“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.