Strengthen Your Brethren, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary- August 13, 2006
Thanks to those of you who have been sharing with the priests at the rectory the delicious produce from your gardens! Your generosity and kindness is greatly appreciated! You are helping ensure that we are eating healthily (at least for the most part!)!
Tuesday is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven, a holy day of obligation for us to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This feast has been celebrated in the liturgy of the eastern world since the sixth century and in Rome since the seventh century. On 1 November 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption. He solemnly proclaimed that the belief whereby the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was taken up body and soul, into the glory of Heaven, really forms part of the Deposit of Faith, received from the Apostles. This feast confirms us in the theological virtue of Hope, whereby we seek our sanctification and that of others in the midst of our ordinary duties. At the same time, we are encouraged to look to the goal of our life, namely, Heaven. We have a Vigil Mass Monday evening at 5:15 as well as two Masses on the feast day itself (Tuesday at 8:00 am and 5:15 pm). Pray for us, O holy Mother of God!
Pope Benedict XVI begins his first encyclical letter, God Is Love, quoting 1 John 4:16: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” This expresses, according to the Holy Father, “the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny” (1). That same verse from the First Letter of Saint John goes on to say that “we have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.” The Pope comments: “In these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his or her life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (1). Once again, Pope Ratzinger turns to Saint John – this time his Gospel – for a description of this event: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should . . . have eternal life” (John 3:16). Saint John concludes that “in this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). According to Benedict XVI, “since God has first loved us, love is now no longer a mere ‘command’; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us . . . (This) love which God lavishes upon us (is that) which we in turn must share with others” (1). What a beautiful description of evangelization this is! On Tuesday, August 15, after the 5:15 pm Mass, you are welcome to Kolbe Hall for our next parish evangelization meeting (preceded by free pizza and drinks!). At the meeting we will formulate some concrete actions that we at Saint Peter’s – as a parish, as specific groups or societies, as individuals – can take in 2006-2007 in order to share God’s love with those who have given up the regular practice of their faith or those who know little of Christ and His Church. Since our parish began this deliberate emphasis on evangelization, so many of you have shared with me miracles of rekindled faith among your family members and friends! Also, numerous evangelization initiatives have been or are about to be launched at Saint Peter’s – our parish website, our parish softball team, the group for those who have experienced divorce, our partnership with our Saint Peter Middle School children doing door-to-door outreach in the neighborhood, our recently-completed Vacation Bible School, our participation in the Theology On Tap for twenty-and thirty-somethings, our Da Vinci Code debunking presentations and materials, our hosting of concerts by the Monteverdi Master Chorale, our revised Baptism and Marriage preparation programs, the parish organizations’ display at our picnic, the exploration of expanding Eucharistic adoration at Saint Peter – just to name a few! While not every parishioner is able to participate in all of these initiatives, every member of Saint Peter – young and old, single persons and families – most certainly can and must pray, pray, pray for the salvation of souls in our parish and our neighborhoods!
Saint Peter, pray for us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Star of the New Evangelization, pray for us!