame as anyone else in the debacle. “Your” representatives passed, but never properly publicized, a new law governing nonprofit corporations. As a result, thousands lost their tax exempt status, and had to scramble to regain it. More paperwork, worry, and headaches.
The tax collectors downtown were understandably overwhelmed by the applications and reapplications. Add to that the ever-present “duh” factor of human error, and the Obamization of all government, and you have the current crisis. Congress is largely the culprit. Beware of facile media explanations, which pander to ignorance and only confuse. The choking government bureaucracy continues to choke all Americans, regardless of which party predominates. It’s no party anymore.
May the Holy Ghost daily enlighten us. Let us show our piety (the spirit of true patriotism) tomorrow by praying for the Poor Souls on Memorial Day. Pray for our soldiers slain in wars, the civilians, and indeed all of our beloved deceased. May they pray for us, and our country, in turn.
I am visiting St. Hugh today for Confirmations. Enjoy the holiday tomorrow. Keep Thursday as a kind of Holy Day with us. The prayer here at St. Gertrude never ends. Get in on it this week.
May the adorable Trinity dwell in you, heart and home.
–Bishop Dolan