FROM THE DESK OF THE PASTOR

June 10th, 2022

Sat, 11 Jun 2022 21:06:18 GMT

June 10th, 2022

Trinity Sunday

Dear Friends in Christ,

Here are some words of Pope Benedict to help us ponder this mystery which we celebrate this Sunday and is so central to our faith:

On this Sunday that follows Pentecost, we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, who helps us understand Jesus’ words and guides us to the whole truth (see Jn 14: 26; 16: 13), believers can experience, so to speak, the intimacy of God himself, discovering that he is not infinite solitude but communion of light and love, life given and received in an eternal dialogue between the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit - Lover, Loved and Love, to echo St Augustine.

In this world no one can see God, but he has made himself known so that, with the Apostle John, we can affirm: “God is love” (I Jn 4: 8, 16), and “we have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, no. 1; see I Jn 4: 16).

Those who encounter Christ and enter into a friendly relationship with him welcome into their hearts Trinitarian Communion itself, in accordance with Jesus’ promise to his disciples: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14: 23).

Blessings on your week!
Father Johnson

June 2nd, 2022

Sat, 04 Jun 2022 03:12:31 GMT

PENTECOST

This Sunday we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, the birthday of the universal Church, when the Holy Spirit bestowed wonderful gifts upon his disciples. I have seen those gifts wonderfully manifested in you as disciples of the Lord. And one of the things that has really built up our parish of Holy Innocents over the years is the wonderful generosity of parishioners like you sharing your gifts and talents. We would not be able to do what we do and spread the Gospel effectively without your willingness to serve. Each of us, as baptized members of the Church, is a part of the Mystical Body of Christ. St. Paul tells us that this body is made up of many members with different gifts which are essential to the functioning of the Body of Christ. Put simply, our Church, our Parish, would not be here if generation after generation had not responded to the call of the Lord Jesus to serve.

First of all, I want to thank all of you who have served or continue to serve in so many ministries so selflessly and generously over the years. If you are new to the parish, we are delighted to have you here, and especially need your gifts and help. We invite you to serve in some of the many ministries. We are grateful for your help!

St. Paul tells us that, “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” I have found that to be so true in my ministry. Everyone really does have something to give, whether that is prayer for the Church at home, teaching the faith to their children, or an active ministry at the Church, or something else in the community.

On this Feast of Pentecost, as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, I invite you to prayerfully reflect on how God is calling you to use your gifts. I am constantly amazed at the stories that parishioners tell me about how their ministry and service has touched them and changed them and enriched their lives. If you haven’t been involved in a ministry here at Holy Innocents, I really want to invite you to guide you in discerning a way to use your gifts as the service of the Church and the larger community. Even more today, this world needs the witness, presence and action of us, as believers, cooperating with God’s grace to further God’s kingdom. We need your gifts and talents to tell the good news and to serve God’s people. In the coming months we will be calling upon your help in many ways.

I invite you to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Let us open our hearts and respond with the same kind of yes, faith and trust of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Thank you again for all you do to build up our parish and our Church in such wonderful ways! You are a great blessing. I am so very grateful for your service, your generous spirit and most of all your prayers.

A WORD FROM POPE FRANCIS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT AS COMFORTER

“When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father…” (Jn 15:26). With these words, Jesus promises to send his disciples the Holy Spirit, the ultimate gift, the gift of gifts. He uses an unusual and mysterious word to describe the Spirit: Paraclete…

The Paraclete is the Comforter. All of us, particularly at times of difficulty like those we are presently experiencing due to the pandemic, look for consolation.

Often, though, we turn only to earthly comforts, ephemeral comforts that quickly fade. Today, Jesus offers us heavenly comfort, the Holy Spirit, who is “of comforters the best” (Sequence). What is the difference? The comforts of the world are like a pain reliever: they can give momentary relief, but not cure the illness we carry deep within. They can soothe us, but not heal us at the core. They work on the surface, on the level of the senses, but hardly touch our hearts. Only someone who makes us feel loved for who we are can give peace to our hearts. The Holy Spirit, the love of God, does precisely that. He comes down within us; as the Spirit, he acts in our spirit. He comes down “within the heart”, as “the soul’s most welcome guest” (ibid).

He is the very love of God, who does not abandon us; for being present to those who are alone is itself a source of comfort. POPE FRANCIS

Happy Pentecost and blessings on your week!
Fr. Johnson

May 27th, 2022

Fri, 27 May 2022 22:17:59 GMT

From the Desk of the Pastor 5-27-2022

Dear friends in Christ,

PRAYER FOR UVALDE AND BUFFALO

During this past few weeks, our nation has experienced two terrible mass shooting, in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX. We weep and grieve with those who lost their loved ones in this senseless violence. We pray for those who died and all those who mourn them and for an end to these shootings.

God of peace,
you are peace itself;
a divided heart cannot find you,
a violent mind cannot welcome you.

Hear us as we pray for the victims,
so many of them young children,
of the terrible shootings in Buffalo and Texas.
Grant eternal life to the dead,
healing to the wounded,
and comfort to grieving families.

May the grief and shock we experience
unite us in our commitment to rid
our communities of the violence
that echoes in our streets and haunts our imaginations.

We ask this through the One
who is our Prince of Peace:
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our prayer in these situations, is necessary and important, even in the face of those who suggest the prayer is worthless or impotent. In response to a man who tweeted out that her thoughts and prayers were worthless in response to the Uvalde tragedy, Sr. Norma Seni Pimentel, the Director for Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley had this to say:
“Thoughts & prayers are the anchor of our souls to the presence of the Holy Spirit leading us to actions of peace and love. We must all pray to stay fearless before the evil that destroys lives and be united in the love that transforms us to be people of good will to all humanity.”

At the same time in our nation and communities, we need to work together to see that these situations do not happen again, to provide necessary resources to address mental illness, to reach troubled youth, to reduce access to weapons used in these kinds of shootings, and to end the sickness of our society which isolates, divides, and breeds such violence.

For a good video reflection on this tragedy by Archbishop Etienne, please click here:
https://vimeo.com/713879347

For some reflections on guns, human conversation, and the bishops’ approach to gun control legislation, please see this interview with Bishop Flores of Brownsville, TX
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/bishop-flores-
sacralized-guns-and?s=r

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD TO HEAVEN

This Sunday, we celebrate the 40th day after resurrection when the Lord Jesus ascended in the sight of the disciples to heaven and commissioned them to baptize all nations and to share the good news. Pope Francis offered this reflection on this great feast a few years ago:

St Luke says that having seen Jesus ascending intoheaven, the Apostles returned to Jerusalem “with great joy”. This seems to us a little odd. When we are separated from our relatives, from our friends, because of a definitive departure and, especially, death, there is usually a natural sadness in us since we will no longer see their face, no longer hear their voice, or enjoy their love, their presence. The Evangelist instead emphasizes the profound joy of the Apostles. But how could this be? … The Ascension does not point to Jesus’ absence, but tells us that he is alive in our midst in a new way. He is no longer in a specific place in the world as he was before the Ascension. He is now in the lordship of God, present in every space and time, close to each one of us. In our life we are never alone: we have this Advocate who awaits us, who defends us. We are never alone: the Crucified and Risen Lord guides us. We have with us a multitude of brothers and sisters who, in silence and concealment, in their family life and at work, in their problems and hardships, in their joys and hopes, live faith daily and together with us bring the world the lordship of God’s love, in the Risen Jesus Christ, ascended into Heaven, our own Advocate who pleads for us. POPE FRANCIS

Blessings on your week!
Fr. Johnson

From the desk of the Pastor 5-27-22

Dear friends in Christ,

For a good video reflection on this tragedy by Archbishop Etienne, please click here:
https://vimeo.com/713879347

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD TO HEAVEN

Blessings on your week!
Fr. Johnson

MAY 15th, 2022

Sat, 14 May 2022 04:19:22 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

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May 6th, 2022

Sat, 07 May 2022 04:08:38 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

May 6, 2021

From the Desk of the Pastor

In the month of May and especially this Mother’s Day weekend, we remember Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, as well as our mother. By her “yes” to the mission entrusted to her by the Angel Gabriel, she bore the Savior, Jesus Christ, into the world and became the first disciple of the Lord. On the cross, when Jesus entrusted her to the St. John saying “Behold your mother, behold your son,” she became our mother too. In May we crown her with flowers to remind us that she reigns in heaven with her Son. We can call upon her intercession and aid, and we especially need to do in these challenging times.

In particular, the Holy Father, Pope Francis has called upon us all to pray the rosary daily during this month for an end to the invasion in Ukraine. Last week at his Regina Coeli address, he said:

I would like to invite all the faithful and communities to pray the Rosary for peace every day in May. My thought goes to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, “Mary’s city”, barbarically bombed and destroyed. Once again, from here, I renew my request that safe humanitarian corridors be arranged for the people trapped in the steelworks in that city. I suffer and weep, thinking of the sufferings of the Ukrainian people, and in particular, the weakest, the elderly and children. There are even terrible reports of children being expelled and deported.

And while we are witnessing a macabre regression of humanity, I wonder, along with so many anguished people, if peace is truly being sought; whether there is the will to avoid a continued military and verbal escalation; whether everything possible is being done to silence the weapons. I beg you, let us not surrender to the logic of violence, to the perverse spiral of weapons. May the path of dialogue and peace be taken! Let us pray. POPE FRANCIS

FIRST COMMUNION

This is also the time of year we rejoice with our second graders as they receive the Body and Blood of the Lord for the first time. Saturday, May 7 is First Communion at St. Jude and Sunday, May 22 is First Communion at Holy Innocents, and I know many who have relatives and friends receiving First Communion this time of year. First Holy Communion is a very special time not only for the first communicants and their families, but also for the whole Church and especially our parish. We congratulate them and we pray for them. The specialness of this day reminds us of how important this holy food, the bread of life, is for us as Christians. The Lord Jesus told us that “unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we will not have life within us.” This was a difficult saying for many who heard it. It startled those who heard it, and judging from the statistics, which show our sometimes erratic Mass attendance, it remains a challenging statement today. Nevertheless, Eucharist is the most important of the sacraments. It is the source and summit of the Christian life as the second Vatican council proclaims. It is the font of the Church’s strength and vigor and it is the way the Church returns its thanks and praise for all God has done for us. May the wonder, awe and joy of these First Communicants renew us in our love for this sacrament and give us new fervor in giving thanks and praise to God. It is right and just, our duty always and everywhere to give God thanks and praise!

Thank You to all who helped with Work Party!

Many thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who came out for the Work Party at Holy Innocents last Saturday. They did an amazing amount of work and moved loads and loads of bark among many other things. A big thank you to all who helped make our parish shine. Your efforts reflect the wonderful “can do!” spirit that has filled our parish for over a hundred years. Again, heartfelt thanks to you all!

Blessings on your week!

Fr. Johnson