This weekend’s celebration of the Solemnity of Pentecost brings to a conclusion our Easter Season. The Collect (Opening Prayer) for the Vigil Mass of Pentecost summarizes the hope expressed by this liturgical memorial of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Father in Heaven, fifty days have celebrated the fullness of the mystery of your revealed love. See your people gathered in prayer, open to receive the Spirit’s flame. May it come to rest in our hearts and disperse the division of word and tongue. With one voice and one song may we praise your Name in joy and thanksgiving. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.” Come, Holy Spirit, come!
Happy Mothers’ Day to all the women of our parish! May the Lord richly bless all of you! In his Apostolic Letter On the Dignity and Vocation of Women (15 August 1988) our late great Holy Father John Paul II wrote: “The Church gives thanks for each and every woman; for mothers, for sisters, for wives; for women consecrated to God in virginity; for women who watch over the human person in the family, which is the fundamental sign of the human community; for women who work professionally and who at times are burdened by a great social responsibility; for all the women as they have come forth from the heart of God in all the beauty and richness of their femininity and as they have been embraced by His eternal love” (31).
At 11:00 am on Thursday, May 15, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick will be celebrated within Mass at Saint Peter. In the Letter of James we read of this Sacrament: “Are there any who are sick among you? Let them send for the priests of the Church, and let the priests pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick persons, and the Lord will raise them up; and if they have committed any sins, their sins will be forgiven them” (5:14-15). The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that the Anointing of the Sick “is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived” (1514). What is more, “the faithful who receive this sacrament can receive it several times if their illness becomes worse or another serious sickness afflicts them” (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 316). In the Roman Rite the priest anoints with the Oil of the Infirm the sick person’s forehead and hands saying “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in His love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up” (Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum, 124). Immediately following the Mass a light lunch will be served in Kolbe Hall. Please make your reservation now by calling the parish office.
In the next five years our parish anticipates having to address a number of issues with regard to our physical plant including the increasingly dangerous buckling of the carpet in the church proper and the sanctuary, the hazardous deteriorating bricks and concrete between the garage and the church, the incredibly wasteful heating system in the rectory, and the security of our magnificent church and school – to name just a few. We will only be able to address these problems if each and every parishioner generously participates in the We Belong To Christ Campaign now being conducted in our parish. Please prayerfully consider the generous role you will play in our parish over the next five years. Complete and return your pledge card at your earliest convenience. For those of you who have not yet picked up your pledge card please contact the parish office so that we may get it to you. If we do not hear from you we will be contacting you personally.
Thank you for your prayers, kind thoughts, and cards after the recent surgery on my foot. It turned out to be a much more extensive procedure than the surgeon originally anticipated. She is happy with the initial results and hopes not to have to do a second surgery (me too!)! Thank you to Father Sakowski for filling in for me at the last moment when it became clear that there was no way I was going to be able resume my duties as quickly as originally anticipated. As you read these lines I will have just completed the final examinations for the certification program in Catholic bioethics sponsored by the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I am grateful for the prayerful encouragement so many of you have given to me in this grueling venture begun last August. If I successfully navigate these exams all that remains is to write my thesis which is due July 15.
Saint Peter, pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!
Father Kevin C. Louis
For past issues of Father Louis's Column Strenghen Your Brethren, visit archives at the St. Peter Catholic Church Website.
