Dear Parishioners:
We offer our congratulations to the OLM School Class of 2017. These fine young men and women graduated on Monday night. Their names are in this week’s bulletin. We wish them well as they prepare to enter high school. We also celebrated “graduation” for our Pre-K and Kindergarten Classes this past week. These youngsters were overjoyed at their achievement. It is such a happy occasion in our school. Of course school days are now over at OLM School! Sumer vacation has arrived! The students and faculty now enjoy a time of well deserved rest and relaxation. We pray for them and look forward to seeing them tan, rested and ready for school in the fall!
Over the summer months our crack OLM Maintenance Crew under the direction of Paul Anderson will clean and upgrade the school plant with painting, stripping of floors and pulling up some old carpets. We also have plans to renovate an unused classroom into a Music/Choir Room. It will be used for our OLM School Music classes as well as the OLM School Band Program. Our Church Choirs is to also use the room fortheir regular rehearsals. All this work is made possible thanks to the great success of the Annual OLM School Spring Fling. Each year this event raises the much needed funds to complete projects and fund programs for our excellent parish school.
Last weekend our OLMSchool put on the musical entitled “Seussical Jr.” It was a fabulous play with some great performances by our very gifted and talented students. The play brought back to life all the great stories of Dr. Seuss. Bravo to all the cast for a job well done!
Today we celebrate Father’s Day as we honor and give thanks for our Fathers. We do so today in prayer as we offer Masses for all Fathers. Please pray for Fathers and for the great gift of Fatherhood. Our Holy Father Pope Francis on speaking of Fathers offers some good advice. He suggests: “The first need is this: that a father be present in a family. That he be close to his wife, sharing everything—joy and sorrow, hope and hardship. And that he be close to his children as they grow—when they are carefree and when they are distressed, when they take a wrong step, and when they find their path again. Fathers must be patient. Often there is nothing else to do but wait; pray, and wait with patience, gentleness, and mercy.”
While the nation celebrates Father’s Day, Holy Mother Church celebrates the great Solemnity of Corpus
Christi. The full name of this feast is Corpus et Sanguis Christi or The Body and Blood of Christ. This feast of the Blessed Sacrament was established in 1246 by Bishop Robert de Thorte of Liege, Belgium at the suggestion of St. Juliana of Mont Carvillon. It is annually celebrated the first Sunday after the feast of the Trinity. The feast of Corpus Christi is one time when our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is exposed not just to faithful Catholics but to all the world. Catholicsshow their love for Christ in the Real Presence of the Eucharist by honoring Him in a very public way. We do so today at the 10:30am Mass as we process with the Blessed Sacrament to Mercy Park for Benediction.
Pope Emeritus Benedict states: “What is the precise significance of today's Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ? The answer is given to us in the fundamental actions of this celebration we are carrying out: first of all we gather around the altar of the Lord, to be together in his presence; secondly, there will be the procession, that is walking with the Lord; and lastly, kneeling before the Lord, in adoration, which already begins in the Mass and accompanies the entire procession but culminates in the final moment of the Eucharistic Blessing when we all prostrate ourselves before the One who stooped down to us and gave his life for us. Let us reflect briefly on these three attitudes, so that they may truly be an expression of our faith and our life.”
A very Happy Father's Day to all Fathers! May God Bless our Fathers and may we express our respect, love and gratitude today. Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Sox!