Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is the greatest of all mysteries in our faith precisely because it is the life of God himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All other mysteries flow from this mystery. God existed for all time because he exists outside of time. Indeed, he created time when he created the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon and all living creatures. God did not need to create; he chose to create because of love.

My Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate the great feast day of Pentecost, the commemoration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the beginning of the Church. During the Easter season we focus, of course, on the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. It is true that Jesus speaks of the Spirit throughout the Easter season in our Scriptures, but it is only today that we have a specific day in our liturgical calendar devoted to the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

My Dear Friends,

In our Catholic faith, certain months are devoted to certain saints or to our Lord. March is for St. Joseph. May is for our Blessed Mother. October is for the Rosary. January is for the Holy Family. September is for the Archangels. The month of June is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart is a beautiful devotion in order to foster a love for our Lord’s heart and his love and for reparation for our own sins as we call upon our Lord’s heart for mercy.

My Dear Friends, We now return to Pope Francis’s encyclical, Dilext Nos (on the Sacred Heart of Jesus). The first nine paragraphs in chapter four deal with Scriptural references on the love of Jesus as thirst and as water. The title itself of chapter four is A Love that Gives Itself as Drink.

My Dear Friends,

As you know by now, we have a pope. Cardinal Robert Prevost has been elected and has taken the name of Pope Leo XIV. He will need the courage that comes from the lion in order to carry the burden of the papacy on his shoulders.

My Dear Friends,

Since I submit my bulletin letters on Tuesdays, there is a good chance as you are reading this that we have a new pope. There will be a lot of commentary about who this man is, what name he has chosen, and where he is on the spectrum of the Catholic Church, i.e. progressive, traditional or centrist.

My Dear Friends,

When I was assigned as a priest in Boston at Our Lady of Victories Church (2008-2011), I had a radio program every Sunday. Most of my shows were with my friend Paula from Brunswick, Maine. We would have a discussion about a certain topic concerning the Catholic Church or cultural issues coming from a Catholic foundation. When Paula could not do my show with me anymore, I would do a show by myself on the Sunday readings. Some topics of my shows with Paula included how to receive Holy Communion, Divine Mercy, the Eucharist, marriage, confession, celibate priesthood, holy friendships, etc.