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Our Mission Statement
By God's grace, we as a faith family bring the presence of Christ and the Church to our community, through His Word and Sacraments and our daily witness to living the virtues of faith, hope and love. With the help of God, we aspire to be a Catholic Christian community of compassion, love, and respect by living the Gospel in word and deed.
Message from our Pastor
This weekend, we conclude the Easter Season
with the celebration of the Solemnity of
Pentecost, remembering the fact that 50 days
after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and 10
days after His Ascension, He and the Father
sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and
the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Upper Room
(Acts 2). Please pray for 35 of our parish family's children
as they receive their First Holy Communion this weekend!
And remember, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost was not an isolated event in the Church's life
(Father Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God).
The Holy Spirit (Paraclete) sanctifies the Church
continually as He also sanctifies every soul - He
strengthens our heart with His blessings, with His care
and fatherly love, so as to arouse us, move us, impel us and
draw us to holy virtues, to heavenly love, to good
resolutions: in short, to all that leads us to our eternal life
in Heaven (Saint Francis de Sales, Introduction to the
Devout Life, III, 18).
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At Pentecost, God strengthened the Apostles in their
mission as witnesses to Jesus, announcing the Good News to all
peoples. The Holy Spirit strengthened not only the
Apostles, but He gives strength to every disciple of Christ.
Indeed, all who believe in Him have the happy duty, the
mission, of proclaiming that Jesus Christ has died and is
risen and has ascended into Heaven for our salvation. As
Saint Peter preached on the morning of Pentecost (Acts
2:17-18), so began the epoch of the last days, the days in
which the Holy Spirit has been lavished newly upon those
who believe that Jesus Christ is God the Son and who follow
Him and fulfill His doctrine.
Like Saint Peter, the Blessed Mother and all the saints,
each and every one of us needs the Holy Spirit in order to
live a virtuous life, to give witness to Jesus, the Only Savior
of the world. We pray, therefore, for an increase in the
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, counsel,
understanding, knowledge, fortitude, piety and fear of the
Lord (Isaiah 11:1-2; also, 1 Corinthians 12). We pray to bear
the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness,
modesty, self-control, chastity (Galatians 5:22-23). We ask
for the grace to have a greater, active docility to welcome
the inspirations and the touches of the Holy Spirit with
purity of heart. Let us pray: "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the
hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of
Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.
And You shall renew the face of the earth. Yes, come, Holy
Spirit. Veni, Sancte Spiritus."
With prayers and peace in Christ,
Fr. William
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