MESSAGE FROM THE PASTOR
Dear Friends in Christ,
On this Pentecost Sunday we at St. Christopher's reflect on the fact
that we are a Spirit-filled community united in our love for the Lord
Jesus. In any faith community there are times of happiness and sadness.
We have had our share of sadness here at St. Chris with the recent deaths
of so many beloved members of our parish. God gives us healing at these
difficult times and points us to his kingdom where we have an eternal
destiny. In one of the prefaces of Mass in this season, a favorite phrase
of mine appears: Jesus Christ, judge of the world and Lord of all, has
passed from our sight, not to abandon us, but to be our hope. In the
darkest times for each one of us, we must remember that Christ is our
hope and that the Holy Spirit continues to give us strength.
The symbol of hope for all of us is the cross. “By dying, He destroyed
our death.” We do need to remember also that “by rising,
He restored our life.” You might have noticed our new processional
crucifix in the sanctuary. Periodically, a faithful parishioner gives
me a donation in memory of his wife and daughter to use for whatever
purposes I might think useful to the parish. I used some of the money
he gave me to buy this new cross. It comes from the same village in
Italy as our Nativity Set and our statues of St. Christopher and the
Risen Christ. Let this sign of our redemption be a sign of hope to honor
the memory of all of those whom we have loved and who have gone to the
kingdom. Some day we will see them again.
We celebrate Mother's Day this weekend, and we honor all of our Mothers,
living and dead. As we pray for them, say a special prayer for those
who are observing their first Mother's Day without their mothers and
for those who desperately want the gift of motherhood and who have not
been blessed with children. Make this a special day for your Moms.
This weekend is also a very special one because we have celebrated the
First Holy Communion of over a hundred of our children. May this reception
of the Lord enrich their lives as they become one with Jesus in this
very special sacrament. Congratulations to these kids and to their families.
They will be attending the 9:00am Mass as a group this Sunday to be
followed by a special reception afterwards in Holy Family Hall.
I want to thank you for your contributions to the Catholic Charities
Appeal. The appeal continues through this month. In the event that you
did not receive an envelope for the appeal, you can get one at our parish
office. The poor and the needy who will benefit from your donation will
never be able to thank you in person. At the same time, we know that
when we give to the poor, we give to Christ Himself.
Finally, I want to thank all of those who have extended sympathy in
so many ways to our parish staff on the occasion of the tragic death
of our financial manager Maria Berchick. We loved Maria and we will
miss her very much. We have confidence that she is now in the hands
of our loving God. As our staff prays for her husband, children, and
family, we pray also in gratitude to you for your prayers and kindnesses
to us at this difficult time. God love you all.
Until next week, I leave you
In the peace of Christ,
Return to Somerton's Home Page
E-mail Web Master
Cluster14.org
This page Updated May 10th. for Sunday May 11, 2008