Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

It is hard to believe that we are coming up on July 4th. The Revolutionary War, or the War for Independence, is our history as a people and as a country. We, the United States of America, have been at war with many countries ever since, with occasional years of peace between the conflicts and wars. We will continue to be at war for many years to come, as long as we remain a country.

My Dear Friends,

Tomorrow, June 24th, we celebrate the solemnity of the birthday of St. John the Baptist, six months and one day before Christmas, the birthday of our Savior. Our Lord (December 25th), our Blessed Mother (September 8th), and St. John the Baptist are the only three birthdays on the liturgical calendar that we commemorate and celebrate. Interestingly, the birthday of our Blessed Mother is only considered a feast, a lower rank than a solemnity, while St. John the Baptist and our Lord are both solemnities. Yet, the conception of our Blessed Mother (December 8th) and the conception of Jesus (March 25th) are both solemnities.

My Dear Friends,

Last Sunday was the choir ’s last time singing at Mass until the fall. They did a wonderful job as usual. I am grateful for all their hard work and dedication to helping us enhance the celebration of Mass. This past year, especially, has been a challenge since Dan Ringuette left us to pursue another position in Litchfield at St. Louis de Montfort parish. With his leaving we also lost some choir members, but the choir members who remained did a marvelous job under the direction of George Murphy (in Immaculate Conception Church) and the Immaculate Heart of Mary choir remained steady under Loni Birkenburger, all held together under the direction of AJ Bunel, who willingly stepped up to play at all Masses until we find someone who can assist him.

My Dear Friends,

As mentioned last week, Archbishop Christopher Coyne is asking us to implement a new venture in the Archdiocese of Hartford, Called by Name. He is asking each parishioner of every parish in the Archdiocese of Hartford to identify a person who you think might make a good priest, a good deacon, or a good religious sister or brother. Fostering an environment of vocations is the responsibility of every Catholic.

My Dear Friends,

Today is the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, more commonly known as Corpus Christi. Even though Catholics have been a minority in the United States since our founding, yet still Catholics, especially the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits, were responsible for much of the missionary work. We see this in the names of cities throughout what is now the United states; places like San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Santa Clara (all in California), St. Louis Missouri, St. Paul Minnesota, St. Augustine Florida and San Antonio and Corpus Christi Texas. Corpus Christi, in Latin, means Body of Christ.

My Dear Friends,

In our Liturgical cycle for Masses, there are no Masses in honor of the Father. Besides the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrate today, there are two votive Masses, another Mass for the Trinity and one for the Mercy of God. The argument against a Mass strictly for the Father would be that every Mass is directed to the Father. Every Mass is an offering to the Father.

My Dear Friends,

Fifty days ago we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ten days ago we celebrated the Lord’s Ascension onto Heaven. Today we celebrate Pentecost, the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all believers. The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.

My Dear Friends,

In my previous assignments I have offered a single rose to all the mothers of the parish at Mass. This year I am doing the same thing. In honor of our mothers and in celebration of your motherhood, all mothers will receive a rose on the way out of Mass. Motherhood is a special vocation. A mother’s love reflects the love of our Father in heaven. God is Father and Creator.

My Dear Friends,

Today we are celebrating the first Holy Communion of twenty of our faith formation students. It is always a joyous celebration whenever anyone receives his or her first Holy Communion, but to see so many of our children receive our Lord for the first time warms our hearts. It should make us remember our own first Holy Communion. Our Lord desires for all who call themselves Catholic to receive Communion. And our Lord continues to call those who are not Catholic to come to the Catholic faith and receive Him in Holy Communion.

My Dear Friends,

Last week we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday. Today, April 28th, is the anniversary of the 18th year of my priestly ordination, the feast day of St. Peter Chanel and St. Louis de Montfort. Reflecting on my priesthood and through coincidence only, I have been watching a few movies with Catholic priests as characters. It got me to think about all the great movies with great performances of actors playing priests.

My Dear Friends,

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is commonly called Good Shepherd Sunday. It is a day for us to pray extra for shepherds to feed our Lord ’s sheep. Vocations to the priesthood, although they have dropped precipitously in many dioceses throughout the world and in our own United States, are a gift to the Church. We remember as well that we need priests in order to have celebrations of Mass and to stop the unfortunate closing of many parishes and church buildings because of a lack of priests.

My Dear Friends,

We are moving quickly through the Easter season. On this third Sunday of Easter we continue to rejoice in the Risen Lord and our redemption. As the beginning of the Gospel today says, the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. This is just a way to say that they recognized Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist.

My Dear Friends,

Today is the eighth day of the octave of Easter. For eight days we have been celebrating Easter day liturgically. Pope St. John Paul the Great also named this day Divine Mercy Sunday, after the devotion of St. Faustina, who received from our Lord words to share concerning his over abiding mercy to all sinners. The Diary of St. Faustina is a wellspring of comforting words from our Lord.