Pentecost

Pentecost Sunday is here!! This is the day we commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and we also commemorate the birthday of the church. The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity, is the Lord and Giver of Life. we are able to pray only in and through the Holy Spirit. He has the power to change you, to transform you, to divinize you. he bestows upon you the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are wisdom, counsel, knowledge, piety, understanding, fortitude and fear of the Lord. How amazing that our God loves us so much that he would send these gifts to us. If you give your beloved a gift, would you not expect your beloved to use it? How would you feel if that gift, something that you really thought long and hard about, was placed in the closet and collected dust? Gifts are meant to be used. God does not want you to put these gifts of the Spirit in the closet so that they may collect dust. Ask for the Spirit to help you to use them properly.

The Holy Spirit is very real. He brings order to your chaotic life. He showers you with his love. He is the very breath of God, the ruah Adonai, and he revivifies your soul, dead to sin but now alive in Christ. You are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Keep that temple pure and make it a worthy home for the God who loves you. Come Holy Spirit, come Creator blest, kindle in the hearts of thy faithful the fire of thy love.

Motherhood and Celibacy

Mothers Day was a week ago. Women have a great privilege to be able to share in God's creative power when they, with the help of God, form the child in the secret of their womb. Mothers and motherhood have been under attack in our society, but this is to be accepted since fatherhood and family life have also been under attack for years. Satan has always and continues to try to destroy the family. We must be vigilant in our prayer life and in our own relationships with our families and loved ones in order to counter the attack on families. Pray the family rosary. Go to Mass together as a family. Parents are the first teachers of their children. Do not give control over to the school, especially the public schools, and think that your children are learning good values. Keep abreast of what they are learning and get involved.

There is also a connection between a disparagement of marriage with the disparagement of priestly celibacy. When one suffers, both are suffering. Despite the failures of priests in the news, especially the most recent one in Miami, allowing priests to be married is not the answer. What our priests need is our prayers. I think we do a disservice to priests when newspapers and news shows write about the priests' sins for the purpose of sensationalism. Priests are human and they sin. What they need is prayer, not sensationalism.

Join us this Sunday, May 24th, as we discuss the Catholic Church's teaching on so called same sex marriage.