Dear Brothers and Sisters,

American Saint, Frances Cabrini once said, “I will go anywhere and do anything in order to communicate the love of Jesus to those who do not know Him or have forgotten Him.” This seemed to be the conviction of all our American saints who founded hospitals, grade schools, churches, universities, leper colonies, orphanages, missionary outposts, soup kitchens and more. To remind others of the goodness of God and Christ’s redeeming love, so many saints, canonized or not, functioned as building blocks of our country. Catholics, in other words, have played a huge part in American history.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Peace and Joy in Our Eucharistic King!

Our St. Bernadette family has been blessed to have adoration of Our Lord offered for many years. We have a few dozen committed parishioners who adore Our Eucharistic King regularly. This is such a wonderful blessing for them and for our parish.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

“Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his own fatherhood. Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less involved in the work of education, efforts must be made to restore socially the conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of unique and irreplaceable importance.”
~ Pope Saint John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"Shout joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful song. Know that the LORD is God, he made us, we belong to him, we are his people, the flock he shepherds. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name; good indeed is the LORD, His mercy endures forever, his faithfulness lasts through every generation.” – Psalm 100

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Peace and Joy in Our Eucharistic King!

Hopefully, you have people in your life who are or who have inspired you to grow in holiness. As I get to know the holy men and women who are now Saints in heaven, I am continually inspired by their heroic lives. How did these ordinary people end up living such extraordinary lives? One thing I can point to is their love for Our Lord… a love often fostered by spending time in His Real Presence in Eucharist Adoration. Here is what some of the Saints have said about Eucharistic Adoration.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"You ask how the bread becomes the Body of Christ, and the wine . . . the Blood of Christ I shall tell you: the Holy Spirit comes upon them and accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought . . . Let it be enough for you to understand that it is by the Holy Spirit, just as it was of the Holy Virgin and by the Holy Spirit that the Lord, through and in himself, took flesh." - St. John Damascene

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church, as founded by Christ, celebrates the fact that the Holy Spirit was not an isolated event two thousand years ago. The same Holy Spirit that descended upon the first disciples remains with us to this very day. The same Holy Spirit enables all of us to hear Our Lord’s call to follow Him every day. It the same Holy Spirit that enables us to build the Kingdom of God here and now. It is the same Holy Spirit that enables us to do God’s work, while we await His return!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

“The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral—a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body… The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation… What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this; to be a mother?” - József Cardinal Mindszenty

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Catholic Church, the month of May is dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. The May crowning is an act of popular devotion in honor of our Blessed Mother that is repeated every year as an expression of our love for Our Lady and it is usually done during the month of May. Perhaps you or someone you know has some confusion about Mary and the role She has in our life. The Church has always taught that Catholics believe our worship is due to God alone. Catholics do not worship Mary. Catholics worship God alone. However, Catholics do venerate Mary and in May we honor her in a special way with our May Crowing. It is appropriate to show our love for our Blessed Mother because she is the Mother of God, the Mother of Our Savior.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our Lord reminds us today of the importance of remaining connected to Him. To help convey this message, Jesus uses the image of the vine and the branches. Christ says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” He calls you and me to remain connected to Him and He likens that relationship to the vine and branches which grow together. As a branch, you will share in Christ’s very life, the life of the vine, if you abide in Him. If you remain connected to Christ, then you will have life to the fullest. As a disciple seeking to become a saint, that connection with Christ makes sense and deserves our attention and our effort.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In 2012, I was blessed to be able to make a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. The Camino is an ancient pilgrimage route to the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela. Although the road was most likely a trade route, the pilgrimage route suddenly became very popular among pilgrims in the Middle Ages. This popularity had everything to do with Saint James, an apostle who brought the Good News of Jesus Christ to Spain and whose body is buried in Santiago.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This past week we celebrated the Solemnity of the Annunciation on Monday. This feast is usually celebrated on March 25, nine months from Christmas. However, because March 25th was in the middle of Holy Week, to allow for an appropriate celebration of the feast, the Church moved our liturgical observance to April 8, avoiding Holy Week as well as the Octave of Easter.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

God’s mercy is available to all of us, no matter how great our sins have been in the past. Just look at King David (who committed adultery and murder) or Mary Magdalene (a prostitute) or the good thief, St. Dimas, or the parable of the Prodigal Son, to name just as few examples. Our Lord wishes us to recognize that His Mercy is greater than our sins so that we call upon Him with trust, receive His Mercy and share that mercy with others. The message of mercy can be broken down into three parts that are as simple to remember as A, B and C.