Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised His disciples before He ascended into heaven. That same Spirit of the living God has remained with the Church ever since that first Pentecost Sunday. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would be with the Church always until the end of the ages and that the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, would guide the Church and remind her of all that Jesus taught and all that He commands us to do so that we can truly live out His law of love and be the people God created us to be.
A week ago we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. In this feast we experience earth (the body of Jesus) going up to heaven (the divinity of Jesus). In the Feast of Pentecost we experience heaven (the Spirit of Jesus) coming to earth. In all of these the reality is that heaven and earth are joined together in Jesus Christ who is true God and true man. Jesus came into the world to reconcile heaven and earth. The challenge for all of us is to live in the Holy Spirit so that we can begin to experience heaven on earth. This is what Jesus taught us to pray for when He taught us the Our Father. He told us to pray, “thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This tells us what heaven is all about. It is the carrying out of the will of God right here and right now. Many people say this prayer every day and these words that Jesus gave us don’t seem to find a real place in our hearts or in our lives. So often we are more concerned about carrying out our will and pretty much ignoring God’s will as something that is either too difficult or something that others will not accept. We bend and twist and dilute God’s will until it fits into our world and our expectations. The world does this with the issues of life and respect for the sacredness of life from the moment of conception to natural death. They have also done this with the definition of marriage by rejecting what God has said marriage is and making it something that better fits the needs and wants of people. We disregard God’s will with the idea that our way is better and even more compassionate than God’s way. As if we think we can love in a better way than God who is Himself love.
If we are to truly live in the Holy Spirit that God has gifted to us then we must pray always that the Holy Spirit will constantly renew His presence in our lives. We know that the Holy Spirit is truly with us when we really seek to do God’s will. It takes great courage to set aside our wills so that God’s will be done. This is how the Kingdom of God will come about; this is how we will begin to experience heaven on earth when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
As we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost let us ask the Holy Spirit to stir up in our hearts a burning desire to do God’s will; to join earth and heaven by listening to God’s Word and carrying it out in all that we do. Let us ask God to show us how to use the gifts and talents He has given us so that more people will come to know how much God loves us all. This is a great time to pray and reflect on how we share our gifts and talents with our parish family. Today, you had the opportunity to express your interest in one or more of the ministries available here at Sacred Heart. As a result of the covid pandemic, many people are hesitant to resume some of these ministries, but the work of God’s love must continue if we are to be the people He made us to be. Please pray for the strength, courage, and wisdom of the Holy Spirit so that the work of the Gospel may continue and grow stronger in our parish family.
The Feast of Corpus Christi is on Sunday, June 19th. We will again have an outdoor procession with the Blessed Sacrament after the 10:30 AM Mass, weather providing. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to gather and publicly express our devotion to and our belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Please plan to join us for this very special time of prayer.
PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDAR: THE FEAST OF THE SACRED HEART WILL BE CELEBRATED ON SUNDAY, JUNE 26 WITH A MASS AT 5:00 PM FOLLOWED BY A PARISH COOKOUT TO BE HELD IN THE PAVILION IN THE NORTH PARKING LOT BY THE WAREHOUSE, WEATHER PERMITTING. WE WILL PROVIDE THE HAMBURGERS AND HOT DOGS AND WE ASK THOSE ATTENDING TO BRING A DISH TO SHARE: FAMILY NAME A – M, PLEASE BRING A SIDE DISH AND FAMILY NAME N – Z PLEASE BRING A DESSERT. THERE WILL BE BEER AND MUSIC AS WELL AS GAMES FOR THE KIDS. SO PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND WITH YOUR FAMILIES. IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEAS ON OTHER THINGS WE CAN DO AT THE PARISH PICNIC, LET ME KNOW. SAVE THE DATE: JUNE 26 AT 5:00 PM.
Please note that included in our celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart we will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ordination of Deacon Roger. Deacon Roger has done so much for our parish family so please take the time to pray for him and his wife Helen. May the Lord bless them both for their service to the people of God especially over these past 25 years.
