Weekly Message
WELCOME HOME!
Pentecost draws us into the perfect love between the Father and the Son. Their sigh of love fills the world: “a driving wind” fills the house in which the apostles were. They begin to speak with this same breath, speaking only one word: “Jesus.” Jesus is my all in all, as Mother Teresa put it. “Only by the Holy Spirit,” St. Paul testifies, “can anyone say that Jesus is Lord.” Only by the Holy Spirit do we even know that we have a Savior, one who can purify our tired and heavy human love. The Holy Spirit, however, is not only oxygen to people who are suffocating, but also the fire that feeds on that oxygen. Not only a strong driving wind filled the house, but fire filled the air above the apostles. The sigh of love between Father and Son becomes a fire animating the entire world. Human love needs to be purified. The human embrace can only be fruitful—can bring us to “flourishing” to use a popular word—by virtue of the Holy Spirit. A man and a woman in love humbly ask God’s permission to enter a true embrace, begging the Holy Spirit to fill them on their wedding day. Only after they make their vows before God’s altar may they kiss. Recklessly entering a “relationship” without first begging help from the Holy Spirit (Continues page 2…) (...Continues from page 1) will disappoint us, and eventually hurt everyone around us.
June is the month of Pentecost, and also the month of the Sacred Heart, whose feast follows Pentecost by three weeks (this year, June 19, 2020). Jesus opened his heart to us from the Cross, his supreme act of love for his Father and for each and every one of us. It is when he breathed his last with the words “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” I think, that the Father most loved his Son. God’s love died, and we buried it, on a Friday afternoon, but the Father raised it up again. To “love without limits” (St. Maximilian Kolbe’s aspiration) is now not only possible but certain. But human love must be enclosed within the Sacred Heart, which pours itself out for mankind both from the Cross and on Pentecost.
It has been quite a while since we have been able to see each other. This time of social distancing and shutdown has been a challenging and trying time. Thank God in this time, we did not have anyone of our parish family affected or lost from the virus, Thank God! We all have been struggling greatly during this time. We are in this together!
All measures of safety are taken here for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy: Sanitization, all wearing a mask, keeping social distancing etc. -Call Fr. George to receive the Eucharist at home
During the month of June, the Sunday 10:30 Liturgy ONLY is open to the public. Daily Liturgies are by Registration only for ONE family per service. Register at: www.staparish.org
We will continue live streaming our Liturgies online.
We must realize and emphasize that this is NOT going to be “a return to normal” yet. Health and safety requirements must continue to be followed. We must act in such a way where we fear for each other but we don’t fear from each other - الخوف عل بعضنا البعض وليس الخوف من بعضنا البعض
With the Blessed Virgin Mary interceding on our behalf we will get through these challenging times and draw to her Son, the Good Shepherd.W
Weekly Message
WELCOME HOME!
Pentecost draws us into the perfect love between the Father and the Son. Their sigh of love fills the world: “a driving wind” fills the house in which the apostles were. They begin to speak with this same breath, speaking only one word: “Jesus.” Jesus is my all in all, as Mother Teresa put it. “Only by the Holy Spirit,” St. Paul testifies, “can anyone say that Jesus is Lord.” Only by the Holy Spirit do we even know that we have a Savior, one who can purify our tired and heavy human love. The Holy Spirit, however, is not only oxygen to people who are suffocating, but also the fire that feeds on that oxygen. Not only a strong driving wind filled the house, but fire filled the air above the apostles. The sigh of love between Father and Son becomes a fire animating the entire world. Human love needs to be purified. The human embrace can only be fruitful—can bring us to “flourishing” to use a popular word—by virtue of the Holy Spirit. A man and a woman in love humbly ask God’s permission to enter a true embrace, begging the Holy Spirit to fill them on their wedding day. Only after they make their vows before God’s altar may they kiss. Recklessly entering a “relationship” without first begging help from the Holy Spirit (Continues page 2…) (...Continues from page 1) will disappoint us, and eventually hurt everyone around us.
June is the month of Pentecost, and also the month of the Sacred Heart, whose feast follows Pentecost by three weeks (this year, June 19, 2020). Jesus opened his heart to us from the Cross, his supreme act of love for his Father and for each and every one of us. It is when he breathed his last with the words “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” I think, that the Father most loved his Son. God’s love died, and we buried it, on a Friday afternoon, but the Father raised it up again. To “love without limits” (St. Maximilian Kolbe’s aspiration) is now not only possible but certain. But human love must be enclosed within the Sacred Heart, which pours itself out for mankind both from the Cross and on Pentecost.
It has been quite a while since we have been able to see each other. This time of social distancing and shutdown has been a challenging and trying time. Thank God in this time, we did not have anyone of our parish family affected or lost from the virus, Thank God! We all have been struggling greatly during this time. We are in this together!
All measures of safety are taken here for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy: Sanitization, all wearing a mask, keeping social distancing etc. -Call Fr. George to receive the Eucharist at home
During the month of June, the Sunday 10:30 Liturgy ONLY is open to the public. Daily Liturgies are by Registration only for ONE family per service. Register at: www.staparish.org
We will continue live streaming our Liturgies online.
We must realize and emphasize that this is NOT going to be “a return to normal” yet. Health and safety requirements must continue to be followed. We must act in such a way where we fear for each other but we don’t fear from each other - الخوف عل بعضنا البعض وليس الخوف من بعضنا البعض
With the Blessed Virgin Mary interceding on our behalf we will get through these challenging times and draw to her Son, the Good Shepherd.W
Weekly Message
WELCOME HOME!
Pentecost draws us into the perfect love between the Father and the Son. Their sigh of love fills the world: “a driving wind” fills the house in which the apostles were. They begin to speak with this same breath, speaking only one word: “Jesus.” Jesus is my all in all, as Mother Teresa put it. “Only by the Holy Spirit,” St. Paul testifies, “can anyone say that Jesus is Lord.” Only by the Holy Spirit do we even know that we have a Savior, one who can purify our tired and heavy human love. The Holy Spirit, however, is not only oxygen to people who are suffocating, but also the fire that feeds on that oxygen. Not only a strong driving wind filled the house, but fire filled the air above the apostles. The sigh of love between Father and Son becomes a fire animating the entire world. Human love needs to be purified. The human embrace can only be fruitful—can bring us to “flourishing” to use a popular word—by virtue of the Holy Spirit. A man and a woman in love humbly ask God’s permission to enter a true embrace, begging the Holy Spirit to fill them on their wedding day. Only after they make their vows before God’s altar may they kiss. Recklessly entering a “relationship” without first begging help from the Holy Spirit (Continues page 2…) (...Continues from page 1) will disappoint us, and eventually hurt everyone around us.
June is the month of Pentecost, and also the month of the Sacred Heart, whose feast follows Pentecost by three weeks (this year, June 19, 2020). Jesus opened his heart to us from the Cross, his supreme act of love for his Father and for each and every one of us. It is when he breathed his last with the words “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” I think, that the Father most loved his Son. God’s love died, and we buried it, on a Friday afternoon, but the Father raised it up again. To “love without limits” (St. Maximilian Kolbe’s aspiration) is now not only possible but certain. But human love must be enclosed within the Sacred Heart, which pours itself out for mankind both from the Cross and on Pentecost.
It has been quite a while since we have been able to see each other. This time of social distancing and shutdown has been a challenging and trying time. Thank God in this time, we did not have anyone of our parish family affected or lost from the virus, Thank God! We all have been struggling greatly during this time. We are in this together!
All measures of safety are taken here for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy: Sanitization, all wearing a mask, keeping social distancing etc. -Call Fr. George to receive the Eucharist at home
During the month of June, the Sunday 10:30 Liturgy ONLY is open to the public. Daily Liturgies are by Registration only for ONE family per service. Register at: www.staparish.org
We will continue live streaming our Liturgies online.
We must realize and emphasize that this is NOT going to be “a return to normal” yet. Health and safety requirements must continue to be followed. We must act in such a way where we fear for each other but we don’t fear from each other - الخوف عل بعضنا البعض وليس الخوف من بعضنا البعض
With the Blessed Virgin Mary interceding on our behalf we will get through these challenging times and draw to her Son, the Good Shepherd.W