Today we honor St. Peter and St. Paul.

Both are apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, but both came up in very different ways. St. Peter was a fisherman, most likely tough as nails, stubborn, profane, a gripe, and struggled with faith. St. Paul was a persecutor of Christians, proudly assailing them and dragging them off to prison. Both were Jewish, but St. Paul was a Hellenistic Jew raised in Greek culture. St. Peter personally knew Jesus, sat with Him at table, walked with Him and talked with Him. St. Peter demonstrated some of the most disappointing sides of human nature with his struggles with faith, trusting in Jesus, spirit of anger, complaining, and if that was not enough, he denied Jesus.

Today marks the second of two Catechetical Sundays that occur on the tails of the Easter Season. Corpus Christi Sunday brings into focus the awe of the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, or Holy Communion. Trinity Sunday last week, solidified the awe of the presence of God among His people through the Most Holy Trinity, as three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Corpus Christi Sunday brings to focus our love of the Lord present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. It’s interesting to note that the Church places these catechetical days within the calendar because it’s important to see the Holy Mass as an opportunity to unpack the rich meaning of our faith as it pertains to some of our most profound mysteries and treasures.

Coming off the heels of the Easter Season that culminated with Pentecost Sunday, the Church now gives us the first of two consecutive catechetical Sundays to instill in us a deeper love of our faith and the teachings of the Church. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity speaks to us at the heart of God, in knowing Him at His foundation given in the Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Throughout the centuries great debates have taken place over God as Three Persons, and the reality that the Sacred Trinity is a mystery and has been a mystery since the Church began to articulate it.

Pentecost Sunday is the culmination of the Easter Season, when our fifty-day observance comes to an end, yet we still live out our inner essence as Easter People. This aspect of the Christian faith is the core of what we believe, as we have cherished the hope, the joy, and the promise of eternal life.

Let us pray that as the Holy Spirit falls upon us this Pentecost, as we prepare our inner dwelling to be the place of welcome, to take on the inner disposition required for the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and make us holier, more faithful, and desiring of the converted life.

The fifty days of Easter are dedicated to the contemplation of the profound meaning of the Paschal Mystery, the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In these days we commemorate with vivid meaning the “pasche” derived from Greek and Hebrew the combined mystery of the Pache or Easter event in Jewish Passover and Christian Easter, which celebrates true freedom from the bonds of slavery, as the Jews were liberated and how Christians are freed from attachment to sin and death. It’s a victory celebration really of epic proportions that moves us toward the promise of eternal life.

Memorial Day began under the name “Decoration Day” in 1868 — three years after the Civil War ended — and was declared a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers and otherwise honor those who died while serving in the United States military, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It is one of 11 permanent federal holidays observed in the U.S.

The 10 other federal holidays observed annually are: New Year’s Day on January 1, Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January Washington’s Birthday, or Presidents Day, on the third Monday in February, Juneteenth on June 19, Independence Day, or the Fourth of July, on July 4, Labor Day on the first Monday in September, Indigenous Peoples Day, or Columbus Day, on the second Monday in October, Veterans Day on Nov. 11, Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November, Christmas on Dec. 25 Memorial Day is observed annually on the last Monday in May.

Dear Parish Family,

Joy is at the heart of the Command to Love One Another—They will know of our joy through our love.

The Resurrection accounts have been fast hitting as of late, as we move as a Church through the Easter Season, and readings that go along with it… Jesus has collectively sought to bring about more enlightenment and conversion amongst His disciples. Conversion is painful because it constantly moves us to better align ourselves with Christ. If we are not struggling, we are not growing.

Dear Parish Family,

Our journey continues toward Pentecost, as we move through these days of transformation and renewal. We are now at a crossroads, still celebrating these 50 Days of Easter. We must stop and ponder the Easter message that continues to burn within us, as our hearts have been set aflame stirred by the scriptures. We remain within this season of light, that brings our faith into focus and practice.

The Easter Season is an amazing time that calls to mind the accounts of Jesus appearing to His disciples in His resurrected state, and yet with each encounter, the disciples including Mary Magdalene are caught off guard at least for a moment and do not recognize Him. It is in the familiar that suddenly they realize it is their beloved Jesus the Lord.

Dear Parish Family,

These past few weeks have been blessed as we have celebrated Holy Week, the Sacred Triduum, Divine Mercy Sunday, and now we are already at the third week of Easter. We have made a good Easter practice with each of those events. We now mourn our Holy Father Pope Francis, and we have offered him two requiem Masses while we wait for the coming conclave beginning May 7.

The fifty days of Easter continues, with our Second Sunday of Easter honoring the Divine Mercy.

The Divine Mercy of God is something to consider in the grand scope of the purpose of Easter and how we are called to be Easter People.

It is no coincidence that St. Pope John Paul II brought the devotion of the Divine Mercy front and center during his papacy. He was a pope who passed away within the Octave of Easter, and now we find ourselves honoring the life of our beloved Pope Francis, who also passed away during this Octave of Easter.

Pope Benedict VII died during the Octave of Christmas—could this be a lesson for us, that our faith in Christ is embodied by the joy that we live, in being the Easter People we are called to be?

The celebration of Easter is an integral part of our Christian faith; it is the highest point of what we believe as Catholic Christians. Like the discipline of Lent that has a designated period of faith development, Easter has a full fifty days for us to put into practice our faith and strive to get better and better at it on our way to Pentecost. It is here that we see that Easter is a journey that continues, leading us to the Paschal Mystery. The Paschal Mystery is the driving force of our lives, in knowing that Jesus accomplished His mission! Easter Sunday is the exclamation point in our awareness of how the Resurrection has changed us forever, because now we no longer die, but have life within us and eternally.

Today marks the beginning of the holiest and most sacred week of the year. Holy Week is upon us and Passion Sunday brings with it the commemoration of our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, and of the bringing about the New Covenant, as the Lord begins his passion in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are called to meet Him in that place, to accompany Him as He also accompanies us. Holy Week is important to us as Catholic Christians because we enter into the mysterious and sacred at the same time, while contemplating the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection, the Paschal Mystery and the one greatest event of all time, that brings a sinner to newness of life. Holy Week is not about what we say, or what we may think, but is about all that we do.

After Jesus said let who is without sin cast the first stone, they threw down their stones, and asked the woman, who condemns you now, she said no one, and neither do I condemn you, now go and sin no more! Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery should resonate well to the sinner because they are words of hope, and encouragement to not stay in the rut of sin, but to get up out of the rut, and wipe the tears from our own eyes and believe the forgiveness of Jesus then act on it! Why would anyone in their right mind choose to stay in the rut of sin, it’s miserable in the rut! Are we called to be miserable, absolutely not, we are called to be repentful and joyful, but yet some may become accustomed to misery! Imagine that? Some are so used to their self-destructive mindset, that keeps them habitually shackled to negativity, complaining, anger, vengeance, and revile, that they cannot escape it, and it eventually becomes embedded sin consuming their soul. Not one of us is without sin, with the most insidious not necessarily blatant adultery, prostitution, or dishonest tax collecting, but just as grave and divisive, are being judgmental, lacking compassion, excluding people, lacking charity, bearing false witness, or coveting and being envious of others.