News - May 2020 RSS Feed

Dear Friends of Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Saint Frances Cabrini Parishes: Those of you who watched or listened to any of my recorded homilies, especially during the Lenten season, heard me say early on that the world as we knew it before Covid 19 has passed away and that going forward all is going to be different.  I stated several times that God is making use of this situation to work on our hearts both as individuals and also as a world.  As we move into June, I still believe my earlier statements are accurate.  We now live, for a long time to come, in the world of Covid.  That will be true even if and when we do get a vaccine.  There is no such thing as a “reset” or “re-start” button on time and history.  No one goes back to where they were previously after passing through an event.  One emerges on the other side of it and is invited to consider what has been learned and what changed, or what needs to change, and one goes forward altered because of it. 

Dear Friends at Saint Frances Cabrini Parish and Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish: Praised be Jesus Christ! On the 24th of May, or the seventh Sunday in the Easter Season, in this part of the country we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.  One cannot overstate what a major turning point, or transitional experience this was in the lives of the earliest Christians.  The Lord Jesus had been present among them and had engaged them in one manner for several years, very much like any other ordinary person.  They had grown accustomed to it and had perhaps come to rely upon it as their relationship with him grew. 

Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of the Easter Season, wherein we find in the cycle of readings of the Lectionary for each year a Gospel passage from John Chapter 10 taken from the “Good Shepherd Discourse.”  Which means that for many years now this Sunday has been known as Good Shepherd Sunday, and as an opportunity for the Church to pray and reflect upon the call to priesthood in the Church.  It is in the DNA of the Church, one could say, to always have Christ acting in his role as the Good Shepherd, doing so through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  Bishops exercise this role in the fullest sense, with Deacons and Priests also sharing this same role in different ways.