Letter from the Pastor
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May 19, 2024Today the Church was born through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our Blessed Lady and the 12 Apostles. Pentecost (comes from the Greek and means “fiftieth”) is a major feast day on the Church calendar, second only to Easter. Unlike Christmas and Easter, Pentecost doesn’t have a strong cultural tradition attached to it. It is never celebrated, as it ought to be.
Our holy day takes its name from a Jewish feast. The feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot, is a four-day feast also known as the “Feast of Weeks,” and takes place 50 days after the Passover. Passover and Shavuot are intimately connected.
Shavuot commemorates the end of that initial stage of Israel’s journey out of Egypt. 50 days in the desert, Moses brought God’s people to Mt. Sinai and gave the people the 10 commandments. Passover celebrates their freedom from bondage, while Shavuot celebrates the new covenant formed between God and Israel. It is a reminder that they were freed to be God’s holy people, a royal priesthood, a light to the nations. The Law was written on stone tablets.
The end of Shavuot, 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, a new law was given, this time not written on stone tablets, but now written on the hearts of the Apostles . It also means all the laws are now fulfilled as our Lord told the crowds in the Sermon on the Mount: Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.
This feast is transformed from the memorial of the Law of Moses to the birthday of the Church, when the opportunity to belong to God’s people expanded not only to the Hebrews, but to all people.
Certainly we have a need for Pentecost. As with other feasts, we celebrate this Solemnity not as a mere memory or reminiscence. We celebrate it to make the events of that first Pentecost present and real. What occurred in the upper room back then happens here and now again.
So many things happened that first Pentecost Sunday but one very important thing that our society needs; unity that the Spirit brought to the world through the Church. May the Holy Spirit accomplish that again.
We need to speak clearly the truth in love. It is a failure of love to be ambiguous, to indulge another in error, and to spin lies. We need to use our own words properly. “Say what you mean, mean what you say.”
In many ways we have returned to Babel. However, Pentecost brings meaning into the world.
Welcome our New Choristers
The Ancient Greeks sang songs to their gods in worship, however, it was the Hebrews that brought it to a higher and greater level. King David had a 4,000-voice choir, 120 trumpets and cymbals to praise God! (cf. 2 Chronicles 5). The early Christians used to chant the psalms, and then when monasteries began to flourish, Gregorian chant took pride of place, which is still the case today. Choirs have always been a part of Catholic worship. We are so blessed to have such a professional and wonderful choir and Sacred Music program. Today at 4:00PM during Solemn Evening Prayer and the Extinguishing of the Easter Candle, we will install and welcome our new choristers (children’s voices) Gianna and James Konecni, Charlie MacMaster, Victoria Puma, Gianna and Joseph Raygada, and Abigail Swanson..
There is nothing as sweet and inspirational as a child singing the praises of God.
Our First Holy Communicants
On the cover are the names of our children who received their First Holy Communion this year.
May God bless them and their families, I would also like to thank their families, their teachers,
Mrs. Brenda Lattuca, Mrs. Patricia Maldonado and all who brought them to this special day. May they always hunger and thirst for the Precious Body and Blood of the Lord.
