From the Pastor's Pen - Pentecost

PENTECOST—it’s the whole deal !! With today’s feast, we can see the whole sweep of the life of Christ reflected in the liturgies, and what it says of our life. In Advent/Christmas, we celebrated that the Son of God, the eternally faithful Spirit, came incarnate into a human body to be among us. He was recognized by only a few while young. When he came into adulthood, his special spirit was recognized by many, and opposed. He submitted to cruel suffering, and a human death; and even in that, he sent his Spirit.

After his glorious Resurrection, Jesus was installed, as it were, at the Father’s right hand in the heavenly kingdom. From there, he told us in John’s Gospel, he can do more for us than he did during his days on earth. As he left earth, he gave The Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Us ??

Yes, us. Catholic parishes are continually urged to fulfill this through activities of evangelization; however, a baffling plethora of internal activities and external demands typically distract and diffuse parish leaders and membership. Often, evangelization itself is seen as a means to parish self-preservation. When it’s seen like this, that will be felt and any success will be limited. We reach out to others with the Good News, not to strengthen our parish, but because Jesus has commissioned us to do so. Yes, each and every one of us.

We’ve had a couple of tries in recent times to make these efforts clear and strong as a parish. We’re now looking for people open to go through brief formation training to help us spread the Word of the Risen Christ. Let me know if you’re in.

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Tuesday was the last meeting of our St. Rose School Board. We’ll now participate in the boards of our parent school, All Saints Academy. We’ve already benefited from the wider publicity and central administration. Thanks to all who have built up our school to go to this next level.