Dear Parishioners:
Memory is at the heart of our
Catholic Faith. Jesus’ words to His
disciples at the Last Supper were “Do this in memory of Me.” The understanding of memory in this context,
however, refers to something deeper than what we forget when our human capacity
for remembering fails us. When God is
part of the picture, memory can reach past, present and future. Memory is where Hope resides. We look to our relationship with God and
discover that He is always there for us.
In Hope, we look toward the future and even beyond, toward Eternity, and
discover that God is preparing a place for us.
The Mystery of the Ascension is the
Mystery of Christ that tells us that our own human nature has a glorious
destiny. Jesus suffered and died and
rose from the dead in our humanity. In the
Ascension, He took that glorified humanity into the very Life of God. Once we have that “place,” the Holy Spirit is
ours and is poured out on us in a new way as a residing Presence in us. We have the firstfruits of our Eternal
destiny when the Spirit is given a place in our lives.
“Come, Holy Spirit” is the prayer of
these days from the Ascension until Pentecost.
We ask God to fulfill His promise and we resolve to be docile to the
Spirit, to respond to His Presence in our lives. Together with Mary and the Apostles, we pray
for the fulfillment of the promise, that the Gift of the Spirit may be poured
out on us anew and that we may make Christ known to the ends of the earth.
For us as Catholics, the Sacraments
are the primary means for us to receive what God’s Spirit offers. The Holy Spirit is active in all the
Sacraments, effecting the Presence of Christ and making us new creatures in
Christ. Our human nature is undergoing a
transformation. This requires our
willing cooperation. Can you hear the voice
of the Lord in your heart calling you to holiness?
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