|
 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy
Memorial Day weekend! It’s the kick-off for the summer of 2009! May you enjoy
this weekend with your family and friends. If you are visiting us this weekend
for the Indy 500, we welcome you and hope that you enjoy the race and the
festivities. Thank you for joining us for Mass this weekend.
This
weekend, we are celebrating the Ascension of the Lord. We know that for
approximately 50 days after His resurrection from the dead, our Lord and Savior
Jesus appeared to His followers multiple times and continued to teach them about
what they were to do next. Jesus told them up-front, that He was not staying
forever, but had to return to His Father in Heaven, in order for the Holy Spirit
to come. That Holy Spirit would complete everything that Jesus had taught His
followers. And so on the day of the Ascension, Jesus was taken Body and Soul up
to Heaven, to take His place in His Kingdom. This is a great Feast Day for all
of us, as it offers us a preview of what is coming for all who follow Jesus. He
has indeed prepared a place for us in His Kingdom. Now we follow Him to get
there.
Every
Memorial Day we remember and commemorate those who gave their lives for our
country and for our freedoms. This is somewhat of a somber holiday. Today we
are reminded that real freedom isn’t “free”, but as been bought and paid for
with the lives of many good and honorable men and women, who sacrificed so that
we could enjoy all that we enjoy today. We pray for all of them today. We
also recognize that their ultimate sacrifices for us, demands that we too be our
best, in memory and in honor of them. What better way of recognizing what those
who have gone before us have done, than by living good and honorable lives
ourselves? This is true not only of our war dead and those who served our
country honorably in the military, but also those who have gone before us in our
families, in our friends, and even in our Church. So many sacrificed and lived
truly heroic lives, so that we could enjoy the lives that we do today. We owe a
great debt of gratitude to many people. Memorial Day helps us to NOT forget.
In the Catholic Church, on our Church calendar, we have All Soul’s Day on
November 2nd,
to help us to do this same thing. And yet today is not only a civic holiday,
but it is a special day for all of us of Faith. Gratitude to all of those who
have gone before us, is important.
Who do
you need to remember today? Who should you be grateful for? Who should you be
praying for? When we’re occupied with car races, and family get-togethers, and
backyard cookouts, it’s easy to forget what this weekend is supposed to be all
about. We don’t want to forget! We can’t afford to forget. We all get a
limited time in this world. What good are we doing? How are we helping and
serving others?
This
is our last week of school here at St. Maria Goretti. Our eighth graders
graduate at a special Mass on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM in the main
sanctuary. Because of the Graduation Mass, there will NOT be a regularly
scheduled 5:30 PM Mass on this Wednesday night. We are hoping that everyone
will come and join us at the Graduation Mass. We congratulate all of our
graduates. We are very proud of you and look forward to all of the good that
God will do with each of you!
This
Friday, May 29th,
we will have our “End-of-the-School-Year Bash”. This fun event for the entire
Parish is sponsored by the Holy Name Society and the St. Philip Neri Oratorio,
with lots of help from the Altar Rosary Society and the Silver Angels. It’s a
fun evening with lots of great food, white elephant Bingo, chalk art for the
kids, and lots of fellowship with some really nice people. We are hoping that
you will be able to come and join us on Friday evening. Please see the details
on this event inside this bulletin.
Next
weekend, we’ll be celebrating the great Feast of Pentecost. We come to the end
of our Easter season, and we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon
the Apostles and the birthday of the Church! It’s a special Feast and one of
the most important on our annual calendar. You won’t want to miss Mass next
weekend! We’ll see you right here.
Have a
great Memorial Day weekend! It’s going to be a great summer!
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
Prayer and
sacrifice can touch souls better than words. |
