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Pentecost celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection and we celebrate the Holy Spirit who dwells in the hearts of all believers.  It is also celebrated as the birthday of the Church.

We rejoice greatly that God has chosen to dwell among us and within us.  It is His Holy Spirit that enlivens us and inspires us to follow Jesus and to fulfill our role as members of the Body of Christ.

Recently at a Confirmation Mass in New Jersey, the auxiliary bishop of Bergen county said this during the homily:

“The devil has a one word job description: divide.

The Holy Spirit also has a one word job description: unite!”

How right the bishop is!  May we all be filled with the Holy Spirit and may the Spirit strengthen us to be people that unite, so that nothing can devide God’s children – neither race, nor language, nor creed, nor economic status, nor gender, nor sexual orientation.  As Christ himself prayed at the last supper: may we all be one.  Just as we hear in the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians from the Mass on Pentecost:

Brothers and sisters:

No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
there are different workings but the same God
who produces all of them in everyone.
To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for some benefit.

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Have a blessed Pentecost!

“Despite the tide of secularism which has swept our societies, in many countries – even those where Christians are a minority –the Catholic Church is considered a credible institution by public opinion, and trusted for her solidarity and concern for those in greatest need. Again and again, the Church has acted as a mediator in finding solutions to problems affecting peace, social harmony, the land, the defense of life, human and civil rights, and so forth. And how much good has been done by Catholics chools and universities around the world!

This is a good thing. Yet, we find it difficult to make people see that when we raise other questions less palatable to public opinion, we are doing so out of fidelity to precisely the same convictions about human dignity and the common good.â€

“Jesus said to them: ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’†We hear these words proclaimed in today’s Gospel for Pentecost. Jesus’ mission and our missions are joined together. We go with his great gift of peace and with the gifts of the Holy Spirit that have been poured out on us. We are not all the same, but the gifts of the Spirit that each of us has received are meant to be used as we fulfill our individual missions in our daily lives.

You may ask, “Do I have a mission?†Each of our lives are important to God because each of us in our own way, in our daily routines, with our daily responsibilities, with the people we encounter and the people with whom we live, carry out our mission in union with how Jesus fulfilled his mission. What we do is important even though we may question this.

Please pray for us Friars as we gather at Siena College for our Provincial Chapter. Nearly 200 of us will be gathered to pray, to talk about important matters, and to enjoy fraternity. There will be some Friars who will remain here at St. Francis to take care of a modified schedule of Masses and Confessions, but we’ll be back on a full schedule on Saturday, June 10th.

It is with sadness, that we say farewell to Fr. Xavier Seubert who will be moving to Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, NY. If you attended any of Fr. Xavier’s Masses or classes, you know thathe is a teacher, and this is a logical move for him. I want to thank him for all that he has done for the parish and the Friars – he was the Director of Adult Education as well as the Guardian of the Friar community. Our prayers and best wishes go with him. There will be a reception for him after the 4 PM Mass next Saturday, June 10th. Please come and join us in thanking him.

-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.