Notes from the Pastor

I would like to share some information regarding the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, formerly known as “Last Rites” or “Extreme Unction” (“Last Anointing”). In the celebration of this Sacrament of the Church, the Priest lays hands upon the ill person (typically on the top of their head) and then anoints them by applying the Oil of the Sick to the forehead and palms of the hands while offering prayers including: “May the Lord, in His love and mercy, help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin, save you, and raise you up.” Through this Sacrament the Priest prepares a gravely ill person to receive medical care, and ultimately prepares such a person for the passage to eternal life.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is sending out 72 disciples in pairs to go to every town he intended to visit. This Gospel passage provides several points for us to reflect upon. First, it challenges us to reflect upon the baggage we carry with us throughout life – material possessions as well as emotional guilt and grudges that weigh us down and prevent us from sharing the peace of Christ with others or even experiencing it ourselves. The point is not that possessions are bad in and of themselves. We simply need to be careful not to let our possessions possess us. How can we let go of those things or feelings that hold us back from loving God as completely as we should?

The Scriptures today refer to God’s call and the necessity for us to provide an answer to that call with an act of faith. If we truly believe the Lord to be the sovereign in the center of our hearts, then we must obey God’s call without delay or excuse. In today’s First Reading (1 Kings 19: 16b, 19-21) God had instructed Elijah that Elisha is to succeed him as a prophet of Israel. But upon hearing of this call, Elisha wanted to go and bid farewell to his family, and perhaps get his affairs in order.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). The Catholic Church has consistently taught from Apostolic times that during a valid celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the bread and wine are truly changed into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is what is meant by the “True Presence” or “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist. Although the elements still have the appearance of bread and wine, they have – through the power of the Holy Spirit – actually changed into Jesus’ Body and Blood, just as they did at the Last Supper.

Today we celebrate one of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity: the Most Holy Trinity – three distinct, coequal Persons in one God. For the Church, the Trinity is considered a mystery. There are aspects of the Trinity that we will never fully grasp while we are this side of Heaven. But it is something we hold as revealed truth. We may never comprehend its totality, but we experience its presence and accept its reality. Today’s Scripture Readings touch on the distinctions, as well as the linkages, between and among the Persons of the Trinity.

In the Scripture Readings for today’s Mass, we hear two accounts of the Pentecost. The more dramatic of the two occurs in our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) where the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles, empowering them to speak in different tongues so that the Jews from different lands who had gathered in Jerusalem could hear the message of Jesus proclaimed in their own language. The second, and perhaps less dramatic account is found in today’s Gospel (John 20:19-23) where the Risen Jesus, himself, appears to the Apostles on Easter Sunday, breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, empowers them to forgive sins in his name, and commissions them to go forth and continue the mission of announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God.

With hindsight and the benefit of the Bible, as well as 2000 years of Church teaching, we are able to understand the progression from Resurrection to Ascension to Pentecost. This understanding was not so easy for the early disciples of Jesus as they experienced these events.

How many of us have wished, in moments of indecision, that God would send us a clear sign about what we are called to do at that moment? At times like these, when we are surrounded by turmoil and indecision, it can be easy to feel as though God has abandoned us and left us alone to fend for ourselves. But the Scripture Readings for today’s Mass, as we get ever closer to the great Feast of Pentecost, are reassuring. We are not alone, but have God, the Church, and the people around us to give us guidance and support when we need it – as long as we are open to the different ways in which the Holy Spirit operates in our daily lives.