This Week: Pentecost III

“The Lord is With Us”  –Bp. Charles McGuire

The Bishop’s Note
What a beautiful day we had for our Corpus Christi Solemnity! It was a day to look back on with gratitude to the God who loves us so much. One day we will get to see just how many graces were bestowed upon us on that day. Congratulations to all of our First Communicants, as well. The whole parish can be proud of these children.

This week has passed by pretty quickly. Despite the fact that the school children are gone, things remain active. The highlight of the week really has been the daily Mass before the Blessed Sacrament ex-posed. There is something very special about those Masses. I wish more people had taken advantage of them. They only come around a couple times per year, after all! Still, I cannot complain since you already do so much. Your love for the liturgy is both impressive and edifying to me. Bishop Dolan would be quite encouraged by the number of people who come to Sunday Vespers. He tried to drum up interest in that for years, but we only had a person or two who would attend, and we never had enough servers. Now, we have servers competing for a spot, several people in the choir and a few families who regularly attend. God bless you all!

Wednesday was…well…an interesting day, to say the least. Sister Ulrica was outside working in the cloister garden and heard screeching in the parking lot and a loud crash. A couple crashed their car into one of the classrooms. That takes talent! No one was hurt, but the damage is actually quite extensive. A lamp post was run
over, much of the stone work was knocked down from the church building and a hole put in the wall. Somehow, they managed to hit things so hard that one entire wall shifted. Needless to say, the nursing mothers’ room will be off limits for a while and we now have another project to add to our long list. The hole was sealed up so that no critters can enter and we are busy with insurance agents and different companies to get our building fixed up nicely again. The second classroom on the left is temporarily available for nursing mothers’ use.

Fr. McKenna is going away for a much-needed break, while Fr. Brueggemann and I are in Seattle for the priests’ retreat. The crash into the building came at the wrong time. But what am I saying?! God’s time is always right. He knows best! Mr. Lotarski was kind enough to take care of anything related to the building repair while we are away. God always provides.

We are still in the octave of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I hope you will observe it with great devotion. The Sacred Heart devotion is the devotion of St. Gertrude’s. Bishop Dolan consecrated the parish to the Sacred Heart and always tried to encourage people to love the Sacred Heart. I think that is also why he was so big on making reparation. He often preached on the need of making reparation for sin and he was right to do so. Perhaps we can revive a little bit of that spirit in our parish? This week is the perfect time to start.

– Bishop McGuire

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