Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I want to thank Ann and Ed Ledford and Sara and Mark Phillips, who served as co-chairs, and the dozens of volunteers and contributors, who helped to make this past Friday night’s Spring Fling 2005, “Ringing the Night Away”, such a success. What a great evening! And all for a great cause! Thanks to all who attended, all who bought Raffle tickets, and all who prayed for this most important event for our Parish family. In one amazing night, you did great things for the Kingdom of God! Thank you!

Next Saturday is First Communion. We will celebrate the Sacrament for the first time with our second graders at a special Mass at 1:00 PM. This will be the first First Communion Mass in our new church. We congratulate all of our young people who are taking this important step in their lives. We are very happy to have you join us at the Lord’s banquet table.

The children’s love and devotion as they come to the Sacrament for the first time has got to be an inspiration to us all. In particular, they challenge us to re-evaluate how we approach Holy Communion and the meaning that It has in our lives. All of us need to keep growing in respect and love for Communion. Do we honor the one-hour fast before Communion? Do we make sure that we have gone to the Sacrament of Reconciliation when we need to, especially before we go to Communion in a state of Mortal sin? Do we arrive on time for Mass or leave early, before Mass is finished?

One particular consideration that we all need to be more aware of, is when we invite non-Catholic guests to join us for Mass, it is extremely important that we talk to them before hand, about what’s going to happen, and in particular, about Communion. At no time, should anyone who is not Catholic, be receiving Communion. They may very well believe the same thing that we do about the Holy Eucharist, and that is the first and clearest sign that those individuals ought to be Catholic. But until that is a reality, we cannot offer the Eucharist to those who are not in full-communion with us. Any and all of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters are invited to come forward in the Communion procession to receive a blessing. They should clearly indicate that they are in line to receive a blessing by crossing their arms over their chest. Please make sure that they know this before hand. The priests and the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion cannot read minds. In the past, this has led to awkward situations at the Communion stations, which is NOT where this should be discussed.

Also, oftentimes visitors and non-Catholics, having taken the Consecrated Host in their hand, do not consume it right away. This is a very real problem today, with satanic cults trying desperately to get their hands on real, consecrated Hosts. If you are receiving Holy Communion in your hand, you are to step to the side and consume Jesus right away. In recent weeks, there have been too many occasions where the priest or the Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, has had to chase people down the aisle to tell them to consume the Eucharist. This should not be the case. In almost every instance it was a visitor, and in most cases, it was a non-Catholic visitor. This, again, reminds of just how important it is to clearly communicate with our visitors and non-Catholic friends, just what the expectations are. You may have read the story recently about the non-Catholic man, who had been to Pope John Paul II’s funeral in Rome, and who took a Consecrated Host from the funeral Mass, only to return to the United States to auction It off on E-Bay. This is a sacrilege! The Holy Eucharist is never a souvenir. Unfortunately, that is what some other denominations have reduced this Great Gift from God down to. The Eucharist must be consumed immediately. Thank God, that a Catholic layman, who knew his Faith and what a big deal this was, paid a large amount of money to get the Host from the Pope’s funeral, and had it consumed.

We also want to remember how important it is to say “Amen” when the priest or the Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion says “Body of Christ” or “Blood of Christ”. The instructions on giving Holy Communion make it quite clear that if you don’t say “Amen”, the priest or Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion is not supposed to give you the Eucharist. Our kids are taught to do this right when they make their First Holy Communions. Isn’t it time that the rest of us committed ourselves to doing it right also?

Think about these things. We can always be better. Let’s work together to be our best for Jesus!

In Christ ,
Fr. Kevin

A Bible falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.